With a quick 2-0 lead in Game 6 of the ALCS, the Tigers had us believing that Game 7 could be more than wishful thinking. A couple of innings later, the season effectively came to an end.

It’s not good form to blame a nine-run inning on umpiring – Max Scherzer did most of the damage to himself – but a couple calls undoubtedly went against the Tigers that helped extend the inning.

In many ways, it seemed like the Tigers had no business playing in the ALCS when you looked at the Rangers lineup. But Detroit could’ve made quick work of Texas had they gotten a timely hit or two – check that, one would’ve done in many cases – in the first two games of the series.

Some other random thoughts:

Poor Brandon Inge has made the final out in the Tigers’ last two postseason appearances.

Was it ever more evident than in this series that the Tigers needed Brennan Boesch?

Watching the Rangers bullpen carve up the Tigers made me miss Joel Zumaya … a lot.

I thought the Rangers’ base stealing with a seven-run lead was about as bush league as it gets.

How tough is Alex Avila? We’ll probably find out shortly.

Did Ian Kinsler really think Al Alburquerque was throwing at him? Get a clue.

The worst part of any season coming to an end, especially one that fell tantalizingly close to a World Series appearance, is the long wait for the next season to get under way.

Because winter stands between the last out of a season and the first pitch of Spring Training, the wait in baseball seems all the more cruel.

But maybe not as cruel as a couple of these ALCS losses, Game 6 included.

As Rick Porcello was crafting a beautiful outing through the first five innings, I allowed myself think about the Tigers heading back to Texas with a 3-2 series lead. I should’ve known better; the Tigers were up only 2-0 and the Rangers were just waiting in the weeds for the right moment to get back into the game.

When David Murphy, who’s become as irritating as David DeJesus, lined a single to left to leadoff the sixth … I had a bad feeling. No way Porcello can lose steam that fast, I thought. Ahem. All of a sudden the Tigers are losing and, well, you know.

But then Brandon Inge hit a game-tying homer in the seventh and maybe there’s more magic to be seen.

Once the game went into extra innings, my optimism all but evaporated. Hopeful, yes. Optimistic? No. Much like in Game 2, it doesn’t much matter what the final score was on Wednesday night. The chance to extend the season rests in the hands of Justin Verlander. Even if he does, how confident are you that the Tigers bats will be able to deliver one win much less three?

Me? Not so much. At least not at the moment.

Over the weekend I came across a Tigers program, excuse me, magazine from 2001 with Steve Sparks on the cover. Inside there’s an article reviewing the Tigers’ draft from that year and it includes some notables:

Fifth Round (147th overall pick): 3B Ryan Raburn, South Florida Junior College. Raburn is a 6-0, 185-pound third baseman who swings a strong bat from the righthand side of the plate. He is solid defensively at third base and he has the potential to develop plus power.

Eighth Round (237th overall pick): SS Donald Kelly, Point Park College. The second-highest player ever drafted from Pointe Park College, Kelly is a tall, lanky, true shortstop with a plus arm. The 6-4, 190-pounder was named the 2001 American Mideast Conference Player of the Year after leading Point Park with a .450 batting average, 68 hits, 45 runs and 39 stolen bases. In both 2000 and 2001, Kelly was named First-Team All-American Mideast Conference at shortstop.

Here are a couple one-time Tigers you’ll recognize:

Third Round (87th overall pick): 3B John Hannahan, University of Minnesota. The 6-2, 205-pound Hannahan is a lefty swinging third sacker who Tigers scouts describe as a real grinder and a good solid player. (We knew John, of course, as Jack.)

Fourth Round (117th overall pick): C Michael Rabelo, University of Tampa. Rabelo swings the bat well from both sides of the plate, possesses a plus arm and is very intelligent.

By the by, Detroit’s first-round pick that year (11th overall) was Kenny Baugh out of Rice University. The second-round selections included RHP Preston Larrison from University of Evansville (55th overall), and Matthew Coenen out of Charleston Southern University (65th overall).

Not a stellar draft, but at least 10 years later there are a couple of players impacting this team’s postseason run.

I’ll admit it. As this game got started I feared the Tigers and Doug Fister were doomed for a 2-1 loss.

From early on it was clear that Fister brought his A-game, but it wasn’t clear the offense showed up at all — evident by the ridiculous pitches Miguel Cabrera and poor Alex Avila and just about everyone else in the lineup were flailing at in their first at bats.

But then Austin Jackson started getting on base, beginning with a single in the first — and then two more hits on the night to finish 3 for 5 with an RBI. And before you knew it, Victor Martinez went yard to tie it at one. And Cabrera untied it, Jhonny Peralta extended the lead … and in the meantime Fister continued to keep the Rangers in check.

The key story lines leading into Game 4 will be:

• Can Rick Porcello deliver and give Justin Verlander a series tied at two apiece?
• What’s the deal with Martinez and will he be healthy enough to play?
• With a lefty starting for the Rangers, will we see Delmon Young or is his season kaput?

Something else to wonder: Is Jackson thawing out or was Game 3 a fluke? On second thought, let’s worry about that later.

For now, the Tigers have made this series more interesting, even if it’s just for one night.

There’s nothing to be said about this game that you haven’t already thought to yourself since Nelson Cruz‘s moonshot off Ryan Perry.

Here’s thing about the last couple of games (and a few in the ALDS): the Tigers’ abysmal hitting is turning what under normal circumstances would be solid, if not stellar, pitching performances by the starters.

Justin Verlander wasn’t anything close to brilliant in Game 1, but the man only yielded three runs. Same for Max Scherzer who was dominant in chunks of Game 2.

