Wasted / Willie, Spahn, and Barber

Wasted was a fine game by Rick Porcello (seven innings, five hits, two runs). Wasted were Al Albuquerque's three perfect innings of relief, and Daniel Schlereth's scoreless eleventh. Even Brayan Villareal's three strikeouts in the twelfth. 


Because Villareal in the 13th gave up a leadoff single to Michael Brantley, tried to pick him off, and threw the ball down the right field line. (Maybe he'd been watching highlights of the 2006 World Series.) Brantley goes to second, Asdrubal Cabrera bunts him to third, and -- can you see this coming? -- they walk Shin-Soo Choo and Carlos Santana to load the bases, and the next guy blasts one deep. Which is exactly what happened. Orlando Cabrera hit one past Austin ... Jackson for a single off the center field wall. Winning run scores. 

After the game, Anthony wished Villareal into the cornfield. 


Usually it takes forty games to pretty much know what you have. 


Twenty-seven have been played in 2011, and we already know what we have. 


Wherever they go after tomorrow's game, it won't be anywhere near post-season regardless of how many teams Commissioner Allan H. "Bud" Selig adds to the playoff setup. 


Not with The Strikeout Brothers -- Jackson and Raburn -- one-two in the league at the top of the batting order. Not when opponents start walking Miguel Cabrera with first base open. Not when the situational hitting is a repeat of Brennan Boesch's twelfth inning AB. Game tied, Miguel on second with a leadoff double, he swings at the first pitch and pops up to first. 


What we have is the 2008 team, of which great things were expected, who finished dead last. 


Six days after a future so bright that I had to wear shades. 


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Fifty years ago today, Willie Mays hit four home runs in one game, against the Milwaukee Braves at County Stadium. 


April 30, 1961 sticks in many fans' minds from the all-time list of players who've hit four in one game. It's been done fifteen times. 


As of today, there have been 269 no-hitters. Since that list is longer, individual dates might not be so memorable. So it's easy to forget that, on April 28, 1961, Warren Spahn no-hit the Giants in the opener of the weekend series that ended with Mays' four-homer day. 


One date on the no-hitter list that remains memorable is April 30, 1967. Tigers in Baltimore, Steve Barber walked ten, and the go-ahead run scored on an error by Mark Belanger. Stu Miller got the last two outs. Zero hits off two pitchers, and a win. Today you can look all this up, but I remember it all because it was Sunday, the Tigers were televising and, in the pre-MLB-TV days, if there was a game on, you planned the day around it.

Oye Como Va

We really showed those Cleveland Indians how the game should be played, didn't we?

Two three-run leads allowed to get away, and then four in the ninth on a walkoff grand slam by Carlos Santana. 

How WAS that royal wedding? Just as entertaining, I'll bet, and with a happy ending.

Other than gift-wrapping the game and handing it over, the evening was notable for the presence of three Cabreras in uniform: Miguel for the Tigers, and Asdrubal and Orlando for the Tribe. 

7-2 Mariners In The Ninth

Blah blah blah blah RABURN yadda yadda yadda CABRERA blah blah blah blah NO HITTING yadda yadda yadda LEYLAND yack yack yackitty yack THE OFFENSE MUST DO BETTER blah blah blah VERY DISAPPOINTING blah blah blah MY GOODNESS yadda yadda yadda NICE AREA ... 


A suggestion for viewing tomorrow night's game in Cleveland: TIVO the royal wedding and watch that instead. 


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Speaking of our first place friends from across the lake: I have the game on; they're beating the Royals 7-0 and have hit four home runs in the first four innings. Their lineup consists of guys only Fantasy League players and people like me have heard of, and they don't have trouble winning. 

Give Me A Break

If you can't win at least two of three from the Seattle Mariners at home, regardless of who they pitch, you don't deserve post season and have no business thinking about it.

Their second, third, and fourth hitters: Chone Figgins .180, Milton Bradley .216, Miguel Olivo .217. Hitting sixth, Jack Cust at .177. 

Those numbers, in tonight's box score, reflect two days of fattening their averages on Tiger pitching. 

When Justin Smoak hit a three run homer in the first inning, off Justin Verlander, I knew they were doomed and turned the game off.

So I missed the six run ninth. Five hits, a wild pitch, and the night's fourth error. Ryan Steelglove clanged one at second. It doesn't matter where he is; the ball finds him like iron does a powerful magnet. Placido Polanco (.389, one error in 57 chances this year), where art thou?

