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Tigers, Athletics meet in opener of surprising ALCS matchup

Oct 10, 2006 - 10:07 AM Detroit at Oakland 8:19 pm EDT American League Championship Series Game One

OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- All the people who predicted before the season that the Detroit Tigers would meet the Oakland Athletics in the American League Championship Series probably could not fit in an on-deck circle.

But after eliminating their favored opponents in their respective division series, the Tigers and Athletics square off Tuesday in Game One of one of the most improbable ALCS matchups in recent memory.

Detroit is just three years removed from a 119-loss season and coming off a 71-91 finish in 2005. But the Tigers surprised the baseball world by winning 95 games during the regular season and then shocked virtually everyone by overcoming a September collapse to defeat the mighty New York Yankees in four games in the ALDS.

The Tigers lost the series opener to the Yankees but rebounded to win the next three games behind their talented pitching staff. Jeremy Bonderman was the star in Saturday's clincher, carrying a perfect game into the sixth en route to 8 1/3 superb innings.

Detroit's offense also had an impressive series, outscoring New York, 18-6, over the final three contests. Craig Monroe, Magglio Ordonez and Ivan Rodriguez each drove in two runs in Saturday's decisive 8-3 triumph.

"We're still trying to get guys to make some adjustments, even at this point," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "I think we did a little bit of that in the Yankees series a little bit better than we have. Hopefully we can continue that in this series. But when push comes to shove, we are what we are, and here we are. We're going to give this our best shot just like Oakland is."

While it wasn't as surprising as the Tigers' outcome, the Athletics' first-round victory was even more impressive. They outscored the Minnesota Twins, 16-7, in a three-game sweep behind two RBI apiece from Frank Thomas, Mark Kotsay and Milton Bradley.

But the most unlikely offensive star for Oakland was light-hitting Marco Scutaro, who drove in four of his six runs in the series in Friday's decisive 8-3 victory.

But despite his team's eye-catching performance in the first round, A's manager Ken Macha knows the ALCS might be a pitching battle more than anything.

"This particular series, they've got a great lineup, and we've got some guys that have been swinging the bats very well," he said. "But you look at the pitching, they make their pitches. If we make our pitches, this is going to be a tight, low-scoring series."

The Athletics, who went 93-69 during the regular season, will give the ball to ace Barry Zito (1-0, 1.13 ERA). The lefthander was the winning pitcher in Game One of the ALDS, yielding one run and four hits in eight stellar innings to improve to 4-2 with a 2.43 ERA in six career playoff starts.

"I've just been throwing baseballs since I was seven," Zito said. "So whatever the surrounding atmosphere is, let it be. But I'm the guy (Tuesday)."

Zito is 7-5 with a 2.68 ERA in 14 lifetime outings against the Tigers, including a strong performance in the lone matchup this year. He worked seven innings on April 20, giving up one run and three hits in an eventual 4-3 setback.

Detroit counters with Nate Robertson (0-1, 11.12), who was hit hard by the Yankees in the playoff opener. The 29-year-old lefthander was charged with seven runs and 12 hits in 5 2/3 innings in his first career postseason start.

"A lot of people talked about our inexperience and getting out there for Game One, that inexperience in itself," Robertson said. "I don't care if it's one game or ten years' worth of playoffs, it's the experience that helps guys go out there and be a little bit more of a comfort zone, being there before."

Robertson is 2-2 with a 5.46 ERA in four career games against the A's. He faced them twice in July, going 1-1 with a 5.79 ERA in those contests.

Detroit held a 5-4 edge in the season series.