Day: October 6, 2006

So much for that slump the Tigers had while limping into the playoffs.

Kenny “The Roaster” Rogers (1-0) gave Detroit fans reason to smile as they enjoyed their first postseason win in the Motor City since 1987. Rogers went 7.2 innings, gave up just four hits and struck out nine in a masterful performance at Comerica. One of the biggest things that Rogers accomplished Friday night – besides giving the Tigers a 2-1 series lead – is out dual one of the Yankees aces, Randy Johnson (0-1). Johnson gave up five runs in barely over five innings and never even surrendered a long ball – Detroit got all of its runs off the big lefty from timely hitting and good base running. The hero’s for Detroit along with Rogers were Placido Polanco (2 for 3, one RBI), Carlos Guillen (2 for 4, two runs scored) and Sean Casey (2 for 3, two RBI).

The thing that will get overlooked in this game and thus far in this series is the job manager Jim Leyland has done. He was somewhat criticized for pitching Nate Robertson in Game 1, but Leyland knew that Rogers struggled mightily in Yankees Stadium, so he held his veteran ace for the home opener. Obviously, the results worked. Another thing that Leyland did was go with a crafty pitcher in Robertson in Game 1, a flamethrower in rookie Justin Verlander in Game 2 and then back to an off speed guy in Rogers for Game 3. The New York batting order, which has been often credited as being possibly the best lineup in Yankees history, has been completely fooled since scoring eight runs in the opener. New York’s hitters look off balance, confused and just plain over-matched.

The Tigers will get the chance to close out the series Saturday at 4:00pm ET and set up a date in Oakland with the A’s early next week. Detroit will send Jeremy Bonderman to the hill to face the Yankees’ Jaret Wright.

Piranhas? Try pira-nahhhh. The Twins, once again, had to play catch-up against the A’s who, thanks to some timely hitting (a three-run double by Marco Scutaro) and a deplorable defensive performance by the Twins (three errors), beat Minnesota to advance to the ALCS for the first time since 1990.

Like the first two games, Minnesota kept it close, but an intentional walk to Frank Thomas with two outs in the seventh inning proved to be the Twins’ undoing. Eric Chavez walked, then Justin Morneau made an error, loading the bases. Nick Swisher walked, scoring Thomas from third, and then the big slugger Marco Scutaro doubled to right, clearing the bases. One hit, four runs.

Torii Hunter was also the center of attention on a questionable call, getting thrown out on a play at the plate, even though Oakland catcher Jason Kendall didn’t appear to tag him. The throw beat Hunter to the plate, and the home plate umpire did not put himself in the position to get an unobstructed view of the tag, so he put two and two together…only he was wrong. Still, when you don’t have the lead in a single inning of the postseason, you don’t get the calls, simple as that. And frankly, any team that puts Jason Tyner, who has yet to hit a home run in the majors, in the lineup as a DH deserves whatever they get.

Oakland is now in the driver’s seat, getting to rest their pitchers and reshuffle their rotation for the winner of the Tigers/Yankees series, which is proving to be the most interesting series thus far. Sorry, Twinkies. Maybe next year, when/if Liriano is healthy.

Oh, and I’ll let Mr. Statler blog the Yankees/Tigers game, but Alex Rodriguez got totally hosed on a play at third base where he tagged out Pudge Rodriguez but was called safe.