I had to write this. He did everything he could to blow that game last night. In the bottom of the ninth he brings in Valverde fresh off his explosion in the 4th game of the A's series where he blew a 3-1 lead. Now bringing him in was questionable but after Ichiro hit the 2 run homer he should have been long gone (as Ernie Harwell used to say.) But Leyland let him stay in the game and he promptly walked the next batter. Now with the tying run at the plate and his last chance to do something smart, Leyland sat there and watched as Valverde served up a game tying 2 run gopher to Ibanez. All this while thousands of Tiger fans were throwing things and cursing their TVs. If he'd done the right thing and taken Valverde out sooner, the Tigers would have won in the 9th and JETER WOULD STILL HAVE TWO GOOD ANKLES. They used to call relievers firemen when I was younger. Valverde is an arsonist.
I haven't watched any of the post-season, but I'm going to now. I love a good arsonist on the bump in post-season.
One of those night when I was glad I moved to Milwaukee as I do not think watching Valverde on a regular basis would be good for Anne's or my long-term health. Sparky Anderson went into the Hall of Fame and Leyland will be in there also. But, both share the characteristic of trusting and remaining loyal to veteran players who performed well in the past to a fault. Anderson kept using Willie Hernandez as a closer well past the time when Willie’s effective shelf life expired and Leyland needs to super-glue Papa Grande's ass to the bench when it is the 9th inning and the Tigers have the lead. I wonder if there was someone in the suburban Detroit area not interested in sports who was taking their dog for a late-night walk right at the moment when Valverde gave up the 2-run shot to Ibanez and was wondering why loud voices screaming the worst profanities imaginable could be heard coming from every neighborhood home at the exact same moment.
Guess Leyland has had enough: Valverde's new job duty as the designated "closer" during the 9th inning will be to toss sunflower seeds to the birds that hang around the ballpark.
Love him or hate him or second-guess him (I am a fan of Leyland), he has the Tigers 2-0 as the visiting team. That's huge.
I wouldn't give any credit to our pitchers who in the last 3 games have given up ZERO RUNS. (except for the 4 runs Valverde gave up in 2/3 of an inning last night.) What brilliance Leyland has for continuing the pitching rotation.
It is huge, Sid. If the Tigers win the playoff series over the Yankess, this will be the third time the Yankees and Tigers have met in a league playoff series with the Tigers winning all three. Trivia time-If the Tigers and the Cards make it to the WS, the Cards will tie your Cubbies as the team who has faced the Tigers the most in WS play with each team playing the Tigers 4 times. Other team the Tigers have played against in the WS are the Pirates (1), Reds (1) and the Padres (1).
When Eric Show was playing for the Padres, his brother-in-law told me what it was like being on the family bus, which followed the team bus going to the ballpark there in Detroit for the World Series. He said that rocks, bricks, eggs, fruits and vegetables starting hitting both busses several blocks from the park. He described huge crowds of angry people screaming obsenities and lining the streets from more than a mile away trying to tip over the bus or break out it's windows and injure the women and children inside. Nice town, Detroit...
8) That's because you're not a Dodger Dog. We had the best hitting team in baseball as late as June. By October, our payroll had ballooned upwards $200 million and our team batting average sank like an Italian cruise ship...
Personally I want the Yankees/Cards. Pops Martin is a Yankee homer, and we haven't met them since 1964. The Cards have already been recent with the Tigers ('06), and I'd rather have the Back to Back be against the Yanks.