Ladies and Gentleman, Mr. Don Kelly

…Where do we even begin with Don Kelly?

I have had the thought a couple times, if I tried out for the Tigers, could I make it on the team?  I flash a decent glove at multiple positions, have a strong arm, and could look just as good as Kelly whiffing relentlessly at major league fastballs.  Don Kelly’s performance against the Yankees in the ALDS basically told my brain “What’s up now!”

Time and time again over the course of this season, many people in Detroit have asked, why is Don Kelly on the 25-man roster?  Where’s Danny Worth?  Or, can we just add another arm in the pen?

But Jim Leyland has obviously had a thing for this guy, and whether it be a respect for his work ethic, or seeing some talent that us casual baseball fans missed, Kelly has stuck around.  It’s a good thing I guess – his home run last night in the first inning kind of set the tone for the victory in game five.

The Tigers’ super-utility man has had his share of failures – he’s posted offensive numbers this season that would suggest he is below replacement level, and one time this year in an attempt to throw a guy out at home his throw went about 85 feet to the left of home plate.  But once he took an Ivan Nova breaking-ball over the wall in right, it silenced the entire state of New York, and their fears began to creep in.

There may have been a few people who weren’t surprised to see Leyland inserted Kelly in the starting lineup at third.  But to see him batting in the two-hole was clearly a shocker.  Jim, for God sakes, you’re really going to have Don Kelly bat second in a do-or-die game?  Keith Law on twitter yesterday joked that he’d rather have the squirrel from Philadelphia batting second.

But once again we are going to have to give Jim Leyland credit.  He pulled all the right strings in this series, and he simply out managed the Yankees’ skipper Joe Girardi.

Don Kelly had a great series.  He went 4-11 with 2 RBIs and the aforementioned home run, and if his line drive in game four was three inches higher, his numbers would be dare I say monstrous.

With the Texas Rangers are on deck, it will be interesting to see how much time on the field Kelly gets.  The Rangers have a slew of left-handed pitching, which doesn’t bode well for Kelly’s left-handed bat.  But with Kelly swinging a somewhat hot bat, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in their quite a bit.

A few years ago I might not have found Jim Leyland’s post-game comments regarding Kelly to be all that cool.  A reporter asked the Tigers’ manger about his move to give Kelly the nod last night and bat him second.  Leyland, like he does every so often, got a bit emotional.

“Miggy and Magglio are going to have a million moments, but for Kelly to have this moment, is something really special.”

I guess now that I’m 30-years-old, I can appreciate things like this a little bit more then I used to.  I might have clamored for other players to have Kelly’s spot on the team in the past, but the way Mr. Kelly persevered and came up with that huge knock, I must admit I’m absolutely thrilled for the guy.  It helps send a message to people who might not be as talented as others, that hard work is still worth its weight in gold, and awesome things can happen if you put up a fight.  Cheers Donny.