The Justinian Empire

The first Indians' hitter Justin Verlander faced, leadoff man Shin-Soo Choo, launched one into the second deck at Insurance Company Park.

Since Tiger starters have to pitch a no-hitter to have a shot at winning, JV was already in trouble. 

The Tigers scraped together a run in the third off Justin Masterson, on a Quentin Berry double and two groundouts. 

In the fourth, Michael Brantley singled, stole second, and scored on a Jose Lopez single. As quiet a run as ever was scored in the major leagues, but it would be all the Tribe needed to win.

JV showed 'em, though, in the eighth, down by the run that everyone in the ball park knew he wasn't going to get. He struck out the side on eleven pitches, all of them fastballs, some over 100 on the gun. No one touched the ball. Not even a loud foul. Here it is, he seemed to be saying; my teammates can't hit their way out of a wet paper bag and one run is all I'm going to get, but I'm the best bleeping pitcher in the major bleeping leagues and doan yew fergit it !!!

So that's that; we showed those Indians how the game of baseball is played, all right. Now it's off to the Twin Cities, where the Monsters of Minneapolis -- Trevor Plouffe, Darin Mastroianni, Brian Dozier, Drew Butera -- eagerly await the Tigers' arrival. Some of them, it's rumored, will be out at the airport to greet the Tigers when they arrive this evening, and load their bags onto the team bus.

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Tom Brookens, when he wore the Olde English "D,"  was my mom's favorite Tiger. "Little Tommy Brookens," she called him. 

LTB is now the Tigers' first base coach, and he and The Resident Managerial Genius were kicked out of this afternoon's game, between Indians ABs in the fifth inning, for arguing a balk that wasn't called, that may have turned the inning around.

TV replays indicated it should have been called. Lately, seemingly more often than ever, TV has exposed the umperors as guys who can't get it right. Missed ball and strike calls cost them last night's game, as well as hitting coach Lloyd McLendon for the night.

The calls that are arguably costing them games wouldn't be, however, if they could score more than three runs per game and let the pitchers do the rest.