The Tigers Walked Off The New York Yankees Today Following One Of The Most Baffling Errors You'll Ever See
This Yankees/Tiger series was one of the ugliest I've seen in a minute. You have the New York Yankees, who have basically given up on the season, and yet, for some reason, they looked like the 1998 Yankees in the first three games of the series against the Tigers. I guess playing Detroit will do that to you. Today, they look more like the Yankees that we've seen in the second half this year, a team with a lethargic offense and an inability to come up big in crunch time. Matt Manning was fantastic for Detroit. The Tigers got a few runs across the board and went into the top of the ninth inning with a 3-0 lead. Then Alex Lange, the closer for the Tigers, did what he's done many times since the calendar turned June and spit it up. Anthony Volpe hit a three-run shot to tie the game. That set the stage for the extra-inning "heroics."
Gleyber Torres is a good player, but man, that is a rough way to lose a game. A lot of people are saying he rushed the throw. Watching the replay back, I don't know if I see that. I think he air-mailed it. That thing absolutely sailed on him. The Yankees did challenge the slide at second base in an attempt to save Torres from embarrassment, but the right call was made. It wasn't an illegal slide, it was just a bad throw.
I wouldn't wish these kinds of games on any fan. We're reaching the point in the season in which bad teams are just going through the motions. Sure, you have some guys fighting for spots on next year's team, but things are set in stone for the most part. The Yankees are on the verge of having the first sub-.500 season that they've had in my lifetime, and the Tigers, well, they're the Tigers.
I don't apologize for any win. The worst win in the world is still better than any loss. At the same time, there is something of an icky feeling that comes with winning a game like this. The Tigers should've won. They outplayed the Yankees. But to win in that way is pretty mind-boggling. The Tigers have had a lot of bad breaks over the last eight years. I will definitely take a good one.
I feel like this play perfectly encapsulates the Yankees' season. Don't get me wrong, they're still 1 million times better than the Tigers, but they're rough around the edges. They have talent, but they aren't particularly athletic. They strike out a bunch, and when it matters most, they make some head-scratching mistakes. Zach Short isn't exactly a slow runner, but Gleyber had him dead to rights. This is why you put the ball in play. Good things can happen. The Tigers nearly lost this game because they left the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning. Let this be a lesson out there. Good things happen when you make contact, especially if Gleyber Torres is playing second place. 
