Tigers drop Oakland, Go up 2-0
Detroit skipper Jim Leyland proved that managing is almost as much art as science when the Tigers beat the Athletics 8-5 last night. The star of the game was Alexis Gomez. Gomez, who has been little used this season, was the DH for Detroit and responded by going 2-4, driving in 4 runs.
Leyland mentioned that he put Gomez in the lineup primarily because he was a left-handed batter. Gomez proved the decision to be timely as he drove in 2 runs in the second inning and drove in two more runs with a home run in the top of the 6th inning. Gomez said he initially thought Leyland was joking with him when he was told he would play last night. Oakland can only wish that was the case, as they head to Detroit down 2 games to none in the best of seven series. As has been widely reported, no team has ever dropped the first two games at home and then gone on to win the series. So the Tigers have a commanding lead in the ALCS.
It looked like Oakland had a great chance to tie the series at one game apiece. The Athletics held a 1-0 lead and a 3-1 lead, thanks to Milton Bradley. However those would be all the runs Oakland would score until Detroit built up a 7-3 lead in the top of the 6th inning, a lead they would not relinquish.
In addition to Gomez’s heroics, Placido Polanco had another solid game for Detroit. Polanco went 3 for 4 and scored a run for Detroit. Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski’s trade to acquire Placido Polanco for Ugeth Urbina has paid so many dividends for Detroit, it has to rank up there with Joe Dumars’ trade to acquire Rasheed Wallace. If the Tigers can win the World Series you can make parallels between Jim Leyland and Larry Brown (strictly based on coaching) and the acquisition of Placido Polanco and Rasheed Wallace.
Holding off on pitching Kenny Rogers until Game 3 makes sense particularly in this series as so much has been made about his pitching stuggles late in the season when he played in the warm Texas climate. If the Tigers can win the ALCS without going back to Oakland there will likely be no chance for Rogers to pitch in anything approaching warm weather. October weather in Detroit, New York or St. Louis should be very agreeable to Rogers.
If Detroit can win Game 3 they will be in an excellent position to win this series in Detroit. The Athletics lineup is tough and it looked like they would rough up Justin Verlander last night. It was definitely tense in the bottom of the 9th inning when the As had the bases loaded with two outs and Frank Thomas at the plate. A homer in that at bat and we head back to Detroit knotted up at one. Todd Jones was able to get Thomas to fly out to center field, sending the Tigers back to Comerica up 2-0.
On the flip side Oakland’s starting pitchers have struggled, which makes it tough to believe they will be able to silence the Tiger bats. Detroit is averaging just under 7 runs a game against the top two pitchers in Oakland’s rotation. On Friday night Detroit will face Rich Harden.
technorati tags:Detroit, Tigers, Oakland, Athletics, Alexis, Gomez, Placido, Polanco, Justin, Verlander, Kenny, Rogers, Rich, Harden, Milton, Bradley
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[…] This is a campaign that’s easy to get behind because Polanco actually merits being voted into the game. Ever since the trade that brought him to the Tigers [Phillies fans probably have a different take on the trade right now], Polanco has helped set the team ablaze, not other people. […]