C-Mo Is Back

Sorry for the delay in the post, I realize that the game has been over for about 8 hours now, but whatever, here it is.

When Craig Monroe belted the winning grand slam over the center field fence in the 12th inning yesterday, I had my first "shout out loud in joy" moment of the season. Clutch hitting is a huge part of any team, and Monroe is easily the Tigers' best bet to come through in clutch situations, as we saw repeatedly last year and now hopefully, that trend is starting again.

Another beautiful performance from Justin Verlander yesterday, holding the O's scoreless over 7 innings of work. He allowed just three hits and struck out five and has still not allowed an earned run so far this season in 13 innings of work, but still doesn't have a victory to show for it. This isn't his fault of course, on a night when the Orioles couldn't touch Verlander, the Tigs just didn't produce until Monroe's blast in the 12th.

It was good to see the bullpen not fuck the game up for once. Fernando Rodney pitched two shaky, but ultimately scoreless, innings and didn't let Leyland get the opportunity to put Jason Grilli in, even if he was warming up in the pen. Wilfredo Ledezma pitched the 10th and 11th and ended up getting the win. Bobby Seay was the only sore spot, balking in the Orioles' only run in the bottom half of the 12th before Todd Jones came on to get the save.

What was disappointing to me about this game was Detroit's inability to put 14 runs up in the 10th off of Jamie Walker. He said some douche bag things in the paper the other day about how he wouldn't treat any of his ex-teammates kindly and would knock them down if he had to, so it would have been nice to see the loss come at his expense. Plus he sucks.

I would like all of us to take a moment out to remember Placido Polanco's eight game hit streak to start the season, which ended yesterday with an 0-6 performance. I guess that was building after his start of the year. I would also like to thank Brandon Inge for getting a hit and making it so I don't have to murder him on the next home stand.

Check back later today for the preview of tonight's game.