ALCS Game 3: Rogers, Tigers, take commanding lead
posted in Oakland A's, Post-season |For most of August and September, I think we were all thinking the same thing: Could we just get one more of those winning streaks like we used to get? The answer then? No. The answer now? Yes. Kenny Rogers pitched another gem, the Tigers won 3-0, Detroit won a sixth straight game in October, and we are one win away from hoisting an American League pennant.
How cool is that? This roller coaster wide is worth the price of admission.
Before I get too far, let me reverse from earlier this week and just say Mark Kotsay can hold his own with any center fielder in baseball. His throw earlier in the series was a bit off line, but the arm is there. His two catches today in center field were both awesome to watch, even if he was making them against Tigers. I hope gold glove voters paid a little attention to what he was able to do rather than just give their votes to the usual suspects.
Okay, now back to Tigers baseball. Rich Harden helped matters with his lack of command, but these Tigers actually did change their stripes in the playoffs. I saw mention of this. They saw how patient the Yankees were and thought they’d give it a shot, Jim Leyland said. Strange time to give it a shot, hey? But it worked. Tigers batters drew a lot of walks, took some close pitches and looked a lot more like the A’s (OBP team) than the hackers they were earlier this year. The Tigers drew seven walks — Curtis Granderson had three. Granderson really is growing as a player before our eyes, I think. I’m glad he’s going to be around for awhile.
The Tigers are doing the small things. That shouldnt’ surprise people too much. They’ve been doing these things for much of the year when needed, but never really made a religion out of it. Detroit wasn’t winning all those one-run games earlier by accident. It didn’t always work, of course, and at times, the guys failed miserably. But the experience paid off in October. That’s Leyland at work, I think. Maybe. Right now I’d elect him president, of course.
Now, I think we can say this series is over. I don’t really want to for fear of karma or hubris pissing off the baseball gods or something. But it’s close enough that Jeremy Bonderman can taste the chance to eject his former organization from the playoffs, no matter what he says. Eric Chavez seemed to be waving the white flag, a bit prematurely I’d say. And yes, the Boston Red Sox came back from an 0-3 deficit. But the Red Sox weren’t making that comeback on the road. They lost the first two games of the series at Yankee Stadium. So that’s really not the same situation. Detroit gets two chances to close it out at home first, and I think we’ve seen that having better pitching, defense and batting — and the execution to go along with it, and that’s been one of the most important factors — is too much.
Kenny Rogers dealt us one game closer to a World Series and a little tangible evidence of what a great season it’s been. Let’s get this closed out and enjoy the rest of the cold, snowy weekend.
Sphere It
Can this team really consider this a victory without Dmitri Young on the team? Seems to taint the whole thing.