Bob Wojnowski: Tigers 8, A's 5

Bob Wojnowski: Tigers return home with 2-0 lead over A's

Tigers return home with 2-0 lead over A's

OAKLAND, Calif. -- It's all working now, all the magical stuff and all the practical stuff, and even the bizarre stuff. Seriously. When a seldom-used hitter bounces off the bench to become the star of the game, the Tigers are living right and playing right, and looking more unbeatable by the inning.

What Detroit is doing to Oakland right now is almost cruel. The Tigers lost their starting first baseman, Sean Casey, to injury. Their star pitcher, Justin Verlander, wasn't his dominating self, digging an early deficit.

This one looked sketchy early.

So here comes -- ta-da -- Alexis Gomez with two hits, and here come the Tigers rolling home with an 8-5 victory Wednesday and a 2-0 lead in the American League Championship Series.

With five straight playoff victories, the Tigers just keep coming, getting hits from every spot in the lineup, from the Well Knowns to the Virtually Unknowns. You could hear the McAfee Coliseum crowd literally groan when Gomez collected his first hit, a two-run single that glanced off third baseman Eric Chavez's glove. You could hear them gasp and shriek on his clinching hit, a mammoth two-run homer in the sixth.

We know manager Jim Leyland likes to use everyone and has a knack for choosing wisely, but this is getting ridiculous. In the first three at-bats of his first-ever postseason game, Gomez had four RBIs, two fewer than he had all season in Detroit, although he split time in the minors in Toledo.

In fact, Gomez has an apartment in Toledo and commuted to Detroit whenever he was called up. Entering the game, Gomez, 28, had one major league home run in 158 at-bats. I'm guessing the one he clubbed Wednesday was slightly more memorable, giving Detroit a 7-3 lead.

"They gave me the biggest chance of my life, and I think I did my best for the team," Gomez said. "I've been in the situation where I go down, I go up, but I never put my head down. All this time, I said, 'I'll be ready when you need me.' "

He was needed for his left-handed bat, and if you don't think his sudden splash inspired his team, you didn't see the players staring and smiling at the dressing room TVs after the game, watching Gomez speak at the podium in the interview room.

"Good to see," Pudge Rodriguez said. "He hits balls 500 feet in batting practice. I'm very happy for him. This is a major-league team, and everybody has to do their jobs. Another awesome win."

Shaking 'em up

Another sharp maneuver by the ol' skipper. I'm not saying Leyland and the Tigers are making all the right moves these days. I'm just saying Leyland could insert Bullwinkle in the lineup and the big moose would go 3-for-4.

Leyland always has liked Gomez's power potential, and believed in it enough to put him on the roster. Who knew it would show up on a spectacular Northern California night, precisely when the Tigers needed help?

Now, as the Tigers get ready for the next three games at Comerica Park, starting Friday, the storyline keeps turning, taking them ever closer to their first World Series since 1984. Literally, you have no idea, on any given night, who will supply the next twist.

I do know this: The new symbol of the Tigers should be the Strikeout Fist Pump. Their storied starters have shown more emotion, and in this one, relievers Jason Grilli and Fernando Rodney struck out four straight batters, then punctuated their efforts with feisty punches. Todd Jones added two more strikeouts, giving the Tigers an ALCS-record six in a row, before Jones escaped trouble in the ninth.

The perception of this team keeps changing, and who knows what it'll be by this time next week. The easy way to view the Tigers is the way many have viewed them all year. They get painted as an interesting band of overachievers weaving a fascinating little tale that may or may not be sustainable.

Yes, the Tigers take their knocks.

But oh yes, they deliver their knocks.

This is how a team confirms its greatness, when everyone's watching. Detroit never stops banging to get in -- into a game, into a series, into the national spotlight. Oakland leaped to a 3-1 lead on a two-run homer by Milton Bradley, but at the risk of unleashing the series' worst pun, I'll say it was apparent shortly after Milton Bradley's homer that this wasn't going to be a bored game.

Thinking man's game

The Tigers move their pieces around better than anyone. Losing their first baseman and No. 3 hitter, Casey, for the rest of the series was a blow, potentially a big one. It messed up the infield and the batting order, but the Tigers adjusted.

It won't be as easy for Casey, one of the all-time good guys who tore a calf muscle in Tuesday night's victory. A true team rallies, so there was Casey's jersey hung in Detroit's dugout, and there were the Tigers, calling on others.

"We just know, when Jim puts the starting nine out there that it's the right nine, and there's a reason for it," Jones said. "If he knows something we don't know, that's cool with us."

In Casey's absence, Carlos Guillen had to move from shortstop to first base. Seldom-used Neifi Perez took over at short. And maybe because he was on such a roll with his clever tinkering, Leyland put Gomez in at designated hitter, replacing Marcus Thames. Gomez immediately became the latest Tigers candidate for the role of Mr. October.

That's the way it goes when a team is feeling good about itself and everyone is part of it. With Casey's injury, the No. 3 hitter became Placido Polanco, who merely singled his first three times up. Polanco is one who took the toughest knock, suffering a shoulder injury that sidelined him for five weeks late in the season, but he kept knocking back.

The Tigers have heard so many rumors of their own demise, they just chuckle now.

"I gotta be honest, we don't really care what people say," Polanco said. "We won almost 100 games, so that means we do whatever it takes."

Whatever it takes, whoever it takes, wherever it takes you get the idea. From A (Alexis) to Z (Zumaya), the Tigers keep plugging holes, keep finding ways. So far, they've made it look easier than it is, or should be.

The A's have to be staggered and befuddled and thoroughly annoyed. There they sit, with no clue what's coming next. The Tigers can win any which way, every which way, and even in ways nobody ever imagined.

You can reach Bob Wojnowski at bob.wojnowski@detnews.com.