Thames grand, Tigers slam Boston
posted in 2007 season, Boston Red Sox |Detroit 9, Boston 2
On this day when Neifi Perez began a 25-day suspension and Marcus Thames started in place of Craig Monroe, the Boston Red Sox must be thinking “Why us?” What did they do to Jim Leyland (and the MLB front office) to draw such ire? Why did Leyland start Thames in left field instead of Craig Monroe on this day? Boston can only wonder.
Tigers fans, on the other hand, are feeling like Christmas and my birthday has been rolled into one. Ding, dong, Neifi’s gone! And well, when Marcus is in the outfield, good things happen at the plate. He’s too good not to play more. Now he’s got his chance. He hit a game-breaking grand slam.
(But let me get in a good word for Neifi. While he’s been the whipping boy, I’ve often felt bad for him. Like Todd Jones, he probably doesn’t like being laughed at. And like Todd Jones, he’s doing the best that he can. We have to blame Leyland for his playing time and for his remaining with the team. I’m sure Neifi is a perfectly acceptable fellow and he probably shouldn’t be the butt of so many jokes. But the suspension? You gotta get caught twice. So he obviously earned it.)
Beyond the Tigers bats battering another pitcher, we can look at Andrew Miller and see progress. He used more than just his fast ball, mixing in offspeed and breaking pitches to get five strikeouts and allow just three hits. He made it through seven innings, his most in the majors. The four walks are a slight concern, but it’s important to note two came in the seventh inning. He was probably tired by then and in all previous games would have been on the bench getting his congratulations by then. That, and the Boston lineup is made up of some pretty good batters. Miller did miss David Ortiz — or the opposite may be true, Big Papi missed Miller. In all, I’d say this was just another good growth experience by a smart, talented young pitcher. It was good to see.
Boston had some fielding snafus along the way. Also, just-called-up OF Ryan Raburn got an RBI on a bloop to the outfield.
The best part of this is that the Tigers have assured at least .500 against Cleveland and Boston with two games to go. You’d like to see them do better on the home stand than the series losses to the Twins and Rangers, but the Indians and Sox were the big test, and the results were favorable. A victory Saturday or Sunday assures, A) happy Tigers fans going into the break, and, B) at least a .500 homestand. Yet again, the streaky Tigers follow a bad spurt of games with a good one.
Bunt Singles:
Magglio has agreed to play in the home-run derby.
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