Verlander, Cabrera Prove Too Much As Detroit Eliminates Oakland

Here’s your morning baseball briefing for Friday, October 11, 2013:

Wednesday Results

RESULT	WIN	LOSS	SAVE
Detroit 3, at Oakland 0	Verlander (1-0)	Gray (0-1)	Benoit (2)

Justin Verlander silenced the Oakland crowd by hurling no-hit baseball into the seventh inning, and Miguel Cabrera hit a two-run home run in the fourth as Detroit eliminated the A’s in Oakland and advanced to the American League Championship Series to face Boston.

News & Notes – The New York Yankees agreed to a 4-year contract with manager Joe Girardi.

Schedule (Times EST)

Today 10/11: 

8:37pm Game 1 N.L.C.S. Los Angeles (Greinke 15-4) at St. Louis (Kelley 10-9)

Prediction:  Los Angeles

Saturday 10/12:

4:07pm Game 2 N.L.C.S. Los Angeles (Kershaw 16-9) at St. Louis (Wacha 4-1)

8:00pm Game 1 A.L.C.S. Detroit (Sanchez 14-8) at Boston (Lester 15-8)

Prediction: Los Angeles, Boston

Sunday 10/13:

8:00pm Game 2 A.L.C.S. Detroit (Scherzer 21-3) at Boston (Buchholz 12-1)

Prediction: Detroit

Playoff Predictions Overall:  13-8

History

2006 World Series – Detroit Tigers vs. St. Louis Cardinals

          The 2006 World Series between the Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals marked the third time the two teams met in the Fall Classic, which the Cardinals won in 1934 and the Tigers in 1968.  Two veteran managers and close friends, Tony LaRussa for St. Louis and Jim Leyland for Detroit, met in Detroit for Game 1.

          Detroit had home field advantage in the series and two rookies met for the first time in a Game 1 as Justin Verlander of Detroit squared off against Anthony Reyes of St. Louis.  The Cardinals jumped all over Verlander as Scott Rolen and Albert Pujols each homered, and Reyes pitched eight plus solid innings surrendering only two runs as St. Louis won 7-2 to take a 1-0 series lead.

          Detroit starter Kenny Rogers evened the series in Game 2 with a brilliant effort, tossing eight shutout innings, and outfielder Craig Monroe hit his second home run in two games as the Tigers won 3-1 to even the series.

          Game 3 was played back in St. Louis, and the Cardinals became the first team since the 1970 Cincinnati Reds to host a World Series game in their new stadium that opened in April.  Cardinals’ starter Chris Carpenter answered Kenny Rogers’ eight shutout innings in Game 2 with eight shutout innings of his own in Game 3, and St. Louis won 5-0 to take a 2-1 series lead.

          In Game 4, the score was tied 4-4 in the bottom of the eighth when St. Louis shortstop David Eckstein doubled off the glove of Craig Monroe that scored the go-ahead run, and the Cardinals won 5-4 and now had a 3-1 series lead with one more game left in St. Louis. 

          Game 5 went the Cardinals way as they won 4-2 behind the pitching of Jeff Weaver who tossed eight solid innings, and closer Adam Wainwright, the same guy who pitched St. Louis into the N.L.C.S. on Wednesday against Pittsburgh, closed out the game and the series with two consecutive strikeouts.  St. Louis celebrated their tenth World Series title and manager Tony LaRussa became the first manager to win the title as the skipper of teams in both the American and National Leagues.  He managed the Oakland A’s to the 1989 World Series title.  The Cardinals, with just 83 regular season wins, set a record for the least regular season wins by a World Series champion.

St. Louis Wins 4-1

For the series, St. Louis outscored Detroit 22-11 and outhit them 36-22, but it was Detroit’s eight errors that arguably can be blamed for their loss.  No current Hall of Famers played in the series.

Monday:  2007 World Series – Boston Red Sox vs. Colorado Rockies

Trivia

Today’s Question:  What team has won the second most World Series titles behind the New York Yankees 27?

Yesterday’s Question:  The 2005 World Series is just one of two in modern history that is impossible to have a rematch as Houston moved to the American League last year.  What’s the other?

Answer:  The 1982 World Series that featured the Milwaukee Brewers against the St. Louis Cardinals.  Both teams are in the National League now and would be impossible for them to meet in the World Series.

House Bet

Today:  Over/Under a combined 16 strikeouts between Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers Zach Greinke and Clayton Kershaw in Games 1 & 2 against St. Louis this weekend.

Yesterday:  Over/Under a combined 4 runs allowed in tonight’s Game 5 between Oakland and Detroit.

Result:  Under.  The teams combined for 3 runs.