Scherzer dominates Yankees once again as Tigers knot ALDS at one game apiece

The tone of the second game of the Yankees-Tigers 2011 ALDS was set almost immediately, as blasted an opposite field two-run home run with two outs in the top of the 1st inning off Freddy Garcia, and the Yankees would end up playing behind the entire game, ultimately losing to the Tigers 5-3, enabling Detroit to knot the 2o11 ALDS at one game apiece. It sounds cliche, but the game was pretty much over for the Yankees the moment Cabrera hit his home run despite the fact that they hadn’t even come to bat yet — from that point on the Yankees’ WE never exceeded 50% for the remainder of the game, despite a couple of late-inning rallies.

The loss was ‘s first career loss in the ALDS, snapping the Yankees’ record seven-game ALDS win streak, and was the first time the Yankees lost the second game of the DS at home after winning the first since they did the very same thing against Detroit five years ago.

In fact, that wasn’t the only eerie parallel to that awful 2006 ALDS. To wit:

• Detroit starter utterly dominated the Yankees, keeping them hitless for 5 1/3 innings before broke the no-no up with one out in the 6th with a bloop single to left. In Game 4 of the 06 ALDS was throwing a perfect game against the Yankees though five until Cano broke it up with no outs in the sixth. According to the TBS broacast, the 5 1/3 no-hit innings tied a postseason record against the Yankees.
• As mentioned above, the Yankees once again lost home field advantage when playing the Tigers in a playoff series, and will have to win two at Comerica Park — a stadium they have not played particularly great baseball at these last few seasons — to avoid a Game 5. The Yankees haven’t played a winner-takes-all elimination game in the ALDS since 2005.
• I love , but he pretty clearly doesn’t look 100% out there. Alex is 0-8 with a walk in this series. Alex went 1-14 against Detroit in 2006 with no walks. At least you know won’t be dropping Alex to 8th in the lineup.

I have to tip my cap to Scherzer; I thought the Yankees were going to tee off on the homer-prone flamethrower at Yankee Stadium, and of course he went out and fired six-plus shutout innings of five-strikeout, two-hit ball. Though in hindsight I suppose this shouldn’t have been too surprising. From my Game 2 preview:

“It’s funny; the Yankees this season  didn’t seem to have an inordinate amount of trouble with flamethrowers who really only threw a heater and slider — off the top of my head Alex Ogando, and spring to mind — but Scherzer has two dominant starts against the Yankees (although one clunker back at the beginning of the year), which admittedly is about as tiny a sample size as it gets, but for whatever reason when I envision the Yankees against Scherzer I see them flailing about. Maybe it’s the changeup that separates Scherzer from his hard-throwing brethren, but based on the way his season went it seems like it might finally be time for the Yankees to tee off on the righty.”

Well, it sure was the changeup that separated Scherzer from the fastball-slider guys, as he actually started six of the 25 hitters he faced off with changeups, and got four swinging strikes out of the 25 he threw. Given the Yankees’ massive problems with the change all season, I really should have seen this coming. I also wrote this last week about Scherzer:

“The member of the Detroit rotation that does seem somewhat daunting is . Even though he had what appears to be a disappointing season following his strong 2010 campaign, Scherzer’s been exceptionally tough on the Yankees since coming over to Detroit, with a 2.78 ERA over 19 innings representing the fourth-lowest ERA among starters who have made a minimum of three starts against the Yankees since the beginning of the 2010 season. The fact that the Yankees actually got to him for six runs in 5 innings way back at the beginning of the season yet he still boasts a sub-3.00 ERA against the Bombers underscores how much he’s dominated them.”

This is now the third time in four career starts against the Yankees that Scherzer hasn’t allowed a run. I’m not sure why I was so convinced that the Yankees would get to him; I guess I just really wanted it to be true.

Scherzer fought off some early control issues and ended up retiring 11 straight Yankees — just like did in Game 1 — before drew a walk in the fifth, but unlike Fister Scherzer was able to wiggle out of trouble. Scherzer did depart with two on and no out in the bottom of the 7th , but came in and retired the next three Yankees he faced, including a questionable pinch-hit at-bat by for .

I get wanting to maximize your chances of a big fly, but Gardner — though he’s no one’s idea of a power hitter — arguably had a better shot at parking one than Chavez, who only had two bombs to his name all season, not to mention the lowest HR/FB% on the entire team, lower than even Gardner himself. I was a big fan of Chavez’s work for much of the season, but that was probably not the right spot for him. I realize Joe was probably reluctant to give Jesus Montero a shot against one of the better righty relievers in the game, but if not then, then when? ‘s one of the few Yankees actually getting on base in this series, and so it’s doubtful Montero will be getting any starts at DH.

As an aside, while I hate complaining about umpiring given that questionable calls generally even out for both sides, it did seem as though Scherzer was getting an inordinate amount of called strikes on the outside corner of the plate against lefties that appeared to be balls, per TBS’s strike zone tracker. And in fact, home plate umpire Eric Cooper did appear to expand the strike zone against lefties with Scherzer in the hill, as I count 10(!) either borderline or downright balls that were called strikes to Yankee lefties, per Brooks.

Freddy Garcia settled in pretty nicely after the Cabrera home run, but a error led to Detroit doubling its lead in the 6th, and Freddy would ultimately depart with a line of 5 1/3 innings of three-run, six-hit ball, with an impressive six strikeouts. Freddy deserved better, but Cabrera really made him pay, driving in three of the Tigers’ five runs.

Of course, with the way the Yankees once again went into a teamwide offensive coma, it may not have mattered had Freddy gotten through six only giving up two. The Yankees finally got on the board in the eighth via a solo home run, and made some noise in the ninth against , scoring two runs to get within two, and actually bringing to the plate with two on and two out and a chance to win the game for the Yankees with one swing. Unfortunately, for as great as Cano is — not to mention the fact that he was exactly who the Yankees needed to be up with the game on the line — not even Robbie’s gonna come through every single time, and he wound up grounding out to end the game.

So while I couldn’t help but think back to that miserable 2006 ALDS Game 4 while watching and then processing this game in the aftermath, the good news is is that this wasn’t an elimination game, and instead of heading to Detroit with a 42-year-old past-his-prime Randy Johnson on the hill in the pivotal Game 3, they’ll have one of the best pitchers on the planet in going for them instead. Of course, they also get to face , so they’re going to have their work cut out for them. Still, for as great as Verlander is, the Yankee bats simply can’t go ice cold for a second straight game — and they appeared to be defrosting during the eighth and ninth innings, so the Rule is also in effect — as the idea of heading into a potential Game 4 elimination game in Detroit with on the hill could bring this whole 2006 ALDS parallel — says hello — full circle.