Anderson, Granderson, Schmanderson

I was seriously thinking about pretending this past weekend did not occur, and declining to post anything about it. However, it'll be good therapy for me to work through the anger (disgust, torment, embarrassment....) and come out better on the other side.

So for starters, my son heard me shrieking and hollering from the other room at Josh Anderson when he lost a fly ball in the sun and let it drop for a double (no error, are you sure official score-keeper?). He came running in and asked me why I was yelling at Curtis Granderson. I clarified that it was Josh Anderson, and he asked to see the replay. He couldn't believe Anderson failed to catch that ball (although in the interest of full disclosure, my son dropped an easy pop up to second base in his final game of the season). Anyway, I was raving about Anderson and his propensity for errors, bad baserunning judgment, and whatnot. I'm sorry, but at least guys like Thames and Ordóñez don't muff the easy fly balls. Yes, I know that a bunch of players had to fight off the sun on various plays, but I was still fuming. So, I've sort of had it with young Mr. Anderson, and The Detroit Tigers Weblog agrees.

So, by now, the pitching staff has completed its open letter to Dave Dombrowski begging that a bat be obtained before the trade deadline. I mean, Edwin Jackson was visibly upset after the game, with a clenched jaw and pursed lips as the camera zoomed in with its unshrinking "agony of defeat" angle. Holy cow, these guys are going to plead with Jim Leyland to ditch the Designated Hitter and let them pick up a bat to help themselves, since noone else will.

Joel Zumaya. Words fail to capture the desolation he and we all feel on so many levels.

Ok. So, can we move on now? Not so far on that we look past the Mariners to the four-game fest with the White Sox, however. I'll be at tomorrow's game, and it will be my first live look at our young Porcello, unless the rain decides that it's my very best friend and follows me to every game without fail, and drenches me with postponements enough that the blank score-cards begin to pile up.

Bad Dreams

Too bad it wasn't just a bad dream, although it sure seemed like one.  I dozed off a couple times (sorry) during last night's west coast game.  I did awaken at the most inopportune times, however.  First, to see Brandon Lyon give up the go-ahead run on Gary Matthew's double.  (Lyon is not yet endearing himself to the Tiger faithful.)  Then, I get to see our flameout in the ninth.

Actually, I'm not going to bellyache too much about it.  Carlos Guillen did his job to get on base as leadoff.  He of the sore Achilles was promptly replaced with pinch runner Josh Anderson.   Adam Everett !! comes in as a pinch hitter, and can't execute the bunt.  (We find out after the game that Thames was unavailable due to an rib-cage-muscle injury that puts him on the DL, and recalls Ryan Raburn from Toledo.)  Anderson gets picked off.  Everett then proceeds to strike out.  These things will happen from time to time.  We've done pretty well on risky plays so far this year (two successful squeezes).  So, I'm not going to go off the deep end over last night's failed steal and sac bunt.

Let's just say that I'll be hoping for better "dreams" tonight.

Off Day Musings

I don't like these early off days.  My thirst for Tiger baseball is insatiable.  The season just got started.  Sorry to have such a selfish point of view.

A couple minor points I'd like to bring up.  Our lower part of the order and bench/utility guys are making valuable contributions thus far.  Nice--I like that.  It's a good sign, IMO.  We won't have to rely on the big boys doing it all every day.  I LOVE that we're moving runners up so much better than last year.  Laird really impresses on the base paths for someone who doesn't look that fast.  Josh Anderson practices the art of bunting like a fiend, and executes it pretty well too.

Here's an amusing little anecdote for you.  The other day, my son and I were playing catch at the park.  Just tossing the ball back and forth--nothing too serious, since I am athletically challenged and all.  Anyway, one of his throws caroms off my glove and hits me smack in the middle of the forehead.  He rushes over and apologizes like crazy.  I tell him it's all part of playing ball.  I wasn't too worried--it hurt, but it wasn't like a line drive off a bat, or a 97 mph Ryan Perry fastball, you know?  I wasn't seeing stars or anything.  I shook it off and we kept playing.  I wondered whether I'd have a nice goose egg out of it.  When we got home I checked, and sure enough, there was quite a lump, but more robin-egg sized.  I wore it like a badge of honor.  I felt just like Drew Barrymore in Fever Pitch.  This shows you how very little sports I've played in my lifetime.   Anyway, I feel really bad for someone who really gets smoked by a hard hit ball, because it's still really sore three days later.  It's easy to see how major damage is caused (Juan Encarnacion).

Catch up with you tomorrow night for the Seattle game.

Shhh--Tigers Pitched a Shutout

Armando Gallaraga, Bobby Seay, Ryan Perry and Fernando Rodney combined for a nice little shutout of the Black Sox.  Gallaraga scattered four hits over 6 1/3 innings, while the remaining three allowed ZERO hits.  Perry was a little wild, prompting Josh Fields to get a mite testy after several balls whizzed by his noggin.  It was great.  Sorry.  What I meant to say is that it was a good opportunity for Perry to get some low pressure work in.

Mercifully, Curtis Granderson broke out of his slump with an RBI single in the eighth.  It was beginning to get ugly.

Hopefully, folks are not growing immune to Cabrera's exploits.  Today was a ho-hum 3-5 with a home run and 2 RBIs.

Josh Anderson was on base four times today, and displays some nice speed and adept bunting ability.   A happy contrast to our station-to-station-ness of last year.

I'm still acting like a spoiled brat about yesterday's rainout.  Today, I have to work, and the weather turns all balmy, the sun makes an appearance, and we smoke the Sox 9-0.  Thanks for nothing.  Wait a minute, I guess I'll take the W.