Game 4: Tigers 6, A's 3

World Series, here we come!

Walk-off homer by Ordonez gives Tigers American League title; Polanco named series MVP

Tom Gage / The Detroit News

DETROIT - With one swing, they all knew.

The moment Magglio Ordonez hit the ball, the Tigers knew. Rising up as one at Comerica Park, the fans did, too. Everyone did.

This team - this incredible Tigers' team of 2006 - is headed for the World Series.

There it went, into the night, Ordonez's game-winning home run with two on and two out off Huston Street in the bottom of the ninth to give the Tigers a 6-3 victory on Saturday over the Oakland A's - and a four-game sweep of their series.

There it went, his second home run of the game, soaring over the left-field fence - forever etching itself into Detroit sports lore. Craig Monroe, at second base, raised both arms. Placido Polanco, who'd been on first, was celebrating by the time he reached third.

"I was just hoping for a base hit and look what we got." said Polanco.

Look, indeed.

Look and you'll see one of the most memorable moments in the history of this franchise that, when it finally woke up from decades of slumber, did so with the single purpose of playing every game as hard as it could - and seeing where it took them.

As it turned out, it's taking them to their first World Series since 1984.

"The Detroit Tigers," said manager Jim Leyland, "will have the pleasure and the honor, I should say, of representing the American League - and we're very proud of that.

"We were just fortunate, got on a roll, snuck a game in Oakland and got a little momentum going."

The Tigers' success is the result of more than a little momentum, however. Their success means they've become what they initially weren't.

"Early on in spring training," said Leyland, "we had a lot of good players. We didn't have a good team, Today, I can make the statement that we've got a good team - and that's the thing I'm proudest of."

For the champagne to pop, however, there was one more step to take against Oakland - one more victory on a day the A's put up their stiffest challenge.

It began with two runs off Jeremy Bonderman in the first - then another on Jay Payton's home run in the fourth.

After that, the A's couldn't score even when chances - such three consecutive four-pitch walks from Jason Grilli in the eighth - were presented to them on a platter.

The eighth inning personified the A's futility. They had a leadoff single and three walks, but didn't score - because in between the single and the walks was a double-play grounder on a 3-1 pitch off the bat of Frank Thomas, the hitless Hurt who went 0-for-13 in the series.

After the third walk off Grilli, Wilfredo Ledezma came in to retire Marco Scutaro on a foul pop-up to Pudge Rodriguez.

By then, the Tigers had tied the game - getting two in the fifth on a single by Brandon Inge and consecutive one-out doubles from Curtis Granderson and Craig Monroe.

Granderson's double was more of a single that he willed into being a double, racing around first as if daring the A's to cut him down - which they failed to do.

Ordonez tied the game with a first-pitch home run in the sixth. After a sluggish start, including six strikeouts by A's starter Danny Haren in the first three innings, the Tigers had pulled themselves together.

"Their guy (Haren) was good," said Monroe. "I give him full credit. But even when they went up by two, we were telling each other in the dugout 'not enough.'"

The Tigers didn't take advantage of their first chance to put the A's away, though. With the bases loaded and one out in the seventh, Carlos Guillen grounded into a 5-3 double play.

And when the first two Tigers in the ninth went out on fly balls, it looked like the game was headed for extra innings.

But Monroe singled to center, and Polanco - named the MVP of the series for his 25 hits in 20 at-bats, or so it seemed - first-pitch-singled him to second.

Now it was Magglio's turn - and on a 1-0 count, in the hope of giving his son, Magglio Jr, something special for his 11th birthday, which was Saturday - he swung.

There it went.

A golden moment, if ever there was one, for Ordonez - who had watched from home last year while his former team, the Chicago White Sox, won it all without him.

Now he has a chance to win it all without them.

"It was really weird. I went up there really calm," Ordonez said of his ninth-inning at-bat. "I was thinking nothing about nothing. I was really calm.

"I was just looking for a good pitch to drive in a run. But once I hit it, I knew it was gone. My wife (Dagly) said, when the playoffs began, we'd be going to the World Series."

His wife was right. She knew.

But when the ball left his bat in the ninth, we all did.

You can reach Tom Gage at tom.gage@detnews.com.