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Detroit Tigers 2006 season thread...

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Nasty injury to Sean Casey's calf. The slo-mo really made it look worse. Looks like he's done for the season. That is the only bad thing so far tonight for the Tigers.......edit......injury may not as bad as it looked.
 
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Dispatch

Tigers batter Zito, beat A?s in Game 1

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Janie McCauley
ASSOCIATED PRESS




OAKLAND, Calif. ? Brandon Inge, Nate Robertson and the Detroit Tigers are showing no signs of slowing down in the AL playoffs.
Inge hit a solo home run and RBI double from the bottom of the order, Ivan Rodriguez also homered and Robertson pitched the Tigers past the Oakland Athletics 5-1 last night in Game 1 of the American League championship series.
The Tigers battered Barry Zito, turned four double plays and once again relied on their flame-throwing relievers. Only one thing went wrong: Sean Casey, Detroit?s No. 3 hitter, left early because of an injured left calf and expected to be out a couple of days.
Game 2 in the best-of-seven series ? a rematch of the 1972 ALCS ? is tonight, with Oakland?s Esteban Loaiza facing Justin Verlander.
Fresh off surprising the New York Yankees in four games in the opening round, the typically free-swinging Tigers worked the count against Zito.
"We thought if we slowed down against him a little bit, it would work a little better," Inge said.
The A?s ace retired the first eight batters he faced before running into trouble, with 10 of the last 13 Tigers facing him reaching base on the way to a 5-0 lead.
"After that I started to nitpick a little bit instead of coming right after them," Zito said. "This is the playoffs. If you don?t get ahead in the count it becomes more exposed than in the regular season."
The wild-card Tigers showed off their gloves, too, tying a league championship series record for double plays, last accomplished by the San Francisco Giants exactly 19 years earlier ? on Oct. 10, 1987.
Robertson, who lost Game 1 against the Yankees in his postseason debut, threw five shutout innings to win for the first time in the Coliseum. The 29-year-old lefty struck out the side to escape a fourth-inning jam after Frank Thomas drew a leadoff walk and Jay Payton doubled him to third.
Oakland never trailed in its division-series sweep of the Minnesota Twins, taking quick leads in all three games. This time, the A?s grounded into double plays to end both the second and third innings to squander early scoring chances, then had another double play in the fifth.
The A?s made mistakes resembling some of their blunders in four straight first-round losses from 2000-03 ? not the clean, crisp defense they showed in the division series. They also went 0 for 12 with runners in scoring position, leaving them 3 for 34 so far this postseason.
"With three days off, I think guys came in here a little overanxious and tried to do things we don?t normally do," Thomas said.
Zito, Oakland?s lone All-Star this season, didn?t allow a hit until Inge ? the No. 9 hitter ? lofted a drive that stayed just inside the left-field foul pole with two outs in the third.
Curtis Granderson followed with a double, then Placido Polanco walked on Zito?s 56 th pitch. After Casey followed with a walk, pitching coach Curt Young paid a visit to the mound before Magglio Ordonez?s infield single that fivetime Gold Glover Eric Chavez bobbled at third base.
Zito threw 38 pitches, 18 balls, in the inning after needing only 31 to get through the first two, and he gave way to Chad Gaudin after only 3 2 /3 innings. His line: seven hits, five runs, three walks and no strikeouts on 92 pitches.
Inge was 3 for 24 lifetime against Zito coming in. But just like they did the final three games with the Yankees, the Tigers found success against a starting pitcher they?d had trouble with in the past.
With two outs in the top of the sixth, Casey hit a grounder to shortstop, took one step and then grabbed his left leg in pain. He made it about halfway down the line and was thrown out. Manager Jim Leyland and a trainer came out to tend to Casey, who hobbled to the Tigers? clubhouse.
Casey was in a walking boot after the game. Carlos Guillen will likely shift from shortstop to fill in at first. "Hopefully tomorrow it feels a lot better and I?ll get treatment and be back in there soon," Casey said. "It?s frustrating. I?ve been down this road before. I?m sure those guys will be fine."
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Tiger up 2-0 in the series. Jones kills me, well earned rollercoaster nickname. Alexis Gomez? You can't give Alexis pitches to hit, he is a masher. :wink2: Ok in all seriousness it seems like it is a different guy every night stepping up. Also Steve Lyons and Pinella make my ears hurt.
 
