The Big Sunday Night Stage

The schedule maker at ESPN probably thought that, by June 10, both the Tigers and Reds would be leading their respective divisions, and worth a view on Sunday Night Baseball.


He  / she was half right.


He / she has been re-assigned to making sure that Erin Andrews' hotel rooms are stocked with her favorite brands of designer water. 

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

OMG this must be the age of miracles: they scored four in the eighth, coming from three down to take a 7-6 lead (the final) and thus avoided showing the Sunday Night Baseball audience what stumblebums they've been the other six days of the week. The rally started the way many late-inning miracle rallies by Tiger opponents do, with a bases-loaded hit batter (Matt Young). Austin Jackson ground-rule doubled in two, and Aroldis Chapman wild-pitched in another. We win games with a little help from our friends.


No mercy for the ESPN staffer who chose this game for Sunday night, though. He or she is right now at the grocery store purchasing packages of M&Ms, and picking out the green ones for the candy dishes on the night stands in Ms. Andrews' hotel rooms. 

Tigers 3, Reds 2

JV gave up two runs in six innings. Fielder singled in Boesch with the go-ahead, and winning, run in the eighth inning. 

Cy Young and MVP on a last-place team? It could still happen.


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


Lost in the whirlpool of inconsistent starting pitching and unpredictable hitting have been the two setup guys, Bryan Villareal and Joaquin Benoit. When they've been healthy, they've sparkled.


Villareal: 8 hits in 14 innings, 21 Ks, 1.19 ERA. Benoit: 23 hits in 26 innings, 37 Ks, 1.35 ERA. Just like they drew it up in Lakeland.

Interleague Play

Get them in extra innings, on the road in a National League town, without the DH, and they're doomed. 

The crew that hasn't been playing NL style ball, and couldn't manufacture a run if its life depended on it anywhere, needs a home run. 

Meanwhile, the home team can little ball its way to a win. 

Which is what the Reds did tonight. 

Miguel Cairo -- he's still playing -- lead off the tenth with a triple, and Wilson Valdez squeezed him in. 

How they got there: Boesch homered and singled, driving in two and avoiding a trip to Toledo when Austin Jackson comes off the DL tomorrow.  His sixth inning single tied the score at five. Delmon Young hit a solo homer in the seventh. Then, yet another Tiger middle reliever made his major league debut in a pressure situation, and came off second best. Jose Ortega (who?) gave up a game-tying double to Todd Frazier, setting up extra innings.

Ortega arrived on the minor league carousel when Omar Santos was designated when Brian Holaday was called up to replace Alex Avila who's back on the DL, because Ben-Wah and Dotel have sore arms because the starters aren't going deep, and Luke Petkonen proved to be a Triple-A pitcher. All of this in the house that Jack built. Which is exactly where the fan feels he is when watching this year's Tigers.