The Texas Rangers were still going to be leading the American League Championship Series.
Or, the Rangers would have ended it.The Detroit Tigers were whipped and achy and a little cranky themselves. They were down their best two relievers in an already thin bullpen. (Jose Valverde and Joaquin Benoit had pitched too much in the series, leaving manager Jim Leyland with two options if Justin Verlander ran out of pitches: a Phil Coke and a smile.)They showed up, put their best pitcher on the mound, kept swinging, stumbled into one of the more fortuitous moments of the postseason, gratefully accepted a few bonus at-bats against Rangers starter C.J. Wilson, survived the Coke experience, beat the Rangers 7-5 and now will lug their gauze and ice bags to Game 6 on Saturday in Texas.
You sense the only thing keeping the Tigers propped up is the baseball. That what they’d really like is to go home and nap, but what they’d rather do is play more ball. Since March they’ve played exactly one more game than the Rangers, and for whatever reason look like they took the long way, through the wood chipper.- byhttp://sports.yahoo.com
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