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ABJ

Rookie Verlander earns win for Tigers

JOSH DUBOW

Associated Press

OAKLAND, Calif. - Every time Justin Verlander looked as if he might be getting flustered, the Detroit Tigers rookie showed he has big league poise to go along with that 100 mph fastball.
Pitching without his best stuff, Verlander was still able to add his first career playoff win to a fabulous first season by beating the Oakland Athletics 8-5 Wednesday night to send the Tigers home with a 2-0 lead in the AL championship series.
"I don't think I got settled down the whole game," Verlander said. "I was a little sporadic. My curveball was there sometimes, my fastball was thee sometimes. I was struggling a little bit. I battled through it and gave our team a chance to win."
Winning without your best stuff is much easier with a fastball that still hits triple digits and a curveball that seems to drop off a table.
Verlander wasn't dominating against the A's - but he was effective enough, especially when he wasn't facing Milton Bradley.
He allowed four runs and seven hits in 5 1-3 innings, striking out six and walking one. Three of the runs came on an RBI single by Bradley in the first and a two-run homer by Bradley in the third.
Manager Jim Leyland made a visit to the mound with one out in the fifth inning and a 3-0 count on Jason Kendall, but didn't consider lifting his star rookie.
"I didn't pull him because I thought he had good stuff and it's hard to take somebody out who has that kind of stuff," Leyland said. "I felt that he was real good and I thought he did a good job. He left a couple of pitches in bad zones, but hey, that's just part of the game."
Verlander caught Leyland's eye early in spring training with that electric stuff and mental toughness not usually found in a 23-year old. Verlander backed it up by going 17-9 with a 3.63 ERA to become the favorite to win the AL Rookie of the Year.
"I compare him a little bit to Dwight Gooden when he first came into the league," Leyland said. "Man, this kid has got incredible poise. My reaction has always been the same, when you throw at 97 with a curveball off the table and a good change-up it's pretty easy to be poised. It's that simple."
The hard-throwing righty fell behind on Bradley's RBI single in the first inning and followed by balking Bradley to second base. Verlander then fell behind 2-0 to Oakland's most dangerous hitter, Frank Thomas, who won his first of two AL MVP awards when Verlander was 10 years old in 1993.
Showing no signs of intimidation, Verlander battled back to strike out the Big Hurt and retire Eric Chavez on a flyout.
"Verlander got himself in trouble early in the game," catcher Ivan Rodriguez said. "He stayed up a little bit but he was able to get the job done. ... He battled through 5 1-3 innings and that was enough."
Verlander gave up the homer to Bradley on a changeup that hung up in the zone but got him out in a key spot with two runners on and one out in the fifth. He followed that by retiring Thomas again to end the inning.
By the time he took the mound in the sixth, Detroit's lead had grown to 7-3. Chavez's leadoff homer in the sixth was the only other run Verlander allowed.
Verlander was able to pitch around his other mistakes by rearing back and overpowering the A's with his fastball, which hit 100 mph on his 11th pitch of the game and flirted with triple digits on the radar gun most of the night.
"It wasn't pretty. It wasn't the way I would have liked it," Verlander said. "But a win is a win."
Verlander had a similar performance last week against the Yankees, pitching in and out of trouble but allowed only a three-run homer to Johnny Damon in the fourth inning. He lasted 5 1-3 innings and ended up with the no-decision in Detroit's 4-3 victory.
Now the Tigers need two wins in three games at Comerica Park to avoid a return trip to Oakland and advance to the World Series for the first time since 1984.
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The starting pitchers in the playoffs have been nothing short of amazing. Rogers looks like a different guy out there. The A's can't get anything to go right for them. Frank Thomas and Swisher have been total no-shows this series. Hope they can end it tomorrow so Zumaya and the other banged up guys have a longer break before the WS. GO TIGERS!!!!
 
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