The Detroit Tigers didn’t suffer an emotional letdown when they played the Oakland A’s in game one of the ALCS yesterday. The Tigers came into town steaming and ready to go to the World Series.

The Tigers let it be known early that they were ready for business. They scored 2 runs in the 3rd inning and added 3 more runs in the 4th inning. By the end of the 4th inning, the game was 5-0 Detroit. Oakland added a meaningless run in the 8th and lost 5-1.

The shock of the game had to be Barry Zito’s performance. He’s normally an anchor on this staff, but he forgot to bring his good stuff to the park on Tuesday. Zito managed to get through just 3.2 innings. He allowed 7 hits, 2 walks, 2 home runs and 5 earned runs in that time. It was the worst possible time for him to have a meltdown.

On the other side of the field, Nate Robertson surprised some and had a gem of an outing. Or did he? The stats will tell you that he allowed no runs and yes, he did get the job done. However, his performance wasn’t spotless. He pitched 5 innings on Tuesday. Robertson allowed 6 hits and 3 walks—9 baserunners. More timely hitting by the A’s and that performance could have easily yielded a few runs. Robertson came up big when the Tigers needed it most.

Big Frank Thomas didn’t show up for the A’s. He had four plate appearances and managed a lone walk. He left 2 men on base. The two biggest A’s criminals were Swisher and Scutaro. They went a combined 0-7 with 3 strikeouts. Swisher left 5 men on base and Scutaro left 6 men on base. Three of the men left on base by Scutaro were in scoring position.

Are we about to see the Tigers go to the World Series? In the regular season, these two teams went at it 9 times. The Tigers won the series by taking 5 of those meetings. Of those 5 wins, 3 were in Oakland. Oakland only won 1 game in Detroit.

With the win in game one, the Tigers now have home field advantage for the series. Now, the A’s get to face Verlander, Rogers and Bonderman. The writing could be on the wall. Game 2 is tonight in Oakland. Verlander will be going for the Tigers and Loaiza for the A’s.