10/28/12 San Francisco Giants 4, Detroit Tigers 3

Comerica Park, Detroit, MI
World Series Game 4

The winning run, scored by Ryan Theriot, the CYLON.

Head-to-head nuclear starting pitcher combat.  Blistering blast beat infield defense.  Turgid baseball antics.

...and postseason extra-innings mayhem.  Maybe a World Series sweep isn't that sexy, but ending the World Series in extra innings under these circumstances probably is.

I took Bob Nightengale's unusual World Series predictions over my knee in this piece I wrote for Big Leagues Monthly on October 30, 2012.  Lots of chuckles.

The hashmarks at the bottom of each set of PA columns (right above the pitch totals) are one of several strategies I used to track first pitch strikes...as of early 2013, I've figured out a better way to do this, and I posted my method HERE so please go check that out.

 Giants win the World Series 4-0.

8/19/11 Cleveland Indians 1, Detroit Tigers 4

Comerica Park, Detroit, MI
Game 1 of 3


The EYES have it!!

The battle for the AL Central continues as the Indians visit the Tigers and keep on scraping away at the comfort the Tigers cannot enjoy as the season draws to a close. The phenomenal Josh Tomlin, with his aggressive short-arm delivery, takes the bump against the AL’s 'next-wierdest eyes next to David Bowie kinda-freak,' Max Scherzer.



Kipnis was out of the lineup tonight; still the Indians lineup looked pretty good and oh, my…Josh Tomlin. Great stuff. Too great though…his accuracy in the early innings turned into a classic case of ‘hitters making adjustments to pitchers’ and by the 6th inning, it was a Home Run parade for the Tigers; starting out with Austin Jackson’s 2 run-1 out bomb to center field in the 5th (what a beautiful swing!!) and leading into back-to-back jackos by Alex Avila and Jhonny Peralta with 2 outs in the 6th. The second consecutive HR had Tomlin off the mound for the night.

Meanwhile, Max Scherzer uses his “EVIL EYE” to put a spell on the Indians. Before tonight, he had never thrown more than 125 pitches in his career, 120 for the season. Tonight he went 7 innings and threw 127 pitches, 80 for strikes, and only allowed 1 run (earned, on a wild pitch) on 5 hits, striking out 6. He really ‘did his thing’ tonight.

Miguel Cabrera extends his hitting streak to 16 games. I think this is the first time I’ve seen a game on FS Detroit, and I experienced a rather sickening revelation…Rod Allen is almost as BAD as Joe Morgan in the booth. With stout comments such as “he needs to pitch out to this guy right now and help his team out” (and he DIDN’T) and similar general ‘fire and miss’ baseball analyses, Rod Allen needs to go back to the bench. Tigers fans…how can you stand this pooch?!?