Ticker: This time, Justin Verlander was more than enough

DETROIT FREE PRESS

October 12, 2012

by Steve Schrader

Fittingly, MC Hammer -- who, as a teenager, worked as an assistant to flamboyant former Oakland A's owner Charlie Finley -- threw out the first pitch Thursday night.

Because then Justin Verlander performed nine innings of "U Can't Touch This," shutting out the A's, 6-0, at Oakland and punching the Tigers' ticket to the ALCS.

So for one night, that spared us all seeing Jim Leyland going to Jose Valverde again after the Wednesday night debacle, but you know it's only a matter of time.

And it's going to be interesting when it does happen, especially at Comerica Park. Outtakes

• TBS color man Buck Martinez, saying something nice about Justin Verlander: "Everybody has a No. 1, but not everybody has an ace, and Verlander is an ace. ... It's an elite group."

• Martinez again, offering an alibi for any hitters who might not be producing like they did in the regular season: "It's pretty easy to have an ugly batting average in the postseason because of the pitchers you're facing. Oftentimes they'll take their No. 5 starter and put him in the bullpen. You won't even see him, so you'll see nothing but the best."

• But is it greedy after a six-run outburst (finally) to want more fireworks from the middle of the Tigers' order?

McLain gets TV gig

Do you wonder what Denny McLain's take would have been on the Tigers this week, if he was still a Detroit broadcaster?

Well, wonder no longer, because McLain's long, strange and controversial path is taking him back to the airwaves this weekend.

"Speaking Sports," with McLain and Ron Cameron, will premiere at 11 a.m. Sunday at WADL (Channel 38 in Detroit). Press clipping

• Tom Verducci, SI.com, on the Stephen Strasburg controversy in Washington: "Here's what people are leaving out of the narrative: Strasburg was an ordinary starter in the second half of the season as he ran out of gas.

"People make it sound like what Washington did was the equivalent of the Tigers shutting down Justin Verlander.

"No, folks. From June 25 until shutdown, Strasburg was 6-5 with a 3.94 ERA. The Nationals were 7-7 in his last 14 starts. Does that sound like a guaranteed win?"

Quick tweets

• Drew Stanton: "Can't think of a pitcher I'd rather have take the hill in a must win game than Justin Verlander."

• Doug Glanville, ESPN: "Unfortunately for the A's the Tigers put up a two-spot. In Verlander-runs that is like a ten-spot."

• @bmcleskey22: "I had to take the Valverde poster off my door cause it wouldn't close."

Quick hits

• MLB.com reports there was an awkward moment in the Tigers clubhouse after Wednesday night's loss when Miguel Cabrera refused to talk to the media and reliever Octavio Dotel told him it was his job as a team leader to do so. Cabrera just sat with his arms crossed while Dotel shook his head.

• A's stadium announcer Dick Callahan explained to the Oakland Tribune why last April he booked a cruise vacation for this week: "I drank the Kool-Aid of the prognosticators. People were saying they would lose 100 games. I thought, 'This team is not going to develop into a contending team.' "

He bit the bullet and canceled his travel plans.

• TBS analyst -- and former Oakland reliever -- Dennis Eckersley, after the A's won Game 4: "They can't let this get away from them. They cannot let this get away from them. This is an incredible run and they've got to win Game 5."

Bottom line

• When does Verlander pitch again?

Republished from the Detroit Free Press.