More Signs Of The Impending Apocalypse

(1): Jose Valverde getting the side out in order in the ninth. 

Those three outs were the 15th, 16th, and 17th, of the last 18, Red Sox hitters retired by Scherzer, Coke, Benoit, and the previously mentioned Papa Shut 'Em Down.

(2): Prince Fielder's triple. A blast to the triangle, 420 feet away, that kicked away from the outfielders. Fielder motored his way around the bases, plating Miguel Cabrera who had singled and stolen second. It pays to have speed in the 3-4 spots in the order.

Fielder's triple, and Delmon Young's single, produced two add-on runs in a place where very few runs have been added on lately: the ninth inning. They gave the Tigers a 7-3 margin of victory. 

(3): Little Tommy Brookens getting  kicked out, for the second time on this road trip. for saying who knows what to first base umperor Jeff Nelson.  

LTB wouldn't say bleep if he had a mouthful ("The Pennsylvania Poker," Ernie Harwell called him),  and so you really have to wonder what the umperor heard, or thought he heard.

On this Tiger trip, both base coaches, the hitting coach, and the manager, were tossed at least once.

Two nights ago, Laz Diaz, working the plate in a Yankees-Angels game,  refused to let Russell Martin throw the ball back to his pitcher, when a new one was put in play, "until he earned the privilege" (Martin being a former All-Star and Gold Glove winner). 

Pitchers have been tossed for pitching inside, not even hitting the batter. (One wonders what Don Drysdale would have to say if he was pitching in 2012.) 

Some spectacularly blown calls have been exposed on video for what they were. The umperors can't be, as one might think, working with credibility on their side.

So the baseball blogger really wonders what's going on inside their heads. 

If they really do wish that MLB.com would print in the warmups, along with the starting pitchers, the names of the umpiring crew assigned to that game, so the fans could decide which game to watch by who the umps are. Because, after all, it's the umpires people come out to see. Not the players.