The ALDS is over.
Just kidding — or maybe not.
Detroit closer Jose Valverde joked with the media after the Tigers tied up the series with a 5-3 win in Game 2 yesterday at Yankee Stadium.
“It’s over already. [Justin] Verlander tomorrow. Then the next day. That’s it. Have the celebration in Detroit,” Valverde, who gave up two runs in the ninth, told reporters before adding, “I’m joking, guys.”
PHOTOS: ALDS GAME 2: TIGERS 5, YANKEES 3
But in an interview with ESPN Deportes — Valverde began his postgame remarks in Spanish — there was no mention of joking.
“I think the series will finish in our house,” ESPN reported Valverde saying. “They have a good team but the series is not [coming] back to New York.”
Monday in Detroit, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said he would talk to his players if they were upset with the comments.
“I wasn’t in (Tigers’ clubhouse), don’t know the context of it,” Girardi said. “I don’t make too much of it. …
“The one thing I feel is that you don’t let your emotions take you out of your game.”
With George A. King III