Jeff Riger: If The Tigers Go To The World Series, You Can Look Back On This
Even though the Tigers trail the Rangers 3 games to 2 for a chance to go to the World Series, nobody can deny that this has been a great series. Every game has been so close and filled with so much drama that Detroit Tiger fans everywhere have made sure they know the name of a good cardiologist.
From pitch to pitch and inning to inning, Tiger fans have been living on the edge and so far they are still alive, and that right now is the only thing that matters.
After the Tigers fell down 3 games to 1 in the ALCS, the series seemed destined for the Rangers to go back to the Fall Classic. However after an inspiring 7-5 Detroit victory in game 5 on Thursday evening, things seem more doable for Detroit as both teams head back to Texas for games 6 and hopefully 7 as well.
So can they do it? I say they have a solid chance. Max Scherzer will go in game 6 and Doug Fister is slated to pitch in a potential game 7 plus after a couple days off, Jose Valverde and Joaquin Benoit are back in the mix to perform in the late innings out of the pen for Jim Leyland.
Also, Detroit launched four long balls on Thursday and guys that are way too banged up performed well like Alex Avila hitting an opposite field Homer and Delmon Young hitting two. So I have no clue if Detroit can pull this thing out, but I do know what fans will look back to if they do.
Baseball managers like Leyland refuse to believe in momentum, they say it's all in the next day's pitcher. However I believe fully in momentum and to me, there was no bigger play in game 5 then a double play that Justin Verlander got Ian Kinsler to ground out into. It was the top of the sixth inning and Verlander's pitch count was quickly climbing into the 100 pitch territory.
Leyland said before the game that he was going to try to use just Verlander and Phil Coke to get through the game. Well, the plan was not looking good as Mike Napoli singled followed by a David Murphy double a couple batters later that got Napoli to third.
The very next hitter was Mitch Moreland, who Verlander proceeded to walk. The bases were loaded and there was just one out in a 2-2 game. Ian Kinsler was up and it was pretty obvious to every fan in the house that the Rangers were going to take the lead and the series was in jeopardy of being over.
But as usual, Verlander took it upon himself to get out of a jam that he created and he did it in almost effortless fashion. Verlander got Kinsler to ground out into a 5-3 double play. Brandon Inge picked up the grounder, threw to Miguel Cabrera at first and the Tigers were out of the biggest jam of the game.
I remember at the time tweeting that if the Tigers come back and win this series, then that play will have the potential to be looked back on as to where everything started to change. After the double play, Detroit came in to hit and the true wackiness broke out. Ryan Raburn led off the bottom of the sixth with a single, followed by a Cabrera double down the third base line.
Now I don't think I need to remind anybody that up until the double play, Detroit not only was injured but they also were not getting any bounces. Well that changed! It turned out that the Cabrera ball hit third base and popped over Adrian Beltre's head.
Raburn was able to score on the play and Detroit took a 3-2 lead. But the Tigers were just warming up. After Miggy came Victor Martinez who hit a shot to right field that "Tiger killer" Nelson Cruz played wrong. Cruz dove for the ball, did not catch it and Martinez was able to stretch a double into a triple.
Ohh, and by the way, V-Mart is not fast....at all. The very next batter was Delmon Young who hit a 2 run homer, his second long ball of the game and the Tigers had put up 4 runs in the 6th and led 6-2. After the game, Leyland joked with the media that he had already taken third base and put it away, so someday he can put it in his memorabilia collection.
Detroit would move on to get another run and even though Cruz hit yet another homer in the 8th inning and Texas scored another in the ninth, Phil Coke was able to close out the game and Detroit is still alive.
Again, I have no clue if the Tigers can pull this out considering how good a team the Rangers are and how good their lineup is. However, if Detroit does the unthinkable and moves on to the World Series, then I think we all know what play we can look back on and say "that is where it all changed." It was that double play. Man what a series this has been...