Please pray for the Tigers. Pray to St. Despairia, the patron saint of managers who have to write Ryan Raburn's name into the lineup at any position except DH. 

Marination

When they play the Mariners, on the radio each time:  "Not hitting ... four home runs all year ... bottom of the league in every offensive category ... five guys hitting under .200 ..." 


None of the above have kept them from scoring ten, and now seven (tonight) runs against the Tigers. 


If they hit against Tiger pitching every game, they'd be fine. 


The theme of tonight's game -- futility -- was established in the second inning, when a Miguel Olivo fly ball clanged off Ryan Steelglove's mitt and into the bullpens for a home run. 


Nice catch, Ryan. In the MLB headlines and on the highlights again, and again for the wrong reason. 

One Degree Of Separation

How can you get from the Cardinals' outfield to the international border between the United States and Canada in two people?

Start with Cardinals' outfielder Jon Jay, one of those rare players who has two first names, each the same length, and both of which start with the same letter. 

John Jay was the first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving from 1789 to 1795. 

While Chief Justice, he negotiated Jay's Treaty with Great Britain which, among other things, defined the border between British North America and the Northwest Territory. 

After the Revolutionary War, British forces continued to occupy six forts in the land lost to the new American nation, including Fort Detroit. Per the treaty, they retreated to their side of the water boundary that now separates Michigan from Ontario, and Port Huron from Sarnia. 

So, when the Cardinals play, and Jon Jay comes up, you get to think about American history. And that's how you learn history.

Yes, It Can

Max Scherzer shut the Pale Hose down on four hits and two walks over eight innings. 

Jose Valverde came in for the save, and the South Siders were thus broomed out of town, losers of nine out of their last ten, and losers the last nine times they've played the Tigers. 

There is nothing to like about the Chicago White Sox. Not their manager, any of their players, their uniforms, the ball park, or their radio announcers. Everything about them reminds me of a dip in Lake Huron ... in December.

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The Reds are playing the Cardinals in the Sunday night game, and the news here is that the Yankees or Red Sox aren't. 

This pairing makes the game available in three places on the AM radio dial: 1000 (ESPN WMVP Chicago), 700 (WLW Cincinnati) and 1120 (KMOX St. Louis), and bless the Cardinals' hearts for putting the games back on KMOX that can still be heard 40 states at night even with all the HD hiss.

But Can It Get Any Better?

Brandon Inge made a back-hand stab, about twelve feet in back of third base, and bounced his throw to first. 

Score it a hit, even if it's the sixth inning and Brad Penny has a no-hitter working.

The hit, by White Sox third baseman Brent Morel, was the only one Penny allowed in seven innings. 

Tiger hitters pounded the pill for nine runs and fifteen hits.The first three in the order -- Jackson, Rhymes, and Ordonez -- are all hitting under .200. They hit a collective 3 for 12 this afternoon. The other averages are starting to fill out, and even Ryan Raburn shows life at the plate (2 for 3, 3 RBIs, no strikeouts).

A 9-0 home win, on a nice warm day -- finally -- on the Fox Saturday game. Maggie grilled steak burgers in the back yard. Life is good.

Back Home

When the pitching matchup is Verlander vs. Buerhle, a safe guess is that it'll be a fast game. 

You don't expect Buerhle to be gone before the sixth inning is finished.  

He lasted five and two-thirds, allowed six runs, and took the loss. 

Ryan Raburn, who is now playing second base, homered and drove in four, which is news. He didn't strike out, which is also news. Austin ... Jackson whiffed twice. That isn't news;  he's hitting .162 but if strikeouts were hits, the average would be .351.

Casper the Friendly Outfielder doubled and singled, drove in two, is quietly hitting .280 and making a case for the permanent Boesch-Wells platoon arrangement in left field.

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With the Pale Hose out of the way, I switched to Jays-D-Rays, at the Mr. Rogers Centre. The game was in extra innings, when dramatic things can happen. 

Happen they did, in the form of a walk-off homer by John McDonald. Good old Johnny Mac; still playing, a former Tiger and on the short list of middle infielders allowed to leave, ones I'll bet they wish were still around  Mac, Polanco, Omar Infante ... throw in Johnny Damon -- last week's American League co-player of the week -- and they wouldn't be scrounging runs like they did out west.

