OAKLAND, Calif. -- Every now and then in a ballclub's once-in-a-generation, out-of-nowhere storybook season, there are reminders.
Unplanned and then unforgettable examples that life is being lived right and that a previously elusive championship may actually, really, seriously be on the horizon.
Exhibit A for the Detroit Tigers: Alexis Gomez.
His name absolutely, positively must be followed by a three-letter word: Who? For those outside Detroit and Loma de Cabrera, Dominican Republic, Gomez is a 28-year-old left-handed outfielder who was twice designated for assignment by the Tigers this season and was once waived by the Kansas City Royals, baseball's equivalent of being fired by a temp agency.
Gomez is also the Tigers' newest hero, after hitting a two-run homer and driving in four runs, to help lead the Tigers to an 8-5 win against the Oakland Athletics yesterday in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series.
"Anybody can do something up and down this lineup. And today was his day," said Tigers right fielder Magglio Ordonez.
The Tigers, who stumbled into the postseason after a rough September, have won five consecutive playoff games and now own a 2-0 lead as they head home for tomorrow's Game 3. Two wins at Comerica Park and the Tigers can prepare for the Motor City's first World Series in 22 years.
Gomez received the starting nod at designated hitter only because Tigers manager Jim Leyland wanted a left-hander to face Oakland starter Esteban Loaiza. Plus, regular DH Marcus Thames had just one hit in 30 at-bats this year against the A's.
So Gomez, a career .259 hitter with one homer and 11 lifetime RBIs before last night, got the call. And he answered with the performance of his undefined career.
"[Leyland] told me I was maybe going to play DH today and [I said] `OK, I'd be ready,'" Gomez said.
Leyland, who thanked his player for "making me look good," joked that Gomez was a batting-practice homer hitter, so putting him into yesterday's lineup made sense.
"I told him that it's a 5 o'clock game and that's when you hit most of your home runs, normally. So I am going to play you tonight," Leyland said.
Kidding aside, closer Todd Jones said it was another example of Leyland's managerial prowess.
"Whatever Jim's got to tell us, it's the right thing and it's the best thing I have ever been around," Jones said. "If Friday night I'm hitting cleanup, I'll expect to get a hit."
