Tigers silence critics
To all of those who thought the Tigers were done after a second half collapse AND "settling" for the Wild Card....in your face...and in my face. The Tigers shocked the baseball world and the sports nation Saturday night at Comerica, finishing off the Yankees in Game 4 of the ALDS, 8-3.
After looking like Jeremy Bonderman of 2003 his last two outings, the country boy from mid-state Washington followed up Kenny Rogers Game 3 performance as if the crowd were chanting "encore." Bonderman even succeeded in making Kalamazoo-native and American Leauge MVP front-runner, Derek Jeter, look like he had never swung a bat before.
This was no ordinary Wild Card upset. This was the Yankees, and these are the Tigers. The same Tigers who just three years ago were baseball's most inept team, post World War II. The Yankees meanwhile, boasted baseball's best line-up of 2006, and possibly the best line-up ever. The odds were stacked against the Tigers, and they still won.
The shock value is what makes this ALDS the best since baseball expanded it's post-season. Any team that finishes the regular season losing five straight games to the Blue Jays and Royals, choking away a division crown, doesn't deserve respect. Detroit didn't get the respect, but instead of crying, they went out and earned respect. That's what sports is about, that's what life is about, and that's what makes the 2006 Tigers the best story in baseball this year, regardless of what happens the rest of the way.
