Tigers vs. Yankees ALDS

What a great week to be a baseball fan. My Tigers started off its first playoff run versus the hands down favorite to win it all New York Yankees. Prior to game one the National media were unanimous in their belief that the NY Yankees would pound on the fluke Tigers in 3 straight games. No one could compete against the awesome lineup NY had. But sadly this is baseball and they do not play games on paper but they actually let the teams play each other and see what happens.


Game 1

I was pretty geeked to finally watch the Tigers play in a post-season game. I had all the faith in the world that they would win it in 5. For a few innings things were going ok. We were holding them off the score sheet and we were getting some hits on Wang, who I believe is the only real threat the Yankees bring to the mound. But then things started to crumble when Nate missed played an easy ball to the 1st base side of the mound and soon after it was 5-0 in NY's favor. But one thing you would know about the Tigers if you watched them all year is that they do not give up. I think most teams that got lambbasted in the media like the Tigers did prior to this game would have folded after being down 5-0 but the Tigers play a full 9 innings. Before you knew it the Tigers came back to make it 5-3 and the game was on. Sadly though they couldn't mount a comeback and lost to the Yankees 8-4 with Jeter going 5-5 and the savior of the world. Blah blah blah.

I was pretty upset after the game. I really thought we needed to win the first game to set the tone and make all the people in the country realize that we deserve to be there and are no fluke. But come morning I was pretty good. Series surely was not over and Verlander was to pitch game 2 and I was hoping he would come out firing. The Yankees don't do very well against power pitching and I hoped Verlander could keep it close so we could bring Zumaya in.

Game 2

Game 2 was Wednesday night but it never happened. Due to rain the game was postponed. As with anything there is always some bit of controversy and that night it was the fact that the Yankees were told of the game being postponed till the next day and the Tigers were not. So there the Tigers are warming up, getting ready to play, as the Yankees are jumping in their cars and heading home. Some people were making a big deal out of it because Verlander was getting ready in the bullpen but I saw an interview with him that night and he said it was probably good due to the fact that now he knows how it feels to get ready for a big game and the next day should be easier.

So Thursday they got game 2 underway and things looked okay. Verlander got into some jams but came out of them nicely and the Tigers scored first to take a 1-0 lead. That all changed mid game when Damon hit a 3-Run jack to the upper deck to take a 3-1 lead. For a minute I was freaked. "Oh crap, here we go." But I was wrong and should trust my Tigers better as they quickly got the lead 4-3. Zumaya pitched an unbelievable 2 innings making each Yankee look like a minor leaguer. It was quite impressive. I loved how after each strike out the Yankee who was punked looked back at him on their way to the dugout as if to ask, "who are you?"

Now we are coming back to Detroit with the series tied 1-1. We could really cause some damage now.

Game 3

Game 3 was Friday and I was pretty excited. On my way to work my dad called to ask if I had gotten his email. He had an extra ticket and wanted to know if I could go. Hell yes I can go! After work I met him and some friends at Fishbones in Greektown. We ate dinner and then headed over the Comerica Park. I was so excited to be here. First playoff game in Detroit since '87. I had been to 6 other games this year and the atmosphere for them were great but it was clearly different tonight. We had pretty decent seats. 1st base side between 1st and RF.

The big talk was that Kenny would get shelled this evening. He has never won a post season game and has been killed by lineups. Not tonight. It was the most amazing pitching performance I have ever witnessed. He made this great Yankees lineup look weak and pathetic. Kenny who maybe gets 1 SO a game got 8 SO's in this game and was a force to be reckoned with. Watching replays of the game on TV was interesting as you could tell this guy was in the zone and on fire. He was out there to prove his critics wrong and he did so quite impressively.

The crowd was crazy. I think we were out of our seats for about 85% of the game and there was constant noise. If we were rooting out tigers on we were chanting "Steroids" or "Overrated" to Giambi and A-Rod. It was the single most exciting sporting event I have ever been too and I have been to many good ones. We ended up winning the game 6-0. Now we have the series lead at 2-1.

Game 4

Game 4 was Saturday afternoon at 4:30pm. Hopefully we could end it here and get ready to play the Oakland A's who swept the Twinkies the night before. Bonderman was on the hill for us and you never know what he is going to bring. My wife mentioned that Him and Rogers are very close and she expected him to feed off what Kenny did the night before. She was right. Bondo threw a perfect game through 5 complete innings. He was on fire. 23 years old and taking care of the Yankees high powered line-up like butter. Thankfully our bats were on fire and before you knew it we were up 8-0. The Yankees made a last ditch effort in the 9th with 2 outs to make it 8-3 but they had no chance against the Motown Kitties today and we won our spot in the ALCS!

The celebration was great. Seeing the Tigers head out onto the field and celebrate with the fans was nice to see. It has been so long since we could celebrate with the Tigers and with the way this state has been declining economically it was nice to have something to cheer about. Many have said the last two days that it was wrong of them to celebrate the way they did but I don't think so. They felt bad not letting us celebrate a division win and they wanted to party with us. It was great to see and I can't wait for the A's.

Go Get Em Tigers!