That unknown upper body injury suffered by Bruce Rubio 2 days ago turns out to have been a strained abdominal muscle. He'll be out for the remainder of the Series although he should be back weeell in time for spring training. Still, this leaves the Tigers without their #1 and #3 starters so... it's a good thing they're up 2-0. Reportedly the Tigers will cross their fingers with Juan Merino but that's also a decision they won't have to make for a few days.
For tonight, October 11, the Series moves to San Diego where the Padres really need to win the next 2 at least and ideally all 3 games to give themselves a real shot at winning. The Tigers send out Edgar Molina (1-0, 2.35), who allowed 13 hits and 2 HRs in his ALCS start vs the Sox but somehow escaped with 2 earned runs (3 total) in 7.2 IP and a series-clinching win. Steven Tyler (1-0, 6.75), who made up for being knocked out of the box in Game 1 with his own series-clinching, 7 IP, 1 ER performance in Game 4, is the man for the Padres tonight. Tyler struck out 175 batters in 273.2 IP but Ks have been few and far between for him so far, just 3 in 12 IP so far this postseason.
Since we're in San Diego, the NL rules apply and that means the Joker Jose Ayala is starting at 3rd base in place of Joe Theismann. Ayala did play 57 games at 3rd this season before switching to full-time DH duties and he was actually not so bad, given that he'd had a reputation for being a mediocre at best defender. It's still a big, big downgrade on D; Theismann is an excellent defender who'd have been in the running for Gold Glove had he started all season.
It's a liiiitle colder tonight than it's been in San Diego but still clear skies and 56 degrees. Knowing Californians this makes it winter overcoat weather. Also a wind blowing out to center! At 3 mph!
Top 1st: CF Alvin Romero walks to lead off the game. RF Frankie Faison doesn't even give him the chance to steal this time around; he swings at the first pitch he sees and hits into a 4-3 fielder's choice with Romero advancing to 2nd. 2B Joey Ramone flies to right. 3B Jose Ayala grounds out to short. 0-0.
Bottom 1st: RF Ed O'Neill flies out to center. CF Phil McGraw strikes out swinging, the 8th K by Edgar Molina in the postseason. 3B Dale Earnhardt hits a two-hopper to third base, where Jose Ayala picks it and throws it... wide of 1B Niki Lauda! Well, Lauda got it but the throw pulled him off the bag. Either way it's an E-5 to give the Padres the baserunner. 2B Paul McCartney strikes out. 0-0.
Top 2nd: 1B Niki Lauda walks on 4 pitches. That's 2 innings and 2 leadoff walks for Tyler, who also has 7 walks in 13 postseason IPs. LF Danny Hohman flies out to center. SS Rob Curran hits a ground ball to Paul McCartney at 2nd but it's too slow for a DP. Still, they get the lead man 4-6. C Armando Flores pops out to short left field where SS Joe Wicker is there for the final out. 0-0.
Bottom 2nd: 1B Carlos Palacios grounds it back to the pitcher for the first out. LF Ian Everett pops out to 3B Jose Ayala in foul territory. SS Joe Wicker gets the first base hit for either side in this game, a base hit into right field. Oliver Williams flies to center. 0-0.
Top 3rd: Edgar Molina, of course, has a long history of hitting... and he is *not* good at it: 421 career at-bats, a .059 average, and 241 Ks. Tyler strikes him out. Romero singles into right... and steals 2nd. Look, this is Alvin Romero. You can't stop him, you can only contain him. Frankie Faison grounds out 4-3 and Romero scampers to 3rd on the play. Joey Ramone slices one into left that Dr. Phil can only pick up on one hop. Romero scores easily. 1-0! Jose Ayala strikes out swinging. 1-0, Tigers.
Bottom 3rd: Steven Tyler, on the other hand, is pretty good at hitting: a .214 BA this year and .236 on his career. He still strikes out. O'Neill strikes out swinging on a nasty slider. Dr. Phil makes contact on a 1-2 pitch and foils the attempt at striking out the side; however, he only flies to right. 1-0, Tigers.