I want to be upbeat about the possibility of three straight home games and maybe by the morning I will be. It’s just that Doug Fister can deliver a superb outing in Game 3 and the Tigers could still lose, 2-1.

They need hits from more than Ramon Santiago and Don Kelly, and more than harmless flairs to the outfield by Victor Martinez, and more than just Delmon Young’s name in the lineup if they have any intention of making this a series.

But you already knew that.

Well that’s it, folks. After one loss in the American League Championship Series and a season-ending injury to Magglio Ordonez* it appears most observers (except Danny Knolber, bless him) are writing off the Tigers. So be it.

With Max Scherzer on the mound today and a more-than-capable lineup facing Derek Holland — a batting order that now, stunningly, includes Delmon Young — the Tigers can easily even this series heading home.

If you’re going to be at Comerica Park tomorrow for Game 3 you have this to look forward to: Joel Zumaya delivering the ball to mound and Darrell Evans throwing out the first pitch. Aretha Franklin will sing the national anthem.

The Rangers bullpen on Saturday night certainly lived up to its press clippings, but how about the job Ryan Perry did? If he can duplicate that effort in this series and pave the way for Joaquin Benoit and Jose Valverde, methinks the Tigers bullpen will get some notoriety — on the positive side of the ledger — before it’s all over.

How adept are baseball scribes at predicting postseason teams? Dreadful. A reader sent this item from The New York Times’ Bats blog:

An examination of the preseason predictions from 101 baseball writers at a dozen publications and sites — ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo, CBS Sports, NBC Sports, Fox Sports, The Sporting News, The New York Times, Athlon, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, USA Today and MLB.com — reveals that no one predicted any of these teams to win the World Series this year.

Nice profile of Don Kelly today by Jerry Crasnick.

Back to Delmon for a moment. My initial reaction is that this is a miracle recovery and with each swing we all will be wincing along with Young. My hope is that he’s back for good and powers this offense ahead of Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez. My fear is that one check-swing and his season will be over.

In case you were wondering, Scherzer has started two games during his career at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. He’s 1-0 with a 6.00 ERA (12 IP/8 ER). This year he was 1-0, 4.76 ERA with 12 strikeouts in three starts. Lifetime, he’s 3-0 with a 3.41 ERA in six starts against the Rangers.

Happy 36th Birthday to someone who would look nice in the Tigers lineup this year, Placido Polanco.

More on Max: He’s allowed 2.6 walks per nine innings during the 2011 season, the lowest such ratio of his major league career.

On this date in Tigers postseason history:

• In 1945: The Tigers scored five runs in the first inning of Game 7 of the World Series, and routed the Cubs, 9-3, behind Hal Newhouser, who struck out 10 to win the World Series.
• In 1968: Mickey Lolich wins the World Series for the Tigers by defeating Bob Gibson and the Cardinals, 4-1 in Game 7. It’s Lolich’s third win and comes after the Tigers had lost three of the first four games.

How have the Tigers fared against the Rangers’ Holland? Wilson Betemit .167; Cabrera .000; Brandon Inge .000; Austin Jackson.000; Martinez .333; Peralta .000; Raburn .000; Santiago .000, Young .500 (It’s worth noting that most of these guys only faced him once or twice.)

Finally, Happy 57th Birthday to David Lee Roth.

*How unreal is it that he took batting practice and batted three times on Saturday with a broken ankle?

Another postseason series, another rainout and another quartet of games in as many days. Oh, and another right-handed slugger shelved – but this one for the season, and possibly for good.

On Saturday the Tigers took Delmon Young off the ALCS roster. Today, right around the time they postponed Game 2, the club announced that Magglio Ordonez had a broken ankle and is done for the year.

Now the Tigers have to play four games in a row – today’s game will be played on Monday in Arlington at 4:20 ET – and, in the meantime, try to find a hitter to replace Magglio on the roster.

Neither is a simple task.

On the bright side, Game 2 starter Max Scherzer gets an additional day of rest, as does a dinged and dented Alex Avila, an offensively befuddled Austin Jackson.

The prevailing wisdom is that the Tigers could withstand the (perhaps temporary) loss of Young. I suppose. But can they absorb the impact of today’s news on Magglio?

If Ryan Raburn can make the mental leap from role player to starting leftfielder in the league championship series, the Tigers might be okay. And if Avila, who had a few decent swings in Game 1, can emerge from his October snooze that would certainly help.

But back to Magglio. Who replaces him on the roster? From what I’ve read on Twitter from those in Arlington you can count out Brennan Boesch, Carlos Guillen (imagine him up there last night against Neftali Feliz) and Clete Thomas (!). Andy Dirks might get more playing time now, but not against the Rangers’ lefties.

Not a pretty picture. But it’s the picture we have to watch.

One thing’s for sure, the pressure on Tigers pitchers just soared. And, for that matter, it did soared for the hitters too.

The Tigers simply can’t deliver when given platinum opportunities to do so. Leaving the bases loaded in the first and fifth innings cost them Game 1 – a game in which they out hit the Rangers.

Other thoughts:

Justin Verlander certainly pitched well enough to win that game. Homeplate umpire Tim Welke had a wildly inconsistent strike zone in the early innings.

How about Ryan Perry? In what could’ve been a disastrous move, Perry was flawless in his inning and two-thirds.

I think we might have witnessed Wilson Betemit’s last at bat as a Tiger. If you’re going to make an out anyway, why not just bunt Ramon Santiago over?

Speaking of Santiago, what a sweet drag bunt to leadoff the ninth.

Is anyone else concerned about Miguel Cabrera’s .250 October batting average?