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DETROIT (AP) — Magglio Ordonez lofted a high fly ball to left field and when it landed, a most amazing thing: the Detroit Tigers in the World Series!

Written off by the entire baseball world only three years ago, the Tigers made it official Saturday. They’re back, and on the prowl.

Ordonez hit his second homer of the game, connecting for a three-run shot with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning that lifted Jim Leyland’s Tigers over the Oakland Athletics 6-3 for a four-game sweep of the AL championship series.

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SAN BENITO, Texas (AP) — Freddy Fender, the “Bebop Kid” of the Texas-Mexico border who later turned his twangy tenor into the smash country ballad “Before the Next Teardrop Falls,” died Saturday. He was 69.

Fender, who was diagnosed with lung cancer in early 2006, died at noon at his Corpus Christi home with his family at his bedside, said Ron Rogers, a family spokesman.

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DETROIT (AP) — Fox baseball broadcaster Steve Lyons has been fired for making a racially insensitive comment directed at colleague Lou Piniella’s Hispanic heritage on the air during Game 3 of the American League championship series.

The network confirmed Saturday that Lyons was dismissed after Friday’s comments. He has been replaced for the remainder of the series by Los Angeles Angels announcer Jose Mota.

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NEW YORK (AP) — So Taguchi laughed, and it felt so good.

“I can’t explain. It’s unbelievable,” he said. “Who expected that I would hit a home run? Maybe nobody. Even me.”

No power threat during the regular season, Taguchi is a playoff slugger now — and St. Louis is heading to Busch Stadium tied with the New York Mets in the NL championship series.

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DETROIT (AP) — From the very first day of spring training, Jim Leyland demanded that his Detroit Tigers walk with the swagger of World Series champions.

One more win, and this once-lost franchise will get a chance to play for that golden trophy.

Kenny Rogers pitched the game of his life for the second straight week while the Tigers backed him with their bats, gloves and legs, beating the Oakland Athletics 3-0 on a frosty Friday to take a 3-0 lead in the AL championship series.

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