A's-weep

I decided at 11:00 this morning to catch today's series finale.  Kind of a good move on my part.

Got to see the Tigers finish off their second sweep in three series. (Never mind that little sweep by MN in between.)  The weather was sparkling sunshine, cool and breezy.  

I'm happy to report that Adam Kennedy's home run ball is safe within the confines of my home at this moment.  Now, hold on before you go off the deep end.  I fully subscribe to the unwritten rule that if you catch an opponent's home run ball, you throw it back on the field.   Here's what happened.   The ball caromed off the top of the right field wall all the way into center field.  Grandy picked it up and flipped it right at my kid.  The kid bobbled it and the guy sitting next to us picked it up and handed it back to my kid--thank you, sir!  So, you see, no violation of fan code has occurred.

Sadly Galarraga did not make if out of inning number one.  It was a little ugly out there for him today.  He may be the one squeezed out of the rotation if Bonderman comes back in form, and Willis is able to compete.  Who would have predicted that?  I hope it doesn't come to that, but it'll be nice to have some options if it does.  I know that he wasn't likely to keep his BABIP down as low as last year, but such a complete meltdown is alarming and unforeseen.  

Miner came on for 4.1 innings, and I was surprised he wasn't out there even longer.  Not that he was throwing all that great, but he is fully stretched out and all.  It worked out nicely though, as we got to see young Monsieur French do nicely after walking his first two batters faced.  Leyland came out to sprinkle some of that magic dust on the mound for him, and it seemed to do the trick.

Ramon Santiago is such a stud right now, despite his diminutive stature.  He was standing next to Cabrera during the game, and he looked like one of those "kids take the field" whipper snappers.  Speaking of which, the little guy who got to go out to center field today didn't realize he was supposed to run off the field once Grandy gave him his ball and shook his hand.  Curtis had to lean over and gently direct the young fella.  Getting back to Santiago, he fell a double shy of the cycle today, and one of his singles was almost long enough to try stretching to a double.   After a failed trip to the ferris wheel (monstrous line on free kids Sunday), we got back to our seats just in time to see his three run shot in the third.

Finally, my son enjoyed kids run the bases, while I tried to look nonchalant as I soaked up the parents' designated walk along the first base line, around home plate and past the empty Tigers' dugout.