I had to bail on today's game after the 6th inning, so unfortunately didn't get to see as much as I would've liked. I did, however, hear the ending on the radio. Fortunately, I was in the car and no small animals were nearby. Otherwise, something would've been kicked. And that would've been hilariously ironic, as I received a calendar from the Humane Society in the mail today.
Thanks to those of you who chimed in on the game thread, though. I know the community here isn't that big yet, but I'm going to be trying my best in the coming weeks to be online during the game and commenting. It'd be awesome if those of you reading joined in. Maybe a swing of West Coast games isn't the best time to start that sort of thing. But I think we could have some fun. Well, unless there are more endings like we saw this afternoon.
All throughout the offseason, we Detroit Tigers fans had to listen to cracks about pitchers taking extra fielding practice in Spring Training. It was the easiest, laziest joke for writers to make in their pre-season baseball previews. "The Tigers could win the World Series - if their pitchers can throw to a base properly! HA HA! I thought of that one myself! I'm almost as funny as an episode of 'The War at Home'! HAR!" Ah, go fungo yourself.
But those jokes might start up again after what happened in the bottom of the ninth. If you didn't see it, here's the ugly recap. Scott Podsednik led off the inning with a single. Josh Fields then bunted for a sacrifice. Zach Miner fielded the ball, bobbled it, and... threw the ball past Placido Polanco (who was covering first) into right field. Podsednik rounded the bases and beat a throw to the plate from Ryan Raburn (which was out of Pudge Rodriguez's reach, anyway). Ballgame.
And someone's going to have to explain to me how a pitcher doesn't get an earned run if that run scores because of an error he committed. Okay, Fields didn't reach base on a hit or walk. And Podsednik scored on an error. I get that. But if Miner lost the game because he threw the ball into right field instead of first base, did he not earn that loss? These are the kinds of things I can't explain to my friends who claim they'd watch baseball if they could understand the ball.
Can the Tigers just get the hell out of Chicago now? This series has been an ordeal.