ALCS GAME 3

Tigers 3

A’s 0

DETROIT – All you had to do was listen to the 41,669 fans chanting “Kenny! Kenny!” at Comerica Park last night to understand the amazing transformation of Kenny Rogers.

The veteran left-hander was dazzling again, pitching 71/3 innings in the Tigers’ 3-0 victory over the Athletics in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series. The upstart Tigers can sweep away the A’s and head to their first World Series since 1984.

That was two years after Rogers was taken in the 39th round by the Rangers – 3066 major league innings later, Rogers has found October happiness.

On this night, he bedeviled the A’s just as he shut down the Yankees in the Division Series. Rogers has not allowed a run this postseason over 15 innings.

“Nobody could have pitched better over his last two outings than Kenny Rogers has,” Detroit manager Jim Leyland said.

Yes, this is the same Kenny Rogers that once wore Yankees and Mets uniforms.

Rogers surrendered only two hits and struck out six. When he left the mound with a runner on first and one out in the seventh, he acknowledged the warm cheers on this cold night by taking off his cap, waving to the crowd and then twirling around as if to thank each and every towel-waving fan in the park.

“He apparently was doing the same thing against the Yankees,” A’s manager Ken Macha said.

This series all but ended when the A’s lost two games in Oakland. No team in LCS history had lost the first two games at home and bounced back to win the series.

The A’s were psychologically beaten from the start by Rogers and the elements. The temperature was 42 degrees at the time of the first pitch. When the A’s took the field for batting practice with a strong wind ripping across the field, shortstop Marco Scutaro wore a scarf around his face. For part of the game he wore an A’s wool hat over his baseball cap.

The temperature and Rogers got in the Athletics’ heads. There were only eight hits on the night, but the plucky Tigers pushed across two runs in the first against losing pitcher Rich Harden on an RBI single by Placido Polanco and a fielder’s choice grounder by Magglio Ordonez. Craig Monroe homered leading off the fifth to ice it.

Of the 81 outs recorded this series by Tigers pitchers, 24 have been by strikeouts. The A’s barely can put the bat on the ball against this spectacular staff.

Rogers came into this October 1-3 in the postseason with a 6.43 ERA. During his time with the Yankees and Mets he was 0-3 in the postseason. But all that has changed. He is more aggressive and more animated. And his command has been perfect. It’s all paying off for the 41-year-old.

After Jason Kendall led off the game with a single, Rogers did not allow another hit until one out in the fifth when Scutaro dropped a single into right. That marked the first time in nine batters the A’s had managed to get the ball out of the infield.

Pitching wins in October and Rogers is leading the way for the Tigers.