I hurried home from work to watch my DVR’d version of game 1 of the LCS and after three plus hours of viewing, my prevailing thought is: Steve Lyons is an idiot. Of course, I’m happy with the performance of the team as they pretty much embarrassed Oakland’s offense. Oakland contributed to the embarrassment themselves, but I give Detroit’s pitching plenty of credit as well. Nate Robertson pitched out of trouble several times in his five innings of work and came out unscathed despite putting nine runners on. Fernando Rodney, Joel Zumaya and Todd Jones finished off the final four innings allowing just four more runners on base.
The offense continued to pound out hits including Brandon Inge‘s coming out party with a 3-for-3 performance. He was a triple short of a cycle, drove in two runs, scored two more and drew a walk. The offense also drew five walks while striking out just three times, a rarity for them. In addition to Inge’s two extra base hits, Curtis Granderson added a double and Ivan Rodriguez smacked a home run.
Some note I took from the game, most of which pertain to Lyons’ idiocy:
– When Marco Scutaro came up with runners on 2nd and 3rd, Lyons noted that he is the most clutch hitter on the Oakland A’s. Seconds later, as if they wanted to thoroughly embarrass him, the producers posted a graphic showing that Scutaro hit .162 with runners in scoring position and two outs. It was funny to hear Lyons try and refute the graphic.
– Lou Piniella comments that Jim Leyland is the only American League manager that wears cleats during the game (marking the 45,281st that this has been mentioned in the playoffs), but then Lyons chimes in that Bobby Cox does, too! I guess no one told Lyons that Atlanta is in the National League.
– Craig Monroe‘s defense has been absolutely stellar in the playoffs, including yesterday’s diving grab that actually netted #1 on SportsCenter’s Top Plays.
– Not only did Oakland look awful at the plate with runners in scoring position, but they were terribly sloppy on defense. The usually sure-handed Eric Chavez couldn’t even save them last night. It was just a disaster all around for the A’s.
– Joe Kennedy ran three straight pitches up over 96 MPH in an at-bat against Placido Polanco, I didn’t know he threw that hard.
– When Fernando Rodney drops down to 90 MPH after a steady diet of upper 90s fastballs, the crew suggest that the 90 MPH pitch is his changeup. Lyons said that 7 MPH is a good differential… Piniella quickly called him out on such a ridiculous suggestion.
– The slow-mo replay of Sean Casey‘s calf popping was disgusting.
– The dead silence after Lyons made fun of Piniella taking the Tampa Bay job was hilarious. I can’t stand Steve Lyons in case you couldn’t tell.
– I just loved it how Joel Zumaya shattered Milton Bradley‘s bat on his first pitch of the game.
– Bradley then pulled a 103 MPH. Not only did he get around on it, but he was early on a triple digit fastball!
– Outside of Steve Lyons’ life, is there anything more useless than Diamond Cam? It offers nothing! I can’t remember exactly what replay it was, but there was a point where Thom Brenneman was saying that Diamond Cam was awesome for the particular play and it showed absolutely nothing. I think it was on a hit where Pudge or Guillen let ball get deep into the zone, but you’d never know with that lame, worthless piece of crap camera angle.
– Huge surprise that Lyons doesn’t know what a genuflect is. He then mentions something about how he should have been umpire… anything but a commentator, that’s for sure.
– I have thoroughly beaten the dead horse, but I’ll continue. It was hilarious when Lyons said he was trying to suck up to Piniella so that he can become a bench coach and then Piniella just goes, “Oh god!”
Though the A’s did a lot to beat themselves, including going 0-for-13 with RISP, I am definitely pleased by the team’s performance and ability to get out to a commanding 1-0 lead. Tonight definitely benefits the team in terms of pitching matchups with Justin Verlander against Esteban Loaiza.
Baseball By Paul 