2006 Season, Game Post

Game 95: White Sox at Tigers

22 Comments

PREGAME: For the first time in 3 series against the White Sox, the Tigers aren’t looking to avoid a sweep heading into the finale.

Weather permitting it will be Kenny Rogers versus Jose Contreras. As everybody knows, Rogers has been in a slump that dates back to his start against the Cardinals. Since June 24th opponents are slugging .722 against Rogers.

Contreras has also been hittable over that same time period (of course not to the extent that Rogers has) with hitters posting a 301/369/455 line.

Game time 1:05pm

POSTGAME: I’m thrilled the Tigers won today. I’m thrilled the Tigers picked up a victory and a game on the second place team in the division. I’m thrilled that Detroit has taken 3 of 4 from the White Sox and the talk of a mysterious mojo that the Sox hold over the Tigers can go away for the time being.

I know people want to talk about Marcus Thames taking out Tadahito Iguchi and busting up the double play. It was a huge play that of course set up the Chris Shelton double. But don’t lose site of Chris Shelton’s double either.

Both events overshadowed what was a terriffic pitching performance by Kenny Rogers. And I think we all needed to see Rogers put together an outing like that.

Joel Zumaya also seems to have his groove back. The ESPN guys were effusive in their praise and when the crowd came to their feet in the 8th inning Orel Hersheiser commented “I want to stand up with the crowd because this is fun!”

And speaking of the crowd, if anybody was down there please comment. I heard the game on the radio, and watched the last 3 innings I had recorded, and I can’t remember hearing Comerica Park that loud. I can’t wait to go experience it tomorrow night.

22 thoughts on “Game 95: White Sox at Tigers”

  2. 1-2-3 ninth, 2 of 3 from the Sox, 5.5 game lead, Friday Off, new Clerks movie…life is good 🙂

  3. great game…even from the ESPN gamecast view, it might have been boring to watch (I don’t know) but the game cast was exciting…

  4. I agree great game, Caught a couple innings at BWW. Who was the Play by play guy with Steve Phillips and Oral Hershiser?

    Also how about Z, a young buck mowing through the line up. And no gas from Todd Jones today. WHhhhhhhhhhhhheew

    Steve

  5. So the Sox took 3 games from the Tigs in their 1st series, 2 in the 2nd series, and only 1 game this round. The next one should be verrry interesting….

  7. Sox have lost 5 of their last 6 . . . .feels good type that!

    Way to hang in the game. great series. Feels great heading into the last week of july!

    who woulda thunk??

  9. If the Lions are looking for a linebacker, they might not need to look any further than Mr. Thames. That take out slide at second is one of my favorite Tiger highlights of the season thus far.

  10. I went to the game today, Awesome. I’ve had season Tix for 10 years (full package for 8). Sitting in the stands it occurred to me that there is no way I would have thought anything like this was possible 3 years ago:

    Some perspective:

    On 7/20/2003 the Tigers lost to the WhiteSox in Chicago to drop to 26-70!

    The WhiteSox were only 48-50 at that point.

    So if I had stated at that time:

    The Marlins, Red Sox, and WhiteSox would win the next 3 world series.

    On 7/20/2006 the Tigers would be on pace to win 110 games, have the best young talent and pitching in baseball, and that Comerica Park was regulary selling out you would of locked me up and thrown away the key!

    😉

    -Sam

  11. I was there too. The games against the Cardinals were pretty full, but I think this was the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen. I think it was around 40,100.

    That’s crazy big for a sunny Friday night against Boston with fireworks and stuff. But this was a Thursday game, during the day, with the weather looking like it was going to rain all day. Amazing.

  12. How about the AL Central?

    The two best records in baseball, and our 3rd place team is 14 games OVER .500… which, if I may add, is the 6th best record in the Majors.

    Wow. Who would have guessed.

    As for the game: I was hooting and hollering the entire time. Nationally televised games rock. I just love seeing our Tigers getting pumped up! Pudge was quite emotional like usual. He was very upset about his K. And Zoom Zoom was amazing. He cut through the heart of the best lineup in baseball like a hot knife through butter. Beautiful!

  13. This is funny… did anyone see this on the ESPN wrap-up of this game?

    “… Actor Tom Hanks and director Ron Howard attended the game. Hanks, a star of “The Da Vinci Code” that Howard directed, decided to visit some ballparks as a 50th birthday present to himself.”

  14. how about some props for todd jones. 3 straight deep fly ball outs for the save. yay! seriously, he’s been getting the job done lately.

  15. well, feelin’ pretty good about now. Was talkin’ to a Sox supporter on the ‘net….after the 1st game, he was all hyped about how the lead would be 1.5 when the series was over. I haven’t heard from him since. My only beef (and it’s a minor one) is the walks. Can’t give out free passes with a 1-run lead, or, really, ever. Z threw one pitch 102 mph? Wow! Turn up the summer heat, and that boy gets cranked up! Now, it’s the A’s turn; time for a little revenge for that last trip out there. If we can get Payton out, we should be ok….

    Sockit To ‘Em, Tigers……… 🙂

  18. Hanks, Howard and Dennis Miller sat behind my firm’s seats (sadly, I wasn’t in them). According to reports, Hanks kept score meticulously throughout the game, was awestruck by Zumaya and couldn’t have been nicer to all other fans, including spending time teaching a kid in his row how to keep score…

    The good feelings continue all around at Comerica…

  19. we don’t need Soriano. A LH power hitter is what we need. We still got 10 days ’til the deadline. Let the others come to us. We’ve got the best team in the majors with what we’ve got right now; WE DON’T NEED TO CHANGE IT. They do. We can stand pat; they still have to catch us….remember that. Let them “make an offer we can’t refuse” before we agree. We’re far apart in the Soriano negotiations ’cause Dombo knows he’s not what we really need, and isn’t gonna give up very much to get him. Good for him! He’s a whiner and a crybaby anyway; a chump in my book. Yeah, yeah, I know, he’s got 30 HRs. I don’t care – we’re fine without him. Whiners and crybabies have a way of destroying chemistry in a clubhouse; the worst ill a team can have. Look at what the Jays had to do with Hillebrand. He’d become a “disruptive influence” in their clubhouse; they had to give him his outright release. Just look at yesterday, after Z got done with the Sox in the 8th. It showed right there – not only has this team come together on the field, but in spirit as well. They believe in each other now. That’s a key to winning in the season, and in the playoffs. The last thing we need now is some dumb butthead with a bad attitude…Dombo got a steal 2 years ago from the Phillies with Polanco; maybe he can engineer another steal in the next 10 days. If not, so be it. They still have to catch us! Rock on, boys, and go away Soriano…….. 🙂

  21. Remember, the White Sox won the WS last year and decided to make changes in the areas that needed improvement during the offseason. The Tigers being proactive and doing so during the season is not a bad idea. Using the winning to ignore our flaws is a bad idea.

    I don’t really see any reason why we should think Soriano would have so much trouble getting along in our clubhouse that we’d have to release him. The Tigers could definately use another bat (left handed preferably, but our offense is our main weakness at this point).

  22. Soriano bitched when asked to switch positions to the OF. For the $ they make, there’s no excuse, none. That’s a “T.O.” attitude; I want nothing to do with it. Let him whine elsewhere…….

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