Tigers Fans Anonymous / HAHA BRAVES !!!

Good  morning. Or afternoon, or evening. My name is Tom, and I'm a Tigers fan.

On the day after the ugliest Tigers game in recent memory -- and that includes 2003 (43-119) -- I watched most of last game of their western road trip (a 3-2 win at Seattle). 

I had come to believe that a Power greater than myself could restore my sanity. 

The Power, however, kept whispering in my ear: "Game time 3:40 PM ... game time 3:40 PM ..." 

Not good news for the kid I'm sponsoring, who thought 2008 would finally be the year. 

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On day two of the Selig Era at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers tied the score at three in the ninth and beat the Bravos in 12 on a Matt Kemp two-run walkoff homer.  

That's two wins in the two days since Commissioner Allen H. "In Bud We Trust" Selig announced that MLB will take control of day-to-day operation of the Dodgers. 

Recently, now former head man Frank McCourt offered to have lunch with any and all willing Dodgers season ticket holders. 

Some turned down the invitation, and returned their tix, promising to not attend another game as long as McCourt owns the team. (Looks like they can all come back now).  

There existed in my mind the possibility that lunch would end, like in he last panel of a MAD Magazine comic strip, with a group of startled fans being handed a paper with GUEST CHECK printed at the top. While, in a corner of the panel, a little man (the Boston Parking Lot Attendant) sneaks away. 

Peggy Lee Fastball

"A Little Off," said Cubs radio analyst Keith Moreland in the first inning of the day half of today's Cubs-Padres makeup day-night doubleheader. (That means all the players have to wear makeup.)

No, Keith ... it's "Is That All There Is?" Companion pitch to the Roy Orbison/Linda Ronstadt fastball. Blew By You. In the American League, known as the Christina fastball.

When he's funny, he isn't funny. Santo, when he got a song title wrong, you at least laughed with him, not at him.

An Ugly Baseball Game

Fifteen hits, eleven walks -- only one intentional -- and one error. Twenty-seven base runners. Thirteen runs. In one game, the M's moved from 28th to 19th in total runs scored. 

Believe it or not, it was still a game in the seventh inning. 

That's when Jamie Wright came in to face Brandon Inge with one out an the bases loaded, ahead 6-2. Inge -- he of the .196 batting average -- SWUNG AT THE FIRST PITCH and hit into a double play. 

The Mariners really began to marinate in the bottom seventh, scoring five times on four hits and THREE WALKS. Before the half-inning ended, Anthony wished the whole game into the cornfield.

Austin ... Jackson struck out three times, and there's always room in the cornfield for a .152 leadoff hitter. 

Full marks for anyone who was up at 1:37 AM to see the night's last ugly pitch.

The good news? There's a day game tomorrow. Today. And y'know what? Tomorrow's gonna be a real good day!

Ryans

With the bases loaded in the seventh, Jhonny Peralta hit one to deep center, way out there, past even the distant Isles of Langerhans. Before Ryan could get it back in, three runs scored.

Mariners pitchers poured gas on the fire, walking three and throwing two wild pitches in the six run inning. 

Ryan Raburn added a footnote to the Tigers' 8-3 win. He became the first hitter to hit the Safeco Field roof with a batted ball. A foul pop behind the plate. Then he struck out; one of three whiffs after his name in the box score. 

Last Sunday (April 17) he added his name to the all-time list of players who struck out four times on their 30th birthdays. Throw in a .226 batting aveage, and the Raburn Era in left field should be considered over.

The younger Boesch and Wells could share the position, with Ryan Strikeout packaged in a trade to the National League where his versatility would make him useful when late-inning strategy calls for a double switch. Just in time to beat the Tigers in interleague play with a big hit late in the game.

Weirdness

Twenty seven days into spring, and there's fresh snow on the ground. I thought Al Gore said the earth was getting warmer. And a baseball game is under way at 11 AM.

The third Monday in April is Patriots Day in Massachusetts, a day set aside to remember the midnight ride of Paul Revere and the Raiders. The Boston Marathon runs, and the Red Sox play a morning game. 

Frank Lary's arm problems, that ended his career, began in 1962 with a start in the snow. In Detroit, as I remember. Baseball Reference's 1962 Tigers game log confirms that he started on April 13, at home vs the Yankees, and was the winning pitcher. So that must have been the game.

