Game 81 Recap

The only thing in Colorado worse than the Rockies right now

The Tigers received bad news, with Magglio making a visit to the DL. The guys in the outfield today picked up the slack. Curtis continued his push towards .300, Marcus continues his push to replace Thor as the Norse God of Thunder, and Clete Thomas continued his push toward Sainthood. But the story at the plate today was Dane Sardinha. His first major league hit was a big one as it put the Tigers ahead for good. It was a 2-out triple in which Sardinha must have borrowed an extra gear from fellow Hawaiian Shane Victorino to scoot into third safely.

It's not like the Rockies didn't have their share of chances against Kenny Rogers. But as I mentioned in the BYB game thread (if you have never been, what better time to come aboard) Kenny was as un-killable as Rasputin today. In the second the Rockies had just taken the lead, and Willie Taveras reached on bunt single. Todd Helton at the plate. Taveras gets gunned down yet again at 2nd, and the next pitch Helton strikes out. In the third, the Rockies had the bases loaded with no one out. Kenny got Jeff Baker to pop-up to second base, and two pitches later got Clint Barmes to hit into a inning-ending double play. In the 4th, two on, one out, no problem for Kenny as he gets another double play. That was the last time a Colorado player reached base. Kenny combined with Freddy Dolsi and Todd Jones to retire the last 15 outs in a row.

Exactly halfway throughout the season, and the Tigers are a winning ballclub. The Tigers have ruthlessly taken advantage of inter-league play, using it to post the best record in the Majors since the point they were the furthest from .500. 16-3 since June 6th. The Tigers have not lost a series and have swept 3 in that span. They now travel to Minnesota, who are as equally hot, going 14-6 with a 10 game winning streak in the same span as the Tigers.

Tigers 4 Rockies 3
W: Rogers (6-5)
L: Reynolds (2-6)
S: Jones (15)

Tigers Record:
W - L
41 - 40
3rd Place AL Central (4.5 GB Chicago)