A good start, but…
posted in 2007 season, New York Yankees |Tigers 8, Yankees 5
That’s a good start. Don’t get me wrong. I’m going to enjoy any victory over the Yankees where I don’t have to worry pretty much from the first inning until the last. That was nice to see. But I’d like to ensure a split as soon as possible, because, of course, these are the Yankees.
The game was a breeze from the start, when Mike Mussina had troubles with a tight strike zone and A-Rod had troubles with a ball hit right to him, but Carlos Guillen had no trouble at all in launching the ball into the right field porch for a grand slam. Pitching with flu-like symptoms still, Justin Verlander was maybe a bit more frustrating than you’d care for and still nearly earned the quality start. He just threw too many early pitches to go the full six innings, but he pitched into the sixth at least.
Some big bullpen help from the Tigers gave bursts of excitement. Zach Miner came up with a big strikeout in the sixth with runners on base. And then, get this, he struck out the side in the seventh. Like, walked a guy, then struck out three batters in a row. Fernando Rodney struck out three batters in the eighth punctuated by a couple guys getting on base. But Miner actually got three in a row out. With strikeouts. And they’re Yankees. I don’t get it myself, but you can’t argue with the results.
As I mentioned with Verlander, the Tigers still battle the sick bug. Placido Polanco missed another game with it. At least he’ll be well rested when he feels better. He had a few other bumps and bruises, so its’ definitely not the worst thing in the world. Plus we found out Ryan Raburn plays a tolerable second base. Yah, there was that thing in Cleveland where he totally blew a ball hit right to him. And he isn’t exactly my first choice as a defensive replacement there. But otherwise, he gives Detroit a chance to keep his bat in the order without totally messing with infield defense.
Speaking of which, Brandon Inge made a great, run-saving, catlike catch. Another day, another highlight reel defensive play from these Tigers. That’s what was missing for much of several months.
In all, the Tigers are starting to look like a team that will be in the playoff hunt after all. Whenever I start to write them off, they change their stripes and start playing like the team they should be. So I hope they keep these stripes on for oh, 10 more weeks. Of course they won’t. But hopefully they don’t misplace the coat for as long as they did this past month.
Detroit leads the AL Central by 1/2 game and is tied with the Yankees in the wild card standings. I guess some team from the northwest leads that still, to be fair.
Bunt Singles:
- ESPN needs to add a correction to this article, but Jayson Stark introduced sports fans to the feats Curtis Granderson is chasing this season, so that’s always nice to see. The correction, by the way, is that George Brett only had 17 steals that season, so he’s not a 20-20-20-20 member.
- Gary Sheffield (pause for Bronx cheer) said something about Joe Torre or something. Honestly I’m sick of the New York media and this crappy soap opera, but I offer you the link anyway.
- Jair Jurrjens will start again, as I figured.
- Freep’s Jon Paul Morosi decided it’s good the Tigers didn’t trade Jurrjens for some shortstop in Pittsburgh after all. Uhm. Duh?
- Jason Grilli was brave enough to have an official myspace page this season. He pitches horrible. He’s a good guy, I’m sure, but fans are not appreciative of a pitcher throwing horribly nightly and let him know. And… he wants revenge? Deadspin has more.