Before 1969, Patriots Day was observed on April 19. In 1962 that date fell on Thursday, and the Sox played the Tigers, in the first game of a weekend series. They won, and won again on Saturday. Frank Lary lost the Saturday game. Attendance at Fenway, in baseball-mad Boston, on Thursday was a little over nine thousand; on Saturday twelve and a half thousand.

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While I was looking for stats, I checked American League team batting. 

The Seattle Mariners, whom the Tigers play tonight, are hitting .214 as a team. 112 hits in 524 a bats. Subtract Ichiro's 17 for 67, and they're hitting .208.

I didn't think it was possible to hit .214 as a team at any time of the year. 

Anthony's Good Baseball

Nothing good or wonderful happened this afternoon. Anthony would have wished this game into the cornfield, out there with Bill Sommes' collie and the three-headed gopher.

Three singles, and a homer by Casper Wells, were all they got in eight innings off Trevor Cahill.

Brad Penny imploded in the fifth. With a runner on second and two out;  a small, escapable jam: hit batter, walk, walk, single. Three runs.

Down by three isn't the end of the world, unless your teammates have scored more than five times once in the last seven games. And that once was the A's meltdown in game two of this series.

The Four Tier Blog

You are reading the free Basic version of today's blog entry.

With the Basic version, you get the names of the teams that played last night (the Tigers and Oakland A's), and the location (Network Associates Coliseum). 

Upgrade to a Silver membership to learn the final score, and who hit each of the six doubles Justin Verlander allowed.

Upgrade to a Gold membership to find out why JV stepped off the slab and lobbed a throw not to first, but to home, past the catcher and unsuspecting A's hitter, allowing the runner to take second.

Upgrade to a Titanium membership to read Maggie's take on the game, and her recipes for chicken alfredo, and banana nut bread.

No checks accepted. No credit cards. Do not send cash. Paypal sucks. We dare you to buy a membership. For more details, call out Customer Care center (13 year olds working for $1 / day in Bangalore, India). And have a nice day!

Two Games Played Tonight

The first featured excellent pitching on both sides.

Brendan McCarthy and two Athletics relievers gave the Tigers six hits through eight. Rick Porcello allowed one run and seven hits. Alfredo Albuquerque, in his Show debut, retired the first six hitters he faced and fanned three before issuing a walk. Miguel Cabrera homered in the ninth, and the game went into extra innings tied at one.

Then, the wheels came off the A's wagon, and almost did for the Tigers.

The top of the tenth recap reads like a John Grisham novel. Three A's errors, three hits and seven runs for the Tigers, 13 batters to the plate, one pitching change, four confabs on the mound, one visit to the kitchen for refreshments.

In the bottom tenth, the first three A's hitters singeled off Bryan Villareal. Joaquin Benoit came in to restore order. When Davd DeJesus singled in two, a sense of pending doom filled the second floor baseball bunker. Josh Willingham grounded out, and Jim Leyland had his 1500th win as a major league manager.

Good and wonderful things continue to happen after midnight.

The Real Thing

Phil Coke's first start was pretty good. The next one was better. 

Last night in Oakland, he allowed three hits and no runs over seven innings. Per the script prepared in Lakeland, Joaquin Benoit pitched a scoreless eighth, and Jose Valverde a scoreless ninth. 

No one in Lakeland could know how Coke would make the transition from long man to starter.  Thus far, he's been a pleasant surprise. 

A's pitchers held the Tigers to four hits, but the umps called ball four on Tiger hitters eleven times. Their three runs scored on a double by Raburn, and a Santiago sac fly / Josh Willingham throw into the dugout that allowed Boesch to come in from second.

HAHA METS !!! HAHA METS !!!

When they lose both games of a doubleheader (today, in Colorado), it's okay to say it twice. Meet the Mets, greet the Mets, come on out and beat the Mets.

BRANDON INGE !!!

One out, bottom ninth, score tied at two, 0-0 the count nobody on, he hit a high fly into the stands! Rounded third and headed for home; he won the game, he did, that brown-eyed handsome man!

Walk-off wins in successive days sends the Tigers west -- to Oakland and then Seattle -- on a positive note. After the stumbling start, they have to be delirious with joy right now.

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Add "Wee Wee Hours" -- the B side of "Maybellene" -- to the list of songs that want to be baseball songs. 

