Justin Verlander made the people overrate the A's -- including me -- to look stupid. Verlander completely exposed the A's. Made them look inexperience; as if they didn't belong in the postseason.
The first inning looked great for Oakland, when Coco Crisp hits a leadoff homerun. I'm thinking the A's are not playing around. Even in the first couple of innings they seemed very patient against Verlander -- laying off pitches and good at-bats. But, that didn't last very long.
Verlander stopped nibbling, and began to use his moneymaker -- his fastball. He went after the A's with fastball, after fastball, after fastball. It clicked in him that the the A's are a strikeout team and can't handle the fastball. Verlander can't throw that many fastballs to a experience, veteran team. But he did against the young Oakland team.
Verlander struck 11 A's, allowed 1 earned run, and pitched seven innings.
Game 1 was a must win for the Tigers. And they got it in a big way.
Alex Avila: Tigers wouldn't mind seeing his bat get hot. They need another hitter in that lineup besides Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera.
Athletics: You have expect this from a young team who played against a legitimate, superstar ace. Also, Brandon Moss almost tied the game in the bottom 8th.
Josh Reddick is killing the A's, right now. He's been slumping for a while. They desperately need him to get out of it.
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