.500
Saturday, June 28th, 2008The magical number of baseball which symbolizes sweet, sweet, mediocrity. The number which teams such as the Red Sox and Yankees fear falling to; The same number, teams like the lowly Nationals and Mariners can only dream of reaching. It is the number that can make or break a career.
It is also the number that the “stacked” Detroit Tigers team has been chasing all season–until now. Finally, on Saturday, June 28th, 2008, 80 games into the yearly roller-coaster we call Major League Baseball, the Detroit Tigers have finally clawed their way back to .500 with a thrilling 8-7 victory in front of a rowdy crowd of 42,729.
Call it what you like, but the last 20 games for the Detroit Tigers, I can only describe as magical. The Motor City Kitties went a cool 15-5 in the stretch that may have saved their season. 4 of 15 wins were in walk-off fashion, thanks to Miguel Cabrera, Gary Sheffield, and Clete Thomas.
It all started on Saturday, June 7th at Comerica Park against the Tigers division rival; The Cleveland Indians. The Tigers had dropped the opener of the series the night before 4-2, but the loss was overshadowed by the news that came shortly after: “Jeremy Bonderman Will Likely Miss Rest of Season”. Bonderman’s jersey was hung in the dugout on Saturday night as the Tigers dispatched of ‘The Tribe’ 8-4 behind a 6-run rally in the 8th inning. The Tigers went on to split the Indians in the 4-game set, followed by a 3-game sweep of the division-leading Chicago White Sox, and a 3-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Tigers went on the road and took 4 of 6 in an exciting pair of series in San Fransisco and San Diego, then came home and continued their recent tear at Comerica Park, winning 4 of their last 5 games and finding themselves sitting in the lap of Mr. 500.
The Tigers will go for the sweep of the Colorado Rockies Sunday afternoon behind Kenny Rogers, and then start an extremely important stretch of games with Minnesota, Cleveland, and Seattle leading up to the All-Star Break.
Don’t be surprised to see the Old English D in October, 2008. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.