surprise.Rookie Willie Beavers replaced Sirles, a

BOSTON -- As Cleveland Indians closer Cody Allen weaved his way through the Boston Red Sox lineup in the eighth and ninth innings Monday, a little piece of him flashed back to his boyhood in Florida. Allen took the mound in Game 3 of the American League Division Series without his best fastball or command. But as he surveyed the scene around him, his head was spinning with memories.I remember when I was a kid, watching games in this ballpark and seeing how crazy it was, Allen said in a raucous Indians clubhouse late Monday. For me to stand here and say I didnt hear the crowd, that would be a lie. I heard them. I could feel it, and Im sure their players could feel it.Its a really cool feeling to be part of a game like this, at Fenway Park, where theres so much history, playing against guys like Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz and that team over there. Its a really cool thing to be a part of.Once Travis Shaws pop fly settled into the glove of Cleveland right fielder Lonnie Chisenhall to seal a 4-3 Indians victory, Allen and his teammates experienced the ultimate in cool. They heard 39,530 Fenway fans go quiet before striking up a Thank you, Papi! cheer in recognition of Ortizs final game.In the midst of all that mourning, the Indians held an impromptu mosh pit at second base to celebrate a three-game series sweep. Boston is done, and Cleveland will move on and try to create some new memories against the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Championship Series.The Indians entered the division series as consensus underdogs for a reason. September injuries to Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar put a major crimp in the pitching rotation, and Bostons lineup looked too deep and formidable to be stopped. Even though the Red Sox dropped five of six games to end the regular season, they led the majors with 878 runs and an .810 team OPS. Plus, they had the added incentive of trying to write a poignant final script for Ortiz.But everything unraveled against the Indians, who took the three games in the series by scores of 5-4, 6-0 and 4-3. The Red Sox struck out 31 times in 98 at-bats and posted a .214/.278/.378 slash line. Bostons three homers in the series came from the unlikely trio of Andrew Benintendi, Brock Holt and Sandy Leon. Ortiz, Pedroia, Hanley Ramirez, Xander Bogaerts and Mookie Betts hit a combined .200 (11-for-55) against Clevelands pitching.The Indians game plan from the outset was to seize the initiative. Boston has a lot of hitters who like to work deep counts, and the Tribe pitchers focused on throwing strike one to better dictate the action.Josh Tomlin, Mondays starter, averages a tick under 88 mph with his fastball and allowed a whopping 35 homers in 174 regular-season innings. But he throws four pitches and never competes like a guy whos velocity-impaired. They dont call him the Little Cowboy for nothing.If somebody doesnt believe in our pitchers, theyre gonna prove them wrong, Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway?said. Thats definitely the case with Tomlin. Hes had to prove himself from A ball on. Hes always been the underdog. He performs best that way.Tomlin twirled one-hit, shutout ball for four innings and seemed oblivious to the notion that he should be feeling any kind of pressure. In the fifth inning, after Benintendi doubled home a run to make it 2-1, the Fenway fans struck up a Tom-lin! Tom-lin! chant reminiscent of the mocking cheer that Pittsburgh fans used to rattle Johnny Cueto during the 2013 playoffs. It was utterly wasted on the Little Cowboy, who struck out Leon and retired Jackie Bradley Jr. on a groundout to avoid further damage.I was surprised there were that many people that knew my name, to be honest, Tomlin said.As the game progressed, everything fell into Cleveland manager Terry Franconas wheelhouse. Andrew Miller, providing a monster presence out of the bullpen, came on in the sixth inning and threw 35 pitches to record six outs. Bryan Shaw and Allen flirted with danger in the eighth and ninth, but Boston simply couldnt mount enough offense to get over the top.True to form, Clevelands hitters divvied up the goodies all series. Catcher Roberto Perez, a .183 hitter during the regular season, hit a big home run in Game 1. Chisenhall, who barely plays against left-handers, launched a telling three-run shot off David Price in Game 2. In the series finale, Tyler Naquin delivered an early two-run single, and 36-year-old Coco Crisp made a personal statement. With the Indians clinging to a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning, Crisp launched a Drew Pomeranz knuckle-curve over the Green Monster for a two-run shot that allowed everybody in the Cleveland dugout to exhale.It was the second home run in 119 career postseason plate appearances for Crisp, who began his major league career with Cleveland in 2002. He moved on to play for Boston, Kansas City and Oakland before the Indians reacquired him from the Athletics in late August.I hit it, and I was like, OK, I got it. Its a homer, Crisp said. And then I was like, Wait a second. I hit it, and thats the Monster out there, and that wasnt really