Sunday's game turned out well for the Tigers, but both organizations were marred by the loss of Jose Lima, who died that morning of a massive heart attack.
Lima had a couple of stops with the Tigers sandwiched around his time in Houston. He had one of the best seasons of his career in Los Angeles a few years later.
Of course, he's remembered for Lima Time. The man knew how to have a good time and brought joy with him even when things weren't going as well.
So I scoured youtube and found a couple of examples:
The first, Lima, while with his Golden League team Long Beach, took a moment to sing happy birthday to a fan in Calgary:
And here we have Lima showing off his dancing abilities, ending with a funny flourish.
He was a good guy. He'll be remembered and missed.
Like all of us, the Tigers players who were teammates with Lima were shocked by the news of his death. Quoted by Lynn Henning of the Detroit News:
"He was like a dad for me," said Ramon Santiago, who knew Lima when Santiago arrived as a Tigers rookie in 2002, when Lima, a right-hander with a carnival for a personality, was pitching for the Tigers. "He was the one who took care of me."
And it wasn't just the veteran players with memories of Lima, who attended Friday's game between the Dodgers and Tigers.
Rookie Brennan Boesch played with him in the winter league in the Dominican Republic.
"He was putting on a show like he did in Detroit," Boesch said of an animated, comedic personality who self-dubbed his starts as 'Lima Time.'
"He was doing that signature dance on the mound," Boesch said. "I know people in Detroit kind of attached themselves to his personality. It's a real loss to the baseball world."
A few more Lima links:
- Former Tigers teammates shocked by Jose Lima's death, remember him as 'good guy'
- Mike McClary remembers Lima Time in Detroit
- MLB.com's Jason Beck: Tigers stunned, saddend by Lima's death
- Joe Posnanski: Lima's time
And some other notables:
- A BYB reader is attending the Whitecaps' game in Lansing on Tuesday and wonders if anyone wants to meet up there.
- Pitching phenom Steven Strasburg will be making a start on Monday against Triple-A Toledo.
- It looked like Austin Jackson could be out for a few days. MLB.com's Jason Beck wrote that Jackson may actually be able to go. So says trainer Kevin Rand anyway. I'm not sure if Rand's opinions carry a lot of water, given his recent proclamations turning out so poorly. But we'll see.
- Lee wondered at Tiger Tales who could be the next minor leaguer to get the call to the big leagues.