All Things Bubba

October 5, 2006: Detroit 4, N.Y. Yankees 3

Well, Detroit is putting up more of a fight than many expected. They took Game 2, which means it's now a three-game series.

The game originally scheduled for Wednesday night was rained out. Today was supposed to be a travel day; instead, they played Game 2 at 1:00pm.

I did not see this game. Like many fans, I was at work. I thought about taking the day off. If Bubba were playing, I definitely would have stayed home to watch the game. But there's a big project due at the office, and I decided it wasn't worth playing hooky to watch this sadly Bubba-less roster. Given how it turned out, I'm glad I didn't waste the vacation time.

Four runs wasn't enough to win Tuesday, but it did the job for the Tigers today. I was peeking in on the box score via the Internet from time to time, and it didn't look good. This is not a team that's built to win pitchers' duels. Things were looking up for the Yanks after the three-run 4th inning, but Moose gave it all back over the next three innings.

Some fans are pinning the loss on Moose. Since I didn't see the game, I'm not sure what to think. On the one hand, the Yankees should be able to win a game where the other team scores only four runs. OTOH, Moose did make some bad pitches in key situations. Some think he doesn't have what it takes to pitch in high-pressure situations. Others say he just has really bad luck, or even that he's a jinx.

The mainstream media appears to be sticking to the tried and true: blaming A-Rod. He is undeniably struggling in the post-season. It's painful to watch. Robby Cano is struggling just as much, and has stranded even more runners on base, but no one's going to blame a kid playing his first full year in the majors.

Leyland credited the time of the day, among other things, for the victory. The afternoon shadows made it very difficult for hitters. So I guess we can blame the weather, too. If not for the rainout, the game would have been played at night. No shadows. (We need a retractable roof, dammit.)

Detroit deserves credit, too, of course. Particularly their bullpen. Walker, Zumaya, and Jones were lights-out. Proctor and Bruney weren't bad, either, though Proctor continued his habit of giving up leadoff walks.

Someone posted a comment pointing out that Bubba hit a homer off Joel "100 mph" Zumaya during spring training this year. Good memory. In a spring training game on March 26, 2006, Bubba did indeed hit a game-winning two-run homer, tagging Zumaya with the loss.

I couldn't find any video of the event, but here are a couple of short audio clips. The Detroit broadcast is kind of funny. The announcers are so busy gushing over what a great pitcher Zumaya is that they're practically ignoring Bubba's at-bat...until he forces them to take notice, by hitting it out of the park. LOL! The New York broadcast gives a little more info. The outfielders were playing in, really shallow. Even if the ball hadn't gone out of the park, it would have been a hit, because they were so far in. Hah! That'll teach you to have some respect for the Bubba.