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Friday, October 06, 2006

FoxSports: Tigers take control of Yankees series
After their impressive, come-from-behind victory over the New York Yankees on Thursday afternoon, the team has a chance to sweep the two games in Detroit and finish the series before it has the chance to back to New York. FoxSports.com's Dayn Perry believes, given the favorable pitching matchups and way the Tigers are playing, two victories and a series win is no longer out of the realm of possibilities for Detroit.
October 5, FoxSports.com: On Friday night, the Yankees will trot Randy Johnson out to the mound in Detroit. Here's the rub: despite Johnson's name value and status as a future first-ballot Hall of Famer, he's been the Yankees' worst starter in 2006. On the season, Johnson has worked 205 innings with a 5.00 ERA, and he's also logged his worst strikeout-to-walk ratio since 1994. Johnson's 5.00 ERA ranks 34th among 39 AL qualifiers. As well, the Tigers have handled lefties fairly well this season (they rank fourth in the AL in slugging percentage against left-handers). And all of this is to say nothing of Johnson's serious back issues.

Detroit's tactical missteps aside, this is now a series in the balance. The Tigers, by splitting the first two in Yankee Stadium, claimed home-field advantage, and the pitching match-ups in Games 3 and 4 also favor them. If they can lay off a few pitches going forward, then it's entirely possible this one won't come back to New York.


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A-Rod can't solve Verlander, Zumaya
It may have been the most important at-bat of the season for the Detroit Tigers. The New York Yankees had the bases loaded in the first inning of Game Two, and Alex Rodriguez is at the plate. Two men are out, and if A-Rod gets a hit, or clears the bases, this early in the game, the game, and likely the season, would be lost. And Justin Verlander struck him out on three pitches. Just like that. Crisis averted. And while CNNSI's Jacob Luft believes ARod deserves some of the blame for his poor Thursday performance, he admits praise must also go to the pitchers who solved him, Verlander and his tag-team partner Joel Zumaya.
October 5, CNNSI: In fairness to Rodriguez, he saw some particularly nasty stuff today. On the first at-bat, Verlander fed him a couple of 100-mph heaters before putting him away with a knee-buckling curveball. Zumaya got him out 101- and 103 mph fastballs on the black. You try hitting that. But nobody is saying that hitting in the big leagues or in the playoffs against the top pitchers in the league is easy, but when you are as naturally talented as Rodriguez and are making $25 million a year, it's fair to ask why he isn't coming through time after time.


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MSNBC: Leyland helps lead Tigers to victory
There were many heroes for the Detroit Tigers on Thursday afternoon, but the man leading the ship was manager Jim Leyland, and as MSNBC's Filip Bondy wrote Thursday night, his leadership may just lead the Tigers into the American League Championship Series.
October 5, MSNBC Sports: All week long, Tigers manager Jim Leyland had been telling people how happy he was to be here, how wonderful these Yankees were, how they played the game right. He couldn’t say enough nice things about Yankees manager Joe Torre. Leyland even insisted he was out-managed on the off day, a controversial Wednesday night rainout.

“Anything can happen,” Leyland said. “But I hope in my heart, everybody realizes we’re a playoff team. And I hope everybody believes that. Because I’m not sure everybody believed that before.”


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Zumaya blows away Yankees, impresses experts
While there were many impressive performances in Thursday afternoon's 4-3 Detroit Tigers victory over the New York Yankees, none may have been more impressive (or more important) than Joel Zumaya's 103 MPH dominance over the Yankees. As Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan writes, the young rookie is now a national phenomenon.
October 5, Yahoo! Sports: Not that he needed a bloody eye to intimidate the New York Yankees any more than he did with his fastball Thursday. Depending on the radar gun, it sat around 100 mph, crept to 102 mph, might have tickled 103 mph and, to the Yankees who couldn’t touch it – Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi and Alex Rodriguez among them – looked like something only Sidd Finch could throw.

