The Evil Empire is vanquished...and the Tigers move on
It was 3 plus hours of heart-stopping tension on Thursday night, when the Tigers took on the Yankees. I had to watch most of the game in the Magic Basement, because I was so nervous that I had to alternately pace or lift my free weights to burn off a little steam. Outside of a Michigan State game in (name your sport), I have never wanted a team (i.e. the Tigers) to win a game so badly.
The Tigers must have been reading my previous blog post, because they jumped off to an early 2-0 lead when supersub Don Kelly and valuable newcomer Delvon Young hit back-to-back home runs. And thus began the almost unbearable tension as the Tigers hung on to that lead and eventually won, 3-2. Doug Fister, Max Scherzer, Joaquin Benoit, and Jose Valverde pitched wonderfully to contain the powerful Yankee hitting. Sure, the Yankees managed to threaten a few times, but the Tigers' pitching bore down to get out of these jams as they did for most of the regular season. Outside of a solo homer by Robinson Cano, and a bases loaded walk to Mark Teixeira pushing home a run, the Yankees were silent.
A few random observations of the game:
Yankees' manager Joe Girardi may have been overthinking his constant pitching changes. I don't think this helped his team.
The Yankees are essentially a collection of superstars (some of whom, particularly in the case of Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter, are aging and overpayed), the Tigers are a TEAM. This team concept is best exemplified in the way Don Kelly played. A-Rod probably makes more in one week than Kelly makes in a year, yet Kelly had a much better series and his first inning homer (quickly followed by Young's homer) set the tone for the entire game.
This matchup reminded me of the 2004 NBA Finals between the Pistons and the Lakers. The unheralded Pistons beat the Lakers' collection of superstars.
The energy and excitement in Michigan for this team, and for the resurgent Detroit Lions, is palpable. You can feel it in the air. It's amazing the way that a successful sports team can capture the imagination of a divergent group of people. It may not solve all the problems we have in Michigan, but it will at least take our minds off it a little while...and also let the rest of the nation know that there is still life here in the Rust Belt.
Well, I'm getting booted off the computer. Maybe I'll have a chance to finish these thoughts later.
The Tigers must have been reading my previous blog post, because they jumped off to an early 2-0 lead when supersub Don Kelly and valuable newcomer Delvon Young hit back-to-back home runs. And thus began the almost unbearable tension as the Tigers hung on to that lead and eventually won, 3-2. Doug Fister, Max Scherzer, Joaquin Benoit, and Jose Valverde pitched wonderfully to contain the powerful Yankee hitting. Sure, the Yankees managed to threaten a few times, but the Tigers' pitching bore down to get out of these jams as they did for most of the regular season. Outside of a solo homer by Robinson Cano, and a bases loaded walk to Mark Teixeira pushing home a run, the Yankees were silent.
A few random observations of the game:
Yankees' manager Joe Girardi may have been overthinking his constant pitching changes. I don't think this helped his team.
The Yankees are essentially a collection of superstars (some of whom, particularly in the case of Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter, are aging and overpayed), the Tigers are a TEAM. This team concept is best exemplified in the way Don Kelly played. A-Rod probably makes more in one week than Kelly makes in a year, yet Kelly had a much better series and his first inning homer (quickly followed by Young's homer) set the tone for the entire game.
This matchup reminded me of the 2004 NBA Finals between the Pistons and the Lakers. The unheralded Pistons beat the Lakers' collection of superstars.
The energy and excitement in Michigan for this team, and for the resurgent Detroit Lions, is palpable. You can feel it in the air. It's amazing the way that a successful sports team can capture the imagination of a divergent group of people. It may not solve all the problems we have in Michigan, but it will at least take our minds off it a little while...and also let the rest of the nation know that there is still life here in the Rust Belt.
Well, I'm getting booted off the computer. Maybe I'll have a chance to finish these thoughts later.
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