Justin's No Hitter!
I'm a little tired today. I stayed up way too late watching all the hype on Fox Sports Detroit and ESPN after Justin Verlander got his no-hitter last night. The game was over quickly (before 9:30), but I love me some hype, especially when ESPN is actually talking about the Tigers and saying good things. Just two years ago I was watching a day game where the Tigers were playing the Red Sox and the announcers only talked about the team from Boston. I realise we were sucking but if you were only listening to the game, you wouldn't have had a clue who the Red Sox were playing. When the Tigers were up to bat, they only talked about Boston's pitching and defense. When the Tigers were in the field, they only talked about the Boston hitters. The best part? The Tigers won.
I had been out for drinks and nachos with Pamela and Michelle, as they were trying to cheer me up after being dumped by The Libertarian on Sunday night, but got home with only one out in the 1st. I was busily reading blogs and commenting, while watching the game. In fact, I almost left a comment at MyUtopia's blog telling her how well Justin was pitching, but didn't for some reason. Around quarter to nine, my phone rang (it was in the bedroom for some reason) and it was my best baseball buddy asking if I were watching. "Yes." "Good, because you know we can't talk about it." He threw me for a second because I hadn't cottoned on to what was happening until right that second. "Oh! Yes, we can't talk about it." "I just wanted to make sure you were watching." And we hung up.
Rod Allen and Mario Impemba, the Tigers' TV announcers, didn't say the words "no-hitter" until the last out was in Magglio's glove. Coming back from commercial breaks Fox Sports Detroit would just show the scoreboard, so you knew what was happening without a word having to be said. I was very glad they didn't say anything. I'm superstitious about things like that. I've watched too many races with Mario leading and then stupid-ass Sam Posey would say something about the Andretti Curse and sure enough within a few laps, Mario's car would start to slow on the backstretch. Fucking Sam Posey. I was never so glad as when he stopped providing "color" for my races. Bloody idiot.
The much maligned Neifi Perez made a fabulous play at short to initiate a double play in the 8th to keep the No Hitter going. I like Neifi, for purely girl-type reasons: 1) he wears his socks high, 2) his number is 8 (same as My Igor's), and 3) I think he has a cool name; so him making a sweet play made me very happy as I take a lot of shit for liking Neifi (he's not my favorite player or anything, but I like him). Justin came in to the 9th inning to a standing ovation. The crowd was LOUD! I was a little worried that they might disrupt his rhythm, but he struck out the first two batters from the top of the Brewers order. The final batter he got to fly out to Magglio in rightfield. I was crying like an idiot.
The winning run was My Brandon's solo home run in the 3rd which was awfully sweet, too!
DWD called as we have a tendency to call each other during momentous Detroit sporting moments. He laughed at me for crying, but I didn't care. Detroit's last no-hitter was 23 years ago, and it didn't happen in Detroit. The last time a Tigers pitched a no-hitter in Detroit was 1952! Last year Justin was Rookie of the Year…this year a no-hitter. Let's hope it's capped off with a World Series win in October. Hey, I like to dream big!!!
And being tired today? Totally worth it!
posted by Kathleen @ 9:19 AM
20 comments
20 Comments:
Go Tigers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for the update I hadn't seen the scores yet. -=doing celebration dance for tigers=-
Ok. I'm going to show where I come from now, but, what's a no hitter?!!
I'm glad your team won though, I see how excited Dave gets about Liverpool when they play and I wish I felt that way about something!!!
Take care, xxx
MyUtopia - I honestly almost commented to you last night.
Yelayna - A no-hitter is when a baseball pitcher (usually just one for the entire game, although I read about a game that had something like 4-6 pitchers which is just weird) throws a complete game (all nine innings, three outs per innings) without giving up a single hit. A hit, in baseball parlance, is only a hit when the batter gets to base, so if he hits the ball, but it's caught in the outfield, it's not a hit. A perfect game, on the other hand, means that not only did the pitcher not allow a single hit but he didn't give up any walks (which is where you throw four balls before you throw three strikes, so the batter walks to first base). Justin had four walks last night, but nobody got past 1st base as he got at least one double play. Confused yet? ;-)
Good for Justin! (Even though as a Twins fan I'm obliged to dislike the Tigers.) But I absolutely agree with you- my number one complaint about ESPN is that by watching it you would think the only two teams in existence were the Red Sox and the Yankees. And now that the Yankees suck (hooray!) all ESPN can talk about is what the Yanks can do to get better. You would never know by watching national sports casters that the AL Central is the strongest division in the game. And I think Mags is totally hot even though he always seems to have our (MN) number!
