Boesch bashes as Tigers honor Harwell with a win: Tigers 5, Yankees 4

It goes without saying that the best thing about the Tigers' victory over the Yankees was that it came on a night Ernie Harwell was honored by the team. Before the game, a flag was raised with his initials, and it will fly all season. Jose Feliciano did a marvelous rendition of the national anthem, as well.

But once the game started ,it was all business.

Brad Thomas pitched a solid three innings in Dontrelle Willis' place. Sure, he gave up a two-run homer. But these things happen. The Tigers are playing the Yankees, after all.

Even nicer was the no-run performance of Eddie Bonine, and Joel Zumaya's first inning of relief work. The second ... eh. Not so good! And hey, Phil Coke only needed five pitches to get out his former teammates and save Zumaya's butt that inning to boot.

And of course we can't forget Jose Valverde striking out the side in the ninth.

It was a pretty exciting night overall.

Brennan Boesch continues to deliver. He had a triple, and drove in three runs for the night. He's up to 14 RBI on the season, and his season didn't even begin until Carlos Guillen's hamstring started barking just over two weeks ago. Pretty impressive. Fellow rookie Austin Jackson put up an 0-fer with two strikeouts against his former organization, however, he did have an RBI.

All in all, a pretty nice night in Motown.