| The Tigers' Al Alburquerque drew the ire of the A’s when his kissed the ball before getting the game's final out. (US Presswire) |
OAKLAND -- Time to kiss the Oakland A's goodbye?
Flush from first-date excitement with 12 rookies on their playoff roster, it was quite clear under a warm sun and cloudy outlook Monday that the A's aren't quite sure what to make of their situation.
Bad enough to come home facing another week like last, when a three-game sweep is required.
But what to make of the Tigers' romantic overtures?
As this AL Division Series moves West, maybe it's time to replace Bruce Springsteen's music on those television ads with the deep, silky voice of Barry White. Baby, can't get enough of your love. Reliever Al Alburquerque fielding Yoenis Cespedes' comebacker and kissing the baseball before throwing to first for the final out of Detroit's 5-4 Game 2 victory is the kind of stuff that inspires sonnets.
Almost.
Josh Reddick was infuriated. His A's feel violated. The Tigers on their charter flight West ordered Alburquerque to cease and desist before he could even send flowers.
"Well, everybody always says I'm from the old school," manager Jim Leyland quipped. "So I'd have probably hugged it first."
Or at least called the Rawlings baseball -- or the A's? -- in the morning.
This stuff continues much longer, Oakland hitting coach Chili Davis is going to have his Athletics hitters watching film of Anne Hathaway in Love and Other Drugs before Game 3 Tuesday instead of studying the mechanics of Tigers starter Anibal Sanchez.
"The baseball gods take care of that kind of stuff," Oakland outfielder Jonny Gomes said. "Obviously, he doesn't believe in the baseball gods. I do."
"I did a double take on it," admitted Brandon Inge, the former Tiger who currently is stuck on Oakland's disabled list with a surgically repaired shoulder. "I just went, 'Oh my goodness.'
"I know him. I know he didn't mean much by it. But I'm sure he's going to regret it."
A sheepish Alburquerque said that some of his teammates did lecture him.
But these Tigers don't smooch and tell.
"That's private," said Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera, one of those who spoke with the reliever. "It's over with."
Of all the wacky stuff that's happened on a baseball field, nobody had ever seen anything quite like this. Word is, the Motion Picture Assn. of America is still deciding whether to slap a "PG" or an "R" on the highlight videos.
"I don't think he meant anything by it," Inge said. "If I was still over there, I'd probably talk to him and tell him not to do it. You don't want to give the other guys any ammunition."
Speaking of which, the Tigers made a key find of their own in that department on Sunday in Albuquerque, Don Kelly and Danny Worth.
Kelly scored the game-tying run in the eighth on a wild pitch and produced the game-winning sacrifice fly in the ninth.
Worth made a game-saving play at shortstop in the ninth inning, and Alburquerque came on to woo the final out of the game.
Much of the Tigers' sluggishness this season was because the bottom half of their lineup has been AWOL. When others aside from Cabrera and Prince Fielder step up, they can turn unbeatable. And Alburquerque, a 26-year-old from the Dominican Republic, is an underrated key in the bullpen.
"I think what you saw yesterday is what we talk about all the time, what Bob Melvin talks about with his team: 25 players doing something to help out," Leyland said. "Yesterday, it happened to be Danny Worth and Donnie Kelly. I thought it was a great story because most of the focus is normally not on them."
Truthfully, Leyland could have, um, kissed them.
"I don't think it was the right thing to do," Leyland said. "I will sit here today and I will not try to defend it. I will say that I can assure everybody, including the Oakland A's, that Alburquerque did nothing intentionally to offend the Oakland A's.
"He did it, but it was not an intent in any way to offend the Oakland A's. I can assure you of that."
The Tigers know better than anybody that he's always been Al Albu-quirky, a passionate, excitable and flamboyant reliever who wears his emotions on his sleeve.
As Inge said when asked to list the goofiest things he's ever seen Alburquerque do, "you don't have enough ink."
But he's not about to tell his Athletics' teammates that.
"I'm sure these guys aren't laughing, and I'm just going to let it stir them up," he said.
So who knows what Gomes' baseball gods will stir up for Game 3, although things took another interesting twist when the A's Tuesday named old shortstop Bert Campaneris to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Maybe instead Campy will wing a bat Alburquerque's way, the way he did at Lerrin LaGrow in Game 2 of the 1972 AL Championship Series against Detroit in this same Oakland Coliseum.
"You're starting to see it a lot more in the league," Tigers catcher Gerald Laird said of flamboyant relievers. "Every closer in the game has things they do with then win or strike you out. There are a lot of celebrations now after saves or home runs.
"Deal with it, and let's move on."
"A lot of emotion is shown in different ways in the game anymore," Leyland said. "You see it a lot. You see a lot of different variations of personal celebrations, as well as team celebrations.
"It wasn't a smart thing to do. But I can honestly tell you that there was no way that Albuquerque or any members of the Detroit Tigers would ever do anything intentionally to offend another team. It just would not happen."
Meantime, don't be too quick to count on that goodnight kiss for the Athletics. This is a team that was five games back with only nine to play before planting one on the Rangers to win the AL West.
"You realize something special is going on here in Oakland," Gomes said. "It'll be rocking and rolling. It's football season, and we're going to get a little Raiders carryover.
"It will be nice."