The Unthinkable Happened - Tigers Win 4th ALCS Game, Go to 2006 World Series.
Gramps, we were wrong.
LOL, it's rare to feel this great about it.
This had to be the most nervous game I've watched for baseball in over 20 years.
Why was it a nervous game?
Every time the A's handed them the series, Detroit kept handing it back! I'm sorry, but Dan Haren pitched a shitty game. The announcers called a shittier game, in turn, for giving praise of his pitches. I couldn't disagree more with Buck and company. Haren kept tossing those pitches in the dirt. He tossed them early and often. The Tigers kept swinging at them! It felt like Haren had little control out there, and the difference was that Detroit, unlike the previous seven games, lost plate patience. Leyland even said that during the live interview . . . Detroit's ABs were poor in majority. Haren probably had 30-40 percent of his strikes off bad choices by the Tigers batters. Haren easily threw a majority of pitches for balls, if Detroit had showed the same patience they did in the first three games. Haren could barely find the plate when he was trying to get a strike! The Tigers batters kept getting themselves in early holes in their counts, and they wouldn't lay off those bad pitches. I stopped counting the number of times Kendall, the A's catcher, had to make like a goalie. Haren's pitches simply had too much action on them, and they were effective only because Detroit lacked plate patience.
To Jeremy Bonderman's credit, he pitched a decent game. His pitching got tougher to hit as the game progressed, which was a nice surprise. A's touched him for 2 runs early, but it didn't bother Jeremy. That shows maturity, and he's showing a lot of it for being a younger guy in a most uncommon situation. Bonderman appears to be one of those guys that thrives on the pressure. That's a very good sign, along with continued health and strength of his arm, for a solid career.
Jamie Walker got really lucky out there in the top of the 7th for one instance of good fortune. His slider wasn't hitting the zone, but he got the A's batter, Kotsay, swinging on a high inside off-speed pitch when Kotsay was looking outside either for a fastball or the slider. That K ended the inning for Detroit with a strong dose of confidence, and they needed that confidence later when Grilli almost lost it for Detroit with ball after ball thrown to load the bases in the 8th.
I think I frothed at the mouth when Grilli walked three straight batters late with a tied game. Okay, I swore and screamed at the television set all game, but Grilli . . . almost unforgiveable. There's no way to properly express how sloppy this game was. The A's were naturally desperate, but Detroit was matching it with impatience. My family kept telling me to calm down, but that's usually because they were getting emotional as well . . . and I was amping them up past their comfort zone. They've never really seen me give a shit about baseball in over a decade . . . not like this.
As for the decision to warm up Zach Miner and Wil Ledezma in the top of the 8th . . . both of them lesser relievers for Detroit . . . and then use Ledezma after Grilli brain farted the bases loaded on walks . . . that was a wise choice. At that point, it doesn't matter who Leyland puts out there . . . except for Todd Jones. A's were one good swing away from putting Game 4 in the bag. That was all on Grilli, and because it was likely at that point for Detroit to have to play a Game 5 . . . you don't match Macha and put your closer, Jones, out there because you might need him as fresh as possible for the next game. Leyland didn't forget which team was in the rough spot. Ledezma got Scutaro to pop foul for the out, and that was the biggest stroke of luck in the game.
I think another major stroke of luck for Detroit was Ken Macha's decision to use the A's closer, Huston Street, to try and close out the game with one out in the bottom of the 7th. That, right there, is a quiet white flag. I don't care how many times the A's used Street for multiple innings before this game. With a tie game in the 7th in an elimination game, using your closer that early and expecting him to pitch 2.66 innings from that point literally tells the opposition that you don't trust the rest of your available staff. Street pitched well, too, which was a shame . . . for Ken Macha . . . and A's fans everywhere. I give Street credit because the final pitch in the bottom of the 9th . . . regardless of the velocity . . . was a good pitch.
It was still tied in the bottom of the 9th, and the Tigers had already had some lucky breaks. Street was still in the game, and I figured that if he was out there in the 9th, that might be the best chance Detroit would have off of him. However, after Thames wasted a PH by swinging early for an out . . . and Granderson lined out to right with too much oomph in his swing . . . that's when the game began to shape for Detroit. Monroe got a nice single to center off a bad pitch. Polanco jumped on a similar early pitch, looping a single and moving Monroe to second.
Ordonez to the plate.
I'll say it again . . . Street's pitch was in a nice location.
It was a 93 MPH sinking fastball, according to the Fox radar gun, and it was dropping to Mags's knees on the inside of the plate. Street may have taken a little velocity off the ball, but it was in a good spot based off Mags's stance. Mags got right ahead of that pitch . . . and he hit the ball as well as a hitter could possibly hit it. The second it left the bat, Mags's connection was that solid . . . the ball shot into the night sky. It was similar to a Natural swing. Okay, no light towers exploded, and Mags looks nothing like Robert Redford, but it was an audible crack of the bat . . . gone. Just gone. There was zero chance for the wind to pull it back to the left fielder. Mags stroked that ball for the ages. I'd care to compare his swing with . . . this one.
The difference between Mags's pitch and Gibby's pitch? Gossage hung that breaking ball inside. Gossage really blew that game. Street, in comparison, pitched valiantly in what was the last gasp of Oakland Athletics in the 2006 MLB post-season.
Mags had a perfect swing. It created the most recent perfect moment in Tigers history . . . to recall for decades.
It feels great to be dead wrong.
Detroit Tigers . . . great team . . . great guys . . . showing the world that Major League Baseball still has a shred of hope to regain what it lost seemingly forever in 1994.
Boston who? Chicago what?
Hey Tigers, you earned it. Bless you.