A-A-A

The owner of those initials, which stand for the name awarded him by Jim Price, is the Amazing Al Alburquerque. Who, again tonight, was amazing. 

Max Scherzer, in his second successive start, allowed seven runs. 

Twins' starter Brian Duensing was also generous, giving up six, all in the fifth inning. Wells, Martinez, and Peralta doubled, and Miss Fortune, in the form of a throwing error by shortstop Matt Tolbert that allowed two to score, made her daily appearance. 

In the seventh, Peralta plated Boesch with a sac fly. Enter the Amazing, with the score even at seven. 

He struck out Danny Valencia and Delmon Young, and got Rene Rivera to pop out. Boesch's sac fly in the Tigers' eighth made him the pitcher of record, and Ben Wah, back from the cornfield, got the save. 

How amazing? In 17.1 innings this season, only eight hits allowed, and 30 strikeouts. 

And he's got a birthday coming up. A fellow Gemini, born June 10. 

Umperors 1, Twins 0

With Jhonny Peralta on first and two out in the eighth, score tied at seven, Alex Avila sliced one down the left field line. 


A fan touched the ball in play. It bounced and hit another fan out of play. Twins left fielder Delmon Young pointed, Third base ump Gary Darling signaled fan interference. Peralta never stopped running, and touched home plate. 


Peralta was send back to third. Jim Leyland came out and said something to Darling. The umps conferred, and waved Peralta home. 


As we knew he would be, Ron Gardenhire got tossed. 


When fan interference is called, the umps can place baserunners where, in their opinion, they would have ended up had the interference not occurred. This time, they ruled that Peralta would have scored. But they sent him back to third, discussed the play at the request of the home manager, and then allowed his run to stand. It would become the winning run. 


Mother Teresa would be mad. 


It's been that kind of year. Somewhere in each game, it seems, their season-long companion, Miss Fortune -- the female counterpart of Jim Price's Mojo -- appears to spoil the day for all involved with TWINS across their chests. 

Three Hits, Three Runs

A first inning double by Brennan Boesch, that scored Andy Dirks. Miguel Cabrera's single that scored Boesch. Don Kelly's eighth inning single that scored Cabrera.

All that Justin Verlander needed to record his fifth win, blanking the Carmines for seven and two-thirds on four hits and no walks.

Not a must-win game, but a really-need-to-win game, after a week of indifferent, even by Tigers standards, play.

Sunday's First Game

Top ninth, score tied at three, and out comes David Or Tease to pinch-hit, sent up to hit one over the shift. Which, as you knew he would, he did, all the way over it, off Papa Shut 'Em Down. When last seen, the ball was bouncing across Riverside Drive in Windsor.

But all was not lost for the Rainville nine (ten, actually, with the DH). They had one more AB, and the second baseman was due up third.

Oh, somewhere in this fabled land of ours, fand are celebrating walk-off wins ...

But there is no joy in Rainville. Ryan Strikeout, now on the Interstate (I-98 after game one), has done it again.

More Good Fortune

We don't play the Red Sox again this year. But our traditional rivals the Mets, D-Backs, and Rockies come to town next month. 

In the last 14 calendar days, four games have been rained out at Comerica.

So: tomorrow: the ever popular day-night doubleheader, on getaway day, on Sunday.

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The Scott Sizemore era in Detroit has ended.

The second baseman of the future is now an Oakland Athletic, sent west in exchange for southpaw long man and former Blue Jay David Purcey.

Second base now belongs not to Danny Worth, who deserves another chance, but to Ryan Steelglove. And, if you're still thinking post-season with RS up the middle, I know of some beachfront property in Nebraska you might like.

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Fans Run On The Field Night at Safeco went over very well.

Four lunatics sprinted across the outfield between innings of tonight's Mariners-Yankees game. Among them, one streaker. Suzyn Waldman called the action for those of us still up at one-thirty in the morning Eastern time. I hollered: don't look, Suzyn! But it was too late ... she'd already seen ball two, and strike one.

First things the baseball fan asked himself: Was he at least wearing shoes, and how did he get that close to the field, dressed as he was, after three other crazies had tried it?

Furbush's Debut

6-6-6 for Porcello. Six runs, earned runs, and hits, in three innings.

On came top pitching prospect Charlie Furbush, summoned from Toledo to lend a hand in straightening out the bullpen mess, to make his major league debut against the hit-happy Red Sox.

The big left-hander from South Portland, Maine pitched five shutout innings, allowing two hits while striking out six.

A fine Show debut -- best in a while by anyone wearing the Olde English "D" -- that removed the bad taste left by a 6-3 loss that dropped the Pretenders back to mediocrity (25-25).

Patriots 14, Lions 1

Max Scherzer lasted two innings. He came out with the Red Sox up 7-0.


