Tigers On Top

That game could not possibly have been any better. Holy crap, what a game!!! You get a pitchers’ duel between Bondo, striking everyone out, and this kid Baker who left in the eighth having thrown fewer than eighty pitches. You get Ernie Harwell in the booth telling stories. You get Ernie Harwell in the booth doing some play-by-play, sounding like he never left. You get Curtis Granderson, highest All-Star write-in vote-getter, making a flippin’ astounding catch in center. And oh yeah, a Tigers win thanks to Mr. Moonshot, Marcus Thames!

Winning a game 1-0 is even more fun than winning 13-0. (Losing 1-0, we won’t even talk about.) Keeps you on the edge of your seat for the entire game. And what better night for Ernie Harwell to make one of his periodic returns to the booth. Jon Miller must have read my mind, because every time Ernie visits I wish he’d do play-by-play, and they almost never ask him to. But last night, Jon asked him TWICE. Hurrah! In his first mini-stint, just one batter, there was a foul and Ernie declared, “That one’s going to be caught by a man from Saginaw.” Just a little thing, but my dad and I went totally loony with joy at hearing the familiar Ernie-isms. Then next inning came our favorite: a Twin struck out looking, but according to Ernie, “He stood there like the house by the side of the road and watched that one go by.” Indescribably marvelous. They just don’t make ‘em like Ernie anymore.

All the Tigers looked great last night (except most of them when they were at bat). Grandy had himself a nice night, getting his fifteenth triple (!) and making an amazing catch out in center. At first it looked like he’d just glide to the ball, but all of a sudden he and everyone else realized it was dropping too fast. So he laid out horizontally, diving like Eric Byrnes, and just scooped that baby just before it hit the grass. And he wasn’t even on the All-Star BALLOT! For shame.

In the eighth, as I was starting to lose hope given the fact that soon we’d have to turn a 0-0 game over to our now Byrdak-less bullpen (and Zumaya-less, and Rodney-less, etc etc), Marcus Thames saved the day. The at-bat before, he lofted one to left but the wind knocked it down. This time he hit an absolute laser (which can’t technically be called a moonshot, but since it’s Marcus, I think we can make an exception) over the new fence to give us the 1-0 lead! Oh Marcus, I love you!

And then my boy Jonesy closed it out. Not so much with the Roller Coaster last night, eh? I love it when Jonesy changes from Roller Coaster to Strike Machine. Save #20 on the season! And the Tygs are just 1 1/2 games out of first going into what may be our toughest homestand of the season. Three games with Cleveland, then three more with the BoSox, who while they’re still ridiculous don’t seem to be exactly the buzz saw they were earlier. Perhaps my much closer proximity to the Tigers will bring them luck! (Or not.) Well, enjoy the off-day, savor the win, and say happy birthday to Steve Sparks and Sean Casey! Ann Arbor, here I come!