American League Update & Notes

It will be the first ever Boston vs Detroit baseball post season clash in the 2013 ALCS. The Detroit Tigers earned a berth opposite the Boston Red Sox, with a (3-0) win at Oakland vs the Athletics, in the decisive 5th game of their division series last night.

For the second straight year, in a Thursday night decisive game of a division series, Justin Verlander (this time for 8 innings) and the Tigers shutout the A’s.

It is the sixth time in as many decisive games of a division series, that the Athletics have fallen. Their team was built around a concept called “Moneyball,” and it is to be credited for the Oakland team’s success with a relatively small payroll.

However, with six losses in as many decisive games and with only one division series win, the era could better be described as “Non money ball.” Incredibly, five of the decisive losses were on the Athletics’ home field in Oakland.

The ALCS opens in Boston on Saturday night and perhaps Jim Leyland should be upset that Tim McCarver, in his last year as a baseball analyst, will be in the broadcast booth.

This is not because Leyland, unlike me, is critical of McCarver as an analyst. No, it would be because a Leyland managed team has never won a post season series with McCarver as an analyst. They are (0-6) in such series encompassing all six of Leyland’s post season series losses.

McCarver worked Leyland managed, Pirates’ NLCS losses to the Reds in 1990 and the Braves in 1991 with Jack Buck, Joe’s father.

In 1992, the Braves broke Leyland and the Pirates’ hearts scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning, the final two on an all time clutch 2 out, 2 run single, by the otherwise obscure, Francisco Cabrera.

The ’92 NLCS hero Cabrera, is not exactly in the same hitting class as current Leyland managed, Tigers player, Miguel Cabrera. The latter Cabrera had the game’s key blow, a two run home run in the top of the fourth inning last night.

McCarver worked the 1992 NLCS with a terrific broadcaster named Sean Mc Donough. See there are some broadcasters I like, even a son of a famous sportswriter as is the case with Mc Donough.

Talent is talent and his exciting call on the ’92 NLCS deciding hit is “one for the ages,” not quite like Abraham Lincoln (it was said Mr. Lincoln “belongs to the ages”) but “pretty darn good,” as Larry David might say.

So Leyland was (0-3) in Mc Carver worked series, two with a Buck, in that case Jack, while managing the Pirates in post season.

Leyland is also (0-3) with Mc Carver working with Joe Buck, having lost the 2006 World Series to the Cardinals, the 2011 ALCS to the Texas Rangers and last year’s World Series to the San Francisco Giants. All of those losses occurred as Detroit Tigers’ manager.

Leyland has won a World Series, and in fact is the only one of the managers from the four remaining teams to have even made a World Series.

His triumph was with the wild card Florida Marlins in 1997. Their NLCS and World Series triumphs featured Bob Costas, Joe Morgan and Bob Uecker on the broadcast team. None of the team’s divisional series wins that year were in “McCarver/Joe Buck” games.