PREGAME: It’s a rookie pitching battle today as Justin Verlander takes on Carlos Marmol. We know about Verlander already, but there isn’t much to know about Marmol. He’s only made one start and 2 relief appearances – and been very impressive. In his 10 innings he has 13 K’s against 3 walks, and has allowed only one run.
We’ll see who the true home team is today, with the crowd pro-Tigers yesterday.
POSTGAME: The Tigers continued to pound the ball against the ivy. Even pinch hitter Omar Infante hit a homer – er a triple thanks to crappy umpiring. And despite the fact that the Tigers picked up 14 hits, 7 for extra bases, they were still robbed on several occasions. In fact the last two outs of the 4th, and the entire 5th innings were basically web gem nominees for the Cubs.
Verlander’s control wasn’t entirely there, but he battled through and held the Cubs to one run. Wil Ledezma was awesome in relief coming into a bases loaded situation and stranding all 3 runner. Fernando Rodney pitched about as well as he hit, but with a 8 run cushion you could laugh about both.
With the win the Tigers move to 21 games over .500. That matches their highest point which they last achieved after a Verlander win against Cleveland on May 27th. So since racing out to a 35-14 record, they played .500 ball over the last 20 games.
3 in the first. Dig it!
Curtis Granderson is probably my favorite Tiger right now.
Woooo, 9-1 — Bot 9
Go Tigers!
i loved rodney’s at bat. good to see them having some fun out there, it’s still a game after all.
I think Granderson may be my favorite Tiger for the next 5 years.
couldn’t see the game; mlb.com had it blacked out…….. 🙁
It sounds good, though
This is from Billfer on 8/8/05 when he saw Curtis playing in the minors in Indy:
“My wife and son did their best to make friends with Curtis Granderson. Curtis, who seemed a little surprised to have a cheering section on the road, made a point to look over and wave each inning, even the ones where my group wasn’t yelling to him.
My son, who is 4, has become a tremendous Tiger fan this year. Watching him learn the game, and learning to embrace a team has been one of the best parts of this season for me. He’s extended his fandom to the Mud Hens, and the players he’s familiar with including Granderson…”
Oh, I meant to say again that Curtis G. is my favorite Tiger, too.