Tigers On Top

The first five innings of Monday’s game were pretty much perfect, wouldn’t you say? Especially the fifth itself. Mike Maroth did Jeremy Bonderman one better. Or maybe two or three better. Bondo started a rally with a seventeen-hopper back of the mound. Mikey started a six-run explosion with a booming double that went an estimated 380 feet. Yeah, MIKEY! The American League pitcher! (Goes away to cackle in still-thrilling triumph.) This was after some efficient hitting and a Carlos Guillen homer put the Boys up 3-1. Mikey seemed to be having a good night, working out of any and all jams without appearing too stressed (that changed in the sixth).

After Mikey’s double, of course, the rest of the offense couldn’t just sit there and let him show them up like that. Grandy made the most of a dropped foul ball by continuing to be patient and drawing the walk. Then Polanco, who the Washington broadcasters had been drooling over since the second they saw him, smacked a single to right and loaded the bases. Sheff came through with a two-run single, and then Maggs worked a walk to load ‘em up again! That was the end of the night for Chico, whose replacement, Abreu, promptly gave up another two-run single, this one to Guillen. Even Pudge’s GIDP drove a run in, that’s how insane the Tygs were in this inning. And Marcus Thames, undoubtedly miffed over the repeated mispronunciation of his name throughout the early innings by the Washington broadcasters (have these people NEVER heard of the river? It’s not pronounced Thaymz either), blasted a moonshot to left field as final rally punctuation. Turned out to be crucial as Mikey began to implode in the next inning, and Jonesy almost blew it in the ninth.

Mikey is not helping my cause of having somebody else sent to the bullpen when Kenny comes back (FRIDAY! Kenny’s coming back Friday!!!) by being seemingly unable to get past the fifth or sixth inning. He was gone without getting a batter out in the fifth, and the bullpen let the inherited runners. Nonetheless, a 9-5 lead in the ninth is still pretty comfortable, right? Right?

Actually, no. Jonesy came within some itsy bitsy teeny tiny measurement of blowing the game we once led 9-1. I have no idea why I still trust him, but I do. The idea of replacing him at closer makes unhappy shivers run up and down my spine. (Sure, sometimes said shivers also appear when he’s pitching, but not that much.) He gave up a leadoff double to Langerhans, and a single to ex-Tiger Rob Fick (the only National-turned-Tiger who hadn’t yet made an appearance–Nook Logan misplayed a fly ball in center and made me extra gleeful that we kept Grandy instead of him, and Dmitri … well I can’t really say anything bad about Da Meat Hook. I still like him.) The carnage continued at Cristian Guzman hit one of his trademark triples to bring the Natties within two. And with a soft line single to score him, the Nats were one away with absolutely NO outs. Oh that Jonesy, he surely is dramatic.

After giving up another single for good measure, Reliable tried to reassert himself over Rollercoaster. Yes, I think I’ve decided that pitching-wise, Jonesy is something of a split-personality. He got DY on a most stressfully achieved strikeout, then got Kearns to ground into a force out. Which still left runners on the corners with two out and Ronnie Belliard up.

I make no secret that Belliard rubs me the wrong way. He always wears his hat cockeyed, enough by itself to make me see red (I am very particular about caps). Then he’s got those stupid baggy pants that make him look like he’s wearing pajamas. And that ever present smirk that drives me absolutely insane. To see HIM win the game for the Nats against Jonesy would just be torture. He worked the count to 3-2 naturally, just to raise every Tigers fan’s stress levels to the max–then, thankfully, grounded out. And thus we had a 9-8 win and kept pace with the Indians. Cleveland, of course, romped all over Philadelphia in a stress free 10-1 win.

One of the coolest moments of last night for me was when Jonesy faced Fick. Whatever you may think about him personally, both he and Jonesy played pivotal roles in the final game at Tiger Stadium, with Ficker blasting the final homer, a grand slam, and Jonesy throwing the final pitch. Fick still wears his socks the proper way (Belliard, are you taking NOTES?!) though he seems to be trying to grow a beard of some kind. To put it kindly, it’s REALLY not working well.