First the Tiger's short stop flat out robs Robinson Cano for the third out of the top of the first, then A.J.'s release point is all screwed up in the bottom of the first, and he walks the lead off man, allows him to steal second after a popped up bunt, then intenionally walks Cabrera and walks Victor Martinez to load the bases. The next guy up, Kelly, smokes one to deep center, and my heart flat out stops as Granderson misjudges it and breaks in, nearly playing it into an inside the park grand slam home run before he makes a snow cone leaping grab.
Suddenly, A.J. finds his release point, and with the exception of serving up a solo meatball to Martinez in the third, pitches lights out. Jeter finally gets a big hit in the clutch. Granderson, Gardner and Posada keep having hot series. Soriano, with help from a flat out great play by Granderson, pitches great for an inning and a third. Martin, A-Rod, Teixiera, Swisher and Cano's bats all wake up in the 8th inning. A-Rod gets a second hit in the 9th, and Teixiera hits one to the wall in right center that would have been 10 rows deep in the seats at Yankee Stadium, his best swing of the post season.
Now the teams return to Yankee Stadium for a deciding game 5, Ivan Nova (1-0), a rookie with ice cubes in his veins, versus Fister (0-1), who already got beat by the Yankees once in this series. Anything can happen, but I think, to my genuine surprise (I really didn't think the Yankees had any real chance of getting out of this series - we got a chance when, thanks to the rain, Verlander only got one win and we didn't have to count on Garcia winning a decisive game), that the Yankees will be hosting a rematch of last year's ALCS.
If, and again this is still a big if - Fister didn't pitch bad in losing game one - the Yankees do get to the ALCS, the way Burnett pitched tonight, they might have found a new third starter for the rest of the playoffs.