Things looked bad for the Rainville Nine (ten, actually, with the DH). They stayed that way.


For the second successive day, the Carmines put two TDs on the board. Fourteen being a cool number, all straight lines and sharp angles. Looks good on the scoreboard, except when it's next to the other team's name.


Adam Wilk made his major league debut with 3.2 innings of shutout relief. All the other Pretenders pitchers got whacked. Crooked numbers all over the place. The Sox put a uniform on the batboy, sent him up late in the game, and he got a hit.

When the tarp went on in the eighth, with the score 14-1, the baseball fan wondered aloud how many masochists would hang around in the rain -- or leave the radio on -- to see if play would be resumed, in the Museum Of Baseball Hoplessness. (It wasn't.)

Good Fortune Smiles On Our Team Again

The game's been called on account of rain! 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzl6LEfouEE

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Phil Coke has gone on the DL. Andy Oliver is up, and ineffective middle reliever Bryan Villareal has been sent to Toledo. The Mud Hens being the next stop after the cornfield. 

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Baseball Commissioner Allan H. "Bud" Selig has prevailed once again. He's convinced the Reverend Harold Camping to reschedule the Rapture a second time, from October 21 to a later date so the World Series can be completed without delay. 


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The Late Late Scene: Phillies-Reds ends in the bottom of the 19th, at 1:21 AM Eastern time. Phils' infielder Wilson Valdez retired the Reds' 2-3-4 hitters -- Joey Votto, Scott Rolen, Brandon Phillips -- in the top half, and gets the W. He is now the answer to a question that's often asked by devotees of baseball minutiae: who was the last non-pitcher to get a decision? 

Cool People Of The World

Many have the same names as places on a map. Tennessee Williams. Handsome Dick Manitoba. Jesse Ventura. Texas Guinan. Indiana Jones. Randy California. All famous, or notorious, for doing something. By themselves, their names make you want to meet them, or wish you had. 


Al Alburquerque is close enough. If your name is over ten letters long, one extra won't keep you off the list. 


He came in with the bases loaded and one out in the eighth, with the Tigers down 6-5, struck out Sean Rodriguez, and got Sam Fuld to fly out. 


That made it possible for Alex Avila's second homer of the night, in the bottom eighth with Jhonny Peralta on, to be the eventual game winner. 

Two Firsts

With one out in the fourth, Phil Coke hurt his ankle covering first, and had to come out. 


Enter top pitching prospect Charlie Furbush, fresh off the freeway from Toledo. 


The big southpaw from South Portland, Maine held the Rays scoreless over three and two-thirds innings, and got the W in his first major league game. Isn't that cool, to read 0.00 in the box score, in the last column of pitching stats following a Tiger hurler's name? Indeed it is. 


And Andy Dirks hit his first major league homer, a solo shot in the fifth. 


In the Tigers' four run eighth, V-Mart and J-Per each drove in two. 


J-Val pitched the ninth, and brought back memories of F-Rod in 2009: two easy outs, then walk, single, single, wild pitch, walk. The game ended only when M-Cab snagged J-Dam's liner. 


Total the letters you don't type by doing that, and in a single post you could save as much as one line of text. 


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At the Prog tonight, two former Tigers made the difference in the Tribe's win over the Red Sox. 


Jack Hannahan singled to lead off the eighth. Madam I'm Adam Everett ran for him. He scored on a Michael Brantley single that tied the game at two. Asdrubal Cabrera -- him again? -- doubled in Brantley. 


But who ended the game by hitting into a double play? Arguably the fastest guy in the American League, Carl Crawford. 


Special things? Yes, every night. It's always something. Across the lake, however, the something is usually good. 

Rick and Asdrubal

Baseball's other home run hitting Cabrera -- Asdrubal of the Indians -- hit two this afternoon, numbers 8 and 9, as the Tribe broomed the Reds out of town 12-4. Two! His best total for a full season had been six, in 08 and 09, and before this season he'd hit only 18. He's already halfway to his career total.

Travis Hafner AND Grady Sizemore on the DL, and they still put 12 points on the board.

Special seasons, yes; each day the fan watches one blossom in Cleveland.

At PNC, Rick Porcello allowed one hit, a clean double by Ronny Cedeno, in eight innings as the Pretenders salvaged one of the three on the Pittsburgh portion of their 2011 North American tour, 2-0.

Ryan Strikeout (.204 batting average) started in left, and struck out twice. If strikeouts were hits, he'd be hitting .359 (51 for 142).

Love These Goon Shows

Jim Leyland may have wished the world had ended at six this evening, one hour and five minutes before game time. 


But it didn't. And they played. Neither team televised. But TV or not TV, that wasn't the question. 


