You can't miss a game. If you do, you might see, or hear described, something you've never seen before.
In the first inning of today's game at US Cellular Field, Miguel Cabrera pointed out to the plate umpire that the batter's box was in the wrong place, and I've never seen or heard that happen.
It wasn't -- it was right where it's been for over a hundred years, next to the plate, but off-center, about eight inches too close to the mound. Hitters like to move up in the box and stand closer to the pitcher, but not against hard throwers like Jake Peavy.
The chalk lines were erased and redrawn, and Your Baseball Blogger wondered why the ump didn't notice.
Turns out it didn't matter. Twenty-five hitters struck out, fifteen of them White Sox. Max Scherzer allowed three runs and five hits in six innings, whiffed eleven, and took an undeserved loss. The Pale Hose needed two web gems, a diving catch by Dyan Viciedo with two on in the seventh and some Ramirez-Beckham piracy around the keystone in the eighth to come away with a 3-2 win.
After the game, the rumors we'd heard here in the second floor baseball bunker became official: Hinge was coming back. When someone comes, someone's got to go, and the guy without a chair in the game of musical roster spaces was Danny Worth.
This development, even though we saw it coming, didn't go over well. The Tigers are playing Hinge only because he's owed a lot of money and, since he isn't hitting his weight (190 lbs, .180 in rehab at Toledo), he'll go unclaimed again if he's waived and they'll have to eat his contract.
On a team that's far and away the best in its division, with three future Hall Of Famers on the squad (Cabrera, Fielder, Verlander), the buzz is over the part-time second baseman 29 teams passed on when he was cut loose last season.
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