The start of Game 1 was a mess, and then it ended badly. Gene Lamont did what Gene Lamont does. Fister pitched well but for a couple of bad pitches, but those gave the Yankees enough runs to win the game. The Alburquerque magic failed, and, after facing 182 career batters, he gave up his first ever home run in grand slam style (Beck details how rare it was for Al to throw a hanging slider).
On the bright side, it is a day game, and Brad Penny is not on the mound.
On the bright side, the Yankees took Game 1 from the Tigers the last time they met in the postseason too, and look what happened.
On the bright side, regardless of what happens today, the Tigers have Justin Verlander ready to take the mound Monday.
This afternoon Max Scherzer will try to bring the Tigers back into the win column against a reanimated Freddy Garcia, who finished the season 12-8 with a 3.62 ERA. Back in the day, Freddy Garcia was so effective during day game starts that Alan Trammell nicknamed him “Day Game Freddy.”
Game 2 tends to be a key game for the Yankees in the postseason–in the last 8 postseason series the Yankees have been in, the Game 2 winner has gone on to take the series. Go Max! Your mission: don’t throw anything hittable to that Cano guy.
Player of the Pre-Game: Victor Martinez had a nice 12-pitch AB against Nova last night. That kind of patience and selection will go a long way against Freddy Garcia.
Today’s Return-of-Ramon Lineup:
- Austin Jackson, CF
- Magglio Ordonez, RF
- Delmon Young, LF
- Miguel Cabrera, 1B
- Victor Martinez, DH
- Alex Avila, C
- Jhonny Peralta, SS
- Wilson Betemit, 3B
- Ramon Santiago, 2B
Why not either leave fister in ….or walk camo in ?
One of the rare good bits of commentary last night was that they were replacing Fister with a pitcher who threw very similar pitches. If they had brought in Coke instead of Alburquerque that would have given the batters a very different look (and a lefty). But the fact is Alburquerque was money in that situation all season, hard to fault Leyland too much there.
I see AJax has carried his leadoff strikeout prowess into the postseason.
A good caych by AJax off Jeter that didn’t warrant a replay by TBS as they had to show Cano jumping up and down in the dugout getting ready to bat.
“There are a lot of left fielders who can make that catch, Delmon Young isn’t one of them.” TNT comment of the day.
OTFiM – I’ve got my spot. It’s a ways, but free. Otherwise it’s $60 for 1/2 mile out, $160 for up close. Though club level tix come with a pass.
Kevin-Incredible! That’s a season of MLB Direct with money left over for a case of Strohs. And you get to watch great pitchers like Max Scherzer.
Leyland – A high-tech genius who looked at the weather radar and brought Benoit in early!
what the eff was Inge doing on that popup?!
Exhale. We’re in a great spot.
Phew!
Well, great game in the end, and as Kevin says, we’re in a great spot.
Scherzer, Benoit were huge today!
Back to the D, with Verlander tomorrow and then facing Burnett on Tuesday. Nice.
that was brutal…
the winner of game 3 wins this series.
I’m sure Verlander will be better prepared for the yankee hitters’ tomorrow. Suggestion: throw all first pitch strikes until they show that they not going to take a 1st strike… and be prepared to slow down your rhythm beginning with Jeter right down to #9, they’ll step out of the box after just about every pitch – and do anything to disrupt Verlander’s rhythm.
Suggestiont to JL, i’d really consider dropping Jackson to #8 or #9 spot against Sabathia, he’s looked pretty bad at the plate in this series… i’d even consider starting Dirks (batting him 8th or 9th) instead of Jackson. Jackson has been slumping, and hitting against Sabathia is not a good way to ‘break out’ of a slump.
Today was Miguel Cabrera’s biggest game in a Tigers uniform. Let’s give our main man some love!
The guy deserves so much more credit than he gets. He is the best Tigers hitter any of us see throughout our lives.
I am feeling pretty good after game 2.
Of course I say that (after my wife’s suggestion) with Don Kelly coming in a close second!
Least we not forget Mag’s three hits in the game that started it all off. And our good friends at TBS/TNT were able to correctly call the fact that Mags owns Freddy Garcia.
with Sabathia, JL will likely be starting Raburn (2B) and Inge at 3b – righties are hitting .273 against Sabathia this year vs .207 against lefties.
Based on Sabathia’s stats, there is about a 85% chance, he’ll throw a strike on the first pitch – and when he get’s ahead 0-1 hitters are batting .218 against him this year, and if he gets ahead 0-2, hitters are batting a measley .121 this year.
while hitters with an 0-0 are hitting .324 against him this year – which should indicate that the Tigers should be jumping on some first pitch strikes tomorrow.
Remember you wrote this when we’re all jumping all over Tigers for swinging first pitch…
Max Scherzer you are a gem and a blessing! Go Tigers!
Scherzer was awesome – clearly along with Cabrera tied for the ‘first star’ of the game. Benoit’s 7th inning performance was HUGE, 1st & 2nd nobody out, and he retires Martin, then strikes out Chavez and Jeter. Giving up Grandy’s solo shot in the 8th was a good trade off for the outs Benoit got.
Well said Stormin….during the game I was texting with my brother who flies for Southwest. He has a layover in Albany and was watching the game. After Granderson homer, I told him I would gladly have given up one run for two innings from Benoit, especially when he enter with two men on.
Max was being saved because he pitches better at home and he at this time was really our third best pitcher, Max totally nutted up and threw a great game in the biggest game so far in his life. Max, well done my man,,,, well done
What in the world was that artificial on deck circle doing there, we were fortunate to get both another out and not have Alex blow out a knee or a groin. That was really something to watch. Our third out almost go away like that.
Tigers looking good, Back to the D
Steve
Yeah, some guys who have had their ups and downs this season came through in a big way today. Nice to see them do that after Fister and AlAl slipped a bit yesterday.
Have you noticed how close AJax have been on a couple of flies? Just off the tip of the glove. Obviously the gods are saving some AJax classic catches for some later games?
on a dry field, Jackson would have caught Posada’s 9th inning shot.
+1
Kevin, what does +1 mean
Not sure, I see the cool kids doing it on Deadspin. I’m hoping it means “I agree with that post/comment/thought.” As in “one more vote.”
Following this sub-thread was awesome.
What a great win. Papa Grande starting to remind me of Jonesy. Have to leave in the top of the 9th to go to a bar and down a few shots to watch him. Max has great stuff and showed it yesterday. At times he looks better than JV but has to have control. Looking forward to tonight’s game. Wish I had the stuff to move my XM into the house to avoid listening to the TBS announcers. If I here about the Tampa Bay comeback one more time, I am going to get sick. They used their minor league pitching staff in that game. TBS announcers can never leave the Yankees for dead but the Tigers lose in the 6th or 7th inning.
I am hoping that Verlander steps up to tonight’s game like he did when he went toe-to-toe with Jared Weaver. If so, we will have a great night that will let all remaining wind out of the Yankee’s sail.