Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees | featured news

The 2012 Yankees will be remembered for hitting a record number of regular season home runs before experiencing the kind of sudden outage rivaling any blackout in the history of New York.

The Detroit Tigers got a big boost from Anibal Sanchez's arm. They got a helping hand from an umpire, too. The reward: a commanding 2-0 lead in the AL championship series, and a trip home with their ace ready to start. Sanchez shut down a Yankees lineup minus injured Derek Jeter, Detroit scored twice after an admitted missed call by an ump and won without any extra-inning drama, beating New York 3-0 Sunday.

On a cool, dark autumn night, the stars shined bright and brilliant in the Bronx. But the biggest ones in pinstripes watched the dramatic conclusion from the afar — shortstop Derek Jeter injured and third baseman Alex Rodriguez benched — while Detroit’s finest, Miguel Cabrera, scored the winning run in extra innings.

With Alex Rodriguez benched, the Yankees advanced to the AL championship series against the Detroit Tigers, starting Saturday night in the Bronx. "It is still a long way to go," Sabathia said. "I still got hopefully three or four more starts. So the job is not done yet."

Curtis Granderson made two spectacular catches against his former team and A.J. Burnett came through when the Yankees needed him most, leading New York past the Detroit Tigers 10-1 Tuesday night to send their AL playoff series back to the Bronx for a decisive Game 5.

Justin Verlander was dominant enough for the Tigers while C.C. Sabathia struggled in the matchup of aces that was washed out in Game 1. Game 4 of the best-of-five division series is Tuesday.

The playoff opener between the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees was suspended because of rain in the second inning Friday night, probably wiping out the ace of each pitching staff for a few days.