Magglio Ordonez’s walkoff homer to cap the Detroit Tigers’ sweep of the A’s in the American League Championship Series was about as electric as it gets in the postseason. But it was the worst thing that could have happened for the fans in Detroit.
Having vanquished Team Dysfunction in short order on the heels of three consecutive wins over Team Underachievement, the hottest team in baseball had to cool its jets for nearly a week.
Meanwhile, the St. Louis Cardinals engaged the New York Mets in one of the most compelling playoff series in recent memory and emerged from a dramatic road victory in Game 7 as … the hottest team in baseball.
It is baseball's lost art. The complete game is a dinosaur. It has disappeared.
The notion of a major league pitcher finishing what he started, especially in the World Series, is a collector's item.
It has been superseded by pitch count and dollar signs, the value of those million-dollar arms.
In the 1968 World Series between the Tigers and Cardinals, there were seven complete games. Mickey Lolich and Bob Gibson pitched three each, and Denny McLain the other.
After four years of medical school at Wayne State and a year into his residency at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Anup Sinah gave it all up to pursue his true passion.
He's a scout for the St. Louis Cardinals.
Never mind that Sinah was the "last guy on the bench" for his high school baseball team, Detroit Country Day, as a senior in 1989. Or that he comes from a family of doctors originally from India. Or that he seemingly had so much to lose by walking away from the hospital for a career that offered no guarantees at the ballpark.
Sinah is living proof that dreams indeed come true, even when there are uncertainties along the way.
Nothing was terribly definitive Wednesday afternoon at Busch Stadium. The weather forecast for Game 4 was bad, and the outlook for today's scheduled Game 5 was even more ominous.
Cardinals manager Tony La Russa wasn't even sure who he was going to pitch in tonight's scheduled game: Anthony Reyes, who got the win in Game 1, or Jeff Weaver, who took the loss Sunday in a game remembered for the flap over Kenny Rogers' left hand.
When real Tigers and pro wrestlers cross paths in St. Louis
For the last two days, at an airport hotel, hulking, beastly men were spotted around the elevator and lobby. They were thick, snarling creatures, with bulging necks and dilated veins streaking through their muscles.
One man, who refers to himself as "Mr. Kennedy," was seen on an elevator at 2 a.m. Wednesday. He had tattoos etched down his triceps. His eyes were glassy. He was cradling his arms, holding a heap of candy, cookies and other sugary treats.
He has taken one for the baseball gods, first enduring an embarrassing 21-loss season with the Tigers in 2003, then overcoming elbow surgery earlier this season after busting out to a 5-2 start with a 3.56 ERA, returning in September only to be left off the postseason roster.
Detroit Tigers news 10/26 Before the game
Detroit Tigers news 10/26 Before the game
Linear Mode
