NEW YORK – Uh-oh. Not him!
It was a collective plea, an ensemble gasp, a worry so loud from Detroit fans you could hear it all the way here in Yankee Stadium. After a wonderful night full of great defense, timely hits and incredible escape-artist pitching by Doug Fister, the Tigers went to their closer in the bottom of the ninth, and a shiver of horror shot through Tiger Nation.
Papa Semi-Grande had entered Saturday night’s game.
Jose Valverde, the second of the two-headed monster that has become the Tigers’ late-inning relief pitching, came on to face the Yankees with a 4-0 lead. The same Jose Valverde last seen blowing Game 4 against the Athletics. This situation seemed safe, no? A four-run lead? Surely he could hold that, get his confidence back, perhaps return to a serviceable closer for the rest of this championship series?
But his first pitch to Yankees catcher Russell Martin was a 90-m.p.h. fastball, and while that might scare you or me, it’s a juicy steak to most good big-league hitters. Jim Leyland might have wanted to pull him out right then.
In hindsight, fans wish he had.
Instead, Martin smacked Valverde’s third pitch into centerfield for a single. Tigers fans broke a sweat. Two batters later, Ichiro Suzuki hit the narrowest shot down the rightfield line, into the seats – home run! – and those Tigers fans broke multiple piece of furniture.
Just like that, all the goose eggs posted by the previous Tigers pitchers were gone. The lead had been sliced in half, 4-2. But that was hardly the worst of it.
After striking out Robinson Cano, Valverde blew an 0-2 count and walked Mark Teixeira. Unforgivable. You simply have to get a ball in play at that point. You cannot walk a batter to put the tying run at the plate.
But that is what he did. Leyland stayed with him. And up walked Raul Ibanez, who has been on an incredible streak of ninth-inning heroics for the Yankees.
He had the perfect foil to keep his streak going.
Ibanez took Valverde’s second pitch and sent it screaming to the right-center seats, as straight as a rocket launch, as sure as destiny. Valverde didn’t even have to watch.
Unfortunately, the rest of us did.
One man’s mistakes
Never mind the final result – an amazing show of Detroit resilience that saw Delmon Young deliver a clutch double in the 12th inning for the winning RBI in an ultimate 6-4 victory. That’s great. That’s huge – given that Justin Verlander looms for a Game 3 start Tuesday at Comerica Park.
But for all that was gained, something important was lost as well. The Tigers, as great as they have played, are coming down the hill on a single ski now. They are skating with their laces untied. Their starting pitching is, I believe, the best in baseball. But they may not get beyond this American League Championship Series with Valverde as a closer. He is simply too unreliable, too slow with his fastball, too weak with a pickoff move. (What pickoff move? Every single turns a stolen base.) And psychologically, he is a burst balloon.
So are Tigers fans.
Detroit had this game in hand. Valverde nearly gave it away. Some things are just that simple. The noble thinking is you win as a team and you lose as a team, but there is nothing you can pin on any Tiger for those four runs except bad pitching by Valverde. All the Tigers fielders did was watch the balls sail.
Twenty-eight pitches, four runs, three hits, two home runs and a walk?
Yankees batters who looked completely stymied by Fister were salivating like hungry dogs on Valverde’s pitching. You can’t put him out there in any kind of critical situation this week. And by “critical situation” we mean any lead of less than five runs. He is done for now. How can he not be?
While I defend Leyland’s previous decisions to stick with his guy – what is he supposed to do anyhow? It’s not like you go out and get a new closer and trust me, it is not a role that you can just stick any pitcher into – the fact is, he has no choice now. It’s not just the fans looking at him. It has to be the players. They may not blame Valverde for his failings, but they don’t want to keep seeing him commit them. Not when they’re killing themselves to stay ahead of the opponent.
Pretend he’s injured
Interestingly, on the other side of the field, the Yankees have been battling a similar fight with superstar Alex Rodriguez. He has been in a horrible slump, and he was benched for Game 5 of the American League Division Series with the Orioles. After failing to produce at the plate Saturday night, he was pinch-hit for by manager Joe Girardi.
Now, if you can bench A-Rod, you can sit Jose Valverde. Closer is not an easy role to fill, and the Tigers do not have anyone naturally set to do it now. But they almost have to act as if Valverde is injured. What would they do then? They wouldn’t surrender. They’d sent out SOMEBODY, right?
It can’t be any worse than what happened here. You want to say a Game 1 setback is survivable, nothing more than a single night’s story. But there are setbacks and there are setbacks, and this game, so full of beautiful moments for the Tigers, was nearly handed away in a matter of minutes and a handful of pitches.
Detroit escaped an awful fate. There is nothing to be done about it. It cannot happen again. You feel for the guy. You hope for his recovery. But Papa Grande must be Persona Non Grande for now. The truth be told, he already is.
Contact Mitch Albom: 313-223-4581 or malbom@freepress.com. Catch “The Mitch Albom Show” 5-7 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM (760). Follow him on Twitter @mitchalbom. To read his recent columns, go to www.freep.com/mitch.
