Verlander Eviscerates Oakland out of October

Oakland Athletics are not very good at League Division Series thing. Since 2000, the A's are 1-6 in Division
Series and each of those six losses have come in a Game 5. To make matters worse, they have lost all five home Game 5's.  Maybe this year would be different.... It was not different. Justin Verlander took the hill for Detroit, the same guy who eliminated Oakland last year did the exact same thing with another dominating performance with him rounding into form at the right time of the season.

For much of the year, the national media has been critical of Verlander. He did not have a good season for the most part, but he still pitched like a number two on a solid team like Detroit and a number one on a team like Milwaukee (OH THAT'S RIGHT I WENT THERE). The 2011 Cy Young and MVP winner started to dominate in September and he continued in the playoffs with two great performances against Oakland.

Verlander started off Game 2 with retiring the first eleven batters and he decided to do himself one better in Game 5 by having a perfect game until the sixth inning and a no-hitter into the seventh. Verlander could not have been more on point tonight. Everything had movement and as SnoTap writer Pat Luce told me on Twitter, 'The A's look as shell-shocked as The Great One did seeing Paulina's R-rated photos.'  He struck out 10 batters as well. In the last four games, the Detroit pitcher has struck out 43 batters meaning he is averaging about 10.3 strikeouts a game.  He is damn near untouchable right now and it has come at the perfect time.

He will pitch again against Boston in Game 3 likely at Comerica Park, Verlander's first start at home since September 18th. He only faced Boston once this season so there is no real indicator on how Verlander will do against Boston's big bats. But I do know one thing, it is pretty evident there is not one pitcher I want more going for me in a big game right now. Clayton Kershaw is fine and in the long run, the guy I want, but Verlander is pitching his ass off. If he continues this run, he would bring some validation to the massive contract he signed in the offseason.

As for Oakland,  they put a bow on another good season. It is a one of those slap on the back like 'Good job, good effort' yet this has to be infuriating at some point for A's fans. They want to move past this proverbial wall and maybe they need to play a team that is not named Detroit.  It looked like blouses when they were heading home to Oakland after losing the lead twice in Game 4 and that is rarely ever said about a playoff series.

I said at the beginning of the postseason, I am sick of Detroit and honestly I am, but here's the thing, I get another week or two of Miguel Cabrea, Prince Fielder, Verlander and others which is pretty special.

Charlie.