Let's enumerate the weirdness that took place at PNC tonight. 


The game was a sellout, on Neil Walker Bobblehead Night. That's not weird, but sellouts in Pittsburgh are rare. The only other one this season was opening day. 


Max Scherzer, after pitching five strong innings, got whacked in the sixth. Single, single, double, sac fly, sac fly, single, all hit hard. The inning ended with the Tigers down only 3-2. But the offense had spoken; here's your two runs, Max, now make 'em stand up. 


Pirates reliever Jose Veras, who had never batted in a major league game (lifetime average .000), walked on four pitches to open the seventh. Ryan Perry gets the cornfield just for that; never mind the two singles he then gave up to load the bases. 


Matt Diaz singled in two off Daniel Schlereth. 5-2 and, they way they've been not hitting, they're doomed. But let's move on. 


Diaz is on first, Jose Tabata is on third. Lyle Overbay strikes out, Diaz takes off for second, stops, gets in a rundown, and five throws are needed to retire him. Meanwhile, Tabata heads home, and scores before the third out is recorded. Run counts. Not that it mattered at this point in the game. 


They managed to load the bases in the ninth. Ryan Strikeout, the potential tying run, struck out. That's not weird; it just gave the night a proper epilogue. 


Two things made Jim Price more angry than I've ever heard him on the air, even during 2003 (43-119), and  this latest run of very bad baseball. 


The ineffective bullpen, and the bungled rundown. NO! he shreiked when Jhonny Peralta threw to first instead of trying to cut down Tabata heading for the plate. As close as he's ever come to sounding like Ron Santo. 


What he said ... since that Monday rainout, they've been playing like the Twins were when the Tigers swept them in Minnesota. 


Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow. Broomed out of Pittsburgh? Very likely, way more likely that the world ending on cue. 


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The baseball fan has been wondering all weekend. Say you live on a time zone boundary. Not near one, but right on one. The gravel road that runs past your house is also the county line, and also where Eastern Time ends and Central Time begins. Does that mean the other side goes first, can you watch, and what would you do with a one hour heads-up? 

$1.28

Indians' outfielder Travis Buck wears number 28. So, on the back of his uniform shirt, the fan reads BUCK 28. 


You don't want to be hitting a buck twenty-eight in the major leagues, or even in A ball. He's actually hitting .267 in 14 games this season, and back in The Show, replacing Travis Hafner who has gone on the DL.


All Buck 28 did today was hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning to give the Tribe a 2-1 lead over the Reds. A lead they, of course, held onto for their 28th win, most in baseball on this doomsday May 21. If the world does end in a couple hours, they will be the 2011 Central Division champs. 


Everyone is getting in on the fun in Cleveland. Like the 68 Tigers. Dick Tracewski, who was hitting a buck-something at the time, won a game in extra innings with a walkoff hit. When stuff like that happens, you know it's a special season. 

They're Still Not Hitting

In every game, they now have a better than ordinary chance of getting no-hitted. 


Tonight's contest began with fourteen of the quickest, quietest outs you'll ever see. Andy Dirks got the first hit with two out in the fifth. 


At that point, down 1-0 but with Baseball Tracker Radar picking up disaster over the horizon, I turned the game off. Launched Dodgers-White Sox on MLB, and tuned the radio to Indians at Reds. 


I didn't miss anything unexpected. 


It was still pretty much a game (3-1 Pirates) in the sixth, before Bryan Villareal allowed two two-run doubles. 


The cornfield's total of ineffective Tiger middle relievers has increased by one. 


Neal Walker homered with two on in the eighth off Papa Three Run Homer. Final: 10-1 Buccos. 


The world is supposed to end tomorrow, at six in the evening EDT. 


For skipper Leyland and his coaches, the end may come just in time. 


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Should tomorrow really be the end, this year's Indians' heroics will have gone for nothing. 


They were getting no-hitted, by Travis Wood in Cincinnati, but scored four to get even, and got one in the ninth on a bases-loaded drag bunt single by Ezekiel Carrera in his first major league at bat. 


That was pretty cool. What a way to break in. Hit, RBI, game winner on the first pitch you see in The Show. 


If stuff like this keeps happening, this will become an Indians blog. 


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The lack of hitting has produce one positive: Ryan Strikeout is out of the starting lineup, and back on the bench where he belongs. 


Andy Dirks is playing left field. Called up when Magglio Ordonez went on the DL. 


The ankle Maggs hurt last year is still sore. He's 37, coming off an injury, hitting .172 with one RBI ... and you wonder if, and hope it ain't so that, he's played his last game. When he hit .303 last year, and .310 in '09 after a slow start, a certain baseball blogger remarked that Maggs had found the Fountain of Youth, and returned with enough of the precious fluid to last three of four more seasons. The blogger doesn't write stuff like that about just anyone. 

