PREGAME: The Tigers finally get some of that national exposure with an appearance on Fox Saturday Baseball. Of course Fox probably wasn’t looking for a Chad Durbin/Sidney Ponson match-up either so only 8% of the nation will get this game. And thanks to Fox’s exclusivity for Saturday afternoons, MLB.tv won’t be an option for you if you don’t live in Michigan, Minnesota, Northern Ohio, or Montana.
Once upon a time, Ponson was a good pitcher. That was 2003. This year he is 1 for 6 in quality starts.
With Chad Durbin you don’t really know what you’ll get. He was great in 2 of his last 3 starts, but walked 6 and didn’t make it out of the 4th inning in the other. (Half of Durbin’s walks for the season came in that one disaster, so at least it isn’t a habitual problem).
Game Time 3:45
I get that the big networks cater to their big markets and they definitely should, but does anyone else feel like Detroit has gotten the shaft throughout the reg. season all last year and so far this year? I get that Ponson-Durbin isn’t exactly the modern day Smoltz-Jack Morris clash, but only 8% of the country? That seems pretty weak to me.
And how the defending AL Champs don’t get a national game until AFTER THE BREWERS, is beyond me.
Chad Durbin is one lucky guy…
I thought I heard Dan say that the Tigers would be on national TV today, then checked my listings and saw that I’m getting Cubs/Phillies instead. Don’t the Cubs get enough national TV time? At least I have tomorrow night to count on.
BTW, I just tuned in with the bases loaded and felt dread, so big props to Durbin for the double-play ball!
Yeah, Ben, I’m in southern Indiana, and I’m stuck with the Cubs-Phillies tilt, too.
6-0 after 4.5… good stuff. Small ball by the Tigers makes me very happy.
Oh, and I officially wouldn’t trade Guillen and Polanco for **any** DP combo — either in the field or, especially, at the plate.
(sorry – that should have been 3.5 innings; bottom of 4th now. Duh.)
How is Cubs-Phillies somehow a better match up than Tigers-Twins? I don’t care who’s pitching, these are the teams that lost and won the AL Central, respectively, on the last day of the season last year. Frankly I’m surprised there wasn’t more made of that in the media when we played Minn earlier this season. If it had been Yankees-Red Sox in that position, it would be non-stop hype.
Not that the Yankees and Red Sox would be losing the CENTRAL, but you get my point.
I think that there are a lot of displaced Chicagoland-ers around the country, because when the Cubs come to visit, they all emerge. I’ve seen it here in Denver and in SF, and in Spring Training in Mesa. So, the network is aiming for a larger audience. However, with so many games on WGN, a Cubs game on TV really isn’t a novelty so I wonder how many of those Cubs fans even cared.
Tigers, Red Wings and Pistons hitting on all cylinders. Doesn’t get any better than this.