10-07-2011, 01:32 PM
michaelb wrote:
[quote=Pam]
Yep. The Tigers were lucky. For Nova, Jeter, Texeria, Granderson, and Cano to all be off at the same time is something. They were really off their normal stride the whole series.
Luck is subjective, but I would say the Yankees were "lucky", particularly in games 4 and 5. As I understand it, whether a ground ball rolls for hit is basically luck. The Yankees had repeated ground ball hits the Tigers had essentially none (I can't remember the Yankees hitting into a double play either, which is also largely determined by luck). In the big 6th inning in game 4, the Yankees had 5 or 6 ground ball hits in a row. That almost never happens. In the 7th inning last night, only Granderson had a hit, Jeter and maybe Cano both hit infield hits that the Tigers couldn't quite get a hold of (no errors for the T's all series).
The Tigers were and are hotter than the Yankees going in to the series, and were more off then the Yankees. The Tigers have better hitting (Cabrara and Martinez) and better pitching, and that usually leads to good things.
Ground hits have a lot to do with the pitches. The Tigers were constantly trying for low pitches to keep the big hits out of the game. Not surprising there were lots of ground balls. Double plays aren't as lucky as you think either. Pitches with a man on first are designed to send a ball that way. Or at least that's what the pitcher intends. Outside of a strikeout.
The Tigers weren't as tested this season. They played some teams with weak offenses that helped their stature. That's why I'm not convinced they have it. Time will tell.