Beat It

Can I get a GO TIGERS!!! from my dear readers? How freaking awesome were my Tigers this weekend taking care of the hated, despised, much vaunted, but in the end pathetic New York Yankees? You're welcome, Boston! ;-) I watched Thursday's game out of the corner of my eye at the gym since all the dipshits who didn't give a damn about My Tigers three months ago had their butts planted on the elliptical machines in front of ESPN. DAMMIT. Friday I was out with Martha for her birthday and thankfully the restaurant had the game on the TV (although during the innings of Ernie Harwell in the booth I was stuck listening to crap jazz from two guys – one of whom played a keyboard guitar thing) and I was able to watch Kenny Rogers teach the Yankees a lesson. He definitely had his game face on. I got to see Pudge Rodriguez pound the ground after his safe slide into 3rd. Oh, they were pumped for this game! I got to see Joel Zumaya's fastball scaring the big bad Yankee hitters. Ha ha! And then Todd Jones came in for the save. Oh, it was a sweet sweet night for the Tigers faithful (and bandwagoners).

The fact that we got to relive it the next afternoon just totally kicked butt. Jeremy Bonderman was channeling Kenny Rogers from the night before and even had a perfect game going into the sixth inning. He struck out Gary Sheffield twice on the same freaking pitch! It was so cool. I thought they were showing a replay of the first strikeout, the ball positioning was so perfect. My Brandon finally got a hit (thank God we rely on him for his fielding and not his bat). I watched Sean Casey score from 2nd and he looked like he was going to have a heart attack, but he was bound and determined to score, you could tell from the look on his face. What a lovely trade deadline addition he was to the team!

All season long, on TV and at the ballpark, "they" have been asking "Who's Your Tiger?" By the end of the season I realised that They're All My Tigers. Just watch a game with me, and you'll hear the following words come out of my mouth, "Ah, Maggs, I love Maggs." "Ah, Pudge. I love Pudge." "Kenny? I love Kenny." Etc. Name a Tiger and I pretty much love him. Well, I haven't exactly warmed up to Omar Infante yet, but it would help if he got rid of his Merengue "walk-up" music. He's had it for two years now and I'm pretty much over it. Hell, I was over it last year. The last game I went to (two weeks ago – and the last regular season game they won), Omar wasn't in the line-up, but I heard his music and said, "Oh no, what's Omar doing batting?" I knew without an announcement or looking up that he was coming into the game. I lived through it, but it was painful.

Now it's on to Oakland and the A's. Normally I like the A's (from having lived in SF and hating the Giants), but I shall not be rooting for them. In fact, I need a four-game sweep because I leave Friday for Vegas and on Sunday (i.e., Game 5) I'll be driving to the Grand Canyon with HRH and my Little Brother. And being that it's a bit of the middle of nowhere, I'm thinking we might not get ESPN radio. Therefore, a little note to My Detroit Tigers – SWEEP, BOYS!!!