Ouch! That one hurt. Not only did a rookie pitcher that was pretty awful during the regular seasoon take it to the Tigers, but it is a rookie pitcher that irons the bill of his cap!!!! By the way, ironing the bill of your cap should be called “douchebagging” your hat. Mind you, I’m not bitter about a game one loss and he pitched the game of his life so he gets the credit he deserves, but I think it’s completely ridiculous that he irons the bill of his hat.
As for the game, the Tigers definitely got punched in the mouth. Hopefully it functions as a wake up call and they return to their previous form shown in the New York and Oakland series’. Honestly, I’m not overwrought with anguish over this loss. I’d have preferred to be closer, but even a closer loss would still be a loss. My biggest problems with the game lie in the fact that some of their sleeping giants woke up including Jim Edmonds (2-for-4 with one RBI), Albert Pujols (1-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs) and Scott Rolen (2-for-4 with a home run and one RBI). Rolen and Edmonds had been struggling a good bit, while Pujols was still getting hits but not driving in too many runs.
Justin Verlander hasn’t been that effective in these playoffs and yesterday was no different. His curve was biting, but his velocity was down on the fastball and he missed his spots from time to time. The ill-advised throw over on Pujols was a floodgate situation that made his numbers look a lot worse than he actually pitched. The Tigers hitters were offensive… and not at all in a good way. The four hits were confined to two players (Carlos Guillen and Craig Monroe) while the team went back to their free-swinging ways with five strikeouts against just one walk. Anthony Reyes downright owned the team leading to the inevitable cries that the week off made the team rusty. Maybe so.
It is just one game and I already felt that we were looking at a six or seven game series, so I obviously expected to lose some games. I would’ve loved to see the team get game one under their belts, especially being at home, but I’m confident that Kenny Rogers can deliver a game two win and the teams will head to St. Louis tied at one.
Overall, it was really awesome to watch my favorite on October 21st as they hosted a World Series game! I wasn’t sure I’d ever see it, much less so soon. I’m really excited for game two tonight.
Baseball By Paul 
Leave a Reply