Cleveland's Jim Thome hit four home runs, a feat he also accomplished in the previous series (the '98 ALCS), and for the second straight time, those four homers were not enough.

The Indians, who became the first MLB club to score at least 1,000 runs in a season in 50 years, won the first two games of the series at Jacobs Field. Under a 2-2-1 scheduling format, the series then went to Fenway Park and the Red Sox broke out the bats.

After a 9-3 victory in Game 3, Boston piled it on in Game 4 , banging out 24 hits in an unbelievable 23-7 rout. John Valentin homered twice and drove in seven runs, Jose Offerman drove in five, and Mike Stanley was 5-for-6. Indians starter Bartolo Colon, starting on three days rest for the first time in his career and coming off an eight-inning outing in the cold, lasted just one inning and gave up seven runs. Indians reliever Steve Reed later allowed eight runs in just 1 1/3 innings.

A now-veteran Indians club was unfazed, though. Back in Cleveland for Game 5, the Indians knocked Boston starter Bret Saberhagen out after an inning. Cleveland took a 5-2 lead in the second, gave up five runs to Boston in the third, and then immediately scored three more in the bottom of the inning to take back the lead, 8-7. The Red Sox tied it in the fourth, and then manager Jimy Williams made an astute decision: He replaced starter Derek Lowe with Pedro Martinez, who had left Game 1 with a back injury.

Martinez never allowed a hit or run the rest of the way, striking out eight and enabling Boston to rally for a 12-8 victory and move on to face the rival Yankees in the ALCS. With the new millennium, the Indians, who had reached the World Series in '95 and '97, would make a managerial change.

Path to the ALDS: Boston (94-68) won the AL Wild Card; Cleveland (97-65) won the AL Central by 21 ½ games

Managers: Jimy Williams, BOS; Mike Hargrove, CLE