Welcome to Detroit City Yankees – now get out.
Let me first say this about the New York Yankees before I get into what a masterful job the Detroit Tigers did in winning this best of five series. Everybody who complains about the Yankees buying their team every year, getting all of the best talent and winning only because they spend the most, need to stop. They haven’t won anything in six years, okay? Got that? NOTHING since 2000, so obviously they don’t have the best talent, they don’t spend wisely and therefore don’t deserve the attention that most of the nation pays to them good or bad. New York’s juggernaut of a lineup produced four runs in three games. This goes out to the media too – nobody wants to hear about how good the Yankees are anymore. They got destroyed by a team that played together, again. They got knocked out by a team with better pitching, again. And finally, the New York Yankees fell to the better overall team, again. So, next offseason when the Yankees go out and buy Jason Schmidt, Barry Zito or whoever big name pitcher is out there, everybody need not worry, because this is the Indianapolis Colts of the MLB…without a salary cap. The Yankees are a team filled with talent, are always picked to win the big one, but have no cohesiveness when it matters most.
Now, on to the team that should get the more recognition than the Yankees, but won’t. The Detroit Tigers limped into the playoffs after a choke job only Michigan State could duplicate by being swept by the Kansas City Royals. The Tigers get waxed on the national stage Tuesday night by the Yankees 8-4, but then what happens? They don’t collapse, they don’t fall to what many believe was a superior team and they don’t wilt under pressure. Detroit capitalized on the rain delay that killed any of the Yankees momentum on Thursday night, were more patient than New York at the plate and won with better coaching (why was Gary Sheffield not in the lineup Friday night? Or Jason Giambi on Saturday? What a joke). Joe Torre got schooled in coaching by Jim Leyland in this series.
What a job by Jeremy Bonderman in the Tigers clinching game Saturday. This was a kid that a lot of people in Detroit were worried about sending to the hill in a game of this magnitude, because the guy can never settle down. Well, he settled in today and pitched 8.1 innings of strong baseball and limited the Yankee hitters to just two runs on five hits. Once again, what a job by Carlos Guillen (3 for 4, one RBI), Placido Polanco (2 for 5, two runs scored) and Magglio Ordonez (2 for 4, three runs scored and two RBI). Guillen hit .571 for the series while Polanco finished with a .412 mark and Sean Casey hit .353. Guillen is one of the best players nobody has ever heard of in the American League. And guess what? He did it all season in leading the Tigers in batting average, runs, stolen bases and on base percentage.
The Tigers were the better team for three out of four games and what a great thing to happen to the city of Detroit. This city hasn’t had a baseball winner in over a decade and a half and after years of atrocious play, Motown finally has a reason to be excited again. Oakland is on the horizon, but for right now, let the Tigers celebrate an impressive victory over Peyton Manning, Edgerrin James, Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne…err, you know what I mean.