They're Not Hitting

And when they were hitting, they weren't hitting. 


On the road trip, it seemed like each run scored required effort, like that a heavily-loaded truck might need to climb a hill. And three guys carried the offense: Cabrera, Victor Martinez, and Jhonny Peralta. 


Tonight's offense consisted of two swings; back-to-back homers by Boesch and Cabrera in the eighth that tied the score at three and saved JV from another undeserved loss. 


Then, as you knew they would, the Red Sox filled the bases in the ninth. Jed Lowrie dumped one over the drawn-in infield, where Andy Dirks was playing shallow enough to grab it and nail Kevin YOUkilis at home. Your routine 7-2 force play, and it looked like the script writers might be kind this time. 


But, as you knew someone would, Carl Crawford hit one over the drawn-in outfield to plate the winning run. So much for that. Who do we play next? (Oh ... the Pirates, in Pittsburgh. Yeeeha.) 


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The Ryan Raburn situation has expanded to where it's now not unlike that of the kid who can't hit or field that well, but has a place on the team because his mom is best friends with the coach's wife. 


His approach at the plate seems to be: swing hard in case you hit it. When a ball is hit his way, wherever he is on the field, out come the rosaries. 


He does have a good arm, but you first have to corral the ball without dropping or kicking it. 


What's he still doing here? I have no clue. I used to stick up for him, on the other blogs, but enough has become enough. 


I do have a prediction. If he's still here after July 31, they're doomed.  If that's the best they can do in his role on the team ... get ready for football season. 

Milton Bradley -- The Musical

A stage play about Ernie Harwell has opened at the City Theater in Detroit. 


From author Mitch Albom's web site: 


"Ernie" is set on Ernie Harwell's last night a Comerica, when the Hall Of Fame broadcaster is about to give a moving thank you to a grateful city. Just before he walks onto the grassy field, he encounters an unusual boy who wants to know all about him, coaxing Harwell into giving one final broadcast -- "the broadcast of his life." 


Give me a break. 


"Mr. Harwell, will there be a house by the side of the road in Heaven, and can I come see you in it? 


I saw the game on TV, and prefer to remember Ernie Harwell's last appearance on a baseball field that way. 


Further research reveals that, in Los Angeles, the baseball fan can take in a one-man show based on the relationship between Juan Marichal and John Roseboro. 


Sigh ... 


They made a movie about Jimmy Piersall's life. 


So why not a musical based on the stormy career of Milton Bradley? 


Props will be minimal: batting gloves, caps, nerf balls, foam rubber bats that look like the real thing. 


Indians' radio announcer Tom Hamilton and Royals' TV announcer Ryan Lefebvre can play themselves. 


All the songs will be angry, except for the finale, "I'm Really Not A Bad Person." 


Instead of taking a curtain call, the cast comes back out on stage and throws their props at the audience, and curses them (theatergoers first saw this at the end of "Lee Elia -- The Man And The Fans He Loved"). 


It might be as popular as "Mamma Mia." 

The Mighty Casey

The Tigers and Red Sox played in rain and fog that reminded Maggie of our vacations in London. 


Phil Coke and Clay Bucholtz matched zeroes through seven. Coke allowed three hits, walked one, and struck out four. The Tiger starter's pitching line once again worth noting because, once again, it was outstanding. 


The Sox got a run in the eighth. 


In the ninth, the Tigers got Victor Martinez to third with two out. To the plate strode Ryan Raburn ...


Oh, somewhere in this favored land, folks still up this late at night
Are watching the west coast games, as baseball fans they might 
Dad may grin when a homer's hit, his sons may leap and shout
But there is no joy in Rainville -- Ryan Raburn has struck out. 


(Maggie helped ...) 

Rained Out Again / Harmon Killebrew

Today, more interesting things were said at Comerica than on days when there's a game. 


Jim Leyland stated that interleague play has had it, and that Joaquin Benoit will remain in the cornfield until further notice. 


"It (interleague play) was a brilliant idea to start with, but has run its course," he told the beat writers. 


As outrageous as playing two series in National League parks with no DH -- that the skipper cited -- is the situation created by today's rainout. 


The Tigers and Blue Jays, who used to play each other 18 times a year, don't again this season. The Jays will have to travel to Detroit on a mutual off day to play one game. But the Mets and D-Backs play three games each here. 


Three other games were rained out today. Three more that will have to be put somewhere, and possibly become one-day road trips dropped in the middle of the September stretch run. 


Already, more games have been lost to weather than in all of last season. That could scramble September for a lot of folks. 


When the call goes out for an eighth inning pitcher, it won't be for Joaquin BEN-wah. He and his 7.98 ERA have been removed from the setup role, a task for which he was signed for three years, at age 34 and one year off Tommy John surgery. (Sigh ......) 


