The story of the day was the return of Curtis Granderson to Lakeland. Everyone's favorite former leadoff man showed why he'll be missed, going 2-3 with an RBI, and robbing Miguel Cabrera of an extra base hit, as he led the Yankees evil empire to a 9-8 victory over the Tigers.
The game's big hit was by the Yankees' Greg Golson, who took Tigers' non-roster invitee Phil Dumatrait deep for a game winning two-run home run in the 9th.
Leading the Tigers offense was the hot hitting Gerald Laird, who clubbed a grand slam off of Joba Chamberlain in the 3rd, Ryan Raburn, who went 2-3 with a solo shot in the 4th, Wilkin Ramirez (2-2 as a DH) and Jeff Larish (2-3 while playing 3rd base).
All in all, another solid game for the Tigers' offense, though 8 K's and 12 left on base did raise my eyebrow a tad.
As for the pitching...do we really want to go there? Well, if we must...
In the race for the 5th spot in the rotation, Armando Galarraga was nothing special today. He went 2 innings, giving up 2 runs on 2 hits and 2 walks. A quadruple two-ple, so to speak.
The only Tigers pitcher to come out of today's game unscored upon was18 year old Jacob Turner. The 1st round draft pick struck out the side in a scoreless 3rd...but also filled the bases with 2 walks and a hit batter, and had to strike out Mark Teixeira to end the threat. Still, there was plenty to like in the youngster's debut.
But the game was all about the return of Curtis Granderson, at least for one day:
"On the bus ride over here, I was just wondering how it was going to go, and everything went pretty good," Granderson said. "I wasn’t really sure what to expect. In spring training, they kind of cheer everybody. I’m thankful for it."
As for his counterpart, new Tigers left fielder Johnny Damon (who missed the game with a sore big toe), he had this to say about his former teammates :
"I got to see a whole bunch of them and, secretly, they all miss me."
If you say so, Johnny. If you say so...
Comment of the Day
I'm goiving it to ChrisDTX, for starting the ball rolling on the Jacob Turner bandwagon:
The man, the myth, the legend
Who's ready to jump on?