BASEBALL

To help get the play off rotation set the Tigers started Jacob Turner on 20 days rest.  Maybe it was too much.  He gave up 5 runs in a short outing.  The bullpen did quite well.   The only run off scored off Pauley when a check swing with a runner on third placed a ball where Inge could not quite get it to first in time to get the third out.  The Tigers ended up losing 6-5.

The Tigers did make it 5-5 on a Delmon Young 3-run home run.  He had fouled off a few pitches.  I said something like, “It’s Delmon Young ball giveaway day.  The people in the outfield are feeling left out though,” just before the home run.  That was fun.

This is the kind of game that in a race like 2009 would have been very frustrating.  Since the Tigers have already clinched the division it was just a nice day at the ballpark.  The temperature was in the upper sixties.  The Tigers did have a nice comeback for awhile.  Avila came to the plate as the tying run in the ninth. Even the Sunday-plan people complaining about Raburn, who was 3 for 3 at the time, could not ruin the day.

This was the first home game for the Tigers as Central Division champions.  I expected a bigger reception as the Tigers took the field at the start of the game.  I think it was lack of crowd rather than lack of appreciation that made the cheers underwhelming.

Texas lost today, too so the Tigers still will have home field advantage as long as they win as many or more as Texas for the last 6 games.