10A - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Tigers Inging .
wyay past A's
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Bran- tried to do things we don't normally
don Inge, Nate Robertson and the do:' Thomas said.
Detroit Tigers are showing no signs Zito, Oakland's lone All-Star this
of sowing down in the AL playoffs. season, didn't allow a hit until Inge _
Inge hit a solo home run and RBI the No. 9 hitter _ lofted a drive that
double from the bottom of the order, stayed just inside the left-field foul
Ivan Rodriguez also homered and pole with two outs in the third.
Robertson pitched the Tigers past Curtis Granderson followed with a
the Oakland Athletics 5-1 yesterday double, then Placido Polanco walked
night in Game 1 of the American on Zito's 56th pitch. After Casey fol-
League championship series. lowed with a walk, pitching coach
The Tigers battered Barry Zito, Curt Young paid a visit to the mound
turned four double plays and once before Magglio Ordonez's infield
again relied on their flame-throw- single that five-ime Gold GloverEric
ing relievers. Only one thing went Chavez bobbled at third base.
wrong: Sean Casey, Detroit's No. Zito threw 38 pitches, 18 balls, in
3 hitter, left early because of an the inning after needing only 31 to
injured left calf and expected to get through the first two, and he gave
be out a couple of days. way to Chad Gaudin after only 3 2-3
Game 2 in the best-of-seven series innings. His line: seven hits, five runs,
- a rematch of the 1972 ALCS - is three walks and no strikeouts on 92
tomorrow night, with Oakland's Este- pitches.
ban Loaiza facing Justin Verlander. Inge was 3-for-24 lifetime against
Fresh off surprising the New Zito coming in. But just like they did
York Yankees in four games in the the final three games with the Yan-
opening round, the typically free- kees,the Tigers found success against
swinging Tigers worked the count a starting pitcher they'd had trouble
against Zito. with in the past.
"We thought if we slowed down With two outs in the top of the
against him a little bit, it would work sixth, Casey hit a grounder to short-
a little better" Inge said. stop, took one step and then grabbed
The A's ace retired the first eight his left leg in pain. He made it about
batters he faced before running into halfway down the line and was
trouble, with 10 of the last 13 Tigers thrown out to end the inning. Manag-
facing him reaching base on the way er Jim Leyland and a trainer came out
to a 5-0 lead. to tend to Casey, who hobbled to the
"After that I started to nitpick a Tigers' clubhouse after the inning.
little bit instead of coming right after Casey was in a walking boot after
them,"Zito said. "This is the playoffs. the game. Carlos Guillen will likely
If you don't get ahead in the count it shift from shortstop to fill in at first.
becomes more exposed than in the "Hopefully tomorrow it feels a
regular season." lot better and I'll get treatment and
The wild-card Tigers showed off be back in there soon' Casey said.
theirglovestoo, tying aleague cham- "It's frustrating. I've been down
piohip series record for double this road before. I'm sure those
pla, last accomplished by the San guys will be fine."
Francisco Giants exactly 19 years Robertson and his relievers were
earlier - on Oct. 10, 1987. in control, with Oakland's only run
Robertson, who lost Game 1 coming on Payton's RBI groundout
against the Yankees in his post- in the eighth.
season debut, threw five shutout Fernando Rodney and Joel Zuma-
innings to win for the first time ya each reached triple digits on the
in the Coliseum. The 29-year-old radar gun, with Zumaya topping out
lefty struck out the side to escape at 102 mph. Todd Jones finished it.
a fourth-inning jam after Frank The Tigers - whose deep and
Thomas drew a leadofftwalk and talented pitching staff was baseball's
Jay Payton doubled him to third. best this season - held Thomas 0-
Oakland never trailed in its divi- for-3 with a walk after the Big Hurt
sion-series sweep of the Minnesota had a hit in each of the A's first three
Twins, taking quick leads in all three playoff games, including two home
games. This time, the A's grounded runs in the division series opener.
into double plays to end both the Even Marco Scutaro, who matched
second and third innings to squan- an A's postseason record with four
der early scoring chances, then had RBIs in the first-round clincher, went
another double play in the fifth. hitless - despite a sellout crowd of
The A's made mistakes resem- 35,655 chanting "Marco! Scutaro!"
bling some of their blunders in four Rodriguez hit his fourth
straightfirst-roundlossesfrom2000- career postseason homer leading
03 _ not the clean, crisp defense they off the fourth.
showed in the division series. They The Tigers' success this season has
also went 0-for-12 with runners in finally allowed them to shed the loser
scoring position, leaving them 3-for- label that came after the club's 119-
34 so far this postseason. loss season three years ago. This is
"With three days off, I think guys Detroit's first ALCS since 1987, and
came in here a little overanxious and the first for Oakland since '92.
NOTE
Manhattan transfer to join Cagers
The Michigan men's basketball team added another player to its ros-
ter Sunday. On the eve of Michigan Media Day, the Ann Arbor News
reported that C.J. Lee has transferred from Manhattan College to join the
Wolverines. The 6-foot point guard will be forced to redshirt this season in
accordance with the NCAA rules, leaving Lee with two years of eligibility
remaining.
The Pittsford, NY., native walked onto the Manhattan team, and it is
unclear how much the team can expect from him next year. But after fail-
ing to land highly touted recruit Patrick Beverly this offseason, Michigan
is happy to shore up its depth chart if nothing else.j
I
Senior Kevin Hall (left) has taken a more vocal role in the leadership capacity of captain, while co-captain and fellow defenseman Kevin Savitske (right)
prefers to lead by example with his play on the field. The duo has bonded both and off the field to form a more than capable leadership core.
Same name, same position join
togeter Blue's captain duo
By Jamie Josephson a pretty good partnership going But the co-captains see these to lead by example in his first stint
Daily Sports Writer on. Hopefully, we can lead this dual responsibilities as inherent to as co-captain.
L
Co-captains. Defensemen. Room-
mates.
Meet the two Kevins of the
Michigan men's soccer team.
Seniors Kevin Hall and Kevin
Savitske have been playing together
for four years, making their way to
co-captainship in their final year,
along with senior Brian Popeney.
Just as the defensive duo demon-
strates its on-field chemistry in the
backfield, the tandem of "Hallsy"
and "Ske" are the closest of friends
off the field as well - even when it
comes to carpooling.
"Ske gives me a ride to class
every once in awhile," Hall said,
nudging his roommate and sug-
gesting that he hopes the "free
rides" keep on coming.
Jokes aside, the friendship
between these two has trans-
lated into the highest quality of
joint leadership.
"We are together on and off the
field, 24-7," Hall said. "We have
team to some more Big Ten wins."
Underclassmen dominate this
year's roster, and the captains have
had to shoulder the responsibility
of showing them the ropes. The
captains also helped the newcom-
ers quickly adapt into starting posi-
tions in their first year of Big Ten
competition.
"We are a very young team,
Savitske said. "Our role is to
lead them, teach them what their
mistakes are and hope that they
learn as the season goes so they
get better."
With Michigan playing with a
one-man disadvantage after soph-
omore Michael Holody earned a
red card in last Sunday's 1-1 dou-
bleheader against Michigan State,
the senior leaders shouldered an
additional burden to compensate
for being shorthanded. Though
both Hall and Savitske are listed
as defensemen, Michigan coach
Steve Burns had the duo play
offense too.
their role as team leaders.
"In any game, (playing offense
and defense) are both of our roles,"
Savitske said. "With a man down
(on Sunday), we definitely had more
responsibilities on our shoulders."
Although both captains share
the same position and first name,
their leadership styles are night-
and-day.
"Hall is a real good on-field
leader and also good in the locker
room," Burns said. "Savitske was
a walk-on player that grabbed a
significant role midway through
his freshman season and never
relinquished that role. You can
see him try to dominate and take
over games and make differences.
(Other players) see Savitske and
respond to how he plays."
Hall, the more vocal leader who
is in his second year as co-cap-
tain, certainly has leadership in his
blood - his brother is the captain
of the Michigan State hockey team.
On the other hand, Savitske prefers
Even with their contrasting lead-
ership styles, both seniors share the
same realistic expectations to cap
off their final year wearing maize
and blue.
"Our goal is whatever is the
best that this team can reach for
- whether that is a Big Ten title,
an NCAA Tournament appearance
or just winning games," Savitske
said. "We just hope for the best that
we can do."
Though a five-game win-
less streak currently plagues the
Wolverines (0-1-2 Big Ten, 5-6-3
overall), both Michigan natives
could not imagine playing any-
where else.
"It's the best school in the coun-
try," Hall said.
The co-captains look to snap the
skid during this weekend's road
trip. The Wolverines will face off
against Wisconsin-Milwaukee on
Friday at 7 p.m. and return to Big
Ten play against Northwestern at 2
p.m. on Sunday.
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