7TH HEAVEN; INDIANS WIN TO FORCE SERIES FINALE : CLEVELAND 4, FLORIDA 1.

Byline: Ben Walker Associated Press 

One more chance.

For the Cleveland Indians to break their curse.

For the Florida Marlins to write a fantastic finish.

For this World Series to redeem itself.

It all comes down to Game 7.

The Indians forced a seesaw Series to a final game, defeating Florida 4-1 Saturday night when Chad Ogea became the first Cleveland pitcher in 25 years to drive in a run.

Ogea, who had not gotten a hit since high school, battled for a two-run single early and later doubled and scored. He lasted barely beyond the fifth inning, but it was enough to beat Kevin Brown for the second time in the Series.

Now, a week that often has lacked drama and been known mostly for snow and sloppy play has the ultimate - the first World Series Game 7 since 1991, that memorable night in the Metrodome when Jack Morris pitched all 10 innings and led Minnesota over Atlanta 1-0.

Marlins manager Jim Leyland was looking forward to Game 7.

``There's nothing wrong with that,'' he said. ``In fact, that's probably the way it should be.''

A sensational play by shortstop Omar Vizquel, strong work by the bullpen and a record-tying two sacrifice flies by Manny Ramirez helped Cleveland continue the teams' pattern of alternating wins.

``The biggest thing for us is that we have a veteran team that seems to do well with our backs against the wall,'' Ogea said.

Al Leiter, hit hard in Game 3, will start Sunday night for the Marlins against 21-year-old rookie Jaret Wright.

The Marlins, who were 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position and left 11 on base in Game 6, will have the home crowd of 67,000 on their side, but the Indians have a stat in their favor - road teams are 17-15 in Game 7s.

Wearing their lucky blue jerseys for the first time in the postseason, the Indians did not wilt in the balmy conditions. It was 80 degrees with 85 percent humidity at the start at Pro Player Stadium, a sharp contrast to frosty Jacobs Field, where the wind-chill factors averaged 27 degrees for the middle three games.

``I thought Cleveland played an almost perfect game,'' Leyland said. ``In fact, they did.''

While the warm weather was not a surprise, the skill Ogea showed with the bat was a shock.

He had been 0 for 2 with two sacrifices during interleague play this year and went 0 for 2 with another bunt in Game 2. He had drawn praise from Leyland, however, for his poise at the plate.

Ogea credited his father for teaching him how to hit, and he surely made his dad proud for what he did his first two times at bat, getting two hits against a pitcher who threw a no-hitter this season.

``I just tried to swing hard in case I hit the ball,'' said Ogea, who was using fellow pitcher Orel Hershiser's bat. ``My father always taught me to hit to right field, so I tried to do that.''

The game was scoreless in the second inning when a leadoff single by Matt Williams, a walk to Jim Thome and a one-out walk to Marquis Grissom loaded the bases.

Up stepped Ogea, forced to bat because the DH is not used in NL parks. Ogea was not fazed by Brown's hard sinkers, taking healthy cuts and fouling off two pitches.

Ogea took the next two pitches for balls, then fouled off two more. This had become an intriguing matchup - maybe not Reggie vs. Bob Welch, but interesting - and Ogea ended it by lining a single to the right of first baseman Jeff Conine.

Ogea became the first Indians pitcher to drive in a run since Steve Dunning homered on Sept. 19, 1972, a year before the AL introduced the DH.

In the fifth, Ogea grounded a double between Conine and the bag, and later scored on Ramirez's fly for a 4-0 lead. Ramirez also had a sacrifice fly in the third.

Ogea, the first pitcher with two hits and two RBI in a Series game since Detroit's Mickey Lolich in 1968, poured a couple of cupfuls of water over his head after scoring.

``I was absolutely gassed,'' Ogea said.

Tired from his run around the bases, he gave up Florida's only run in the bottom half on singles by Moises Alou and Charles Johnson and a sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter Darren Daulton.

Ogea walked Gary Sheffield to start the sixth and was pulled in favor of Mike Jackson after allowing one run and four hits. The Marlins put runners on second and third with two outs, but Vizquel - who won his fifth consecutive Gold Glove this week - dived into the hole and made a rainbow throw that nipped Johnson to end the inning.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

PHOTO (1--color) Cleveland's Jim Thome celebrates after scoring in the second inning Saturday night. Indians won 4-1 to force Game 7.

(2) Florida's Edgar Renteria (16) was late with a tag on Cleveland pitcher Chad Ogea, who reached second on a double in the fifth inning.

Associated Press