NEW YORK – Uh-oh. Not him!
It was a collective plea, an ensemble gasp, a worry so loud from Detroit fans you could hear it all the way here in Yankee Stadium. After a wonderful night full of great defense, timely hits and incredible escape-artist pitching by Doug Fister, the Tigers went to their closer in the bottom of the ninth, and a shiver of horror shot through Tiger Nation.
Papa Semi-Grande had entered Saturday night’s game.
Jose Valverde, the second of the two-headed monster that has become the Tigers’ late-inning relief pitching, came on to face the Yankees with a 4-0 lead. The same Jose Valverde last seen blowing Game 4 against the Athletics. This situation seemed safe, no? A four-run lead? Surely he could hold that, get his confidence back, perhaps return to a serviceable closer for the rest of this championship series?
But his first pitch to Yankees catcher Russell Martin was a 90-m.p.h. fastball, and while that might scare you or me, it’s a juicy steak to most good big-league hitters. Jim Leyland might have wanted to pull him out right then.
In hindsight, fans wish he had.
Instead, Martin smacked Valverde’s third pitch into centerfield for a single. Tigers fans broke a sweat. Two batters later, Ichiro Suzuki hit the narrowest shot down the rightfield line, into the seats – home run! – and those Tigers fans broke multiple piece of furniture.
Just like that, all the goose eggs posted by the previous Tigers pitchers were gone. The lead had been sliced in half, 4-2. But that was hardly the worst of it.
After striking out Robinson Cano, Valverde blew an 0-2 count and walked Mark Teixeira. Unforgivable. You simply have to get a ball in play at that point. You cannot walk a batter to put the tying run at the plate.
But that is what he did. Leyland stayed with him. And up walked Raul Ibanez, who has been on an incredible streak of ninth-inning heroics for the Yankees.
He had the perfect foil to keep his streak going.
Ibanez took Valverde’s second pitch and sent it screaming to the right-center seats, as straight as a rocket launch, as sure as destiny. Valverde didn’t even have to watch.
Unfortunately, the rest of us did.
One man’s mistakes
Never mind the final result – an amazing show of Detroit resilience that saw Delmon Young deliver a clutch double in the 12th inning for the winning RBI in an ultimate 6-4 victory. That’s great. That’s huge – given that Justin Verlander looms for a Game 3 start Tuesday at Comerica Park.
But for all that was gained, something important was lost as well. The Tigers, as great as they have played, are coming down the hill on a single ski now. They are skating with their laces untied. Their starting pitching is, I believe, the best in baseball. But they may not get beyond this American League Championship Series with Valverde as a closer. He is simply too unreliable, too slow with his fastball, too weak with a pickoff move. (What pickoff move? Every single turns a stolen base.) And psychologically, he is a burst balloon.
So are Tigers fans.
Detroit had this game in hand. Valverde nearly gave it away. Some things are just that simple. The noble thinking is you win as a team and you lose as a team, but there is nothing you can pin on any Tiger for those four runs except bad pitching by Valverde. All the Tigers fielders did was watch the balls sail.
Twenty-eight pitches, four runs, three hits, two home runs and a walk?
Yankees batters who looked completely stymied by Fister were salivating like hungry dogs on Valverde’s pitching. You can’t put him out there in any kind of critical situation this week. And by “critical situation” we mean any lead of less than five runs. He is done for now. How can he not be?
While I defend Leyland’s previous decisions to stick with his guy – what is he supposed to do anyhow? It’s not like you go out and get a new closer and trust me, it is not a role that you can just stick any pitcher into – the fact is, he has no choice now. It’s not just the fans looking at him. It has to be the players. They may not blame Valverde for his failings, but they don’t want to keep seeing him commit them. Not when they’re killing themselves to stay ahead of the opponent.
Pretend he’s injured
Interestingly, on the other side of the field, the Yankees have been battling a similar fight with superstar Alex Rodriguez. He has been in a horrible slump, and he was benched for Game 5 of the American League Division Series with the Orioles. After failing to produce at the plate Saturday night, he was pinch-hit for by manager Joe Girardi.
Now, if you can bench A-Rod, you can sit Jose Valverde. Closer is not an easy role to fill, and the Tigers do not have anyone naturally set to do it now. But they almost have to act as if Valverde is injured. What would they do then? They wouldn’t surrender. They’d sent out SOMEBODY, right?
It can’t be any worse than what happened here. You want to say a Game 1 setback is survivable, nothing more than a single night’s story. But there are setbacks and there are setbacks, and this game, so full of beautiful moments for the Tigers, was nearly handed away in a matter of minutes and a handful of pitches.
Detroit escaped an awful fate. There is nothing to be done about it. It cannot happen again. You feel for the guy. You hope for his recovery. But Papa Grande must be Persona Non Grande for now. The truth be told, he already is.
Contact Mitch Albom: 313-223-4581 or malbom@freepress.com. Catch “The Mitch Albom Show” 5-7 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM (760). Follow him on Twitter @mitchalbom. To read his recent columns, go to www.freep.com/mitch.
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