Tigers 7 Pirates 6

Tonight was an interesting night at the ballpark. I see a lot of Kip Wells bashing in the comments, but everyone that I was with at the game tonight all agreed that Kip was in all honesty not that bad tonight. He threw a ton of strikes, he was just obviously missing a little bit of extra something that allowed the Tigers to foul about a million pitches off, and to wait for the pitch they were looking for. He hit 92-95 on the gun pretty consistently in the first two innings, but didn't have it back in the third. We all agreed that it was obvious Kip had been rushed back and could've used 4 or 5 rehab starts instead of just two (which was frankly, insanity). Sure, it was his fault that he pitched so badly, and by extension that we lost. But it's not his fault that the team rushed him back to make some phantom trade down the line that DL would invariably screw up anyways. I know a lot of people will think that I'm blindly backing Kip on this one, but tonight wasn't really as discouraging as it would seem to be on paper. He's making his rehab starts at the Major League level, and against some good teams (well, minus KC, but at least they're hot) to boot. I really do think he's about to turn a corner soon, and not in an intangible "he's got good stuff, things have to turn around" Ryan Vogelsong kind of way.

As for the rest of the game, in the third inning with the Pirates down 7-1 my uncle looks at the rest of the group we were with (which included one of my dad's cousins and his two sons who were in from out of town) and said "You guys watch, the Pirates will make this 7-6 before coming up short in the end." He proved to be very prophetic, as the Pirates bullpen was very impressive tonight, allowing the Bucs to stay in the game. Bayliss had a great first appearence in black and gold. He was a bit wild (probably due to nervousness), but as long as he was around the plate, the Tigers couldn't touch him. Capps, Torres, Marte, Hernandez, and Gonzo were just as good. At the plate, two of the three Joses took care of various difficult parts of the cycle, with Bautista homering and tripling and K singling, doubling, and tripling (now there's a sight, Jose Hernandez legging out a triple... and yes, he also struck out once). The key play of the game didn't come at any point in the ninth inning (when yes, Tracy went all lamebrain and had a guy that's been a three hitter his entire career in the minors try to bunt a runner over, nearly breaking his hand and ending the at-bat with a pop-up to the catcher, leading to Bay ending the game again) but in the eight with Joel ZOOOOOMaya on the mound for the Tigers (holy freaking crap, the dude cleared 100 on three consecutive pitches on the radar gun at one point, how come we never find guys like that? He was actually kind of like a younger Jose Mesa tonight, he was throwing really hard but unable to throw it by anyone (only 1 K in 2 innings), though it's easier to get people out with a flat 101 mph fastball than it is with a flat 96 mph fastball. Anyways, after Jose K tripled Mike Edwards in (bet you never thought you'd read THAT anywhere), Paulino came to the plate with Zumaya clearly struggling (can't say he was fading, he was still hitting 100 on the gun). Paulino lasered a ball towards the gap in center that looked like sure hit, but Granderson chased it down and made an amazing diving catch to preserve the lead.

I know we've heard this over and over again, but in talking with my dad's cousins son (I don't know, what does that make one? my second cousin I think) who lives in San Francisco, he confirms that Tracy has to just have a baseball book that he does things by. Catchers bat eighth, centerfielders lead off and bunt well, and you always bunt the runner over in the ninth inning, even when it makes no sense whatsoever. Apparently, Giants fans would sit in the crowd and laugh as Tracy did the most predictable things possible with the Dodgers. If only I had met some of these people before Tracy got hired.

And of course, the Andy Van Slyke report. We saw him come out on the field and joked that he was in such good shape he'd probably be able to grab a Pirates uniform and play a better right field than Jose Hernandez. Perhaps feeling threatened by him is what light the fire under Jose's ass tonight, I can't really confirm that. But watching him as a kid is what made me want to watch baseball, play baseball etc., and after watching him coach a perfect first base tonight I suddenly have an urge to be a first base coach...