Top 4th: Niki Lauda checks his swing and takes ball 4 to lead it off. 2nd walk by him tonight and Tyler's 3rd in 3+ innings now. Hohman hits a smash to short; they get the out at 2nd but Lauda crashes into Paul McCartney to break up the DP. Hohman steals 2nd. That's his first of the postseason. He had 27 in the regular season (6th in the AL!) though. Curran grounds out 3U with Hohman getting over to 3rd. I'll walk Flores here to face Molina. Molina goes down 4-6 to retire the side. Hey, it's cheap but once again the leadoff walk does *not* come around to score. 1-0, Tigers.
Bottom 4th: Earnhardt pops out to 2nd. McCartney flies to deep left... no, Danny Hohman's got it on the warning track. Fortunately for Molina, this is a big park. Palacios belts a 2-out double off the center field wall. Everett hits a line drive... right at SS Rob Curran for the final out. After somehow allowing 13 hits in his only ALCS start, Edgar Molina was due some "atom" balls. 1-0, Tigers.
Top 5th: Romero hits a hard grounder towards 2nd that Paul McCartney gets in front of, plays, and throws to first in time. Faison lines out to 1st. Joey Ramone gets a 2-out single just past Paul McCartney. Tyler strikes out Jose Ayala on a 1-2 change that juuuust nips the outside corner of the plate. 1-0, Tigers.
Bottom 5th: Molina's cruising but we've seen this out of him before. Curran grounds out 5-3. Williams hits a hard grounder towards short. Rob Curran gets it and throws to first... and once more the throw's off the bag! E-6. Niki Lauda for what it's worth is not terrible as a defensive 1B. Steven Tyler lays down a successful bunt that goes 3-4 with Joey Ramone covering 1st on the wheel play. Ed O'Neill, with a prime 2-out clutch opportunity, gets frozen by a 1-2 slider from Molina to retire the side. 1-0, Tigers.
Top 6th: Lauda walks for the 3rd time tonight. That's 10 walks by Tyler in 17 postseason innings. He's not used to the spotlight! Lauda pops out to Earnhardt on the foul side of the 3rd base line. Curran strikes out on the 2-2 pitch. Flores flies to center. 1-0, Tigers.
Bottom 6th: McGraw strikes out swinging. 6 Ks for Molina tonight! Earnhardt hits a dribbler to short that Rob Curran juuuust fields in time for the out. McCartney hits one to deep left-center but Romero uses his natural speed to get there in time for out #3. 1-0, Tigers.
Top 7th: Molina flies out to center. Hey, he made contact twice tonight! Alvin Romero hits a ground ball up the middle but Rob Curran gets to it just in time for out #2. Frankie Faison belts one down the 1st base line. Ed O'Neill digs it out of the corner but not even close to in time to keep Faison from getting into 2nd with a 2-out stand-up double. Ramone pops out to 2nd to retire the side. 1-0, Tigers.
Bottom 7th: Palacios pops out to short. Molina's gotten past the power part of this order but, like, the man allowed 53 HRs this year so anyone could have power. By the way he's also only at 93 pitches now and doesn't look tired at all. Everett sneaks a little ground ball just past 2B Joey Ramone and on into center for a base hit. Wicker strikes out swinging. Oliver Williams flies out to center. 1-0, Tigers.
Top 8th: This is
probably Steven Tyler's last inning, given that he's due up in the bottom of the inning. He's at 106 pitches in spite of all the wildness and completed 10 games in the regular season so he doesn't *have* to. Ayala makes good contact with a 1-2 change and knocks one off the high left-field wall for a leadoff double. Tyler throws one low and outside but catchable... and Oliver Williams doesn't catch it! It's a passed ball with Ayala getting over to 3rd. With a 1 run game in place, I'm still pitching to Lauda. Nope! He walks anyway! That's his 4th walk of the game, which I am told is a new AL playoffs record. Tyler walks the bases loaded. Okay, he's not really even looking tired but I think it's time to pull the youthful Aerosmith frontman.
