ALCSgasm: Game 1

Rumor has it that Barry Zito will be on his way to the Yankees next season. If that's the case he fit right in with the Yankees of this season with a piss poor performance in Game 1 tonight. Of course the A's lineup was doing their impression of the world's greatest assortment of hitting professionals in the history of the known universe, by leaving twenty (that's 2-0) men on base and going 0-12 with RISP. It didn't hurt that Craig Monroe flashed a little leather, and the infield turned a record tying 4 double plays, and for once Nate Robertson actually had a lead to work with. How you may ask did they chase one of the AL's best pitchers after 3 2/3 innings? Cue a whistling Axl Rose...with just a little patience. They took pitches and forced Zito away from his knee-buckling curve and into throwing fastballs. Everyone knows that the Tigers love fastballs like fat girls love cake, and the hits just started coming. Yet again someone different came up with the big hit. It's like the Tigers spin a wheel before each game. The arrow landed on Brandon Inge tonight. He went 3-3, reached base 4 times, and was a triple away from recording the cycle. The only bad news of the night is that Sean Casey went down with a leg injury, which descriptions ranged from a blown calf muscle to Casey being back for game 3. Don't start bring your Sloth Shelton jersey out of mothballs just yet, he was left off the roster for the series. So more than likely The Tigers will have Pudge at first and Vance Wilson behind the dish, or lie they did tonight, Guillen at first and Santiago or Infante in at shortstop.

While being up 1-0 after knocking off the other team's best pitcher is nice; to paraphrase The Wolf, "Well, let's not start clucking each other's roosters quite yet". It's one game. There are 3 left to win. The A's did leave a number a runners on base. If they start hitting with those runners on base there could be trouble. That's where the pitching comes in. All the match ups would seem to favor the Tigers, they just need to perform like they did against the Yankees, and by this time next week I'll be breaking down the matchup against the NL champions

Live Blog of Game 2 tomorrow.