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Sox, Indians Share History

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By JIMMY GOLEN, The Associated Press

Published: October 11, 2007

BOSTON - Julio Lugo has one of Manny Ramirez's baseball cards hanging by his locker, only there's something out of place: The slugger is wearing a Cleveland Indians uniform.

It's Ramirez, all right, the same guy now batting cleanup for Boston. He played his first 6 1/2 years for the Indians before signing with the Red Sox in 2000.

He's not the only one who put on a Cleveland cap before switching to a hat with the traditional B. Fact is, there's a lot of crossover between the teams going into their AL Championship Series matchup starting Friday night at Fenway Park.
Boston center fielder Coco Crisp made his major-league debut for the Indians and played his first 2 1/2 seasons with them. Julian Tavarez spent parts of four seasons in Cleveland. Alex Cora spent half a season there.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona and pitching coach John Farrell were teammates on the Indians in 1988 and went on to work in the front office.

'Believe me when I say this: I don't want them to beat us. I think that's stating the obvious,' Francona said. 'But there are some people over there that I am really close to. ... There's nothing wrong with going up against people that you really have a lot of respect for. Sometimes it makes you want to win more.'

Even though the two teams don't have the long-seething rivalry of the Red Sox and Yankees, they are plenty familiar with each other.

Cleveland manager Eric Wedge was a Red Sox prospect who played 27 games for Boston in 1992 before he was left unprotected in the expansion draft and picked by the Colorado Rockies. He played down any significance of facing Boston this October.

'What's special to me is these guys having the right to go to the ALCS and compete for a spot in the World Series,' Wedge said.

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