The Yankees and Tigers kicked off the Postseason with two of the best pitchers in baseball on Friday night.  Unfortunately, neither one of them lasted very long as rain,  the theme of the Yankees’ regular season, followed the Bombers into the postseason.  Game was delayed into Saturday, and New York and Detroit were back to work.  The Yankees used a big sixth inning to put the Tigers in a big hole, as they took a 9-3 win.

The Tigers drew first blood, as Delmon Young knocked a solo homer for a 1-0 lead.  The Yankees fought back in the bottom of the inning, getting on the board in a less conventional way.  Derek Jeter struck out swinging, but was safe at first on a wild pitch.  Curtis Granderson drew a walk and both runners moved up as Robinson Cano grounded out.  Another groundout by Alex Rodriguez brought Jeter home, and the Yankees tied the game at 1-1.

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Robinson Cano is good at baseball. You know it, I know it, and the Detroit Tigers absolutely know it. The Yankees got to Doug Fister, Detroit’s number two starter, for six runs tonight, but none were bigger than the grand slam Cano deposited into the right field stands. The Yankees were already getting to the Tigers in the inning, after Brett Gardner singled in a couple of runs to make the score 4-1, and Cano’s big fly shut the door on the Tigers in Game 1.

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Same lineups as yesterday, Ivan Nova pitching for the Yankees and Doug Fister for the Tigers. Use this as a general open thread until the game starts, and then your game thread. Go Yankees (and not-rain)!

Did you know Doug Fister had the same fWAR as Jered Weaver?

Would you have guessed he had a lower walk rate than Cliff Lee?

Had you realized he posted the best ERA in the American League after the All-Star Break?

In fact, if you look at the second half of his season (16 starts), he’s got a 2.37 ERA, a insane 0.93 WHIP, and a K/BB ratio of better than 6/1.

Things were supposed to get easier once we got past Justin Verlander.

As one of the many people who had never bothered to watch Fister pitch, I was rather flabbergasted when Dave Dombrowski, a GM who clearly understands the value of young players, traded four prospects, at least two of whom possess serious upside, to get a 27-year-old former seventh-round pick whose career record was 12-30 and whose ERA went up by more than a run everytime he left Safeco Field.

Fister proceeded, predictably, to get lit up in two of his first three starts for the Tigers and looked like he could be destined to be the scapegoat, as Detroit’s lead shrunk to just two games by the middle of August.  However, Fister rebounded and the Tigers won each of the next eight games he pitched and coasted to a double-digit lead in the AL Central.  Fister allowed just four earned runs during that span (0.65 ERA) and posted a Halla-donkulous 13-to-1 K/BB ratio.

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Via RAB’s Ben Kabak on Twitter, here’s today’s forecast for Yankee Stadium. What you can see here is that there’s no forecast for rain until 6:00 P.M., after which time there’s a solid chance of precipitation all the way through the early hours of Sunday morning. So naturally tonight’s game is scheduled to start at 8:37 P.M. Couldn’t play this game at, say, 1:00 and potentially get it in before the rain comes. Gotta get that prime time money, doncha know.

Usually I’m not one to complain about these business oriented decisions, if only because I realize they’re a necessary evil, but this is just stupid. Even if the game can be played, it’s likely going to be impacted by the weather, it might be delayed, and players on the field are going to be risking injury if the playing surface gets to wet. Would ratings really suffer that much if the game was played in the afternoon rather that tonight, or does Turner Sports just not want to disrupt the television schedule that badly? Either way, this is just dumb.

Last night’s rainout and the loss of Sunday’s off day has created a need to get creative with the starting rotation, in part because there’s uncertainty about when C.C. Sabathia will be able to pitch again. The Yankees’ ace only threw 27 pitches over two innings, but he did go through a full warmup before Friday’s game, and his body obviously isn’t used to the quick turnaround it would require for him to start Game 2 on Sunday.

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