Mario Impemba would have sent Ramon Santiago, thinks Alex Avila is worn down

Fox Sports play-by-play man Mario Impemba spoke to Casey Ford of ESPN970 in Marquette. Casey passed on the audio to me to share with you guys, so thanks to him for that.

A few highlights:

-- On Ryan Raburn: "It's funny to me, people wanted to run Ryan Raburn out of town in August, in July, when he ws really struggling in the middle of the season. All of a sudden (Raburn) does what he normally and that's have a big second half. Now he's made his presence felt in the playoffs as well."

-- On the decision to hold Ramon Santiago at third base in Game 2: "Santiago doesn't run all that well. He has decent speed, but not burner speed by any stretch of the imagination. And you do have Cabrera waiting on deck. So if Santiago gets thrown out at home plate we're all going to wonder why would you take the bat out of Cabrera's hand. But in my mind in that situation they've got to make a perfect play to throw him out at the plate. I thought he was going to score. I thought they were going to try to send him home."

-- On not starting Justin Verlander today: "I'm not surprised at all. I understand how people want him to pitch, and part of me wants him to pitch as well ... but you've got to understand Justin has thrown a ton of innings this year, over 250 innings not counting the playoffs. He hasnt' really been razor sharp in the playoffs. I'm not sure I want him coming back on short rest. If Porcello can get you the win tonight, you're 2-2 with your horse going and all of a sudden you can go to Texas up 3-2."

-- On Alex Avila's health: "Alex won't admit that he's hurt ... but I think more than anything now ... he's just worn down. One of the things the Tigers had to do to make sure they won the division was throw Avila out there every single day. They did so in August and they did so in September and now maybe we're starting to see that catch up in Alex."

You can listen to the interview below: