Missed Opportunity Leaves Tigers One More Chance

Momentum, Jim Leyland is fond of saying, is tomorrow's starting pitcher.

Which means Detroit's momentum and the fate of its season is going to rest in the hot right arm of Doug Fister on Thursday in New York when the Tigers and New York Yankees play the final game of their best-of-five American League Division Championship series.

"It doesn't surprise me that the series is going five games," Leyland said. "That doesn't surprise me at all.

"Hopefully that suit I bought three or four days ago will be fixed now. I can pick it up when I go back."

The Tigers might not have had to go back to New York had not ex-Tiger Curtis Granderson made one of those catches in center Tigers fans saw so much of when he played for them.

A.J. Burnett had walked the bases loaded in the first inning when Don Kelly came up and smoked a 1-0 pitch on a low but rising line to center. Straight at Granderson.

"It's funny," Leyland said. "Sometimes you pick a key out in the game, and I think the key happened in the very first inning. Donnie Kelly smoked that ball, and Grandy made a good play.

"If it would have gotten over his head and he had fallen down, it might have been an inside-the-park home run."

"I think he's made that catch against me when he played here in Detroit," Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter said. "If that ball gets over his head, it's three runs scored."

"I froze," Granderson said. "Then I took a step in. Then it started to get some air. Then it kind of went up. I ended up having to leave my feet, which I didn't want to."

He snared the liner in the tip of the webbing and landed on the outfield grass. But the inning was over.

And so, as it turned out, was Detroit's best chance to terminate the series at four games. Now Detroit has to win in New York on Thursday night to earn a weekend in Texas.

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