Baseball By Paul

The at-bat between Alex Rodriguez and Joel Zumaya this afternoon was absolutely awesome. It was Rodriguez’s third strikeout of the day and just an awful day altogether for the beleaguered superstar. As I mentioned earlier, I’m beginning to think that if things don’t change for A-Rod, he might find himself in another uniform next Spring. I just don’t know how much longer he can pressure himself into living up to Derek Jeter. I think he is capable of coming up big when it matters most in the playoffs, but maybe just not in New York.

Even Derek Jeter had issues with Zumaya!

Huge game today that was filled tons of excitement. Tigers head home tied up at 1 and very much a part of this series. Here is a composite boxscore for the hitters through two:

The usually very patient Yankees lineup has only taken two more walks than the swing-happy Tigers. In fact, the Tigers have matched them tit for tat with just two fewer hits and as many home runs. I’m already extremely excited for tomorrow’s game. I’ll be working, so I’ll be watching it on a tape delay when I get home.

As for my thoughts on today’s game, I’m obviously extremely pleased. Justin Verlander labored through the first two innings, but remained composed and got the key outs, including striking out Alex Rodriguez with the bases loaded. Speaking of Rodriguez, can he remain in New York after this season? I guess it will depend on a) what he does the rest of the playoffs and b) if they can find a taker for that contract, but with all the drama surrounding him this regular season and another tanking through two games in this postseason, I don’t know that he’s long for New York. Curtis Granderson drew some criticism from me as I suggested that he might be better suited somewhere other than the leadoff spot, but he has responded fantastically in the first two games. Meanwhile, Carlos Guillen has continued to be the team’s best hitter. I love it when he comes up, especially with runners on.

The end of season struggles for the Tigers’ hitters are well documented, but they have shaken it off and been able to hit both of the Yankees starters so far. The good news, aside from getting out of New York at 1-1, is that things should get easier from the starting pitcher standpoint. Randy Johnson dominated the Tigers earlier this season, but he’s dealing with a bulging disk in his back and he was awful to close out September. In the interest of consistency, I won’t put too much weight into his end of season struggles because I’ve been preaching the same with Detroit’s hitting. That said, he gave up five runs in each of his last three starts going 17 and 2/3 innings with a 7.64 ERA and 1.59 WHIP. Jaret Wright is scheduled to pitch on Saturday night. He will put runners on and it will be up to the Tigers to cash in the way they did today.

Kenny Rogers toes the rubber for the Tigers. He hasn’t done much in four divisional series appearances with a 7.04 ERA in seven and two-thirds innings. He is 0-3 with an 8.85 ERA in nine total playoff games. His last playoff appearance was 2003 though, so it is hard to put too much stock in those efforts. An MLB.com article discusses Rogers and his playoff history.

Ugh… c’mon Jon Miller! He’s got a great set of pipes, but he has clearly lost a step. When a player’s name was Jason, he couldn’t get it right and now he’s calling Justin Verlander, Jason. What a game so far.

I had the unenviable task of trying to avoid any news of the score for last night’s game had it gone off. I was at work until 9:30 and I was going to watch the game on my DVR from the start when I got home. Thankfully, it was postponed until today and I’m off!! It’s about an hour and a half until game time and look what just arrived in the mail for me:

I have a few errands to complete before gametime, so in the meantime check out Kurt’s postseason awards. I’ll deliver mine soon as well.