Fittingly so, for it was equally unbelievable and humorous the way Zumaya, a 21-year-old rookie reliever, disposed of the heart of the Yankees’ order in the Tigers’ 4-3 victory in Game 2 of the American League Division Series, sending the best-of-five series back to Detroit tied at one game apiece. The Yankees could only shake their head at Zumaya’s gas, and the Tigers could only laugh, seeing Zumaya cauterize New York’s offense while staring down hitters with a case of red-eye no camera function could conceal.

“I wanted to get the feeling of the crowd and the boos,” Zumaya said. “It’s the adrenaline running in my body. You can’t walk in from the bullpen with the adrenaline I had today. You’re going to either have a little gallop or sprint in. I didn’t want to run too hard because I might have passed out.”


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Thursday, October 05, 2006

Knobler WDFN Notes: Tigers weren't mistreated regarding rainout
Danny Knobler talks to WDFN-AM Detroit about the Tigers' reaction to the rainout game. The Tigers weren't hung out to dry like some reports have said. (Click here to listen.) .

Q. Reports say today the Tigers are furious about last night's delay.
A. Those are overblown. No, it wasn't communicated as well as it could have been. It was a bad situation because it was the playoffs, and there was a lot of rain. There was a big crowd there, a national TV audience. They could not have played nine innings unless they waited until 5 a.m.

Q. They can't have been disappointed that they started and played a half game? They want Verlander to get in a full effort.
A. Exactly. If Verlander is on his game, he has a chance against that lineup. That gives the Tigers a chance to win. If they had played two innings and gone into a long delay, then postponed it, that would have been a big problem for the Tigers. The bullpen catcher told me Verlander took four lob pitches and then stopped. It wasn't a big deal. We're not talking about one team being completely prepared to play any minute and the other team relaxing in its clubhouse knowing they wouldn't play. It was a couple of minutes difference in the time they found out. The Tigers were more upset with the inconvenience of the situation: having to check back in to their hotels, getting families resituated, etc. The rain was a crappy situation for everyone. Baseball probably wishes they just cancelled it earlier. Yankees GM Brian Cashman told me they thought they would play. Now, there were a lot of problems with cell phones at Yankee Stadium last night, so that might have impacted communication a bit.

Q. Verlander has a little better record in day games than in night games. Anything to that?
A. We can't predict how he's going to pitch today, but we can say that he has great stuff, and if he's on today, he has a real chance against the Yankee lineup. He has the ability to control his pitches. Yes, he has pitched a little better in the daytime.

Q. If the Tigers could win today, they have to feel good with Kenny Rogers going against Randy Johnson and Jeremy Bonderman throwing against Jared Wright?
A. Bonderman has the ability to beat that lineup too. The Yankees with have a lot of lefties in the lineup and Bonderman has had trouble against lefties because his chageup hasn't been good and he can't spot the slider and fastball. If he throws hard and his slider is on, he's good. If they win today, the pressure will change coming into the Comerica Park atmosphere. That atmosphere will be a whole lot better in Detroit if the fans don't think it's going to be the last game of the season.

Q. Leyland says it would be a second-guesser's galore and he would try everything against the Yankees. We second guessed the hit-and-run the other night. What do you think of that?
A. That's been his philosophy all year. He hasn't been able to do it as much as he likes. Any time they faced a pitcher against whom he thought would have a hard time stringing hits together, he would try to push it. I wasn't surprised he did that the other night. I don't think it's a bad idea. The Tigers aren't the quickest team in the world, and with Wang on the mound with his sinker. If anything, I think he should have also done sent Granderson on that hit with Polanco an inning later that turned into a double play. You have to send some runners are you're going to hit into a lot of double plays.

Q. What about Marcus Thames? Did he get healthier by Tuesday when he was unavailable on Sunday?
A. As of Sunday, he hadn't had solid food in a week. He started eating again on Sunday in Manhattan. His throat infection was a lot worse than we realized. So he wasn't in good shape to go Sunday. He's not a good outfielder anyway, so they'll use him as a DH. He lost some weight and strength.

