I’ve been very adamant to Tiger fans over the last six months (granted, usually only if they got uppity) to be very careful at how much stock they put in Kenny Rogers when it comes to the month of October. Kenny Rogers has a deeply ingrained Suck Switch that goes off, like clockwork, on October 1st every season. It’s not just that Kenny has gotten bombed in a couple post-season starts, it’s more that he looks like he’s entirely lost when he’s out on the mound in October. He nearly lost the 1996 post-season for the Yankees multiple times. He DID lose the 1999 NLCS for the Mets. Now, years later, he has the opportunity to put the Yankees away for the season.
Make no mistake, I still think Kenny’s going to get bombed this evening. But I just wanted to say the following. Never moreso has the contention that game 3 of a 5 game series is the most important been true than it is right now. Kenny Rogers is awful, but he’s facing a Randy Johnson who is too old, working on a back that has the consistency of tissue paper doped up on medicine prescribed for women in labor. I’ve never been in labor, but I’ve heard it’s painful. If Kenny Rogers goes out there and even keeps it reasonable, it’s perfectly possible the Yankees have to go to their bullpen in the fourth, or even fifth inning. If that happens, the Tigers very easily win this game. If the Tigers win tonight, the Yankees are put in a situation where they have Jaret “ol’ 70 pitch” Wright on the mound, on the road, for their playoff life. Now, on a taxed bullpen from the day before, the Yankees lose. If Kenny Rogers is normal Kenny Rogers tonight, the Yankees win after putting up 15 runs in the first inning and guarantee the game goes back to the Bronx, where they win.
The Yankee fans are completely unfazed by the fact Randy Johnson is pitching tonight, with Wright on the mound tomorrow, simply because Kenny Rogers is who the Tigers are putting out there. The Yankee fan, and probably even the Yankees, are treating tonight as a walk. If the Tigers surprise them and win this game tonight, the Tigers are going to the ALCS.
Kenny actually has a chance tonight to rewrite his entire post-season history by going out there and getting the job done for six or seven innings. It’s an opportunity you rarely get in life, much less in a baseball career.
If I lived or died by the Yankees, I’d keep a bottle of liquor handy.
