Friday the Tigers won behind Justin Verlander's 21st victory, 8-1. Verlander has won more games in a season than any Tiger since Jack Morris in 1986, and sewn up the A.L. Cy Young Award.
Saturday's game, if the Tigers do go to the post-season, will be the game they look back to and say, "This was the game that did it." Brad Penny, who has been highly ineffective lately, was knocked around, and the Tigers were down 8-1. They chipped away, though, with a Delmon Young home run and two triples by a red-hot Austin Jackson.
Still, in the ninth inning, they were down two. Up came Ryan Raburn, who hit the biggest home run of his brief career, with a man on, to tie it up. Two batters later Miguel Cabrera hit a laser to the left-field stands to send everyone home.
The White Sox, after such a disheartening loss, had do dig deep down to save their season on Sunday night. Since the game was the ESPN Sunday Night game, I was able to watch the first few innings, when the Tigers got off to a 4-0 lead, with a couple of RBI singles by Victor Martinez. I was stunned to get up this morning and read that they ended winning 18-2! Cabrera hit another home run, a ball to the deepest part of center, and everyone got into the act. Clearly the White Sox did not dig very deep. They were throwing their best pitcher, Mark Buehrle.
Tonight a critical series with the Indians starts in Cleveland. If the Tigers can sweep, their path to the title is assured, but even winning two-out-of three will go a long way in wrapping things up. Verlander will pitch on Wednesday.
Only one bit of bad news to come out of the weekend: Brennan Boesch is out for the season with thumb surgery. He was a key left-handed bat, and means that Magglio Ordonez and Delmon Young will be in the lineup full time. Hopefully Ordonez has a few big hits left it his bat for the stretch drive.
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