Yanks-Tigers

After a long day of baseball, the last leg of the triple header is the game New Yorkers have been waiting for. I'll be making observations throughout the game, from programming to the action itself. It should be a good one with Chien Ming-Wang facing Nate Robertson.

It's 8:10, TV tuned in to FOX HD for the Yanks and Tigers. In a shocking programming move, FOX has decided to run a segment on A-Rod. They're really going out on a limb here, suggesting A-Rod needs to bring home number 27 for the Bronx. Of course this segment is loaded with Mrs. October and November Reggie Jackson and Derek Jeter, but also with Mr. May Dave Winfield. In closing, they quote General Patton on how to judge a man who's hit rock bottom. I'm sorry, but if you slugged 35 homeruns with 121 runs batted in, you have not hit rock bottom professionally no matter how poorly you are received. They've so ridiculously overhyped this issue it's pathetic.

8:15- My favorite announcer in sports is on tap for this one, Joe Buck is calling the action alongside his partner Tim McCarver. Does he possibly take the FOX angle and discuss A-Rod? I'll have to check back.

In a curveball they discuss the Tigers. Leyland dubs the Yankees "Murderer's Row and Cano". Buck decides to emphasize how ironic that the Yankees and their massive payroll have handed the ball to young, cheap Chien Ming-Wang.

8:20-Still no baseball, but FOX's first obligatory shot of Times Square. If the game gets boring, I'm guessing we could get up to ten of these beauties.
Wang's first pitch hits 95 MPH and is fouled back behind the plate. Tim McCarver makes first of what should be many "he gets a lot of groundball outs" comments.

8:22- Matsui records the first out on a lazy fly ball. Still interested to see how Matsui attacks shallow bloopers and whether he's willing to dive yet.

8:24- Polanco and Casey hit groundball outs to end the inning. It's an easy 1-2-3, four minute half inning for Wang. He's consistently throwing mid 90's on his fastball and his sinker is clearly working early. Couldn't ask for a better start if your a Yankees fan.

8:27- Coming back from commercial we're treated to another shot of Times Square. Joe Buck takes a cheap shot at New York sports writers and their infatuation with the A-Rod chronicles.

8:29- Jeter lines a single to left field extending his already career lead in postseason hits.

8:37- First shot of Rudy Giuliani in his ridiculous seats. Sharing his seats with Mayor Bloomberg who seems highly disinterested. No signs of Joe Buck supporting Rudy in '08, maybe that will come later.
Wang's first pitch to Ordonez drilled off the left center field wall for a double. Not a good sign, pitch was up and in a perfect spot to drive.
After falling behind 3-0, Wang battles back to 3-2 before walking Guillen.
Runners going on a 1-0 pitch, Pudge misses for strike one and Posada guns down Ordonez at third. On that note, Posada has been lethal behind the plate this year. He's throwing out runners at an incredibly high rate this year.
Pudge flails at a 2-2 pitch for a rare Wang strikeout. What looked to be a daunting 2 on, 0 out has now turned in to one out away from escaping. Grounder to Jeter ends the jam and Wang really seemed to regain control.

8:47- Giambi drilled in the middle of the back with Robertson's first pitch. The fans boo, but no way thats intentional. A-Rod steps up to the plate to a huge ovation.

8:50- Great shot of Patrick Ewing towering over everyone in his vicinity.

8:51- Shot of The Donald followed by some underratedly funny banter between Buck and McCarver. McCarver is amazed Buck knows the proper pronunciation of Trump's wife, followed by Buck's typical sarcastic "I read the Life section". I always wondered if McCarver is smart enough to realize how many times a game Buck belittles him, but I doubt it.
A-Rod robbed of a line drive base hit by a leaping Polanco.

8:54- Best number nine hitter ever steps to the plate with two on. I'm feeling a big hit here...
And my first real prediction of the night is horribly wrong as Cano weakly grounds out to Inge. Great pitch by Robertson, really jammed up Cano.

8:58- Marcus Thames sneaks a ball inside the line in left field. Matsui eases up on the ball thinking there was fan interference allowing Thames to advance to second.
A-Rod handles his first ball of the night. He looks like he's playing with a real swagger as he flings the ball over to Sheffield. Looking real locked in, could have gained a lot of confidence after a good first at bat.

9:04- Unbelieveable 6-4-3 to get out of a first and third jam with one out. Great play all around including a very flexible stretch from Sheff. Gotta love that Wang sinker.

