CLEVELAND — Josh Beckett never flinched.

When the towel-waving crazies filled his ears with noise, he ignored them.

When Kenny Lofton challenged him, he walked away.

And when his singing ex-girlfriend belted out a couple tunes — once with him standing only 100 feet away — Beckett kept humming along.

The star of stars this October, Beckett blocked out everything and delivered yet another brilliant pitching performance to lift the Boston Red Sox to a 7-1 win over the Cleveland Indians in Game 5 of the AL championship series Thursday night.

A 20-game winner and Cy Young favorite, Beckett made sure the Red Sox, no strangers to comebacks, would live to fight another day.

"The motto in the clubhouse right now is it's better to die on your feet than live on your knees," Beckett said, using a famous quote from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to underscore his team's win-or-else plight.

Beckett, standing tall as ever on the mound, dominated Cleveland for the second time and enigmatic slugger Manny Ramirez drove in the go-ahead run with a 390-foot single as the Red Sox stayed alive.

So it's back to Fenway Park, where two more wins can return the Red Sox to the World Series.

"We weren't trying to win three games in one night," said Kevin Youkilis, whose homer in the first inning off C.C. Sabathia set the tone. "We were just going out there to do whatever we had to do to win."

The best thing Boston did was hand the ball to Beckett, who improved to 3-0 this postseason and added another gem to a sparkling resume that already stands among the best in baseball's hallowed month.

"He's the best," David Ortiz said. "We were confident with him going out there. He was unbelievable. It was one of the best pitching performances I've seen."

Faced with an earlier exit than they planned, the Red Sox came up big.

Clearly, Ramirez & Co. cared.

"We made it happen," Ramirez said.

The Red Sox have done it before.

In 2004, Boston rallied from an 0-3 deficit to win the 2004 ALCS against the New York Yankees and went on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in four straight for its first World Series title since 1918.

The Red Sox forced Game 6 on Saturday night, and will turn to Curt Schilling, 9-3 in 17 career postseason starts, against Fausto Carmona.

Boston still trails 3-2, but if not for the calm, cool and cocky Beckett, there would be no more baseball until spring.

"Josh is unbelievable," Youkilis said.

The 27-year-old Beckett, who beat Cleveland in the opener, once again came through with the stakes at their highest.

He allowed only a run and three hits in the first, and then just two more hits before leaving after eight marvelous innings. He struck out 11, walked one and was around the plate with almost every one of his 109 pitches.

"He's got something others don't have," third baseman Mike Lowell said. "There is a different feel for us when he takes the mound. Time and time again he comes through."

Unless they can find a way to win again at Fenway, the Indians will think about what might have been, and their fans will add Beckett to a long list of players who have denied Cleveland a possible championship.

"We just couldn't get that big hit off him," Indians first baseman Ryan Garko said. "A lot of credit goes to Josh for making good pitches when he needed to."

Cleveland, which hasn't won the Series since 1948, had won three straight to seemingly take control. But the Indians, trying to clinch a pennant at home for the first time, could do little against Beckett, who rarely shook off a sign from catcher Jason Varitek and kept hitters guessing with a rocket fastball and knee-buckling curve.