Rookie Doug Fister Wins Game Five, Sends Tigers to ALCS; NL in Dual Game Five Showdown Friday

Players of the Day for Thursday, October 6, 2011

American League

Tigers 3 Yankees 2

Detroit's Doug Fister shut down the vaunted Yankee offensive machine over the first five innings of their game five showdown, limiting the Bombers to one earned run on five hits, walking two and striking out four.

Doug Fister: Rookie
Game Five Winner

First inning, back-to-back home runs by Don Kelly and Delmon Young off Yankee starter Ivan Nova gave Fister a working margin of two runs before he even set foot on the mound, and the rookie hurler responded with a solid, pressure-packed performance.

The Yankees loaded the bases with one out in the 4th inning, but Fister responded, getting Russell Martin and Brett Gardner to pop out on successive at-bats.

When the Tigers scored another run in the top of the 5th, the Yankee response was a solo homer off the bat of Robinson Cano. Max Scherzer replaced Fister on the mound to open the 6th inning, got through that, but was lifted for Joaquin Benoit after Derek Jeter's one out single in the 7th.

After allowing consecutive singles to Curtis Granderson and Cano, Benoit struck out Alex Rodriguez with the bases loaded, but forced in a run, walking Mark Teixeira to cut Detroit's lead to a single run. Benoit reared back and got Nick Swisher to strike out, ending the threat.

In the 8th, all the Yankees could muster was a two-out single from Brett Gardner, and Jose Valverde came on for a perfect 9th inning, sending the Yankees home and the Tigers to the AL Championship Series with the Texas Rangers. The game ended when Valverde struck out Alex Rodriguez. It was A-Rod's third whiff of the game and sixth of the series, in which the slugger went 2-for-18 (.111) with no homers and three RBI.

Mark Teixeira, the slugger batting behind Rodriguez, had an equally-non-productive series, going 3-for-18 (.167) with no home runs and just one RBI.

Standouts for the Yankees were Brett Gardner (.418), who drove in a team-high six runs but did not steal a base. Gardner tied the A's Coco Crisp for the league lead in steals with 49 during the regular season. Jorge Posada had the highest average (.429) for the Yankees, but failed to drive in a single run.

The Tigers were led by Delmon Young, who socked three solo homers, and the unassuming Don Kelly, who had a hit in each of the final four games, going 4-for11 (.364) with two RBI and three runs.

Magglio Ordonez was the best hitter in the series, going 5-for-11 for a .455 batting average.

The seven game series to determine the AL entrant to the World Series between the Tigers and Rangers begins Saturday in Arlington, Texas.

National League

There were no National League games as the four playoff participants prepared for critical game five match-ups on a winner-take-all Friday.

Arizona is at Milwaukee for a 5:07 pm EDT start, while the Phillies host the Cardinals at 8:37 pm EDT.

Shopping for Proper Sports Equipment a Good Start to a Healthy Lifestyle

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NL Playoffs: David Freese Powers Cardinals Past Phillies; Ryan Roberts (Tat Man) Slams for Diamondbacks; Game Fives Friday; Tigers at Yankees Thursday Night

Players of the Day for Wednesday, October 5, 2011

American League

There were no AL games on Wednesday. The Texas Rangers eliminated the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday and await the winner of Thursday's game five of the Yankees - Detroit series. Game time is 8:07 pm EDT at Yankee Stadium in New York.

National League

Cardinals 5 Phillies 3

David Freese

St. Louis forced a decisive game five with the Phillies, as third baseman David Freese drove in four of the Cardinals' five runs with a 4th inning, two-run double and a monster two-run smash far over the center field wall in the 6th.

Freese hit 10 homers in 97 games with the Cardinals during the regular season. His 6th-inning shot was his first post-season homer. The Cards generated only six hits, all of them off Philly starter Roy Oswalt, who worked six full innings. Edwin Jackson, the St. Louis starter, surrendered two first inning runs, but then settled down and blanked the Phillies over the next five frames.

The series tied at two games apiece, a monumental pitching math-up looms for Friday's series finale, matching former Toronto teammates Roy Halladay for the Phillies against Cardinal ace, Chris Carpenter. Game time in Philadephia is set for 8:37 pm EDT.

Diamondbacks 10 Brewers 6

Arizona bludgeoned their way to a game four victory, setting up a game five showdown in Milwaukee on Friday. The Diamondbacks turned back a 1-0 Brewer lead in the first inning with five runs in the bottom half of the inning, four of the runs scoring on Ryan (Tat Man) Roberts grand slam off Milwaukee starter Randy Wolf, who was slammed for seven hits and eight earned runs over three innings of work.

Ryan Roberts (Tat Man)

Roberts, his arms festooned with colorful tattoos - thus, the "Tat Man" nickname - drove a two-out Wolf offering down the left field line and into the bullpen after Paul Goldschmidt, who socked a grand slam of his own in game three - struck out looking with the bases loaded.

The smash was Roberts' only hit of the game, but it propelled the Brewers to victory and a chance to win a game in Milwaukee, where they lost the first two games of the series.

Starters for the Friday game five are the same pair who started game one: Yovani Gallardo for Milwaukee and 21-game winner, Ian Kennedy for the Diamondbacks. Scheduled game time is 5:07 pm EDT.

Moving Out Here

Content by Donny Vinson

When my husband and I moved out here to Michigan I was worried about how far away we were from my family. I’m really close to them all and it was going to be tough for me to be a plane ride away from everyone but as it turned out I didn’t need to really worry anyway. We’ve made a ton of friends and the thing that ties all of us together is our mutual love for football! I love that all we have to do is turn on theDirect TVon Saturday and we’ve got 10 or 20 people we just met in our living room hanging out – people here are really warm and it’s nice to know we’ve got a good support system outside of our families in this new place. I was worried about moving here and losing all of that but I guess it’s a testament of how great people are all across this country when you need something. Even my daughter is making new friends left and right!