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Harmon Killebrew died today at age 74, after a long fight with cancer and a brief hospice stay. 


The Tiger fan may first remember that he wore out Tiger pitching -- as he did everyone else's pitching -- and that, for a long time, was the only player to hit a ball over the left field roof at Tiger Stadium. 


I thought it was appropriate that he wore Babe Ruth's number 3. 


At day's end, I think of two other things. 


Another player from the 1961 come-of-age year baseball card set has died; the third Hall Of Famer from that set, after Robin Roberts and Duke Snider, in the last few months. 


And that, during his time in baseball -- an association he began in 1954 as an 18 year old bonus rookie on the old Senators, and ended in spring training 2010 -- you never heard or read anything bad about him. 

The Cornfield

Max Scherzer gave up eight hits through seven, but only one run. More than enough effort to keep the Tigers in the game. 


Joaquin Benoit allowed three in the eighth. Not the first time this season he's done so. Final 4-1 Boo Jays. 


At the 40 game mark, the other glaring deficiency -- besides the inconsistent offense -- has been middle relief. 


After the game, Anthony wished Benoit into the cornfield. 


"Someone once told me I shouldn't wish all the ineffective setup men into the cornfield," Anthony said in the postgame press conference. "Then, eventually, there would be no one to pitch the eighth innings, to get games to the closers. Who was that?" 


Why ... that was Phil Garner who said that," a writer answered. "Managed the Tigers a while ago. Yep, Phil Garner --  " 


"Yeah!" Anthony made a face. "That's why I made him go on fire!" 


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The Indians won 19-1 tonight at KC, scoring ten in the fourth and four more in the fifth, all off Royals' middle reliever Vin Mazzaro. 


I missed all the fun in real time, while listening to BEN-wah give it up, but replayed the game from Gameday's archive. 


This could as easily be an Indians blog. They're close enough, and have been accessible off-the-air for long enough, to be a second home team. And this is a year when you want to hear every game. Good, and sometimes amazing, things seem to happen every day. 

Rained Out / The 40 Game Mark

Three games washed out today, in Cleveland, Chicago (Cubs-GI Ants) and Comerica. When you're playing well, like the Tigers are (9-1 over last 10), you don't want to lose a game to rain. 


Forty games should be enough to know what you have. The Tigers are exactly there, at 22-18. 


The team ERA of 4.09 is 20th among the 30 teams, but you don't win nine out of your last ten without good starting pitching. JV and Scherzer are among baseball's best 1-2 starters. Brad Penny pitched well on Friday, and Porcello shows flashes of his excellent rookie season. In the bullpen, Al Alburquerque is the out of nowhere surprise, having struck out 23 in 13 innings. 


They're 21st in fielding. That needs work, but we knew on opening day that it would. Of the 26 errors, eight belong to Brandon Inge and Ryan Steelglove. 


Standing out like a boulder in your living room is the lack of offense from four positions where it was expected: outfield and third base. Of the full-time outfielders, only Brennan Boesch is hitting (.290). Austin ... Jackson has picked it up, but needs to keep going. Magglio can't run and had to go on the DL after one RBI in six weeks. Brandon INGE is at .198 and, with his five errors, very close to acquiring an uncomplimentary nickname in this blog. 


The out of nowhere surprise among the non-pitchers is Jhonny Peralta (.307, five homers). 


There's just enough offense, and barely enough defense, that will allow the pitching to keep them close to the .500 mark. With universal mediocrity the standard now, all you need to be considered a contender is a won-loss record within a half-dozen games of break-even. 


They'll trade for a bat, closer to July 31 when the post-season picture has taken better shape and form (16 teams within four games of .500 and thus still in the hunt); exchange a pitching prospect or two, and Steelglove, for someone from the National League a step or two down the other side of the hill, wish they'd held onto Placido Polanco, and pray. 

Penny Comes Through

We knew what the other starters could do. Brad Penny was the mystery man. Coming off an injury-shortened season, he was penciled in as the third starter, after JV and Max Scherzer. 


Two starters -- even two good ones -- won't get you to the big October dance. For the Tigers to make it, the veteran right-hander from Blackwell, Oklahoma had to come through. 


That he did this afternoon, blanking the Royals on five hits and -- equally as important -- no walks through eight innings. A shutout would have been nice, but he'd thrown 108 pitches, and there's no need to stretch him out when Papa Save is ready to finish the game. 


Save it he did, and the Tigers have now won nine of their last ten, and are 22-18 after looking as helpless as kittens only twelve days ago. 

Two Special Games

In his first outing since last week's no-hitter, Justin Verlander held the Royals hitless until two out in the sixth, when Melky Cabrera tripled. He came out after eight, having allowed only a Matt Trainor double. Papa Grande got the save, and you can put it in the win column.