Lately, some interesting things have happened after midnight. 

Padres open in the rain, Angels 14 inning walkoff win, Indians start 8-2, most of it out west. Dan Haren blanks the Tribe on one hit -- one quiet little single by Shin-Soo Choo -- last night/ early this morning.

Very nice, and way cool. But, when you're up listening to baseball past 12:01 AM, that's the time you miss her most of all.

A Must-Win Situation

Ten games in, and it's already that time. 

They're five games out, with a 3-7 record whose foul odor can't be ignored any longer. Five behind the 8-2 Indians, who've been out west making it look easy.

The ten game verdict: pitching not bad, hitting terrible, defense awful. JV has been great, but yesterday's four errors only highlight the careless play seen since opening day. The hitters, minus Cabrera and Peralta, have forgotten what baseball bats are for. Bruce Chen, of all people, and two rookies shut them down on Saturday. 

All this makes achieving the objective of today's game -- to score more runs than the opposition -- moderately urgent. Do that often enough, as Jim Price has been heard to say, and you'll be all right.

-------------------

Ryan Raburn -- he of the steel glove, expansive strike zone, and .227 batting average -- made it all happen. 

In the third, he took a three run homer away from Michael Young.

Bottom ninth, with two on and the score tied, he displayed remarkable restraint at the dish, walking on five pitches. Miguel Cabrera came up with the bases loaded, when you know something good has to happen.

He lined one past third, and proved Price's Hypothesis correct; that all you need to win is one more run than the other guys after nine innings.

4-7 isn't great, but is better than 3-8 and allows the fan to sample tonight's Gameday offerings wrapped in the warm, smug satisfaction of a home team victory.

Jose Cuerbrera

He must have forgotten how many outs there were. That's the only reason I can think of for taking off from second with your head down on a popup to short. 

Of course, he was easily doubled up. 

Second and third, two out; even with the bottom of the order due up, who knows what might have happened, in the sixth inning of a scoreless game. 

Now, each time Miguel Cabrera pulls a rock that helps cost the Tigers a game, the fan may wonder if was he playing with a clear head.

 JV went the distance, held the homer-happy Rangers to two homer-less runs, took the loss, and deserved way better. 

The Angry Baseball Fan

By the time the Bad News Bears were done throwing the ball around the yard, the Royals had nine runs. 

None of them were unearned. But four errors helped set up more than a couple. 

Rick Porcello got whacked, again, and is proving that 2009  (14-9, 3.96 ERA)  was indeed an aberration.

Have The Playing Rules Changed?

After games like today's, the Tiger approach at the plate makes one think a new playing rule is in force. 

That, late in the game when your team is losing and a new pitcher comes in, you must swing at the first pitch. Don't take a couple, to get a feel for what he's got. Don't make him work. Go up there hacking.  

Royals rookie Aaron Crow replaced Bruce Chen to start the seventh. The middle of the order -- Cabrera, Martinez, and Ryan Strikezone -- went down in order on six pitches. 

Johnny Peralta violated the rule by looking at eight Crow pitches before singling in the eighth. (See how it's done?) Another Royals rookie, Tim Collins, came in. He walked a couple. (See?) Two walks and a single, the best they've done at the plate all day. Bases loaded, game on the line, Magglio up. He swings at Robinson Tejada's first offering and pops up to second.

Sigh ... 

Ryan Scatterarm homered in the ninth for the Tigers' only run. That makes up for the one he allowed, in the first with a bad throw that allowed two runners to take extra bases. Am I counting? Yes, I am.

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More baseball played in the wee small hours of the morning. Blue Jays at Anaheim; the Halos prevailing 5-4 in 14. Winning run touches home plate at 2:10 AM my time. 

The Jays, with two extra Canadian time zones, have the advantage over US teams. For their fans up late in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, it was ten past three in the morning. For any listening on Gameday in Newfoundland-Labrador (1 1-2 hours ahead of EST), it was 3:40. In NL, Friday night's Padres-Dodgers mess ended at 5:33 on Saturday morning.

The Home Opener

In his first AB at his new home park, Victor Martinez doubled with the bases loaded. That was all the Tigers needed, as they defeated KC 5-2 in the 2011 home opener. 

MLB.com, a gathering place for young, hip baseball fans, has taken to calling the Tigers' new DH-catcher "V-Mart." 

