Conventional Wisdom Notwithstanding
It finally happened. I'd be lying if I claimed that I didn't want to say "I told you so." Every good thing must come to an end, especially when that thing involves the baseball team in Detroit. The Tigers' youth and inexperience was bound to catch up to them eventually. This is, after all, the Champioship Series, a time when seasoned playoff veterans matter more than the young and energetic.
No one should be surprised that Detroit folded to the A's in the ALCS. You just can't expect 23-year-old Justin Verlander, who crossed into 200 IP territory for the first time in his career, and 21-year-old Joel Zumaya to keep throwing video-game-quality smoke for strikes. One hundred-and-sixty-two games and the excitement of the postseason for young fireballers make for tired arms and wild pitches. Let's not forget about the 42-year-old Kenny Rogers, whose creaks and groans could only be iced-and-massaged away for so many games before he fell apart completely.
And how long could this lineup keep hitting anyway? Everyone knows free-swingers like the Tigers fall early in the playoffs. Their leadoff hitter, 25-year-old center fielder Curtis Granderson, K'ed 174 times this season! How could they possibly get any offense going against pitchers like Barry Zito, Rich Harden and Dan Haren of the A's? Not to mention the Tigers lost their only left-handed power threat after first baseman Sean Casey injured his calf on a swing.
The cards of conventional wisdom were stacked against the Tigers, and even though they became the feel-good story of the Majors this season, it wasn't realistic to expect them to keep winning under the circumstaces. Baseball is a game of sure things -- nobody can come back down 0-3 in a series, no catcher can ever win a batting title with the modern schedule, and no free-swinging, overly-energetic, extremely young (or old) players will ever lead a team to the World Series. All that Tiger smiling and shoulder-bumping was destined to be short-lived this postseason. So let's tip our caps to Detroit and wait a few years before we celebrate their return to the ranks of truly successful teams in Major League Baseball. Detroit, we are all sorry to see you go, but it was all too easy to see coming.
What's that you say? They swept the A's? Yeah ... yeah, right.
posted by Jay @ 3:29 PM
3 Comments
3 Comments:
Zumaya and Verlander throw like 103 and 99. Every time. These guys are legit. I never thought I'd see the day...Detroit the AL champs.
screw the tigers.
Was I the only person convinced the Tigers would beat the Yankees, their 2nd round opponent and make it to the series? Despite all the cajoling from the baseball pundits (even the mighty duo of Gammons and Kurkjian picked the Yanks), I reamained skeptical. It was only after game 1 of the division series that I finally beacme convinced that the Yankees could outperform the young arms...how wrong I was. I was heartborken but not suprised when the young flamethrowers mowed down the Yanks in the subsequent 3 games. As for the Athletics, they never stood a chance. What have we learned from 100+ years of baseball? Good pitching beats good hitting every time. Period. PERIOD! It is only over the course of weeks and months that hitters break down pitching staffs. Unless you make the playoffs best of 11 gamesw each round, then teams with 2-3 good starters are built more appropriately than 8 all-star position players. The Mets were my only hope of shutting down this mid-western juggernaught, but with the demise of Perdro and el Duque they seem headed for the same fate as the american leaugers. (Unless the 45 year old Duque makes good on his promise to pitch [well] in the WS...)
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