The Tigers had 1 foot in the grave tonight

In fact, they were as close as a team can be to asking for last rites, being dead and buried, and calling for an autopsy. Yet somehow, someway, and much in thanks to the arguable AL MVP Magglio Ordonez, the Tigers dodged baseball's Grim Reaper once again with a miraculous 5-4 win.

Talk about whistling though the graveyard...

You have to agree that it was looking damn grim going into the bottom of the 9th. Pudge Rodriguez had left the game earlier with dizziness, Joel Zumaya hurt another finger (Thank God it was only a torn fingernail, and not a tendon), and the Blue Jays looked to have put the game on ice in the 8th with 2 insurance runs.

After TEE-MO Perez had grounded into his 2nd double play of the game in the bottom of the 9th, the game was over. Seriously, it was over. I thought it was over. You thought it was over. Everyone at Comerica thought it was over, including the Blue Jays.

I mean, come on. It was time break out the old "Game over man, game over!" quote.



I wasn't as freaked out as Hudson, but I sure as Hell agreed with him...

I was ready to write the Tigers off, and down 4-1, with 2 outs and no one on, against the Blue Jays' ace Roy Halladay, no one in their right mind would have blamed me. Tonight had the feeling of a "The season is over if they lose" game. Luckily, the Tigers weren't ready to call it a season.

4 consecutive singles by Casey, Inge, Granderson (Scoring 2 runs) and Polanco, a hard earned base on balls worked by Sheffield, and an Ordonez 2 RBI single later, the game was actually, truly, finally over.

Shows what I know...

You know how important this win was for the Tigers when Jim Leyland ran on to the field like like a kid hopped up on vodka and Red Bull. Thinking back, I've never seen the Marlboro Man that excited over a win, any win, even after those crazy last at bat wins in 2006. He was ecstatic, and that's saying something.

From Leyland's actions, you saw just how badly he wanted this game. But even he had to be surprised, shocked and amazed that the Tigers pulled their asses out of the grave.

If, and it's a big IF, the Tigers do make the post season, this win will be the game everyone looks back to as the turning point. But that's getting ahead of ourselves. Waaay ahead of ourselves.

Worry about magic numbers, the Indians, the Mariners and the Yankees tomorrow. Let's just enjoy tonight's stunning victory, and revel the fact that the Tigers are playing meaningful games in September, something we thought was nothing more than a pipe dream just 2 short seasons ago.