9:12- Damon off on the pitch and Jeter rips another ball in to left. Granderson cuts it off in left center, but Jeter still motors in to second. First big threat for the Yanks with second and third with no out.
Abreu doubles to right center bringing in the first two runs of the game. Close up of Abreu, tough to tell if he's screaming in English or Spanish. Either way he's pumped.
Sheff follows up with a single of his own to right center bringing in Abreu. McCarver loving the Chef hats as he giggles "the chefs are out". I'm thinking I could be a producer for one of these games. On commercials show shots of NYC, during bland spots show one of the many celebrities in attendance, find the groupies for each player (they all have them), and pan around the crowd for any other eccentrics.
Gotta hand it to McCarver for a brilliant play on Yogi's Aflac commerical. Referring to Yogi's recent ailments he recites the "if you're hurt and miss work" line. Great plug. Maybe the most intelligent comment he's ever made.
Another one to right center, but this time it finds the bleachers. Giambi takes Robertson deep to expand to a 5-0 lead and the crowd is going crazy.
A-Rod follows up with a single of his own, this time taking it to left for some variety. Although I'm thoroughly enjoying this romp, I hope Leyland yanks Robertson. This is getting out of control.
Matsui makes the first out in the bottom of the third, but not before the ball travels about 350 feet to left center.
Cano ends the bleeding for the Tigers with a lazy fly ball to left. In fifteen minutes the Yanks have ceized absolute control of this game with five hits and five runs.

9:32- The video of Leyland's "we stunk" rant from April is played. Although early in the season, have to agree that it really rallied the Tigers. Down 5-0 it may be time for another one.

9:36- Pudge strikes out again to bring Wang's K total to 2. After 3 1/2 innings Yanks up to a 5-0 lead with the top of the order rolling around again. Not expecting to see Robertson this inning which could really tax the Tigers bullpen early in the series.

9:39-And I'm wrong again, as Robertson trots out and retires Damon. Jeter continues to rip up Robertson, taking the pitch in to right for another single. Too late for the batting title, but it looks like Jeter is still trying to make an impression on MVP voters.

9:42-Rare base-running error by Jeter as he's caught in a run down. Abreu flies out to left to end the inning. Although he's in a hole, have to hand it to Robertson for bouncing back after the one thru five hitters belted him around in the bottom of the third. There has not been a runner past first base over the last 6 outs.

9:46-Craig Monroe takes a ball over the centerfield wall to get the Tigers on the board. Wang has given up a few hard hit balls tonight on balls he's left too far up in the zone.

9:52- Polanco doubles in to the right field corner bringing in Brandon Inge all the way from first. With two outs Inge was moving on contact so he scored uncontested. Guidry visits the mound to calm down Wang with Sean Casey coming up in a big spot.

9:54- The visit didn't help as Casey rips a ball in to the left centerfield gap, scoring Polanco and advancing to second. The lead is cut to 5-3 and Wang has looked horribly ineffective. He has not looked spectacular at any point tonight and the Yankees are already warming up Bryan Bruney.

9:56- Big strikeout for Wang as he gets Ordonez swinging. Wang has been prone to middle inning slip ups this year and hopefully the top of the fifth got it out of his system.

10:01- Giambi is hit again by Robertson. Doubt that's on purpose, but a lot more suspicious considering he homered in his last at bat. McCarver refutes that was intentional, but Buck does point out Giambi seems displeased.
A-Rod strikes out looking. home plate umpire Tim McClellan's late call seems to really bother A-Rod. As has been pointed out on several occassions, that is McClellan's trademark but you know it bugs the players.

10:05- Matsui steps in and Buck informs the audience of Matsui's gaudy .500 postseason batting average against lefties. As any Yankee fan could tell him, every Yankee radio broadcast makes fun of opposing teams who bring in lefties out of the pen to face Matsui late in games. He crushes lefty pitching. Right on cue, Matsui weakly grounds back to the mound. I'm really on my game tonight.

10:14-Wang retires the side on three groundouts. Luckily McCarver is too busy talking about Craig Monroe's mother Marilyn to discuss the ground ball outs. On the other side of that, how much do you think Monroe has heard about that in his life?

10:19- I'm glad Ken Rosenthal reads my blog. Reciting information previously posted on this site he's now going on about how 27 of Rivera's 34 postseason saves have come from more than one inning of work and how Torre plans to limit him to just one inning. His sideline report is overall pretty useless, no information that the normal fan couldn't have gathered online. Ideally a sideline reporter is supposed to give you some current, game time information that is not readily available. Not only that, he seems very uncomfortable when Buck tries to engage him in some friendly banter about the star studded crowd. The unscripted stuff really throws Rosenthal off his game.

10:23-Following Damon's single, Jeter rips his fourth hit of the night and second double. Second and third for Abreu. Abreu trickles a grounder under the glove of the diving Polanco to score Jeter and Damon for the second time tonight. The Yanks stretch the lead to 7-3 and finally chase Robertson from the game.

10:26- FOX frantically cuts back in to the game as Abreu races to second. On replay we see that new reliever Jason Grilli throws a pick off attempt over Casey's head allowing Abreu to advance. Grilli gets Sheffield to ground out to short to end the sixth. It's never a good thing if you come back to your broadcast after something has happened.

10:30- Wang records strike out number four, above his average of about 3 per start.

