Magglio Ordonez walked slowly out of the batter’s box to watch the ball’s flight Saturday night, and then he raised his right fist to confirm his redemption.
After watching his former White Sox teammates win the World Series one year after he left, Ordonez will make the same trip after launching a dramatic three-run home run–his second homer of the game–with two out in the ninth inning that vaulted the Detroit Tigers to a 6-3 comeback win and completed a four-game sweep of Oakland in the American League Championship Series.
“You always dream about this, and my dream came true,” said Ordonez, who felt hurt when the Sox won the Series after he endured an injury-riddled 2005 season after signing a five-year, $75 million free-agent contract.
“It’s really exciting. These fans, this organization, this city–they really deserve this.”
And the achievement couldn’t be any more satisfying for Ordonez, who played seven seasons for the Sox.
“This was Magglio’s game, and what a game it was,” left fielder Craig Monroe said after Ordonez tied the game 3-3 with a home run in the sixth inning and launched a 1-0 pitch off closer Huston Street to win it.
The home run came on Ordonez’s son Magglio Jr.’s birthday and exactly 22 years after the Tigers won the 1984 World Series.
“We knew he would come up big sometime,” said center fielder Curtis Granderson, who legged out a double that fueled a two-run rally in the fifth after the A’s had opened a 3-0 lead. “He hadn’t done it yet, and he was saving it. What a time to do it.”
By sweeping the A’s, the Tigers will have a chance to join previous World Series winners Boston and the White Sox with an eight-game postseason winning streak should they capture Game 1 of the Series on Saturday at home against either St. Louis or the New York Mets.
Ordonez’s homer gave plenty to treasure for several Tigers members with Chicago ties, from general manager Dave Dombrowski to coach Gene Lamont to Granderson to reliever Jason Grilli to infielder Neifi Perez, who was dealt from the Cubs in mid-August after ALCS MVP Placido Polanco suffered a shoulder separation.
As satisfying as the victory was for that Tigers’ contingent, the loss was extremely disappointing for A’s slugger Frank Thomas.
After leading the A’s to the AL West title and emerging as an AL MVP candidate, Thomas was 0-for-13 in the ALCS and grounded into a double play in the eighth.
Oakland was 4-for-27 with runners in scoring position in the ALCS.
“This is one of those times where you let out every emotion you have,” Dombrowski said while gripping the AL championship trophy as the Sox’s 2005 theme song, “Don’t Stop Believin’,” blared over the public-address system.
“It’s good, especially being from Chicago,” Granderson added. “All my friends and family are from Chicago, and they’ll have stuff to say.
“At the same time, they can still have something above us if we don’t get where we want to get.
“So we still have a long way to go, with a tough series against whoever it will be. We want to get it as much as [the Sox] got it last year.”
This was the toughest of the Tigers’ postseason wins. They overcame a 3-0 deficit after four innings against Rich Harden and his dominating split-finger fastball.
Monroe and Polanco ignited the winning rally with singles, but Ordonez said he wasn’t trying to hit a homer as the inning developed.
“I didn’t think about anything,” said Ordonez, who came through despite batting .235 in the ALCS. “I got people on base, I got to make good contact and try to drive him in. I got a good pitch and hit it good.
“It’s the greatest feeling of my life.”
“I’m so happy for him,” said Grilli, a former Sox. “It’s just a special moment, and no one is going to forget about that.”
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mgonzales@tribune.com
