Strike First and Win

According to the Tigers Game Notes for May 27, the Tigers are 21-9 when they score first in games, and only 4-10 when the opponent gets on the board first.  I kind of hate knowing that.  Now I'll be having gastric convulsions when we fail to score the first run.

Now the Os are on a bit of a high after coming back in dramatic fashion to sweep the Jay birds last night.  They were down 8-3 in the bottom of the eighth and scored five runs in that frame to tie it up.  Things were then knotted up until the 11th when the Jays scored two runs to spark a glimmer of hope that they'd end their eight game skid.  Not so fast, Blue Jays.  The Orioles plated four runs to win 12-10, capped by a walk-off 3-run Nolan Reimold jack.

Os hurler David Hernandez, 23, will be making his major league debut tonight, going up against embattled Tiger Armando Galarraga.   Also debuting this series (Friday to be exact) for Baltimore is key prospect Matt Wieters at catcher.  No pressure young man, you're just being thrust into the starting catcher's role in the bigs, ousting veteran Gregg Zaun.  Actually, the Os have been very careful with Wieters over the past two years, so they feel he's definitely ready.

On the Tigers side, we'll be collectively holding our breath (especially those first couple innings) to see how Galarraga performs.  Must be a little hard for him being the "weak link" in the rotation this year after being the lone bright spot last season.  Also on the line is Magglio Ordóñez' 13 game hitting streak.  It hasn't been exactly a tear, more like 1-4 and the like, but I'll take that for starters.  Beat the streak!!

Offseason Anxiety

I've got a lot of conflicting emotions here.  On the one hand, I'd like playoff baseball to last as long as possible, because after that comes the dark time of year--the time when there is no baseball.  (I don't count the Arizona Fall League or winter ball, because there's no opportunity to see either one, unless you're there!)

On the other hand, I'd like to know what the Tigers are going to do already!  It's worse than a five year old waiting for Christmas morning.  Am I going to get what I asked for, or will I find a lump of coal in my Tiger stocking?

Let's home Davey Claus comes through.  Ok, enough with the Christmas metaphor.  It's too hokey for words.

Anyway, I'm pretty much on pins and needles here.  It's really hard for me to think about the possible loss of players like Magglio Ordóñez.  If it's going to happen, let's just get it over with, so I can move through the various phases of grief-denial, anger, acceptance, sadness!

Jason Beck over at Tigers.com looked into the possible catcher signings, throwing out Gregg Zaun's name, basically ruling out reobtaining Pudge, and mentioning the possible comeback for Vance Wilson.  It's all still pretty murky.

When I think about it, the speculation actually makes things worse, because then my mind will not stop with the endless possibilities, and which ones look good, and which stink it up, and who would have to go if we pursue so-and-so, and ...see how I'm going crazy here?

Guess I'm not cut out to be a GM.  I don't do fantasy baseball. 

Congrats to the Phils who won the pennant tonight!