Game 141: Riding the roller coaster to a victory
posted in Minnesota Twins, The Stretch Run |Up, down, down, up, down, down … What kind of roller coaster ride is that? With an easy 7-2 victory over the Twins — thus keeping Detroit in first place at least through Monday — the coaster is on its way back up.
Curtis Granderson homered in the Tigers’ first at-bat. Marcus Thames homered an inning later — he should have been starting all along. I’m glad he made the most of his chance. Pudge Rodriguez homered in the seventh inning. And Omar Infante homered in the ninth. Yes, four homers. Detroit pounded out 12 hits in 38 at-bats, and half of those went for extra bases. It was quite a nice game at the dish. One Twins’ reliever — Matt Guerrier, who entered the game with an ERA of 2.92 — likely won’t be seen again this series because of the job the Tigers did.
It was equally beautiful on the mound for the most part. Justin Verlander pitched deeper than he needed to. While we all agree we’d rather Verlander be watched with an eagle eye, I’m sure Jim Leyland was thinking “let’s preserve our bullpen for the next three days,” which isn’t a bad thought at all. Verlander earned his 16th win of the season.
Chicago lost to Cleveland, 9-1. I knew the White Sox were in trouble in September when I saw seven Indians games on their docket. Cleveland has been hot-hot-hot lately.
So for today, I feel pretty good. Chicago has a very hard uphill battle to make the playoffs. Detroit’s playoff magic number is 14 15 [and much harder to predict]. The Tigers beat the Twins in the opener of a huge series. Life is good.
For the night, anyway. The Tigers have shown the ability to win the opening game of a series big only to fall the next day. But now, I really believe it might be different this time.
Sphere It
I think it will be different this time. Minnesota is struggling offensively and their pitching staff is hurting. They might be ready to collapse. I believe the Tigers are catching them at the right time.