Road Trip 2008: Chicago and a punch in the gut

Went to Chicago last week to catch a couple Tigers-White Sox games on Tuesday and Wednesday. If no one remembers, Tuesday night was the game where the Tigers gave up a 6-1 lead, then blew a two run lead in the 14th only to lose on a walk-off 3 run homer. Ouch. Funny thing was, the whole game I had no confidence, no hope of a victory. When Rodney was pitching, I was trying to decide the most creative way he could blow it. I think my favorite was hit the lead off man, air mail the pick off attempt so the guy gets to third, then wild pitch in the winning run. 2 pitches and a loss. (Surprisingly, Rodney was very good that night. It wasn't till today when I looked at the box score that I knew he pitched 3 innings. Nice job...that time.) Anyway, it was just the tried and true equation of Zumaya + Renteria = Heartbreaking Loss. It took about 12 hours for me to remember that Renteria had an error in the inning to lead to the loss. But it was still more on Zumaya than on him, in my opinion. You can't squander 2 homers from your light hitting second baseman. Just can't. The instant the ball cleared the fence we were off to the subway. The car was almost empty, just us and some other fans. Unfortunately, the car stayed put till it filled up with gloating Sox fans. We had to endure stuff like one guy saying to another: "Do you just HATE something, even though you've never been there? Like L.A. - I like L.A., but I've never been there. But I hate Detroit." Stupid stuff.

Next night, Leyland tried to pitch Verlander's arm off (130 pitches? Seriously.) in another loss. In between we caught a game at Wrigley. Good times, I'm glad I caught a game there before it becomes "Mark Cuban Presents HDNet Field."

Of course the Tigers won the one game in the Sox series I wasn't at. And took 2 of 3 from the A's for their first series win since sweeping KC (thanks to Rod and Mario for pointing that out today). Brief flashes of hope mixed in with gut wrenching defeats. As my friend Andy said, at least they're still listed on the ESPN screen that shows the AL Central race. Though maintaining their 8 game deficit won't help. If the Rockies can basically go on a month-long winning streak, this team can win 10 of 12 and get back in it, too. But this year isn't about what they CAN do - it's about what they HAVEN'T done all year. And that is win consistently.

Answer: R-O-D-N-E-Y

Question: How do you spell pathetic? Walking in the winning run in the 10th inning - seriously?! I wonder if that will make people forget about Kyle "Our Bullpen Savior" Farnsworth's 2 HR outing. Probably not. Also probably won't matter. Would you rather have had Rodney allow the walk in the 8th and Farnsworth give up two HRs in the 10th? Now, your logical mind might say, "If Rodney just allowed a run in the 8th, the Tigers would have won." And you're right. Therefore, ipso facto, Farnsworth should be your closer. Good day.





I SAID GOOD DAY!

Just not good enough...

The Tigers lost again. I rationalized to my mom, "But Tampa Bay is a GOOD team - we're supposed to lose to them." The Tigers just aren't good enough this year, and we're going to have to accept that. Sure, they have the talent to pull a Colorado-in-07 run of 20 wins in 22 games or whatever, but they haven't shown that they have it in them yet, so I for one am not holding my breath.

More trade reaction and a brush with fame

Here's the answer: Pudge wanted out. That explains it a little. Disheartening that the only move the Tigers made was initiated by a disgruntled player and not by the front office itself.

Manny to L.A. - interesting to sya the least. As a fantasy baseball player, I immediately thought of the now-crowded Dodger outfield - Manny, Juan Pierre, Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp, and Andruw Jones. They insist on playing Jones, which is good for history buffs looking to see the worst season ever, but bad for Dodger fans not keen low power, low average, low fielding regulars. Pierre is not great anymore, but they need a leadoff guy till Furcal comes back. Kemp has maybe been their MVP, and Ethier is a great prospect as well. Little surprised they didn't move Ethier to Pittsburgh and kept Laroche - Casey Blake is not the future at 3rd, but I guess Blake DeWitt is, so no loss there. Manny will boost the Dodgers past the Diamondbacks, most likely, and Jason Bay is not much of a drop off for Boston, so good all around. As a side note, whenever I hear someone on SportsCenter say "D-backs" it sounds like "D-bags" to me.

Finally, I went to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum today. I recommend it - lots of history, learned lots of new things I never knew about that era and those guys. One fun fact - there were integrated teams in the 1880s! But then Cap Anson, most popular player at the time, refused to play with or against blacks, so they made a "gentleman's" agreement to stop signing them. For 60 years apparently. Now that dude was a real "d-bag." Anyway, in the gift shop, I'm checking out and this guy asks if someone who works there will take a picture with him and his son. They inform him that cameras are actually not allowed in there. He pauses then says, "That's funny, because I took pictures last time I was here, when I was invited to come." They said he must have had special permission then, and he said yeah, he was given the tour by someone named Bob. I guess this had meaning to them, because they said, yeah, that was it, and kind of begrudgingly started to say someone would take their picture. That's when the guy spoke up and said, "By the way, I'm Ken Williams, GM of the Chicago White Sox. I took my whole team through here last time." The workers perked up and someone hustled to take his picture with his son. What I should have then done was go up to him and either congratulate him on the Griffey trade or ask him if Swisher would still get playing time (I have Swisher on a fantasy team). My friend Andy said I should tell him good move getting Swisher - which it was. A steal. Quentin, too. Anyway, I didn't do any of that, just watched him from across the room (he looks smallish in person, but a big, commanding voice). He was just dressed in jeans with his teenage-to-20s son, just a normal dude. It was probably nice to be incognito for once. Not that he would probably care about some guy saying hi, but I left him alone. I think it's what I'd want someone to do for me if I was famous.