First things first. Add Mike Napoli to the Tigers’ hit list. He has to answer for his karate kick on Iggy in the bottom of the second inning. Maybe there wasn’t a good time for it today, but sometime in the next two games, his ribs need to be lit up. Bruce Rondon perhaps?
The pitching was impressive. Doug Fister and his pals in the pen shut out a good hitting ball club in a good hitter’s park. This wasn’t shutting out the Astros at Comerica. This was shutting out the Red Sox in Fenway. This is very encouraging considering the beating the entire staff took at the hands of the A’s last week.
Fister threw 7 complete, allowed 4 hits, struck out 4 and walked 4. The walks were high, especially for Fister, but I’m chalking that up to the horrendous job umpire Eric Cooper did behind the plate today. To say Cooper was horrible is being kind. He blew. He had no idea what he was calling and neither did anybody else.
It has been a relatively small sample, but if there is a better shortstop in baseball than Iggy, I haven’t seen him. Everyday, Jose Iglesias does something jaw dropping. Today he helped turn 3 double plays. The one that really stuck out was in the bottom of the 6th. With Shane Victorino on first, the Sox put on the hit and run. Dustin Pedroia hit a ground ball to the right side of second base. Iggy scooped up the ball, tagged Victorino and threw to first to complete the double play. Fister and Porcello are going to love having Iggy behind them. Watch for both of their numbers to improve.
Oh yea, Iggy can hit a piece as well. He was 1-3 today and hitting .319 on the season.
Kudos to Andy Dirks. The Tigers had chances to score but couldn’t get the big hit. That changed in the 7th when Dirksy tripled home Victor Martinez to break the scoreless tie in the top of the 7th.
Nice win. The Tigers need another one tomorrow. Napoli must answer for Iggy.
“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Flashin' Leather 
FYI the Boston feed did not pick up on Crapoli’s slide however for any hockey fans out there his # is 12( Yea we got your #) That said pitching and defense. Good fundamental baseball. Get caught in a pickle and a runner scores, airmail the cutoff man take an extra base. Good baseball good win!
It looks like it’s going to be up to Fister to remind Crapoli who he’s dealing with. He has to get it before the Tigers leave town.
Chalk this up as one of the surprise wins of the year. Historically bad pitching matchup in a historically bad venue, without Miggy added up to a sure loss. That’s why they don’t play them on paper.
This assures us of a season series win over the Red Sox. Max goes for 20 tomorrow. I say he drills Napoli with some high heat!
Sark, it must be done. I want Crapol’s ribs scorched! Ricky would do it? Remember when he beat Yuk into a conniption?
Ya know it is just one game however……..after a nights worth of reflection…what did we just see? Two teams with the best W/L record fighting for home field advantage. A team built to live and die by the 3 run homer puts a runner in motion and scores, picks up a base on a throw thru, scores on a ball in play that results in a short pickle. Takes a pitcher who struggled early and with solid defense turned double plays to bail the staff out. A very tough place to play on the road a good team and the Tigers win with their triple crown winner on the bench. Really good fundamental baseball the kind of ball that wins championships IF they can maintain that level of play. Is that what we saw? Maybe not a surprise win but the team we have been waiting so long for just showed up? Or should I go report for my mandatory random? It is just one game but they did it right…..
Nebraska, you made a lot of good points. If the Tigers run the bases well, better than we have seen save yesterday, they can mitigate their lack of team speed. However, like you pointed out, we really didn’t see until yesterday. In fact, for most of the season, their base running has been atrocious which exacerbates their lack of speed.
Now, all that being said, CRAPOLI MUST ANSWER FOR IGGY.
I’m not sayin, I’m just sayin.