New York Yankees at Cleveland Indians
Thursday, Oct. 4, 6:30 p.m.
Television: TBS and TBS HD
Radio: ESPN Radio

Chien-Ming Wang (19-7) vs. C.C. Sabathia (19-7)

The last time C.C. Sabathia pitched in the postseason, he was barely old enough to drink a beer.

Grady Sizemore was 19 years old and a part of the Montreal Expos organization at that point. Un petit Sizemore, non?

And LeBron James was a high schooler... rooting for Paul O'Neil and Tino Martinez instead of Juan Gonzalez and Roberto Alomar, probably.

(LeBron's Benedict Arnold status only lasts until basketball season, mind you. He becomes our knight in shining armor the moment he laces up the sneakers and stars in a Nike commercial.)

Frankly, Indians fans should be scared. They have absolutely no idea which Sabathia and Carmona will walk out on that mound.

Sabathia has pitched in exactly one postseason game... where he went six innings against that Seattle Mariners team that won 500 games in 2001 behind the miraculously larger forearms of Brett Boone and the soft-as-cotton Jamie Moyer change-up.

Then the Yankees crushed those Mariners. Gulp, go us Indian fans.

This is a different Yankees team, though-- one that Brian Cashman and George Steinbrenner  jettisoned and had age disintegrate. Gone are O'Neil and Tino Martinez. Gone is the young Andy Pettite. In walks Roger Clemens old enough to apply for AARP. Andy Pettite is good, but a shell of his once postseason greatness.

These Yankees don't live for the pressure-filled moments. They slap at people tagging them down the baselines and are forced to yell at John McDonald as he tries to catch a pop up.

This Yankees team was so desperate for starting pitching that they paid Roger Clemens a pro-rated contract that is more than the Indians' entire playoff rotation combined.

Mariano Rivera is aging gracefully, but the cutter that once exploded bats now just jams players. If you cheat on the inside, you can beat him.

Not that the Indians should feel like they have this series in the bag. Far from it.

 The pressure to win both games in Cleveland is immense. With Sabathia and Carmona on the hill, the Indians need to win both games and hope for a split when in theBronx  they send Westbrook and Byrd to the hill in hostile territory.

A split in Cleveland forces the Indians to win in New York, a house of nightmares (save for one night when the Indians pasted the Yankees 22-0) for Cleveland.

The Indians don't know what they will get from an untested playoff roster. None of the Indians everyday players (except for Kenny Lofton) has played in the playoffs. Only Trot Nixon has a World Series ring on the active roster.

So does pitching coach Carl Willis.

The Indians are a complete unknown heading into Thursday night.

LeBron James got called out by Bob Feller for wearing a Yankees hat last year. More heat from the right hander when LeBron proclaimed himself a Yankee fan this week.

The Indians just wish Feller could still throw a few fastballs and take the mound sometime this series.

Whatever happens, it will be unexpected.