Anyone, a good day, can come up with a no-hitter. What they do next time out reveals a great deal. Francisco Liriano, arguably the least likely pitcher to do that (zero complete games lifetime, 2011 ERA over nine), was chased after four innings, by the Tigers. Tonight, JV kept going out there, throwing like he could do it again. And no one at the game, or watching at home, held any doubt that he would. Verlandermania has taken hold at Comerica!

Across the lake in Cleveland, the Indians got three in the ninth to win; the last two on a walkoff home run by Travis Hafner.The Tribe's fifth walkoff win at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario, where it's all happening. Like it was at Michigan and Trumbull in 1968, when the Tigers, if behind after the seventh inning, had the other team right where they wanted them.

Carrie Jacobs-Bond

Carrie Jacobs-Bond was an American songwriter and music publisher of the early twentieth century. Her most well-known song might be “I Love You Truly.” It was a favorite at weddings, in more gentle, sentimental times.

Another Carrie Jacobs-Bond song is “End Of A Perfect Day.”  

Baseball, in addition to perfect games, has Carrie Jacobs-Bond Perfect Days. 

For one to occur, six things have to happen.

The Tigers and Dodgers have to win, and the four hateds – the two New York teams, the Braves, and the evil opposites of the Dodgers, the Giants – must lose.

If all that happens, the baseball fan can savor what, for him, really is the end of a perfect day.

Since the last one, there have been more perfect games (two) than CJB Perfect Days (zero).


Commissioner Allan H. "Bud" Selig, who favors adding two teams to post-season, has also hinted that two American League teams may have to be added to the CJB mix, making four in each league --  and future CJB Perfect Days even more unlikely. 


But six is just right. Four would make it too easy, and eight simply out of the realm of possibility. 

Yesterday came close. The teams that had to win did (the Tigers in Minnesota, the Dodgers in Pittsburgh), and the Yankees and Braves lost. The Mets were rained out in Colorado. The last piece needed to fall into place didn’t (the Giants won in Arizona).

Had the G.I. Ants lost, the day would have still gone into the baseball fan’s record book, with an asterisk due to the rained out game. Rain-shortened CJB Perfect Days, unlike rain-shortened perfect games, count.

More recent generations of baseball fans might call them Lou Reed Days, or Duran Duran Days.

But, if you call them Roxette Days, I’ll find you and take away your man card, and your autographed pictures of Jesse Ventura.

Analysis Of The Just Completed Game

Who helped the Tigers win: 

Victor Martinez singled twice and homered, and is hitting .500 over the last two weeks.

Jhonny Peralta pinch-hit a two run homer in the eighth, when the Tigers reclaimed a lead they had given up in the previous half inning. 

Brandon Inge, on the tenth pitch he saw in the ninth inning, tripled in Ramon Santiago. Austin ... Jackson then squeezed him in. The two runs broke a 7-7 tie and gave the Tigers their margin of victory. 

Who helped the Twins stay close: 

Daniel Schlereth gave up a three run homer to Jason Kubel, a left hand hitter he was brought in specifically to retire, in the seventh. A 5-3 lead became a 6-5 deficit. 

Brennan Boesch first muffed, then kicked, Matt Tolbert's eighth inning liner. Ben Revere scored all the way from first to tie the score at seven. 

Joaquin Benoit -- he of the 6.59 ERA -- gave up three hits and a run but was in the right place at the right time to get the win, in a game with five lead changes. 

And let's not overlook Ryan Raburn, the Durward Kirby of major league baseball.  In the second inning, he turned a Justin Morneau single into a double by diving for it too soon. Two batters later, Michael Cuddyer's liner clanged off his glove, scoring Morneau. He went 0 for 5 with two strikeouts and stranded two runners in the first. 

In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the Ryan sleeps tonight. 

Fighting Ferrets No More

Jason Kubel is hitting .347, Denard Spann .298. No one else, including Justin Morneau, is over .250. Joe Mauer played nine games before going on the DL and is still there. 


I looked it up: The Ferrets are last among the 30 teams in: runs, home runs, runs batted in, total bases, on-base percentage, slugging average, total plate appearances, number of pitches seen, extra-base hits, and OPS (on-base plus slugging). They're fourth from the bottom in team batting average (.230). 


Even the Phillies, with their starting rotation, would have trouble winning. 


They're next to last in winning percentage (.343 after tonight's 10-2 loss to the Tigers, 12-23 record, barely ahead of the Astros). 


All the bite has gone out of the Piranhas. 


The only thing out of the ordinary, for 2011, at Ferret Field tonight was the fourth inning storm that dumped marble-sized hail on the playing surface. 

