BASEBALL

I went to the last Sunday home game and my youngest daughter got a Valverde signed ball, too.  But, this is about a playoff game.

We went to ALDS game one.  The Tigers won 3-1.  Coco Crisp hit a lead off home run.  Then Verlander kept them off the board for 7 innings.  Benoit allowed a hit to the warning track in the 8th that briefly looked like it would tie the game.  Dirks caught it.  Valverde retired the A’s in order in the ninth.  Verlander struck out 11, Benoit 1 and Valverde 2.  One way to overcome weak defense is not to allow balls in play.

Our neighbors understood baseball and were very excited about the Tigers being in the playoffs so it was a pleasant evening.  Every Cabrera at bat brought out MVP chants.  I caught this screen capture of a scoreboard image before the game.

MLB has annoyed me.  They did not announce the game time for tomorrow’s game until Friday.  We can’t all go and prices are breaking down hard in the secondary market so there is no way now to sell the extras.  In general playoff strips in Detroit are priced so high that you are better off buying in the secondary market.  If the team makes the World Series and the weather is nice you might get your money’s worth or sell a World Series game to make up for the overpaying for earlier rounds.  Otherwise the secondary market is better.  The long wait for MLB to pick a game time will prove very costly for me. I think next year I will just buy tickets to a few post season games direct from the Tigers or on the secondary market rather than buying a full playoff strip.