OT: Two Incredible collapses in one night

[vintagechris]

I always hate when fans from the losing team whine about the refs or the umps.
Take the loss like a grown up and move on.

The Tigers won the series like many people who were not wearing Yankees goggles, thought they would. It was an exciting game last night. Seemed like the game was on the line with every pitch, especially those last three innings.

Great entertainment. I really think the Tigers are spent. The Rangers should be going back to the World Series for the 2nd year in a row. Pulling for the hometown boy Josh Hamilton.

[bh3443]

Great entertainment. I really think the Tigers are spent. The Rangers should be going back to the World Series for the 2nd year in a row. Pulling for the hometown boy Josh Hamilton.[/QUOTE]

I hope Hamilton gets a ring! He deserves it.

[BleedinBlue]

And just like that...

The AL East is gone...

[Kalineman]

The beauty of baseball... Doug Fister, Delmon Young and Don Kelly were all deemed expendable at various times this year by various teams... but they were clutch on Thursday night. Go Tigers!

[tbob]

Originally Posted by Kalineman

The beauty of baseball... Doug Fister, Delmon Young and Don Kelly were all deemed expendable at various times this year by various teams... but they were clutch on Thursday night. Go Tigers!

Nick- Delmon Young was considered expendable by the Twins because they have an imbecile for a General Manager named Bill Smith who is a disgrace. They got the typical bag of rocks for Young, much like the bag of rocks they got for Johann Santana and the bag of rocks they got for JJ Hardy who hit 30+HRs this year. No wonder they lost 99 games this year.
But, I was glad to see Delmon hit the ball so well.
tbob
P.S. Fister was a steal, the Twins passed on him (see above paragraph).

[tbob]

Joe G.- sounds like a great trip! Everyone needs to enjoy the color and atmosphere of an OU-Texas Red River Shootout but unfortunately Texas is the most overrated team in college football this year so it could get one-sided. Still a fun trip. Have fun cheering on the Tigers, I picked them to win it all this year and they have cleared the first hurdle.
tbob

[oldjudge]

Jeff-I don't think there is that much to fix with the Yankees, although they do not require some fixing. Even with the underachieving squad of this season they were probably one good starter away from the ALCS and possibly the world series. If they had been able to sign Cliff Lee we might be having a different discussion now. Are they getting old-absolutely. Jeter and Mariano will more likely than not be worse next year. Arod may or may not be given his injury plagued season this year. He will never be the old Arod (do we even know what the old Arod would have been with the Yankees without the juice?) but with a good off season conditioning program he could be better than this year. Granderson will have a hard time matching this season's numbers but Gardner, Cano and Martin should match or exceed them. Teixeira has a shot at posting better numbers next year, certainly in batting average. If he would only learn to bunt and just occasionally lay one down third he could add thirty points to his average(18 more hits a year based on 600 ABs) and get teams to stop shifting on him. Add to this that they will have Montero for a full season and they really don't look bad in terms of every day players. I would like to see them get a new RF. Swisher is certainly good enough during the regular season but his post season stats make Arod look like a post season superstar. The Yankees have one of the best or the best bullpen in the AL so no issue there. Where they are really weak, as you correctly pointed out, is their starting pitching. They need to get Sabathia back and hopefully back in better shape. Nova has a lot of promise going forward and I am optimistic about Hughes. However, I see these two no better than number three starters. Therefore, I think their most pressing need is a top drawer starter (they grow on trees, don't they?). However, with Posada's contract gone(I would not resign him) and hopefully Swisher gone, there will be some extra money and I would go big for the right guy either via FA signing or trade.

[yanks12025]

Originally Posted by vintagechris

I always hate when fans from the losing team whine about the refs or the umps.
Take the loss like a grown up and move on.

The Tigers won the series like many people who were not wearing Yankees goggles, thought they would. It was an exciting game last night. Seemed like the game was on the line with every pitch, especially those last three innings.

Great entertainment. I really think the Tigers are spent. The Rangers should be going back to the World Series for the 2nd year in a row. Pulling for the hometown boy Josh Hamilton.

It's not whining when there's proof to prove that the strike zones were different for each team. Half the time the Tigers pitchers got the outside corner, while the Yankees could only get a strike down the middle. Look up the charts, look at how the players acted because of the bad zones and even TBS made comments.

[calvindog]

The Yankees didn't lose because of the umps. They lost because their starting pitching is mediocre as has been their ace the past month of the season. They lost because they've got a zillion dollars tied up in ARod who is actually probably worth about $5 million a year instead of $30 million -- and they're stuck with that albatross of a contract for another six years. Brett Gardner is worth more than ARod right now. They lost because they've overpaid Jeter going forward. They've got a handful of solid players and a few fantastic ones. They got what they deserved and any dispassionate observer could have seen this coming in this series.

