Verlander, Tiger's pitch way into 3rd straight ALCS.

The Tigers and A's were in a familiar place, game 5 in Oakland in the ALDS, Justin Verlander on the mound.  Oakland was hoping the result would be different this time around and turned the ball to rookie Sonny Gray, after a great game 2 start, bypassing Bartolo Colon.  Lets break down the series deciding game:

Game 5:  Detroit 3, Oakland 0.
It didn't take long for Justin Verlander to find his grove.  JV was locating his fastball, kept hitters off balance with his change up, and mixed in his curve and slider when he needed to as Verlander retired the first 16 batter he faced before finally conceding a walk to Lowrie in the 6th inning.  It was also clear early that Sonny Grey did not have the same command tonight that he had in game 2.  He still pitched well enough to keep his team in the game, giving up 3 runs in his 5 innings.  There's one pitch that he really wishes he could have back.  After Torii hunter singled back up the middle, Gray left a fastball up and in to Miguel Cabrera and Miggy took him out to leftfield.  Off the bat I thought the ball was gone, but it hung up in the air for what seemed like an eternity, and it looked like Cespedes might have a chance but it was a thing of beauty to see the ball hit the concrete beyond the wall.  The way Verlander had dominated the A's, that must have felt like a 10 run home run to Oakland and the Tigers.  The Tigers added an insurance run in the 6th inning as Martinez and Peralta reached with back to back singles and the A's could not turn a double play of the bat of Infante and the run scored to give the Tigers a 3-0 lead.  Verlander shut the door from there, only giving up one hit, striking out 10 through 8 dominating innings.  The Oakland bullpen was strong as usual, as Otero, Doolittle and Balfour pitched four scoreless innings in relief.  But the damage had already been done as Gray couldn't find the command with his curveball and had to almost solely rely on his fastball.  The Tigers offense has struggled since September, but its hard to beat anyone with just one pitch.  Benoit came on for the Tigers in the 9th as Verlander had thrown 111 pitches.  This was one of the biggest innings for Benoit and it was a little shaky, giving up a double to Lowrie and hitting Cespedes to bring the tying run, Seth Smith, to the plate, but Benoit induced the fly ball to end the game and the Tigers move on to face the Red Sox in the ALCS. 

Game notes: 

• Verlander now holds the record for consecutive scoreless innings in the post season against one team, with 30 against the A's.
• Peralta started at shortstop for Iglesias, going 2-4 and hitting .417 in the series.  Had one of the three biggest moments of the series when he connected for the three run home run in game 4.
• Tigers pitchers set yet another strike out record, recording 56 strikeouts in the ALDS, beating the previous record by 1. 
• The Tigers had been good with runners in scoring position coming into game 5 but were 0-6 in the finale.  Fortunately, it didn't matter.
• Jackson finished the series with 15 strikeouts.  It will be interesting to see what Leyland does if he continues to struggle in game one in Boston.  Do you move Torii up and slide Omar into the 2 hole?
• Tigers won the season series from Boston 4-3, but the last time the tigers went to Fenway, they were beat 20-4.