Q. Any idea when a Saturday game would be if it happens?
A. I would be stunned if it's not 8 p.m. since TV will want the Yankees on in prime time. But it hasn't been officially announced yet.

Q. If Verlander pitches fantastic tonight, you could conceivably come back with him in Game 5?
A. I don't think there's much choice -- you would have to use Nate Robertson. Verlander has thrown 180 innings already when he only threw 130 last year. Many teams would already say that's too much and you're inviting problems down the line.


-- Added by MLive.com staff

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Is too much rest a bad thing for Verlander?
CNNSI's Tom Verducci has a very interesting article posted this morning, looking at the extended rest the Detroit Tigers gave rookie pitcher Justin Verlander heading into the playoffs (a break which was extended a day after Wednesday's rainout). While keeping Verlander fresh is a good idea, as Verducci writes, too much rest may not be a good thing.
October 5, CNNSI: Detroit's plan to rest Verlander down the stretch already has impacted its postseason. Verlander was skipped in the final series against Kansas City, in which the Tigers figured they could hold their Central lead without him. They didn't, with a three-game sweep at the hands of Kansas City flipping their postseason world. Instead of opening at home on a weekday afternoon against Oakland, the Tigers drew a Broadway opening: under the lights at Yankee Stadium, where they played the foil in one of those classic Yankee October nights.

"He's real fresh and this could be real good or real bad," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "Real good in the sense that he's fresh and he's really got his velocity and got all his pitches working. Real bad in the sense that he hasn't been out there and you're not sure of his command."


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Polanco in pain, but he refuses to sit
The one good thing about Wednesday's rain delay is that it gave DetroitTigers second baseman Placido Polanco a day off, which he likely needed after diving on his injured shoulder in the late innings of Tuesday's contest. As Polanco told DetroitTigers.com, while his shoulder in sore, it would have to fall off before he missed any time in the playoffs.
October 5, DetroitTigers.com: Polanco had a pretty good idea that he was going to hurt if he dove for Bobby Abreu's ground ball in the sixth inning of Game 1 on Tuesday night. He took the dive anyway. He missed the ball, felt the impact with the ground, but eventually shook it off.

Still, it's an example that playing well shouldn't be confused with playing healthy.

"I have to find out how to dive without hurting," he said, "Every time you do that, it's tough."


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Lynn Henning looks ahead to off-season changes
The rain at Yankee Stadium last night gave Lynn Henning of the Detroit News some extra time to think about next year's Detroit Tigers team, and while the squad was more successful this year then anybody could have imagined, Henning writes this is work to do before next season begins.
October 5, Detroit News: . There will be a new, power-hitting first baseman in the batting order on Opening Day and it will not be a converted player such as Carlos Guillen. It will be a heavyweight hitter.

It could be a very active week for Detroit at December's winter meetings in Orlando, Fla. One name continues to make sense: Mark Teixeira of Texas. The Rangers need pitching if they are going to win a West Division title. I like the Tigers' chances of pulling off something there.

You never have enough pitching. But you can't go into 2007 without significantly bolstering this offense. The Tigers will be forced to part with some precious parts to make this a stronger, more durable team. They will need pitchers to stay healthy next season and they will need at least one minor leaguer to become a trustworthy starter next year.


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Tigers not happy with lack of information
The New York Yankees-Detroit Tigers game was rained out Wednesday night (which was fine as it gave Tigers fans a chance to watch the season premier of ABC's Lost in peace) but there was one slight problem. Nobody decided to tell the Tigers. As Michael Rosenberg writes this morning in the Detroit Free Press the entire situation should have been handled differently.
October 5, Detroit Free Press: "They definitely got information that I didn't have, that our team didn't have," Tigers starter Justin Verlander said. "Half of our team was out there. Not one of their guys was. I don't know what happened."

