Game 88: Pilots torpedo Tigers
posted in All-Star Game, Seattle Mariners |I’d feared a loss today, due to this being the final game of a road trip that began in late June. You’re bound for some sort of dropoff after that long on the road. So a home run and a seeing-eye single sunk Detroit in a 3-2 game to close off the nine game trip with a 5-4 record. Add in that Marcus Thames drew the off day, along with Pudge Rodriguez — I’m not underplaying it, but Vance Wilson has hit so well that I don’t want to say that’s a big dropoff, either — and the bats just struggled all day. In fact, all four Tigers hits came in just one inning. Still, I dug the 1969 throwback uniforms with Seattle wearing the Pilots.
Nate Robertson pitched well, a complete game even, but he gave up a 2-run home run on one of his few bad pitches for the day. And in the seventh inning, the single, — and it was, though the TV announcers thought it should be ruled an error, but that play just isn’t automatic — quite possibly would have been fielded on any other day but today. Defense isn’t automatic.
“We just haven’t hit the ball the last couple of days,” manager Jim Leyland said [as quoted by Jason Beck]. “A lot of lazy fly balls, balls in the air. Usually when you’re a little tired, you hit some lazy fly balls like that. They’re ready for a well-deserved break.”
So Detroit closed out the first half of the baseball season with a loss, but a very respectable 59-29 record.
Magglio Ordonez, Pudge, and the likely American League starting pitcher, Kenny Rogers, head off to the All-Star game in Pittsburgh.
Oh, and lest I forget, Humberto Sanchez pitched well as a starter for the World team in the Futures Game. Two strikeouts in a very quick inning. Too quick for me, I totally missed it. They could have used him for more innings, however, as Cameron Maybin and the USA team won, 8-5. Maybin (or as Daily Fungo pointed out and I noticed, “Marbin”) had a pair of hits in three at bats.
“a very respectable 59-29 record.”
Understatement of the season!
I couldn’t figure out how to make words do summersaults