ALDS Game 1: The feet are wet
posted in New York Yankees, Post-season |Nate Robertson’s blog post tonight hit on the feeling I had in this game.
The big thing is, the experience of the first game of the playoffs, for everybody that hadn’t been there before, it’s all said and done. We got our feet wet, so we can kind of shove all that aside, come back tomorrow. Now we’re experienced.
I thought that was the thing. Detroit has some guys who’ve been there before, but most of them haven’t. The Tigers put up a valient effort, wasted a few opportunities, maybe got rattled once or twice, and came up on the wrong end of an 8-4 game. The feet are wet. Now they can get down to business.
I was buoyed by the bats. They’ve continued to hit well lately. The pitching, well, no blame on Robertson, but it wasn’t up-to-par I’m sure he’d admit. One bad inning was what he had. Five runs. A couple hits strung together and a two-run home run. The inning sped up and before you knew it, New York led, 5-0. Outside that inning, no one could say the Tigers don’t belong in this postseason, or they can’t beat New York in the series. They belong. Can they avoid the big inning? We’ll see. That’s a key. I wondered why we didn’t see a relief pitcher in the sixth, but Leyland has done this sort of thing all season and it works out frequently enough. His answer to the question in the press conference was that New York would just pinch hit anyway. But you can’t let what your opponent will do change your mind, I don’t think. In any case, the damage was done in the five-run third.
It was nice to see young Curtis Granderson respond so well to the challenge, batting leadoff with three hits, including a home run. He’ll be around for many of these things, I’m sure. It was a great way to start what we hope is a promising postseason career. If people outside Detroit didn’t know him before, I’m sure some will remember him now.
And then there’s Mitch Albom, whom many people often dislike for his hokey, repetetive style, but who can still capture a moment so well. I thought his column was a reminder of the Albom of the past, the one greatly missed by this guy who grew up reading him.
It is possible, in the Persian bazaar outside Yankee Stadium — sausages, stuffed animals, knishes, a 1914 Calliope, a man screaming about religion through a small amplifier, the creaky thunder of elevated trains, the smell of perfume and cigar smoke, fans crushing the turnstiles to cheer the best team money can assemble — to feel, shall we say, intimidated?
… Look, nobody said this would be easy and few people think it is even possible. But I still like the Tigers being here. I think this is for the best. If they are not good enough to win the World Series this year, let them at least face the biggest, baddest team in the biggest, baddest stadium and let the young guns feel what it is like to be washed in the spotlight. There is truly nothing like playing in Yankee Stadium, prime time, October in New York, not in the stadium, not even on the way to the stadium.
They say momentum is only as good as your starting pitcher the next day, and a good one in Justin Verlander takes the mound tonight. He still needs to get his feet wet, but hopefully watching his teammate helped. A big game from him would really get Detroit fired up.
To me, it’s just exciting to have postseason baseball include the Tigers again. Seeing “ALDS” on the field with the bunting flags decorating the walls of Yankee Stadium, listening to Joe Buck talk about your young pitching staff and the fact Detroit will be back in the playoffs guided by it, watching Ronin Tynan sing “God Bless America” in the seventh inning — this is what you dream of in March if you’re a baseball fan. Twenty-two teams have gone home, several managers have been fired, most teams are working on their rosters for 2007, exercising or paying out on club options, six four teams played in afternoon games, and the Tigers play ed on the biggest stage in the sport. It might be a short stay or long, but we’re here now. This is pretty fun.
I said to my girlfriend last night, “It’s October 3rd and that says D-E-T against N-Y-Y in the score bar.” I’m not saying I’m just “happy to be here.” I want our boys to win so badly, but I’ve watched so much October baseball as a bandwagon of a particular team because the Tigers are long gone and I want to have a rooting interest. It’s so nice to finally hear Tim McCarver drone on about the Tigers. Granted, he’s awful, but he’s doing his awful business while talking about OUR team!!!!
One quick thing - didn’t only four teams play yesterday afternoon? STL-SD, OAK-MIN?
FYI- Gum Time does not work if you’re chewing Orbit. I’ve gotta get some Big League Chew tonight.
I noticed that with Orbit too. Actually I had bad luck with gum time most of the season!
Thanks Paul, you’r right, only three games per day.
I even enjoyed Joe Buck! Joe Buck!! This is what it’s all about. Not JUST happy to be there, but most certainly, I am happy to be there.
Exactly… not JUST, but certainly AM happy to be there.
Good call. This is a lot of fun. Watching my girlfriend understand the stress and excitement of playoff baseball for the first time was a lot of the fun. She started to feel sick from the tension after a while, definitely a good thing, I tried to explain. Anyway, keep up the good work!