a pull homer. I started running and had my head down, and I looked up and saw the second base umpire twirling his fingers. Thats when I got pumped up.The sheer joy and self-effacing nature of Crisps quote is typical of the Indians, a likable batch of grinders who take their non-star status as a point of pride. Along with an underrated lineup, a solid defense and an effective bullpen, they have the advantage of being a unified group. Just about every media interview with an Indian includes some mention of how each player on the roster has bought into the team dynamic.Everybody in here loves each other, Tomlin said. We love being around each other. Ive never seen a group of individuals who get to the ballpark as early as we get to the ballpark. We play cards with each other and hang out with each other at night. There are a bunch of things that go into it. Its not just what we do on the field. Its what we do off the field as well.Now that theyve dispatched with Boston, the Indians have the luxury of enjoying each others company for another series -- and possibly a World Series after that. Theyre enjoying the ride so much that they cant abide the thought of it coming to an end. Air Jordan 1 Chicago China .J. -- Marty Brodeur beat the Pittsburgh Penguins yet again. Discount Jordan 1 . 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MINNEAPOLIS -- This season that started with so much promise for the Minnesota Vikings has been slipping away.Their margin for error, nearly flattened by an offensive line depleted almost beyond belief, has rendered moot most of their strides during the skid.We do a lot of good things but, unfortunately, the way our football team is right now we have to make sure we execute better in some of these critical situations in the ballgame, coach Mike Zimmer said Friday, after the Vikings lost 16-13 at Detroit and fell behind the Lions and out of first place in the NFC North for the first time since Dec. 27, 2015.The Vikings (6-5) have lost five of their last six games after posting the NFLs only 5-0 start.All these games are going to come down to the wire, probably, the way we are, Zimmer said. Were just going to have to tighten it up a little bit and keep moving on. Theres still a lot of football left, so were going to keep going.The Vikings led 13-10 at 2-minute warning on Thursday, but Matt Prater made two more field goals after that to lift the Lions to victory. This came just 18 days after Praters 58-yard kick as time in regulation expired put the Lions in position to win in overtime at Minnesota in the first matchup.It doesnt feel good. Hopefully, we can play them again in the playoffs and just get another try, wide receiver Adam Thielen said.For the first time this year, the Vikings have found their postseason push in trouble. The Lions will have the tiebreaker for the division title, so theyll need to win twice more than the Lions over the final five-game stretch to defend their NFC North crown and get the automatic home game. The wild card race remains wide open as well, with a critical tiebreaker edge for the Vikings over the New York Giants (7-3), but theyre playing catch-up there too.All we can do is worry about who we have next week, and thats Dallas, quarterback Sam Bradford said.Gulp. The Cowboys (10-1) have won 10 straight games.I know what this team can do, left guard Alex Boone saidd, when asked after the game what gives him belief in a rebound.dddddddddddd You know, Ive seen this team play well against good teams.The biggest problem is that the Vikings have more than run out of reliable blockers around Boone on the offensive line. Already missing tackles Matt Kalil, Jake Long and Andre Smith for the season, plus Mike Harris, who has started at both guard and tackle for this team, the Vikings watched center Joe Berger get knocked out of the game with a concussion. Right tackle Jeremiah Sirles later hurt his left hip. Zimmer had no update on Friday on either player, but the way this teams luck has been this season with health seeing both of them in the lineup against Dallas would almost be a surprise.Rookie Willie Beavers replaced Sirles, and Nick Easton filled in for Berger.At some point weve got to catch a break, tight end Kyle Rudolph said, adding: Youre starting to get into a rhythm and another guy goes down. We cant make excuses. Injuries are a part of this game. Its just unfortunate.Singling out the inability to keep Matthew Stafford from escaping the pocket for first-down runs at a couple of critical points would be a bit unfair to a defense thats allowing just 17.5 points per game, the second-lowest in the league.Blaming the patchwork offensive line would be pointless, and its worth noting that Bradfords quick release and offensive coordinator Pat Shurmurs plan for short throws at Detroit led to the quarterback getting hit only three times.But the reality is that the Vikings, even with a friendly final four games, have so many limitations now that making the playoffs would be quite the feat.Even when we were in the playoff mix, we didnt ever talk about it, Zimmer said. We just talked about the next game, and thats all were going to continue to talk about.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '