First Blood

Rambo: There wouldn't be no trouble except for that king shit cop! All I wanted was something to eat. But the man kept pushing Sir.

Trautman: Well you did some pushing on your own John.

Rambo: They drew first blood, not me.

Trautman: Look Johnny, let me come in and get you the hell out of there!

Rambo: They drew first blood...

Trautman: Rambo, are you still reading me? Company leader to Raven! Rambo! Acknowledge!

There's blood in the water. Game One showed why this team is going to be hard to beat. They can throw an inning on you like nobody else. Once it starts rolling it's like the Juggernaut. Listen, the Tigers had a very good season. They finished poorly and it will cost them dearly. There's more baseball to play, but you have to look closely at these teams and be honest. It will take a miracle for the Tigers to win 3 out of 4 against the Bombers. These are not the 2002 Angels or the 2004 Red Sox. These guys are kind of like the early 90's Rangers. We used to sweep them.

I'm a bit tired tonight, so I regret that I'll keep this brief. Hopefully, I'll muster a bit more energy to write over the next few games, and certainly as we get deeper into things. Tonight I'll keep it simple and comment on my "Hero" and my "Goat" of Game One and leave it to Moose and company to do the rest tomorrow.

Hero: Derek Jeter

No brainer. Jeter went 5-5 and showed why he deserves the 2006 MVP award, and why he may be the most valuable player of his generation. Here's where he ranks in MLB playoff history:

Games Played (116, 2nd behind Bernie Williams 120)
At Bats (467, 1st)
Runs (84, 1st)
Hits (147, 1st)
Total Bases (224, 1st)
Doubles (20, 2nd behind Bernie's 29)
Home Runs (17, tied for 5th with Thome)
RBIs (48, tied for 3rd with Manny and Reggie)
Walks (50, 6th)
SOs (90, 1st)
SBs (16, 6th)
Singles (107, 1st)
XBH (40, 2nd to Bernie's 51)

The list could probably go on further, but that's enough. He's a Legend of the first order and he's ours. More ahead.

Goat: Robertson/Leyland

These guys share the goat horns. Leyland sent the runners in the early part of the game and got Ordonez thrown out at 3rd. That was a huge moment in the game. He also left in Robertson in the 6th after it was clear he was done. With such a stellar pen, he had to have balls enough to know Nate was cooked and replace him to hold it at 5-3. Instead he left Robertson in with runners on 2nd and 3rd and the heart of the order coming up. With 2 outs he could have brought in a tough reliever to face Abreu but he gambled and lost. Robertson deserves plenty of the blame for not doing his job well, but he was put in a position to fail in some way.

See you tomorrow. Go Yanks!!!