Austin Jackson, He's The Man!

With a two out bases-clearing double, he plated three of the six fourth inning Tigers runs. Right after Ryan Strikeout almost doomed the inning by striking out on a pitch that bounced to home plate.

He also struck out twice, but that's okay when you've gone 10 for your last 16, and your team wins 10-5. 

With tonight's win, mediocrity (.500 ball, 18-18) has at last been achieved. 

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Tigers-Blue Jays was once the big rivalry series, when both teams were in the same division and played each other 18 times a season, before interleague play compromised the schedule. 

Now, they play one home and away series. This year, six games total. The last two, next week. Done with the Blue Jays for the season.

But let's look ahead, to see who we play on Rivalry Weekend. The Pirates, in Pittsburgh? I can hardly wait. Let's find out who we play at interleague time. Our natural rivals from Arizona and Colorado, and the soon to be ownerless Dodgers. At least we get another chance to meet, greet, and beat the Mets.

A Time to Rejoice

Not because the flowering trees are in bloom, the grass is green, and the birdies are twittering.

Austin ... Jackson went 3 for 5 with zero strikeouts for the second successive day, and has raised his average over the Mendoza Line, to .214 at the end of play today. 

Brandon Inge went 2 for 4 with zero strikeouts, and is also over the Line, .209 going into tomorrow's game.

That leaves one guy in the starting lineup on the Interstate: Magglio Ordonez, I-79 (runs between Charleston WV and Erie PA). 

Ryan Strikeout only whiffed once. For him, that's a good day.

Jose Bautista hit steroid-free homer number 10 in the second inning, with one on, and those were the last runs Brad Penny allowed the Blue Jays in seven-plus innings. Daniel Schlereth got the hold, and Papa Grande struck out the side in the ninth. 5-2 Tigers; the five runs our contribution to the American League's Day Of Fives. In each of today's eight AL games, one of the teams scored five runs. That hadn't happened in over fifty years.

And Mario Mendoza ... if he ever opened a sanctuary for rescued exotic animals, one could go there to see the Mendoza Lion.

NO-HITTER FOR VERLANDER !!!

When Justin Verlander retired the first fifteen Blue Jays in order, I sent my e-mail Perfect Game Alerts. (I send them, and No-Hitter Alerts, like some people send Amber Alerts.)  And I rolled a TAPE. That can be, and usually is, The Curse for any no-hitter in progress. Last night I personally killed two no-nos; Derek Lowe's in Philly and Jaime Garcia's in St. Louis, by rolling TAPE on them. 


JV burned through the Jays' order through the sixth and seventh, and into the eighth. With one out, J.P. Arencibia furiously worked him for a walk, in a twelve-pitch AB. But Edwin Encarnacion hit into a double play, and then you knew it was going to be a special day. 


David Cooper popped out to start the ninth. John MacDonald grounded out. JV was still throwing 100 mph heat. Rajai Davis worked the count to 2-2, and waved at a pitch off the plate. No-hitter! Tigers win! No-hitter! Ho-lee COW ... 


The TAPE Curse proved to be non-lethal for games played today at the Rogers Centre. The Brewers' Yovani Gallardo had the Cardinals hitless after seven in St. Louis, but the first batter up after I hit Record, David Descalso, singled. 


Even with the presence of Gameday's audio archive, it's more fun to get something historic ON TAPE in real time, and feel like you're part of the event. 

Bumper Music, Liners, The Masked Man

Tigers' radio has the major leagues' best bumper music.

"Layla." "Jamie's Cryin.'" "Born To Be Wild." "We're An American Band." "Purple Haze." "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap." "Song 2" by Blur. (Whoo-hoo!)

"Proud to carry the Tigers flag, in the best sports city in America -- 97-1 The Ticket" is the liner sometimes heard over the music on the flagship station, WXYT-FM. Best sports city in America. I like that. So I listen on WXYT's AM sister station and not the closer Port Huron or Sandusky network affiliates.  1270 AM also being where The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet originated in radio's Golden Age. Something else for Detroit to be proud of, obscure as it may be.

Bumper music, and liners, and old-time radio being more preferable subjects than tonight's 7-4 loss at Toronto. Two steps forward, one step back. Phil Coke and Brayan Villareal were hit hard. Brad Thomas gave up a three run homer to Adam Lind in the eighth. Too bad, because they scored three in the ninth and had the tying run on third when the game ended.

Austin ... Jackson struck out twice; is hitting .194 in the leadoff spot but, if strikeouts were hits, he'd be hitting .363 (45 for 124). 

HAHA YANKEES !!!

They played like last week's Tigers.

Three errors. Three unearned runs. Ten hits -- to the Tigers' four -- but none when they were really needed.