10:33- Torre comes to pull Wang out after 6 2/3 and only 93 pitches. Very curious about this decision as Wang has really settled down after a rough fifth. Really glad that FOX cut to commercials quickly because Mike Myers trotting in to the "Halloween" theme is one of the freakier happenings in baseball. Myers will come in to face Curtis Granderson, an early postseason test for the Yankees lefty specialist.

10:38-Test failed. Granderson tattoos an off-speed pitch in to the right field bleachers.

10:39-Myers gets yanked and greeted by boos. How quickly in to Torre's post game interview will he hear "why'd you pull Wang when you did?"

10:41-Proctor's turn to end the seventh. Buck doesn't even wait until the end of the game, he
immediately asks about Torre's decision. Finally I beat them to the punch, it was only a matter of time. Polanco rips a pitch to right center, thus making Torre's decision look even worse.

10:45-The tying run steps to the plate in the person of Magglio Ordonez after Casey singles to right. Crisis diverted as Magglio just misses it, sending a fly ball to centerfield.

10:47- We have a Ronan Tynan sighting. You know it's Yankees postseason baseball when we see him. Rudy can't contain his smile, neither can I. Best version of God Bless America you can ever hear. He also taught us that there's a verse of God Bless America that no one ever realized existed. I only hope it annoys Jim Leyland the way it drove the Twins crazy.

10:50-Ronan finally wraps it up to a rousing ovation. Even though my friend points out he looks
eerily similar to Sloth from the Goonies, my rooting interest in him is undeterred. Aside from Whitney Houston's national anthem at Super Bowl XXV, no one gives a more stirring rendition of a patriotic song than our beloved Irish Tenor.

10:53-New pitcher for the Tigers is lefty Jamie Walker. Giambi gets on base again, this time walking as opposed to being hit. Great night for Giambi, especially considering his recent struggles.

10:56- A-Rod hits another ball on the nose, this one right at Ordonez. Although he's only one for four, he's had a solid night. He's swinging the bat well and he's going to get his fair share of hits this postseason. The Tigers insist on having a lefty face him, I really hope he gets a hit here to redeem my earlier comments...
Luckily he grounds weakly to avoid the double play, but the force is made at second on Giambi. Really glad I've been going out on a limb for Matsui.

11:01- Runners on first and third for Cano. He's way overdue, 0 for 3 so far. He's been an RBI
machine since getting off the DL. Again, I'm feeling it. FOX shows the post-DL numbers, just a hair behind my comments. Now if Robbie can just back me up I'll be 2 for 2 on this one...and he flies out to right. I'm glad my first experimentation with live updates has shown my tremendous prognosticating abilities.

11:05- A few changes for the Yanks with Farnsworth taking over on the mound and Andy Phillips replacing Sheff at first.

11:07- Farnsworth misses with his first four pitches. I wonder if Kyle read ESPN.com's 100 reasons to watch the MLB Playoffs. Reason number 21: Kyle Farnsworth is guaranteed to cost the Yankees a game.

11:09- Retires Pudge on a lazy fly to left, but still concerned that Farnsworth is shying away
from the heat. He gets himself in to trouble when he doesn't trust his fastball, looks shaky right now.

11:11-FOX just scanned past Vito from the Sopranos with not even a mention of his name. Of course they point out Denzel, Trump, Ewing, Spike Lee, Regis, Rudy, Bloomberg, but no love for Vito? That hurts. On a brighter note, Farnsworth strikes out Monroe for a big second out.

11:16-Jeter hauls in Thames' pop up. Despite being erratic, Farnsworth does his job by getting
out of the eighth unscathed.

11:22-Jeter drives a ball deep to left center for a homerun and his fifth hit of the night. The MVP chants are booming and Jeter will definitely need to make a curtain call. What a performance by the captain.

11:25- Inning ends on a fly to center by Andy Phillips, but what an unreal night for Jeter. Even with an 8-4 lead heading in to the ninth, the ball will probably be handed over to Rivera.

11:29- Enter Sandman.

11:34- Cano to Jeter to Phillips, game over. Rivera nails it down with a 1-2-3 in the ninth to preserve the 8-4 victory. Yankee fans have to be concerned with how the bullpen performed.

11:35- Jeter gives Rosenthal about 30 seconds for a postgame interview. He again answers "none of us are concerned with personal accolades" when asked about his MVP chances. I know he's obligated to ask the question, but really Rosenthal has served no purpose to the broadcast. Jeter's answered this question the same way for weeks, how is that going to change now?

Overall a big win for the Yankees as the lineup showed how lethal it should be throughout the playoffs. Yankee fans should be concerned about the performances of Mike Myers and Scott Proctor out of the bullpen, as well as the solid showing by the Tigers bullpen. Aside from Jeter's home-run they kept the Tigers in the game and Detroit's offense proved to be relentless. They kept fighting and produced 12 hits. It'll be interesting to see how Detroit rebounds from a game one loss. Rookie Justin Verlander takes the hill against Mike Mussina in what should be a very exciting game two.