[yanks12025]

Originally Posted by calvindog

The Yankees didn't lose because of the umps. They lost because their starting pitching is mediocre as has been their ace the past month of the season. They lost because they've got a zillion dollars tied up in ARod who is actually probably worth about $5 million a year instead of $30 million -- and they're stuck with that albatross of a contract for another six years. Brett Gardner is worth more than ARod right now. They lost because they've overpaid Jeter going forward. They've got a handful of solid players and a few fantastic ones. They got what they deserved and any dispassionate observer could have seen this coming in this series.

They lost because they didn't score runs! Looking forward to next year anyway, hopefully we get rid of Swisher and stuff.

[vintagechris]

Originally Posted by yanks12025

They lost because they didn't score runs! Looking forward to next year anyway, hopefully we get rid of Swisher and stuff.

The Tigers really must be breathing a sigh of relief this morning. Yankees had lots of chances and the game just seemed to have the feel that the Yanks were going to eventually break through but they never did. I really thought A-Rod was going to get a hit when the bases were loaded.

Three cheers for Jorge Posada in this series and last night. He's a class guy and played well.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by calvindog

The Yankees didn't lose because of the umps. They lost because their starting pitching is mediocre as has been their ace the past month of the season. They lost because they've got a zillion dollars tied up in ARod who is actually probably worth about $5 million a year instead of $30 million -- and they're stuck with that albatross of a contract for another six years. Brett Gardner is worth more than ARod right now. They lost because they've overpaid Jeter going forward. They've got a handful of solid players and a few fantastic ones. They got what they deserved and any dispassionate observer could have seen this coming in this series.

I get most of the post but why even bring up the pitching? Detroit scored 17 runs the whole series.

The pitching staff performed admirably and Girardi made the right decisions handling them at every turn of the series. The starting staff actually had a lower ERA for the season then a Yankee staff has had in a very, very long time. Impressive considering the bandbox they moved into.

Their stuff was not as electric as some of the Tigers pitchers, but they held their own.

They just didn't get the hits when they needed to. Jeter is a tad slower with the bat then he used to be, and the power guys A-Rod and Texiera are not exactly known for tearing it up in the postseason.

BTW, anybody else think Cano hit the ball right on the sweet spot when he broke his bat against Valverde in the last inning? One of the oddest broken bats I've seen and a ball that might have gone a long way if the bat didn't give out. Makes me wonder if the bat had a crack in it already, that Cano didn't notice earlier.

[vintagechris]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

I get most of the post but why even bring up the pitching? Detroit scored 17 runs the whole series.

The pitching staff performed admirably and Girardi made the right decisions handling them at every turn of the series. The starting staff actually had a lower ERA for the season then a Yankee staff has had in a very, very long time. Impressive considering the bandbox they moved into.

Their stuff was not as electric as some of the Tigers pitchers, but they held their own.

They just didn't get the hits when they needed to. Jeter is a tad slower with the bat then he used to be, and the power guys A-Rod and Texiera are not exactly known for tearing it up in the postseason.

BTW, anybody else think Cano hit the ball right on the sweet spot when he broke his bat against Valverde in the last inning? One of the oddest broken bats I've seen and a ball that might have gone a long way if the bat didn't give out. Makes me wonder if the bat had a crack in it already, that Cano didn't notice earlier.

I was thinking the same thing with the Cano AB. He seemed to hit it right on the sweet spot.

I think Barry hit it right on the "sweet spot" in regards to the Yankees. Many of their core players are at the tail end of their careers. Even a guy like Teixeira, who I don't think is over the hill by any means, has been in the league for 10 or 11 years.

The pitching staff could see some serious trouble with their current age.

[vintagechris]

Originally Posted by yanks12025

It's not whining when there's proof to prove that the strike zones were different for each team. Half the time the Tigers pitchers got the outside corner, while the Yankees could only get a strike down the middle. Look up the charts, look at how the players acted because of the bad zones and even TBS made comments.

It's human element. Besides, I thought Benoit had quite a few pitches that didn't go his way when he got into trouble. They sure weren't giving him the outside corner. Sorry Brock, but each time your team lost you complained about the strike zone. To me, that is whining.

I know you may not want to admit this, but the Tigers were the better team. The better team won.

I am one of those people that believe officiating any kind of game is such a thankless job. You are always going to have someone upset with you.

[prewarsports]

My favorite team is the Mariners and my second favorite team is... whoever plays the Yankees. At least I have something to be happy about this year. It was good to see Doug Fister go to a contender halfway through this year. It is not that the Mariners thought he was expendable, they wanted him, but they needed the pieces they got more than they needed another low ERA pitcher on a team that cant hit.

How great would it be for baseball to have the Brewers, D Backs, Rangers, and Tigers fighting for the World Series. Good ole Bud Selig would be happy about one of them I guess!