Tigers walkoff winners

DETROIT -- White Tiger towels waved madly and Tiger players bolted out of the dugout after Magglio Ordonez won the American League pennant for Detroit last night with a three-run, walkoff homer.

Tigers owner and pizza magnate Mike Ilitch hugged and kissed his wife in the owners' box. General manager Dave Dombrowski jumped high into the air like an NBA superstar. Manager Jim Leyland began crying as he searched the stands for his wife and children.

And Ordonez ran swiftly around the bases until he was met by a sea of Tiger uniforms at home plate, where he leaped high and came down on the white dish in an emphatic gesture to an equally emphatic Tigers performance before 42,967 fans at Comerica Park.

``My wife told me I'd be going to the World Series," said an emotional Ordonez, who had tied the game with a solo homer in the sixth inning. ``She told me before the playoffs started. She was right. It was also my son's 11th birthday and I told him I'd hit a home run for him. I hit two. That's an extra gift for him."

After Craig Monroe and Placido Polanco singled with two outs, Ordonez pounced on a 1-and-0 pitch from Oakland closer Huston Street and blasted it into the left-field seats for a 6-3 victory and a sweep of the AL West champs.

``I think early on in spring training we had a lot of good players. We didn't have a good team. And today I can make the statement that we've got a good team and that's the thing that I'm proudest of," said the Marlboro-smoking Leyland, who returns to the World Series in his first year managing after a six-year absence.

The Tigers had a great chance to break the game open in the seventh, loading the bases with one out. But A's manager Ken Macha went for broke and -- with setup man Justin Duchscherer unavailable because of back spasms -- opted for his closer to face Carlos Guillen.

It looked like a desperate move, but Street induced a double-play grounder.

The A's had threatened with two outs in the eighth, thanks to 12 straight balls from Detroit reliever Jason Grilli. But Wil Ledezma came in and got Marco Scutaro to foul out.

``It was just a matter of time before [Ordonez] hit one hard, and he hit two today," said Polanco, who was named ALCS MVP for batting .529 (9 for 17) after going 3 for 5 yesterday with two RBIs and two doubles. ``The last one couldn't have come at a better moment. I felt very, very happy for Magglio."

Ordonez came to the Tigers as a free agent in February 2005 after eight years with the White Sox, missing last year's World Series celebration.

``I felt happy for my teammates in Chicago when they won, but now we have a chance to go to the World Series and win it, too," said a champagne-drenched Ordonez.

He said of the moment when he stepped up to the plate in the ninth, ``I wasn't nervous at all. I felt calm. I was trying to be patient and get my pitch. I got a slider and I was able to do something with it.

``I'll never forget it. It's amazing for teammates and my family who were here watching. They'll never forget it."

In the sixth, Ordonez pounced on Dan Haren's first pitch to tie it.

The Tigers tallied twice in the fifth inning. A's third baseman Eric Chavez threw away Brandon Inge's slow roller, putting the leadoff man at second. Inge moved up on Ramon Santiago's grounder to second, and scored the Tigers' first run on Curtis Granderson's hustle double to right-center. Granderson scored on Monroe's double to left, but the Tigers' rally ended there as Polanco lined into a double play.

The A's showed a lot of life early, breaking out of the gate for two runs in the first inning against Tigers starter Jeremy Bonderman. Volatile Milton Bradley, one of the few A's hitters who have been productive, doubled in Mark Kotsay (walk) and scored on Chavez's ground-rule double.

Jay Payton's home run to left in the fourth made it 3-0.

The goat for the A's was Frank Thomas, the man credited by GM Bill Beane ``for getting us here," who ended the four-game series with a woeful 0 for 13 with four strikeouts.

Bonderman, a gritty sort, was not flustered by the early deficit. He seemed to have trouble getting loose early, but that changed as the game went on. With two outs in the seventh, following a Jason Kendall single, Leyland came out for Bonderman after he threw his 100th pitch.

Lefthander Jamie Walker came in to face Kotsay. His drive down the line in right, replete with Carlton Fisk-like body language, brought a momentary rush to the A's bench, but the drive curved foul before the yellow pole. On the next pitch, Kotsay struck out, letting the hope out of the A's for the time being.

The A's threatened with two outs in the eighth, thanks to 12 straight balls from Grilli. But Ledezma came in and got Scutaro to foul out, giving Ordonez the opportunity for immortality.