Granderson dazzles, Burnett surprises as Yankees force Game 5

And this wasn't even Curtis Granderson's most impressive and important catch. (Photo: Reuters/Mike Cassese)

What transpired early in Game 4 between the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees proves just how unpredictable baseball can be. For New York, A.J. Burnett took the ball in an elimination game, and there wasn’t much hope for success. This a pitcher who struggled mightily all season long to a 5.15 ERA, and who, manager Joe Girardi said, would have a “short leash.” Not a confidence-builder heading into such an important start. And not surprisingly, Yankee fans let out a collective groan as he graced the mound in the bottom of the first.

Burnett struggled in that first inning, walking three Tigers. One was intentional, but he was all over the place. His command was so poor, in fact, that Cory Wade was warming up in the bullpen. The leash was evidently a very, very short one. But just then, Curtis Granderson saved his skin and lengthened the leash.

Two were out and two were on for Don Kelly, the Tigers speedy right-fielder. The 31-year-old crushed Burnett’s second offering into center-field, where Granderson was stationed. I initially thought it would be a routine line-out, but Granders started in and the ball kept rising, forcing him to sprint towards the wall. He appeared to stumble a bit trying to recover from his first reaction. There was no way he was going to make the catch, right? Then he did, leaping for an absolutely incredible grab.

If he didn’t catch that, four runs would have scored; it would have been an inside-the-park homer. There was a lot of field behind him before the fence, and the corner outfielders weren’t nearby. As it as, Burnett was out of the jam.

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“Don Kelly put a great swing on the ball to the middle of the field and hit it really hard,” Granderson said. “Talking to (teammate) Andruw Jones, you know, probably one of the greatest center fielders, he said that’s one of the toughest balls, too, because you don’t know if it’s going to fall in front of you or take off like it did, and somehow I was able to stay in the right spot and make a play on it.”

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“That was the game right there,” teammate Alex Rodriguez said. “He may have saved the season.”

Just as Granderson’s amazing play was hard to believe, what Burnett did thereafter was similarly surprising.

The enjoyable TBS announcing crew compiled of Brett Anderson, Ron Darling, and John Smoltz made some great points regarding Burnett, dissecting why he has been so inconsistent. They gushed about his superb repertoire–his 91-93 miles-per-hour fastball with movement, and, according to Smoltz, one of the best curveball’s in baseball–but also went into what has fueled his struggles: a poor release point. “It’s like losing your putting stroke,” Smoltz, an avid golfer, said.

Considering where Burnett’s release point was in the first inning, coming to the conclusion that the outing would be a rough one for the veteran wasn’t extreme. As it would turn out, this expectation was far from the truth. He found his a comfortable release point, settled down, and delivered with one of his best outings of the season in the Yankees most important game of the season.

New York’s ability to score two runs in the third inning only helped Burnett, who cruised right along with that advantage in hand. By the sixth, the lead was 4-1, and he was pitching so well that Girardi pulling him with two outs was a perplexing decision. Who would have thought that would be the case heading into the game?

He had given Girardi far more than was expected, though.

“I was thrilled for him,” Girardi said. “What he did, 5 2/3 and only giving up that one run, a great performance. Struggled a little bit in the first inning and then really settled down nicely. I was proud of what he did. In a must-win situation for us, he pitched one of his best games of the year.”

For the outing to be capped off with a W next to his name, there was still plenty of work to do. A runner was on first when he was removed, and Rafael Soriano came in to face Jhonny Peralta. The Tigers shortstop crushed the first pitch he saw into the left-center field gap. The initial thought was that a run would score and Peralta would be in scoring position. Granderson had too far to go; this one would definitely drop. These thoughts ran through my brain and that of many other hopeful fans. It turned out we had seen this movie before. A run, in fact, wouldn’t score, and Peralta wouldn’t be in scoring position. And the ball wouldn’t drop. Granderson defined the term ‘full-extension’, laying out to make a remarkable catch. He thrust his glove into the air. The crowd groaned. The player who was beloved for so many years in Detroit was playing spoiler and keeping his Yankees alive.

“That was an interesting one because I was a little bit out of position partly because I’m playing the odds of where I think he’s going to possibly hit it,” Granderson said. “The ball hung up a little bit longer than we thought it was going to and I was able to go ahead and extend long enough to be able to catch it.”

That catch took the wind out of the Tigers sails, and New York went on to win 10-1, breaking the game open with a six-run eighth inning. But without Granderson’s two amazing catches and Burnett’s excellent outing, the Yankees are probably on the plane home to start a depressing vacation. Instead, they are heading home for a different reason, to play a do-or-die Game 5.