Verlander is the main concern, of course. He tried to minimize the damage. He said that he probably would have thrown more on a normal off day. But let's be honest: If he knew he was starting a game at 1:09 p.m. today, he would not have thrown at 9:35 p.m. Wednesday. And that's what he did.

No, this won't cost the Tigers the series. But it is annoying and inexcusable. Playing the Yankees is hard enough. Why must it be so hard to not play the Yankees?


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Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Rogers allegedly argues with agressive fan
If facing the New York Yankees in Yankee Stadium wasn't bad enough, the last thing the Detroit Tigers needed was an off-the-field distraction. Which is exactly what may befall pitcher Kenny Rogers, who is scheduled to start Game Three of the Tigers-Yankees series Friday night. According to the Detroit Free Press, Rogers was involved with a confrontation with an overly aggressive autograph seeker, which may (or may not, depending on who you speak with) have ended with Rogers physically shoving the fan away from his car.
October 4, Detroit Free Press: According to police, a 37-year-old man approached Rogers, a 41-year-old left-hander, near the players' parking structure outside the stadium at 12:25 a.m. Sunday. He asked for an autograph. Rogers refused.

Police said the man became upset and began cursing Rogers. He started banging on the car. Rogers exited the car to confront him.

There are two versions as to what happened next. The man said that Rogers grabbed him by his collar but bystanders broke up the pair. A witness told police that Rogers and the man argued but there was no physical contact. Both versions end with Rogers driving away.


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CNNSI: Leyland "did his team no favors" Tuesday night
Before Tuesday's Game One against the New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland said he would not be afraid to be aggressive against the Yankees, and he was going to throw everything at them and more, the second-guessers be dammed. Well after a 8-4 loss against the Yankees, the second-guessing has begun. CNNSI's Tom Verducci, in a column this morning praising Derek Jeter's perfect performance last night, wrote that the Tigers, while looking like a junior varsity team against the much more polished Yankees, were hamstrung by their manager.
October 4, CNNSI: And it probably would not have mattered, but Detroit manager Jim Leyland did his team no favors, either. I understand Leyland's predicament. It's akin to a football game in which you know your team is playing a bigger, faster, stronger one and playing them straight up is futile. So the football coach has to get creative, run gimmick defenses and trick plays. Leyland has to play fast and loose.

But really, Detroit put a runner on second base to start both the second and third innings and Leyland twice took the bunt play off -- when the Yankees were trying to get by with a lost soul at first base, Gary Sheffield, who never has fielded a bunt in his life at the position. Instead, Leyland once tried a hit-and-run -- it blew up, with the runner getting thrown out at third -- and then let ninth-place hitter Brandon Inge swing away --- and he pulled a harmless grounder to third, leaving the runner at second.

More problematic, Leyland asked Robertson to get through the Yankees' lineup a fourth time as he neared 100 pitches and two relievers were ready. Big mistake.
Do you agree that Leyland mis-managed Game One? Or do you think, given the Yankees talent advantage, Leyland did just fine. Discuss it in our Detroit Tigers Forum.

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Rosenthal: Yankees power may overmatch Tigers
The Detroit Tigers scored some runs, hit a few homers, and put a lot of men on base Tuesday night. But, none of it was enough, and the team lost Game One of the American League Divisional Series 8-4. As FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal sees it, no matter how great a season the Tigers have had, it's very possible the team is just overmatched against the Yankees powerful lineup.
October 4, FoxSports.com: Leyland will keep trying "some stuff," but his team is outmanned and everyone knows it. Tigers left-hander Nate Robertson wasn't horrible in Game 1, and he gave up seven runs. The Tigers weren't horrible, and they lost 8-4.

A rival American League general manager said recently that a pitcher must have good stuff and good command to shut down the Yankees. If the pitcher lacks stuff, the GM reasoned, the Yankees will pound him; if he lacks command, they'll take their walks and wait to crush mistakes.

