First of all, I should probably raise my hand and call "my bad" for Todd Jones blowing the save tonight. After putting up a post about how good he's been lately, and his streak of scoreless appearances, I was undoubtedly tempting the jinx. So Jonesy was bound to blow his next save.
Sorry about that. Can I pass the blame off on Buster Olney?
The Return of C-Mo
Craig Monroe has been an easy punching bag over the past month (and deservedly so), but he was still hitting well enough against left-handers to justify being in the lineup. And tonight, Monroe affirmed Jim Leyland's reasoning and surely relieved a whole lot of tension for himself by getting two big hits, and essentially becoming the difference in the game with his four RBIs. It'll be interesting to see if Leyland keeps Monroe in the lineup, either hoping that maybe he's finally figured something out or just trying to capitalize on a potential hot streak.
Unfortunately, C-Mo still can't win, as his contributions might get lost a little bit with Brandon Inge seizing the walk-off home run glory.
How About Positioning Someone Behind the Catcher?
Is this wild pitch thing with Justin Verlander - pardon the pun - officially out of control now? Maybe you have to hang a couple of those on Pudge Rodriguez (though he had his own passed ball in the boxscore), as those breaking balls have to be thrown with confidence that he'll block a ball in the dirt. But that cross-up where Pudge was clearly expecting a curveball, while Verlander threw a fastball, was ugly. (Not as ugly as Matt Morris hitting Bengie Molina in the chest on Thursday, however.) Two of those wild pitches led to Kansas City runs, while the passed ball directly allowed one to score.
Even if pitcher and catcher get their signals straight, maybe there's really nothing that can be done, and it's just a hazard of the job. But those slip-ups almost cost the Tigers a game tonight.
I would've been okay, I suppose, if FSN Detroit had shown the Simpson-ized versions of the Tigers broadcast crew after each wild pitch. You know, just to relax me. Where were those tonight? I need to hear Rod Allen complain about his cartoon mustache again.