From Hardball Talk

In bizarre fashion, Jose Valverde’s meltdown pays off for Tigers

For all of the drama, Detroit pulled out Saturday’s Game 1 by a 6-4 score in 12 innings. And thanks to Jose Valverde‘s four-run ninth inning, the Tigers…

- were able to extend the Yankees pen prior to Hiroki Kuroda making his first ever start on three days’ rest on Sunday. Rafael Soriano and David Robertson both worked in extras. So did David Phelps, who would have been the long man Sunday had Kuroda struggled.

- hopefully guaranteed that Valverde will never work in another close game in the series. Valverde doesn’t seem to be deceiving anyone with his 92-94 mph fastball at the moment and he’s been struggling with his splitter for months. That Valverde was so awful in blowing his second straight lead should mean Jim Leyland will give Al Alburquerque and Octavio Dotel increased responsibility going forward, which is a very good thing for the Tigers.

The extra-inning game also resulted in Derek Jeter‘s fractured ankle, putting him out for the postseason. The Tigers don’t want any credit for that, and they’d surely rather have beaten the Yankees at their best. That said, it certainly helps their chances of winning the ALCS that the Yankees will be without their captain the rest of the way.

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From Off the Bench 

University of Minnesota running back Donnell Kirkwood loses helmet decal after big hit

After witnessing the pounding that college running backs take over the years, I would assume that incidents like this would happen more often.

During today’s University of Minnesota/Northwestern game, Minnesota tailback Donnell Kirkwood was given the ball on a 2nd & 5 in the second quarter and gained the necessary yards for the Golden Golphers to achieve a first down in Wildcat territory.

Kirkwood was eventually stopped by Northwestern cornerback Ibraheim Campbell with a low tackle. The force of the tackle was so great that Kirkwood lost one of his helmet decals during the hit and one camera angles showed it laying on the turf:

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How do you call it a Rivalry, when one team wins all of the time?

Let’s see, I think my sock drawer needs re-arranging today.

You really have to admire a team with four rookie pitchers. It lets me know pitching is possible to get.

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Have a great Sunday, and thanks for reading!