American League:

The Detroit Tigers winning lefthander Kenny Rogers pitched 7 1/3 innings of outstanding 2 hit shutout ball while walking 2 and striking 6 and combined with the Tigers bullpen for a 2-0 win over the Oakland Athletics on Friday.  The Tigers now stand 3-0 in games and on the brink of the World Series.

Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports writes this about “The Gambler” Kenny Rogers;

Kenny Rogers could see every breath he took on that cold, Comerica Park mound, could see it form and then fade, drifting off in the October air, gone for good like the memories of past playoff failures, the images of him confronting a cameraman.

He just kept knocking them down, change-ups and curveballs and fastballs that, by Tiger standards, aren’t very fast. But here was Rogers, at 41, once again putting together a postseason masterpiece, 7 1/3 innings pitched, two hits and no runs.

Here was Rogers, on another wild Friday night in Detroit, wiping out the Oakland Athletics like he had wiped out the New York Yankees seven days ago, this time taking a 3-0 decision in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series to move the Detroit Tigers within a game of the World Series.

And so here was Rogers pumping his fist after key strikeouts, soaking in the frenzied cheers, using (rather than suppressing) the emotion of the moment to energize his stuff and throw zero after zero after zero up on the big left-field scoreboard.

It’s now fifteen scoreless innings for Rogers in these playoffs, two emotional, critical victories that contrast everything in his past, that change all the perceptions. So you couldn’t blame him when he darn near broke down in joyous tears during an on-field, postgame interview, overcome by all those waving towels and screaming lungs in the stands.
 
“Detroit,” he said, “they’ve been unbelievable for me, welcoming me. This franchise, this city, has just welcomed me. I’m just trying to reward the faith.”

The Tigers scored 2 in the 1st inning as 2nd baseman Placido Polanco drove in the 1st run with a single with none out and rightfielder Magglio Ordonez drove in a run with a fielder’s choice.

In the 5th inning, leftfielder Craig Monroe put some icing on Detroit’s cake with a lead-off solo blast to leftfield.

Oakland’s starter and losing pitcher Rich Harden went 5 innings giving up 3 runs, 5 hits while walking 5 and striking out 4 and was fortunate that the Tigers only scored 3 runs.  Detroit left 9 men on base.

Detroit’s closer Todd Jones pitched a perfect 9th inning to earn the save.
For a full recap, box score and play-by-play on Friday’s ALCS game click here.

National League:
On Friday, the St. Louis Cardinals refused to say die and wiped out 3 New York Met leads 3-0, 4-2 and 6-4 and finally scored 3 in the 9th inning to beat the Mets and knot their series at 1-1 as the Cardinals now inherit the home field advantage in games 3 through 5. 

Neither Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter nor Mets starter John Maine were involved in the won/loss decision as the Cards bullpen had much the better of the going.  Cardinals reliever Josh Kinney who pitched the 8th inning was awarded the win, while Mets closer Billy Wagner, who entered in the 9th with the score tied at 6, was charged with the loss.

1st baseman Carlos Delgado, who had a big game with 2 homers and 4 RBIs, opened the scoring for the Mets in the 1st inning with a one out, 3 run blast to centerfield.  The Cards came back in the 2nd inning with a 1 out, 2 run double to rightfield by catcher Yadier Molina.

The Mets added a run in their 2nd inning on shortstop Jose Reyes’ RBI single to rightfield.  Mets 4-2 after 2 innings. 

In the Cardinals 3rd inning, centerfielder Jim Edmunds tied the game with a one out 2 run homer to centerfield.  The game remained tied until the Mets scored single runs on Delgado’s 2nd homer, as solo shot
to leftfield in the 5th inning and catcher Paul Lo Duca’s RBI double in the 6th inning.  6-4 Mets after 6 innings.

In the 7th inning, 3rd baseman Scott Spiezio tied the game with a 2 out, 2 run triple to rightfield to tie the game at 6-6.

The Mets threatened in the 8th inning with runners on 1st and 2nd with one out, but winning pitcher Kinney got the Mets slugging centerfielder Carlos Beltran to ground into an inning-ending double-play, second to shortstop to first.

This set the stage for Billy Wagner’s collapse in the 9th inning. So Taguchi, who replaced Chris Duncan in leftfield, led off the inning with a solo blast to put the Cards up 7-6.  Then 1st baseman Albert Pujols doubled.  With 1 out, Spiezio followed suit with a double, his 3rd RBI of the game, driving in Pujols for the Cards 8th run. Rightfielder Juan Encarnacion followed Spiezio with an RBI single to riightfield to cap the scoring for the Cardinals.

The Mets went down in order in the bottom of the 9th to end the game.

For a full recap, box score and play-by-play on Friday’s NLCS game click here.

In Saturday’s games, the NLCS venue switches to Busch Stadium in St. Louis as Steve Trachsel starts for the Mets vs Jeff Suppan for the Cardinals.   In the ALCS, Dan Haren goes for the A’s vs Jeremy Bonderman for the Tigers in Detroit.

For a full box scores and play-by-plays on Saturday’s games in both leagues, click here.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, October 14th, 2006 at 4:20 pm and is filed under Real-Time Baseball News and Commentary
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