Gimme a D!

I had to DVR this game and then bury my head in the sand to avoid hearing the outcome.  I didn't finish watching until well after 11:00 pm.  What a worthwhile little endeavor that was.

Brandon Inge.  I must now extol the virtues of his vertical.  He saved a run and a certain Sardinha error with that leaping snare.  I have to admit, I was giggling with delight after that play.

Kinsler was putting on a one-man circus on defense as well.  Step right up, see second baseman run down a ball in foul territory, making a diving basket catch.  See him pinch the lead runner, ranging to his left and getting off a spot-on throw.  Step right up--you'll get your money's worth with the Ian Kinsler show, baseball fans.

Not to be outdone, Jarrod Saltalamacchia throws Jeff Larish out at second in the fourth inning.  Better, though, was him losing a foul pop in the sun and covering his head with his mitt in defense of his noggin.  Even the umpire was smirking to himself afterward.

In a not so sparkling defensive play, Clete Thomas misses a deep fly off the wall in the eighth, putting the tying runs in scoring position.  To be fair, it was a tough-ish play, and rightly not scored an error, IMO.  Mr. Jackson nearly extricated himself from the inning before giving up a double to Nelson Cruz to put things all square at three.  Jim Leyland decides to test Edwin Jackson's grit by letting him have a go at finishing the 8th with runners on first and third.  He triumphed on his 132nd pitch by striking out Saltalamacchia.  Jackson was staring off into space shaking his head ever so slightly in the dugout afterward, as if in disbelief that he was left out there so long, that he threw that many pitches, that he got out of it without surrendering the lead.  Oh the glory of it.  Hey, that's still a quality start.

I loved that Millwood and Jackson were both out there dueling in the 8th, and each in hot water.  It added to the drama.

And, oh, such a cute little bloop single by the mighty Cabrera to score Polanco.  You cannot script this stuff, and that's why this game is so intoxicating.

Finally, our use-me-only-in-save-situations-or-I'll-breed-many-ulcers-in-your-stomach-lining closer Fernando Rodney comes in to try to obtain his eighth save in as many opportunities.  Does he convert?  Oh, he does, you doubters.  Yes he does.  Does he give us an ulcer anyway, as vengeance because he's been used in many non-save situations lately?  Yes he does.  And again, it goes back to defense as we turn a lovely 4-6-3 double play to end it.

Bless you boys!

Oh yeah, and a triple play

I failed to mention that Detroit had the dubious honor tonight of having a triple play turned on them.  I guess it would be stupid to pretend it didn't happen.  Gerald Laird is gonna have to be the scapegoat for this.  Wait, not the whole goat, as Leyland had the hit and run on, which enabled the whole thing to come together very neatly for the Rangers.  

OK, here's how it went.  Inge on 2nd, Raburn on 1st.  Laird hits a liner to Kinsler, who flips to Andrus at second, who then tags Raburn to complete the trifecta.   Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Well, that would have been a real punch to the gut if not for the teensy little fact that we won the game.  All's well that ends well!

That Ball is Outa Here!

I was privileged to see Wilkin Ramirez' MLB debut tonight.  He kind of came in with a bang, you might say.  Although he struck out twice, he hit a 433 foot blast into the center-field shrubbery in his other at-bat of the night.  Not a bad way to come into the majors.  The excitement showed in his sprint around the bases and exuberant high fives afterward.  I'm happy for the kid.  It'll be nice to have such a good memory of his first game.  He may not be up here that long right now, so it'll give him a little token of his time in the bigs.

Justin Verlander pitched well again, but had another elevated pitch count, and could only complete six innings.  Then we had to see Brandon Lyon take the mound, and sure enough, he gave a up the long ball on the very first pitch.  He did mitigate after that, but geez.

The young drunkards were pretty funny tonight.  One spent a sum total of about 5 minutes in his seat the whole night.  The rest of the time, he was engaged in getting drinks for himself and the other three people who were with him.  Seriously.  The entire game.  I'm pretty sure you can drink for a lot cheaper than at the CoPa, if that's what you're into.   At the end of this game, this same guy is wondering why we're not batting in the bottom of the 9th.   I'd like to say that I'm kidding, but no.

Another guy was telling me how he spent most of last year partying with Dave Rozema, and what a great guy he is, and what a jerk Kirk Gibson is by comparison.  He's got Dave Rozema's number in his cell right now.  He said that Dave says he doesn't want the Tigers to win another World Series while he's still alive.  Wow, hateration from Dave Rozema.  Do not steal this man's '84 thunder.

Anyway, it was a beautiful night to be at the park.  On the way home, I was listening to Jim Price and Dan Dickerson.  Jim was fairly gushing about this '09 Tigers team, saying they know how to play the game, and are getting contributions from everyone, playing fundamentally sound.  Yezzir.

1-0

That's got to feel good for Dontrelle.  A winning record.  No losses.  A fresh start. 

One hit.  Two walks.  Five Ks.  Zero runs.

G'night all!

Under His Skin

When I was at Sunday's game, the guy sitting next to me mentioned that he and some buddies had been at Saturday's game sitting in left field.  He said they got under Matt Holliday's skin "pretty good."  I asked how and he said the whole section was chanting "0 for 4, 0 for 4."  And then when Gerald Laird hit a gapper between Holliday and Sweeney in the 7th, they heckled Holliday further, saying "that's how you get a hit."

Apparently, they really DID get to Holliday, because he turned around and flipped them the bird.  

Wow.  I don't think major leaguers are supposed to do that.  In fact, the official MLB rules expressly forbid it:

"3.09 Players in uniform shall not address or mingle with spectators, nor sit in the stands before, during, or after a game. No manager, coach or player shall address any spectator before or during a game."

Ooh, Holliday could have received disciplinary action for that little gesture.

Holliday may be a little cranky due to the fact that he's slumping, hitting only .267  with 4 home runs, .338 OBP, .412 SLG.  He may be suffering from weighty expectations and the criticism that his hitting was inflated by playing at Coors Field.  His splits do tell the tale--he hit .357/.423/.645 at Coors and .281/.347/.454 on the road (Baseball Reference).  Pretty dramatic disparity.

Hecklers can either be very funny or incredibly annoying.  There's nothing worse than a loutish heckler who repeatedly yells the same tired line:  "you suck."  You've got to be funny and original.  It's got to be gratifying to get a reaction from a player.  You know you've done your job as a heckler, and helped out the home team by taking a guy out of his game.

Little Jimmy Jackson

On FSN's Tigers Live show last night, Leyland was asked what he thinks brought Raburn's hitting around the last couple games.  He said that he threatened to take away his walk up music.  He was like "I told him no more "Little Jimmy Jackson, and he started hitting."  Actually, Leyland told Jason Beck that he thought Raburn was pressing a lot, and has finally relaxed.  Funny stuff.  Raburn's walk up song is titled "Hicktown," performed by Jason Aldean.   Enquiring minds.

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.