Each generation of fans puts its own stamp on the game. The Tweet And Text (Twext?) Generation has done so by giving players nicknames that consist of a first initial and a shortened surname.  

In Tweetspeak, then, M-Scher allowed one run and seven hits through six innings, J-Ben pitched a scoreless eighth, and J-Val retired the Royals in order for his second save. J-Per singled and doubled, and drive in the other two runs. 

Now doesn't that look and sound stupid?

Royals rookie Nate Adcock, who hasn't been around long enough to have a Twext name, pitched three and one third scoreless innings in his major league debut.

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In the middle of today's Tiger game, I head that M-Ram had decided to retire. 

I made that up. He's already got a Tweet name. All you need to type, for everyone to know who you mean, is "Manny."

He hung them up rather than face a second suspension for testing positive, in spring training. Penalty for a second offense is one hundred games. Serving that would bring him back in mid-August, in time to lead the D-Rays' late-season push to get out of last place.

Ted Williams homered in his last at bat. Yaz took a victory lap. Manny Ramirez, who also patrolled the Fenway outer garden, flied out as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning of the D-Rays' 5-1 home loss to the Angels two nights ago. He asked out of yesterday's game, and quietly vanished. No ceremony. Just gone. Casey Kotchman gets another shot, and how did he end up in the minor leagues in the first place?

Cooperstown for arguably the best right-handed hitter of the pre-Twext generation is doubtful. All, however, is not lost. If he got nailed taking female hormones again, the women's baseball HOF remains a possibility.

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Al Gore insists the earth is getting warmer. A long time ago, Albert Hammond said it never rains in southern California.

Both would be confounded by tonight's Padres home opener.

Game time temp in paradise was 53 degrees. Players and coaches not on the field wore hooded sweatshirts. Rain halted play four times. In the pics, it looked like snow. Common sense finally prevailed after the fourth stoppage of play, at 1:13 AM in San Diego, and play was suspended, to resume this afternoon. Gameday Audio and determined umpires giving fans in the eastern time zone that rare opportunity to hear live play-by-play after four in the morning.

Love These Goon Shows

The Tigers led tonight's game three times, and each time the Orioles tied the score.

They did so and took the lead in a five-run bat-around seventh that seemed like it would never end. Punctuating the frame were a Mike Reynolds two-run double, and a wild throw home by right fielder Don Kelly that allowed two runners to take extra bases.  

Opportunity nonetheless presented itself in the Tigers' eighth. Cabrera walked, and Kelly doubled him to third. A hit would make the score 9-7, and really make things interesting. Ryan Raburn, however, expanded his cap bill-shoelaces strike zone to a foot in front of the plate, and waved at a pitch that bounced in the dirt  for strike three.

They went down one-two-three in the ninth, and will stumble home for tomorrow's opener with a not-impressive 2-4 record.

HAHA RED SOX !!!

The Sox and Indians played a Rembrandt of a game this afternoon, before a small gathering at Progressive Field. Jon Lester and Fausto Carmona matched brushstrokes through seven. In the eighth, "Madam I'm Adam" Everett led off with a walk, stole second, was sacrificed to third, and squeezed home by Asdrubal Cabrera for the game's first run. 

The tying run -- pinch runner Darnell McDonald -- took a wide turn around second, fell, and was tagged out to end the game. 

The Carmines head home winless in six road games. A disappointing total for a team expected to go 162 and 0 this season, that takes the shine off this weekend's renewal of The Rivalry played out on the Fox Saturday Red Sox-Yankees Game Of The Week, and ESP Red Sox-Yankees N Sunday night game.

Alex Avila's Night

He'll remember the stolen base more than the single, double, and homer, and the five runs batted in. 

In the eighth inning, when the O's forgot he was on first, off he went, leaving a vapor trail in the cool Baltimore night air. He died on second, but that was okay. His bat had already helped give the Tigers a 7-3 lead.

Pitchers, pre-DH, bragged about their hitting.Sluggers remember the day when, late in the game with their team out of substitutes, they filled in at a strange position and made all the plays. Slow catchers never forget that base they stole. 

Usually, batting averages don't mean much until mid-April. An exception can be made for Avila, the Tiger starting catcher who went from .100 (1 for 10) to .375 in one night.

HAHA YANKEES !!!

It's never too early in the season to say that. And it can't be said often enough. 

