Today is the off day in the American League Championship Series. The Detroit Tigers lead the New York Yankees two games to none. The Tigers, probably just looking for a split, took both games in New York over the weekend backed by pitching and timely hitting. The Yankees also had the pitching, but the hitting just wasn't there. This is partially false though. This couple sentences describe the box scores of Game 1 and 2, but it doesn't accurately describe what actually happened on the field. The fact of the matter is the Tigers enjoyed immense luck throughout the first two games of the ALCS, and the Yankees could get right back into it once reality sets in for themselves and the Tigers.
The Detroit Tigers are known for Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander, first and foremost. They are the iconic stars of Motor City. On second look, you discover they have other great hitters in Prince Fielder, Austin Jackson, and Delmon Young. On third look, you discover they have good pitching behind Verlander in Doug Fister, Max Scherzer, and Anibal Sanchez. But then on the fourth look, you realize that their defense is below average at best. They win their games because of either good hitting or good pitching, rarely good defense. Anybody will tell you this. However, when you look at Game 1 and 2 of the ALCS, they won because of good defense. As of now, Jhonny Peralta should be the front runner for the title of MVP of the series. Peralta, the shortstop that looks like he should be at third, has made three extremely hard plays at short that saved at least four runs in Game 1 and at least one run in Game 2.
The first play came in the 1st inning of Game 1 with the bases loaded and two outs. Alex Rodriguez hit a bullet in the hole between short and third, Peralta dove to left, got the ball, and made a twisting throw from his backside that somehow made it to second without pulling second baseman, Omar Infante, off the bag. On a scale of 1-10, the degree of difficulty of the play was about 25, and yet he made it. The second play came in the 2nd inning of Game 1 with the bases loaded and two outs again. This time Robinson Cano hit a bullet up the middle that never got to center field, instead hitting off the pitcher's wrist. The ball ricocheted to a charging Peralta who scooped it up and fired to first to get Cano according to the umpire, but replay showed Cano beat out the bang-bang play. Two runs would have definitely scored on both of these plays, and considering the Yankees eventually lost by two, both plays loom large. Also, if these plays weren't made, extra innings might have not been needed and Derek Jeter might still be playing instead of debating whether to have surgery on his broken ankle or not. The Yankees sleeping bats and Jeter's injury dominated Game 1 headlines, but these two plays were the ones that swung the game in Detroit's favor.
The third play Peralta made happened in Game 2. It's not quite as pivotal as the first two plays, but it still made a difference. It came in the 6th with runners on first and third and two outs. Russell Martin hit a fast-moving groundball to short. Peralta charged, barehanded the ball, and a made a perfect throw to first to get Martin. While this play happens more often than diving stops and balls going off the pitcher, it still was very difficult, especially in a playoff game in which runs were at a premium (none had scored at that point). If Peralta doesn't make that play, the Yankees would have scored first and the game would have gone into extra innings had the second base umpire not blown a call that resulted in two runs for the Tigers. It would have gone to extras because had the game played out the same way, the Tigers scored in the next inning and it would have been 1-1 without the blown call. Of course, you can't assume the game would have played out the same exact way, but it's only fair or else Yankee fans could assume the offense could have exploded that inning or vice versa for Tiger fans. This play, and the two from Game 1, were not routine plays and luck played a role in all three of them. The Tigers also caught lucky breaks when a ball hit by Austin Jackson in the ball bucket in right field that turned a double into a triple and when Nick Swisher lost a ball in the lights in extra innings which allowed the game-winning run to cross the plate for the Tigers. Lady Luck has clearly been on the side of the Tigers so far.
While Detroit may snap back to reality on defense and in good fortune, the Yankees also need a reality check. They need to snap back on offense. The entire regular season no one was afraid that the bats wouldn't put up runs. Instead, everyone worried whether the starters could hold the lead long enough to get into the back end of the bullpen. The postseason has been the complete opposite, though. The starters have done an excellent job keeping games in range for the potent offense to strike. The problem is the offense hasn't been potent outside the 9th inning. Cano and Swisher entered the postseason hotter than hot and Curtis Granderson did strike out plenty but he still hit timely bombs to left. Now neither of the three can buy a hit. Cano has gone hit-less in 26 straight at-bats, which is a postseason record, while Swisher and Granderson have about five hits between them. Alex Rodriguez has morphed into the 2011 version of Adam Dunn, except with no power. Girardi was so frustrated that after he was done ripping the league for not having replay review he turned to his hitters and said they know how they are being pitched but haven't made any adjustments and they needed to make those adjustments. After listening to John Smoltz on the TBS broadcast say multiple times that the Tigers pitching staff has been throwing breaking balls in hitters counts instead of fastballs, I don't know how the hitters haven't adjusted and started sitting on breaking balls in those counts. I know that's easier said than done, but they haven't even attempted to adjust and they just look foolish out there.
While the story remains that the Yankees need to somehow figure out how to hit again, there were other factors involved in the two losses at Yankee Stadium. No one dared say that the Tigers were fortunate that Peralta didn't screw up on any of his amazing plays or when Swisher didn't make that play in right. Someone has to point out that it wasn't all Detroit Tigers and that someone might as well be me. They've had plenty of luck factor into their seemingly insurmountable 2-0 lead in the ALCS. That is a fact. No true baseball fan could look you in the eye and say otherwise. If you don't believe me, then you too need a reality check.
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