Baseball’s a weird game like this.  In the bottom of the seventh, the game was tied 1-1.  Carlos Guillen flew out, but then Marcus Thames drew a walk.  Craig Monroe then hit a hard grounder to Joe Crede at third base that looked like it was going to be an inning ending double play.  You’ll never see this in the box score, but Tad Iguchi fielded the ball at second base, and before he could get rid of the ball, Marcus Thames took it out.  From where I was sitting, it looked clean.  It was hard, but definitely legal.

The Tigers were given new life in the inning.  Basically a fourth out.  And Chris Shelton took advantage of it by doubling home Craig Monroe.

The other big inning was the top of the fourth.  Tad Iguchi led off with a ground out, and then Kenny Rogers fell behind Jim Thome and ended up giving him nothing to hit and gave him first base.  With the big bats coming up, I told the guys I was with at the game that I’d be happy if the White Sox only scored one run this inning.  Paul Konerko followed that up with a walk and then Jermaine Dye hit a very weak little bloop single into right field.  Still with one out, Joe Crede singled into left and put the White Sox on the board.

This is where the game could have gotten ugly.  Instead, Rogers got Juan Uribe to pop up and then got back up catcher Chris Widger to fly out.  End of inning, and like I said near the start of the damage, I was happy only one run scored.

Joel Zumaya was fun to watch.  He threw two great innings and he’s definitely a guy who fires up the crowd.  All in all, it was a great game to be at.

Next up is three games against the Oakland A’s.  If the playoffs started today, the Tigers would face the A’s in the division playoffs.  And in the lineup will be Dmitri Young this weekend so we’ll get to see whether he’s new and improved.  It’d be nice if we had that left handed bat in the system without having to go out and get one.

And both the Tigers and you have really motivated me.  I love the constructive criticism and dialogue that’s been happening at the site and this is what I envisioned when I started things up.  So I’m going to “try” to update the site daily, instead of the two to three times a week I’ve been posting as of late.

Permalink | Posted in 2006 Tigers