Tag: Kirk Gibson
October Surprise Part 8 – Tigers Pull Ahead
On the next-to-last day of the 2009 season, with the Tigers’ fate still undecided, we continue our series on the Tigers’ and Blue Jays’ battle for the A.L. East crown on the next-to-last day of the 1987 season.
American League East Standings: October 3, 1987
| Team | Record | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit | 96-64 | .600 | – |
| Toronto | 96-64 | .600 | – |
In game two of the final series, Jack Morris and Mike Flanagan faced off on a bright and blustery Saturday afternoon.
As they had in Toronto nine days earlier, the two veteran pitchers sparkled. The Jays grabbed an early 1-0 lead. The Tigers countered with a Mike Heath single and Bill Madlock double to knot the game. Both teams scored in the fifth.
But over the next seven innings neither team scored. Morris pitched nine strong innings to Flanagan’s 11.
“I’ve been in this league eight years facing Flanagan, and I’ve never seen him better,†Tom Brookens said to the Free Press‘s John Lowe.
Mike Henneman relieved Morris in the tenth and shut down the Jays. Jeff Musselman took over for Flanagan but couldn’t pick up where the starter had left off.
Continue reading “October Surprise Part 8 – Tigers Pull Ahead”
October Surprise Part 5: Setting the Bear Trap
As the Tigers and Twins wrap up the biggest series of the year with the division title hanging in the balance, we continue our look back on the last great race in Tigers history: 1987 and the seven games against the Toronto Blue Jays in the season’s final 10 days. Today: Game 4, the final game in Toronto.
- Part 1 – Tigers and Jays Battle for ’87 Division Title
- Part 2 – Showdown in Toronto, Game 1
- Part 3 – Game 2 Skips Away
- Part 4 – Bullpen Collapses in Game 3
American League East Standings: September 27, 1987
| Team | Record | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto | 96-59 | .619 | – |
| Detroit | 92-62 | .597 | 3.5 |
As the Tigers arrived at Exhibition Stadium for the series finale, they knew what was at stake. The chances of coming back from four-and-a-half game deficit in less than a week bordered on the absurd. If ever there were a must-win game, this was it.
The Tigers turned to Doyle Alexander to stop the bleeding. Toronto looked to right-hander Jim Clancy to bury the Tigers’ fading division title hopes.
Nelson Liriano led off the home half of the first with a single to right and promptly stole second. Eventual league MVP George Bell drove in Liriano for Toronto’s first run. Though he baffled the Jays for the next eight innings, Alexander and the Tigers trailed 1-0 heading into the top of the ninth.
Continue reading “October Surprise Part 5: Setting the Bear Trap”
October Surprise Part 3: Game 2 Skips Away
As the Tigers and Twins square off for the biggest series of the year with the division title hanging in the balance, we continue our look back on the last great race in Tigers history: 1987 and the seven games against the Toronto Blue Jays. Today: Game 2.
Part 1 – October Surprise: Tigers and Jays Battle for ’87 Division Title
Part 2 – Showdown in Toronto, Game 1
American League East Standings
September 25, 1987
| Team | Record | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto | 94-59 | .614 | – |
| Detroit | 92-60 | .605 | 1.5 |
Tigers left hander Frank Tanana had been in one divisional race in his 14-year career: in 1979 when he helped the California Angels win their first American League West title. In 1987, Tanana approached the twilight of his career but Toronto starter Jimmy Key’s best days were just dawning. Key had won 14 games in each of his first two years as a starter and in 1987 he would finish second in A.L. Cy Young voting, posting a 17-8 record and 2.76 ERA.
For the second straight night, the Tigers produced a two-run lead. In the Tigers’ second, Chet Lemon doubled and Darrell Evans singled him home. Later, in the sixth, Kirk Gibson bunted for a base hit and took second on Key’s wild throw to first. Larry Herndon followed with a single to left scoring Gibson and giving Tanana a two-run cushion.
Tanana pitched one of his best games of the season throwing seven scoreless innings, yielding just five hits and a walk. Key was equally masterful in his 8.1 innings pitched. He scattered nine hits, allowing only one earned run and walking a single hitter. Going into the ninth inning the Tigers maintained a 2-0 lead.
Continue reading “October Surprise Part 3: Game 2 Skips Away”
Happy Birthday, Tram
Happy 51st to perhaps the classiest guy ever to wear the D.
Today’s also the birthday of two former Tigers pitchers:
- Bill Slayback, a member of the 1972 A.L. East Division champs, turns 61. A seventh-round pick in the 1968 draft, he pitched three years in Detroit posting a 6-9 record and 3.84 ERA in 42 appearances. In his rookie year of ’72, Slayback (who wore number 44) appeared in 23 games (13 starts, three complete games) and notched a 5-6 record.
- Jack Billingham turns 65 today. He won 25 games for the Tigers from 1978-80 and he did so wearing number 41. Did you know that Billingham is a cousin of Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson? For a funny Billingham vs. Kirk Gibson nugget, revisit this post from last year.
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