Robbie Vaughn enters the game; this is now his 5th game of the postseason and he's yet to allow a run yet. Theismann comes in to pinch-hit for the lefty Rob Curran. It's a clutch base hit to left! Everyone moves up 90 feet. 2-0! Flores stays in and the Padres get the 6-2 force out at the plate. I think we're going to leave it at 2 runs; Edgar Molina is pitching too well to remove. He duly strikes out for the 2nd out. OK I'm understating things (or else I lost track of how many outs there were, um), as Alvin Romero enters with a shot at a 2-out clutch RBI. He unfortunately grounds out 3U to retire the side. 2-0, Tigers.
Bottom 8th: I'm making a couple moves for defensive purposes. Joe Theismann stays in the game at 3rd base. Joe Ayala moves to 1st and taking over the 5-hole and playing shortstop is Matt Mullen. Mullen incidentally was Detroit's starting SS from 1967 to 1971 before falling into a platoon role the past couple seasons. Pinch-hitting for Robbie Vaughn is Dr. Jack Holman. He strikes out swinging. Ed O'Neill juuust makes contact with an 0-2 pitch and pops out to 3rd. Dr. Phil inside-outs an 0-2 change-up and drills it into right with a 2-out base hit. WELP. GUESS WHAT HAPPENED. Edgar Molina makes his first mistake of the day, grooving one to Dale Earnhardt for a 2-run homerun! 2-2! Paul McCartney hits an 0-2 pitch into right for a 2-out base hit. Palacios grounds out to 2nd. It's tied! 2-2!
Top 9th: I'll engineer the good old double switch, leaving Dr. Jack to stay in at 1st and putting Parchman into the 5 slot so that he can throw a couple, maybe even 3 innings if needed. This is his 5th postseason game; like Robbie Vaughn he also has yet to allow a run (or a hit for that matter). Frankie Faison leads off with a base hit up the middle. Ramone makes it two straight with a base hit into right! Ed O'Neill gets to it too quickly for Faison to take 3rd but we've got a man in scoring position with nobody out. JOSE AYALA BELTS ONE INTO RIGHT CENTER FIELD! IT IS GOING! IT IS GOING! IT IS GOOOOOONE! A 3 RUN HOME RUN BY THE JOKER AND IT'S A 5-2 BALLGAME! Parchman didn't allow a single HR in the regular season. I guess you've got to have a first some time! Matt Mullen flies out to center. Danny Hohman strikes out looking. Theismann belts a 2-out double against the right field wall. Pinch-hitting for the catcher is Manny Duran... well, he's pinch-hitting long enough to be walked on purpose. Alejandro Cortes (.196, 7, 18) makes his second post-season appearance in relief of Edgar Molina. He had a bad, bad regular season but you can't count this 3-time All-Star out. Well, he strikes out but STILL. It's 5-2!
Bottom 9th: Backup C Joel Moise makes his 2nd late-inning appearance behind the plate and his new battery-mate is Jim Marceau, who pitched in all 3 games of the ALCS and already is seeing his 2nd game in the World Series. He's no Sparky Lemus but the Tigers are being kind of forced to use him like an ace. Ian Everett leads it off and grounds out 4-3. The old crusty vet Elijah Johnson will come in to pinch-hit for SS Joe Wicker. He did hit .311 as a pinch-hitter in the regular season. However, here he flies to left and the Pads are down to their final out. It's the Swamp Fox, 40 year old Kevin Landry, coming in to pinch for C Oliver Williams, who's just 2-18 in October. Landry grounds out to short! Game over! 5-2, Tigers win!
The Pads have put themselves into a big, big hole, and in the most unexpected and yet most inevitable way possible: off of a rare meltdown by their ace stopper. It's technically not a blown save since the score was tied at the time but Parchman only blew 6 saves in 36 opportunities (which trust me is a really good ratio for 1973), so it just didn't happen much. He also had 8 meltdowns vs 33 shutdowns. I realize that's the kind of expert modern day stats we aren't supposed to know about in this era but I like the clutch messages it sends.
ANYWAY... this series might very well end in San Diego, if not tomorrow in Game 4 then the next day in Game 5.
