Summary
Great game today on a great day for baseball with a game-time temperature of 76 degrees fahrenheit. . I’ll be showing up for work tomorrow looking like a raccoon from all of the sun but it was well worth it. The Tigers were off to a great start against Jon Garland getting four hits in a row and scoring three runs in the first inning. The Detroit offense settled down greatly after the first as Garland pulled his game together and took out 18 straight batters at the same time as the Chi-Sox chipped away at the lead and eventually overtaking it.
The game came to a climax in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs with the Tigers down by two. My wife looked at me and said ‘I think we’re going to lose this one’. It was hard to argue with as it was looking pretty grim but I gave her a look of confidence regardless. Guillen hit a nice looper for a single and up came Marcus Thames. His game up to that point had been less than impressive. He’d taken a few choice cuts but racked up two strikeouts. We all know his power and all of Comerica Park was on their feet cheering for one and it definitely came.
Inge made some great defensive plays during extra innings which went a long way in keeping the White Sox off the bases. The Tigers had a few scoring opportunities but couldn’t capitalize until the 12th when Polanco continued his dominance and brought home Rodriguez for the win.
Pitching
Verlander pitched well today but didn’t seem to have is best stuff. That said, he did fine without and that’s exactly what you need from your starter. He walked five and struck out six but some of the walks looked close from where I sat. Not too much to say about Verlander’s performance as he did his job today and pitched 7 innings.
The bullpen was crucial today as they were yesterday and many times this year. Today though they really came through for the most part. Leyland went with newcomer Aquilino Lopez in the eighth and it didn’t go so well as Crede, who loves to hit the Tigers, homered to bring home one more and put the White Sox ahead by two.
Ledezma pitched the ninth in what seemed to be a spot role to just hold for an inning but it turned into three very important innings of work. Ledezma wasn’t great but he held the White Sox back with the help of the Tiger defense.
Grilli came in the twelveth with Leyland running out of options in the bullpen. I was hoping Ledezma would get another inning but I understand the move. Grilli pitched a great inning getting the White Sox 1-2-3 setting up the Tiger win and his first of the year.
Hitting
The day’s lineup was a bit odd. Thames was in for Craig Monroe, Omar Infante was DH over Sheffield and Rabelo was in for Rodriguez. None of the moves were particularly bad but together I thought it bad to sit so many starters against a division rival trying to keep from getting swept.
Rabelo was bad at the plate again and missed a pop-up that Pudge would have gotten. He had one too many at-bats and got out with two on-base though it was not his fault he was at the plate. Leyland certainly had a tough call trying to keep Ivan on the bench with the next off day not for another seven days.
Infante was great at the plate and I was happy with him in their over Sheffield today. Overall the bats were pretty quiet for most of the game though Casey and Polanco ended with multiple hits on the day. I was happy to see Casey get on base and during a pretty important inning.