The Tigers' Game 2 starter, right-hander Justin Verlander, has plenty of stuff, but he struggled with his breaking-ball command when he tired late in the season. Maybe Verlander can channel the 2003 version of Josh Beckett and throttle the Yankees. More likely, he'll meet the same fate as Robertson.


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Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Rosenthal on WDFN: Game 4 is when the Tigers could capitalize
The Tigers are a big longshot, but FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal explains to Sean Baligian on Sports Radio 1130 Detroit how they have a reasonable shot to beat the big-bad Yankees. ( Click to listen to Rosenthal's full game preview.)

"Robertson has been good, no question. Is he the kind of guy who dominates? No. He's probably right now their best pitcher. He's their No. 1 choice for Game 1. Verlander has struggled. We know that. He's tired, he had to skip a start. Bonderman, he couldn't hold that lead the other day. Keep reminding yourself that he's 23 years old. Then there's Rogers whose numbers against New York and numbers in the post-season are just awful. So that, to me, is what distinguishes those White Sox and these Tigers. A huge difference."

"For the Tigers to win, to me, what has to happen is this: they have to win one of the first two. I probably give Verlander a better chance against the Yankees than Robertson. Although, some scouts disagree. It's a point of debate. Then you come home, and either (Randy) Johnson can't pitch, or Jaret Wright has to pitch. Then Cory Lidle would pitch Game 4, or Jaret Wright. That's a reasonable shot at that point. It has to start with winning one of the first two, quite obviously.

"Should they win tonight, for instance, then the last week is forgotten. Then everything changes. I think it's an uphill fight. I think it's going to be tough to recover from that. No matter how bravely they might talk. It is possible."

-- Added by MLive.com staff

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Tigers look to put ugly weekend behind them
After losing five games in a row, including three to the lowly Kansas City Royals, one might expect the Tigers to be heading into the playoffs on a sour note. That said, according to the Detroit Free Press, the team is doing their best to put last week's failures behind them, and move on to a place where they can rebound and take their anger and frustration out on the New York Yankees.
October 3, Detroit Free Press: "I'm excited," [Brandon Inge] said. "Bottom line: We're here. And the next step is to take it all the way and win it.

"Have fun. Enjoy it. This is what we spend our off-seasons working for, to get to the postseason."

"I'll make this simple," Leyland said. "Everybody thinks we blew the division. If you want to look at it that way, you can.

"I look at it like, we're a team that won 71 games a year ago, and 95 this year. We're in the playoffs. We're here to play."


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CNNSI's Donovan, Chen pick Yankees to sweep
If you take the word of CNNSI's baseball men John Donovan and Albert Chen, it is going to be a very short series between the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees. Previewing the Major League Baseball playoffs, both men took the Yankees to run away with their ALDS series with the Tigers, winning in three games. Looking at Donovan's column first, he writes that while the Tigers have had strong pitching all year, their lack of strikeouts will come back to haunt them against the Yankees.
October 2, CNNSI: Any team that faces the Yankees this postseason will have to tame a patient New York lineup that is capable of exploding at any time. That task seems particularly ill-suited for Detroit pitchers, who, despite some young fastballers, are not a good strikeout staff. The Detroit staff clearly regressed as the season wore on, and its leader, the veteran Rogers, is 0-3 with an 8.85 ERA in five playoff starts. Yikes! With a hot streak from Ordońez and the middle of the Detroit lineup, the Tigers can make a series of this. But it won't be much of one.
As for Chen, he writes that while the Tigers have had a magical regular season, their season will come to an end against the Yankees.
October 2, CNNSI: Yes -- they [the Tigers] are the AL's biggest long shot to make the World Series. Starting pitching has been the main reason for the Motown revival, but Verlander and Jeremy Bonderman look gassed. The Tigers' lineup ranks last in OBP and first in strikeouts among the playoff teams, which means that Mike Mussina and Randy Johnson don't need to be in top form for the Yankees to waltz into the ALCS.


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