The Libertarian is a big fat doo doo head.
Magnet - And would you know that the NL Central is the WEAKEST division in baseball? Heck no. I rarely watch ESPN because I just don't care about the Yankees (although I love it when they lose, although they won their last 7 games - or something like that - dammit).
Urs - That's the consensus.
Hurray for your beloved Tigers!
I didn't know you had a break-up. I'm sorry you did. Unless you wanted it.
Wow, what a night!! I'm very happy for you. I admit I'm not much of a baseball fan, and when I am I like the Braves. Oh, and I like the BoSox (except when they play the Braves) due to my 12+ years living in Massachusetts. But I like to hear about things like your no-hitter. Very cool you got to see it.
I also understand the frustration of having biased announcers who can't say enough about the other team. I run into this watching Georgia Tech on TV. Sometimes I turn the TV sound off and listen to the local radio broadcast. If it's going to be biased, I want it biased my way!
Sorry about the Libertarian. Hugs to you.
PS - the Yankees suck donkey balls.
I thought the title was Justin's no Hitler, I was surprised this was about baseball. I am not commenting on the part of the post I most want to ask about.
sal - I also misread 'hitter' as 'Hitler' the first time around. Naturally, the posted material was confusing at first.
Props to Verlander. I almost blogged about it today, but didn't. A no-hitter is a rare and cool thing.
But the best part was his interview after the game. Ok... first I've got to set the stage.
His first pitch to the last batter: a fastball that clocked in at 102 mph.
The second pitch to the last batter: a fastball that clocked in at a meager 99 mph.
The third and last pitch: (everyone knew it was going to be an off-speed pitch with those two scorchers earlier) a change up, coming in at a mere 86 mph.
Ok... now the interview after the game. He looks at the camera and says, "Yeah, my velocity was pretty good there at the end..." to which Steve Levy (the guy doing the highlights) of ESPN said, "PRETTY GOOD? Now how can you follow a line like that..." and then he shut up.
I had to agree.
btw... does this mean that I've got to change my link to this blog? ;)
Beth - No, sadly, I didn't want it, but it was not completely unexpected.
Fermi - Thanks. I normally root for Boston, too, except when they play my Tigers. I actually knew a Yankees fan in San Francisco which is just wrong.
Sal - I know you do.
LL - You should have, then that would have been TWO examples of us doing the same thing at the same time and that would have freaked EVERYBODY out!
Try dating a socialist next time. I think you'll have better luck.
At least stay away from the etplmeds.
FWG - Trust me, that's preferred, but they're hard to find. *sigh* I think it's best just not to date. If I'm going to end up alone anyway, why bother?
That's the spirit! :P
Baffled.
So, if it were a rounders game, there would be no rounders scored and no no-balls?
Sport is clearly not my thing. Can you tell?!!
And, just, men... *tooh* ;o)
Well, my comments:
Congrats to the Tigers, on the no-no. An impressive performance.
People have actually lost no-hitters, too. A guy did it against Cincinnati a long time ago.
And of course, Harvey Haddix - perfect game through 12 innings gives up a run in the 13th.
Oh, and Libertarians are idiots.
WR
Well, just because I like the Tigers' uniform, I suppose I'm happy for you.
Do you remember Denny McClain, or were you too young? That was a pitcher.
Congratulations to Justin Verlander.
My Cardinals aren't worth a crap this year, but we still have fond memories of 2006. ;)
Thanks for stopping by Pole Hill!
LL - Much easier being negative than being falsely optimistic.
Yelayna - I have no clue what rounders is. ;-)
Woof - The Cubs had a no hitter going into the 8th on Saturday. Just shows how hard it actually is, eh?
Schprockie - Hey, at least it wasn't against the Bosox.
Doc - As sweet as winning the WS last year would have been, it would have been a bit too storybook ending, so although it sucked, at the same time I was happy with my boys.
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