HAHA YANKEES !!!

Up 4-0 after seven, with So, and then Mo (Rafael Soriano and Mariano Rivera) waiting to finish off the Twins. 

Three walks, single, three-run bloop double (by Delmon Young) of the sort they always seem to get when they play the Tigers. Tie score. One in the tenth wins it. HAHA YANKEES !!!

Buddhists believe that one can experience extreme joy and sadness at the same time. That's how the baseball fan feels when he reads CC Sabathia's pitching line: seven innings, two hits, one walk.

A great game down the drain, but HAHA YANKEES !!!

The Undefeated, First Place Baltimore Orioles

All that they are, winners of their first four after this afternoon's 5-1 victory over the Tigers in the 2011 Camden Yards opener. Picked up right where they left off in the second half last year.

Brian Roberts homered off Rick Porcello with two on in the fifth. That was all the Orioles needed to win a game otherwise distinguished only by the presence of two participants whose full names, when spoken aloud, are complete sentences: the Tigers' second baseman (Will rhymes) and the O's manager (Buck, show Walter).

It's too early to push the panic button, but you have to wonder what's up. Are the Orioles really that good, or are we that bad?

JV goes on Wednesday and, as the number one starter, it's his task to kick some butt and give the Tigers a chance to win after a disappointing Yankee series, and the lifeless effort turned in by his teammates this afternoon.

Strange Days

Max Scherzer got the W despite allowing four home runs; two Jorge Posada blasts and the weekend's third Tex message. 

Two Cabrera homers, and one Boesch blast, gave the Tigers an early lead. Boesch's 5 for 8 in the opening series foreshadowing a return to the Brennan Bash we saw in the first half of 2010.

In the middle of this afternoon's homer fest, snow began to fall, in big, fat, wet flakes. For a while, the mess outside became a white-out, punctuated by the occasional crackle of T-storm static on the radio.

Phil Coke allowed one run in two innings, but actually restored order. He got the game to Joaquin Benoit, who pitched a scoreless eighth in his Tiger debut. Jose Valverde got the save to preserve a 10-7 win. For this relief, much thanks (Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 1). 

Everything that isn't cement now wears a thin coating of snow.The calendar page says April 3. Didn't Al Gore say that the earth is getting warmer?

Penny's Debut

In 4 1-3 innings, he allowed eight runs on seven hits -- among them Mark Teixeira's second three-run homer of the series -- and was consistently behind the Yankee hitters. 

I don't think anyone expected him to throw seven innings of three-hit ball.

But today's pitching line was more than disappointing. He's the unknown quantity in the rotation; the newcomer who was out most of last season, signed to a one-year deal in the hope he still has some major-league years left.

One hundred and sixty games remain, but there remains the fear of falling too far back in the standings early, as the Tigers did in 2008 when many picked them to win the division, when they sank to the bottom and stayed there.

Having It All

Helen Gurley Brown, the former Cosmopolitan editor who told her female readers they could have it all, would love MLB Gameday Audio.

You get every game, both teams' announcers, in sharp, clear 32K mono. Much better than tweaking and turning antennas, or a night's listening washed out by bad DX. 

On an audio tour of day two action, I touched base with some old friends.

Former Indian Ben Francisco is the new Phillies right fielder, replacing Jayson whose Werth increased dramatically during the off season. 

Carlos Pena plays first for the Cubs . . . and you'll miss Ron Santo even more once you get an earful of his replacement, another ex-Tiger, Keith Moreland.  Starting at first for the Pirates -- where players go to never be heard from again -- was last year's Blue Jay fan favorite Lyle OHHHHHH - verbay!

In Cleveland, yet another former Bengal, Jack Hannahan, homered and singled twice in a losing cause, as the Bears beat the Browns 15-10 in perfect football weather at Progressive Field.

Later that night, Gameday reunited me with Rick Rizzs, who went back to the Mariners some time ago, after accepting the job at which no one could succeed: coming from out of town to replace the fired Ernie Harwell. I liked Rick Rizzs. He wasn't Ernie -- no one could ever be -- but sounded pleasant, his play by play easy to follow, and never came off as bored like that former Tiger pitcher who still calls White Sox games. 

But, after eleven hours of having it all, even Mme. Brown might seek diversion, in the form of something as un-baseball as it gets. Baseball's antipode. It's right here.

Love these Goon Shows ...