Edwin Nunez, spelling Derek Jeter in the day game after a night game, threw a ground ball past first in the seventh. His second error of the game. Ordonez and Raburn scored, making it 5-2 Tigers. Brennan Bash added the day's exclamation point with a solo homer in the eighth. 

Rick Porcello went seven, allowing eight hits but only two runs. 

Even when they were playing like the Bad News Bears, the starting pitching was, with a couple exceptions, good enough to win on most days. The starters carried them to three wins in the four game series; the New York Hateds' only visit to Detroit this season.

Now we go to Toronto, for the real Rivalry Weekend.

THAT'S The Way Ya Do It

Max Scherzer's line: eight innings, four hits, no runs, two walks, nine strikeouts. Al Alburquerque pitched a scoreless ninth. 

Another excellent outing by the veteran starter from St. Louis, and the rookie from the Land Of Shortstops (San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic).

V-Mart has returned from the DL, to give M-Cab protection in the fifth spot and add some stick to the lineup (single for 3 plus a walk).

M-Ord homered and singled, driving in his second and third runs of the year. 

Hitting really is contagious.

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Baseball and bumper music: Red Sox-Angels was held up for over two hours by rain and was still going way past midnight. Red Sox radio, returning from a commercial break to the game, played "Burning Of The Midnight Lamp" by Jimi Hendrix. I wonder if anyone else noticed.

An Early Start To The Day

Listening to Francisco Liriano's no-hitter from last night via the Gameday Audio archive. I've known about this resource from day one but never used it until today, so bad did I want to hear the White Sox get no-hit as described by their own bored radio announcers, in their own evil ball park. (Ed Farmer sounds like Johnny Rotten calling a game.) If bin Laden had been a baseball fan, he'd have been a White Sox fan. 

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I hope we get hotter than bleep, after last night, just so we can stick it up them nickel-and-dime fans who cheer when Austin Jackson grounds out. Meaning he at least didn't strike out. (That's the Tigers?)

So?

They beat the Yankees tonight. It's reasonable to assume they'd win another game this season; the chances of going 0-132 over the next five months being unlikely.

The best teams still lose around sixty games a season. The Yankees, entering tonight's play at 17-9, are going to lose a bunch more times before it's over.

Now let's see them do it again tomorrow night. Start a winning streak at home. At this low point in the season, two in a row would be way cool. 

Write the newly arrived Scott Sizemore into the #2 hole and see what he does. Right now, with only Miguel Cabrera hitting, that's the best they can do.He won't always get three hits, like he did tonight fresh off the freeway from Toledo. If he gets on base and doesn't STRIKE OUT all the time ... hitting, like whiffing, is contagious. The rest of the lineup might catch on.

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This May 3 was cold and wet (it rained all day), and, in the ninth inning on radio, it sounded like only a couple hundred or so fans had stayed until the end. Including one right on top of Yankee radio's field mike, who kept shreiking HEY BATTABATTABATTA! as the Yanks made their last three outs. Providing, for the New York City radio audience, a sample of the knowledgeable, sophisticated fan who comes to games at Comerica.

They're Really Really Behind Ya Around Here

Got guys bustin' their butts and those people boo when we give up two runs in the top of the ninth of a 3-3 game, and all get up to leave. That's the Tigers? My bleeping bleep! Yes, I'm fustrated ... all these bleepin' editorials about Leyland, and Cabrera, and the Indians, and the Yankees and all their bleepin' home runs,  I'm sick of it! It's a disheartening bleepin' situation we're in right now ... the name of the game is catch the ball, throw the ball, hit the ball. We are not doing that right now. That's why we're 12 and 17. Unfortunately, winning baseball is the criteria of those dumb BLEEPERS who boo and get up and leave before the game is over! (It's a tough American League Central ... it's a tough American League, period!)

Play By Play On The Radio

It's been nice having the games on both teams' stations.

I can hear the Tigers take an early lead on WXYT, and after six innings tune down to WTAM to hear the Indians come back and win it, and a postgame show on which the announcers are beside themselves with joy re how well their team is playing.

Like they were today, when the Tigers took a 3-2 lead in the eighth and promptly gave it back. Joaquin Benoit gave up three runs on three hits. He's 34, coming off Tommy John surgery, and one month into a three year contract.

After the game, Anthony wished him into the cornfield. 

Miguel Cabrera continues to carry the offense, when he isn't being pitched around or intentionally walked with first base open. Cabrera For MVP; yes, the award would have precedence: Ernie Banks 1958-59, Andre Dawson 1987, Albert Pujols 2008. 

Today's game stories indicate they got the Bull Durham "scare 'em" speech from Leyland before the bus ride back to Detroit, where the Yankees  await them. 7:05 start time; it should be dark enough for WCBS by the sixth inning.