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Dan Dickerson wasn?t one of the contributors to Broadcaster?s View: What is the Best Pitching Performance You?ve Seen? when the piece ran here at FanGraphs on June 2nd. Better late than never, the radio play-by-play voice of the Detroit Tigers shared the following when I caught up to him at Fenway Park a few weeks ago.
?My No. 1 would be Kenny Rogers against the Yankees, Game Three of the 2006 ALDS,? Dickerson told me, adding that the southpaw?s career ERA against the Bronx Bombers was well north of six. ?That lineup was loaded. As Jim Leyland called it, it was ?Murderer?s Row, and then Cano.? Robinson Can? was hitting ninth.
?He went out there and channeled young Kenny Rogers, at 41 years old,? continued Dickerson. ?I don?t know what the radar gun said ? I?m not even sure there was a radar gun ? but he was reaching back and firing fastballs. And he was so animated. He was feeding off the crowd and vice versa. When he left the mound, that place just erupted. I think he went seven-and-two-thirds, but whatever it was, he was incredible.?
Dickerson?s second and third choices were by the same pitcher.
?I?ve seen Justin Verlander?s no-hitters, but his back-to-back Game Fives in Oakland ? almost exactly one year apart to the day ? are the ones that stand out the most,? said Dickerson. ?Two years in a row, the Tigers had to play a deciding Game Five in Oakland, and those crowds were the loudest I?ve heard in the postseason. That place was crazy. It was like a Raiders game.
?[Verlander?s] combined line for the two games was 17 innings, no runs, six hits, two walks, and 21 strikeouts. I mean, who do you want on the mound in a big game? The answer is Justin Verlander. Deciding games, and it was, ?This is what I want, and this is what I?m going to do.? Phenomenal.?
Fangraphs
?My No. 1 would be Kenny Rogers against the Yankees, Game Three of the 2006 ALDS,? Dickerson told me, adding that the southpaw?s career ERA against the Bronx Bombers was well north of six. ?That lineup was loaded. As Jim Leyland called it, it was ?Murderer?s Row, and then Cano.? Robinson Can? was hitting ninth.
?He went out there and channeled young Kenny Rogers, at 41 years old,? continued Dickerson. ?I don?t know what the radar gun said ? I?m not even sure there was a radar gun ? but he was reaching back and firing fastballs. And he was so animated. He was feeding off the crowd and vice versa. When he left the mound, that place just erupted. I think he went seven-and-two-thirds, but whatever it was, he was incredible.?
Dickerson?s second and third choices were by the same pitcher.
?I?ve seen Justin Verlander?s no-hitters, but his back-to-back Game Fives in Oakland ? almost exactly one year apart to the day ? are the ones that stand out the most,? said Dickerson. ?Two years in a row, the Tigers had to play a deciding Game Five in Oakland, and those crowds were the loudest I?ve heard in the postseason. That place was crazy. It was like a Raiders game.
?[Verlander?s] combined line for the two games was 17 innings, no runs, six hits, two walks, and 21 strikeouts. I mean, who do you want on the mound in a big game? The answer is Justin Verlander. Deciding games, and it was, ?This is what I want, and this is what I?m going to do.? Phenomenal.?
Fangraphs
