MLB Playoffs 2011: Tigers Must Give Nelson Cruz the Barry Bonds Treatment

It's getting to the point where every time Nelson Cruz steps into the box, everyone watching the game is thinking the same thing:

"Don't do it."

And for good reason. The Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers have played five games in the American League Championship Series, and Cruz has hit five home runs. As pointed out by ESPNDallas.com, that ties the record for the most home runs hit in a Championship Series for either league.

The scary part is that there is still at least one more game to be played. Maybe two if the Tigers are lucky.

But the last thing the Tigers want to do heading into Saturday's Game 6 is trust that their luck will be good. To steal a line from Harvey Dent, they need to make their own luck.

They can do that by not pitching to Nelson Cruz. Pitching to him is something they've done 18 times in the series, and Cruz has responded by hitting five dingers.

That's one dinger every 3.6 at-bats. And for what it's worth, Cruz is averaging more than two RBI per dinger.

These are not numbers the Tigers want to hear, for they indicate that Cruz is both powerful and clutch. Hopefully, they don't need numbers to figure that out.

Assuming they have figured it out, my hope is that the Tigers have learned their lesson. Given the amount of injuries they're fighting through, and given the fact that Justin Verlander will not be able to help out in Game 6, minimizing risk should be a priority.

That means walking Cruz whenever possible. If nobody is on base, don't let him hit a solo home run. If first base is open, letting Cruz have it is better than watching him hit a two-run (or more) homer. If the game is close in the late innings, the Tigers may want to consider walking Cruz even if there's a man on first.

If Jim Leyland actually does this, it's true that it will signal a lack of faith in Max Scherzer. It will be justified in his case, though, as Scherzer does have a tendency to give up the long ball. Scherzer has given up 29 homers in the regular season—the third-highest total in the American League.

It's also true that Leyland could live dangerously by pitching to Cruz and just trust that his offense is good enough to undo any and all damage.

Which could be easier said than done.

The Tigers offense has been up and down in this series, and it was more down than up in the first two games at Texas. The Tigers scored a total of five runs—in 20 innings of work to boot.

So yeah, maybe giving Cruz the Barry Bonds treatment is the best idea. Cruz has been walked once in this series, and that number needs to go up.

In fact, the Tigers can take a lesson from the 2002 Los Angeles Angels. Bonds hit four home runs against them in the World Series, but the Angels walked him 13 times.

Coincidentally, the Angels won.