Rivalry

Tigers vs. Twins July ‘08

This has been a very interesting series. You have two good teams battling for every win they can get as they both chase the White Sox, and it’s only July 1.

Usually I look at the numbers, but this series brings up the softer(?) side of baseball- the personalities and emotions that make it a game. I didn’t see the bean ball that the Twins’ pitcher Glen Perkins threw at Carlos Guillen, but I saw Galarraga throw 2 at Mauer a couple of innings later and I thought “Wow! That looked weird.” Then I saw a replay of the ball thrown at Guillen earlier and those two pitches made sense. I kind of admire the way that Pudge and Galarraga dealt with it too, they didn’t go after the first batter they faced in the next inning. Nope, they waited- for the Twins’ catcher. No point in brushing back an outfielder, they can’t change anything anyway. Nope, since you can’t show the pitcher you’re pissed you wait for his “battery mate”.

I, personally, don’t see anything wrong with “purpose pitches” as long as the pitcher is simply keeping the batter from getting too comfortable on the plate. It all fits into strategy and tactics in the game. I don’t think letting go at somebody’s head is part of that. I’m not even sure that Perkins meant to do that against Guillen, but Guillen certainly did. When I saw the replay I was impressed with the “look” (stare?, death wish?) Perkins received in return. Then Galarraga returns the favor, just sending a message that “you can’t mess with my boys!”. Good baseball.

Then there is another story in this series- Craig Monroe. He was a huge part of 2006 for Detroit, but in 2007 he couldn’t duplicate and he was traded to the Cubs before he ended up in Minnesota, but not happy about it. He wanted to stay with Detroit and was bitter about how it all worked out. Well, 2008 has been much like 2007 for C-Mo. He hasn’t hit well for the Twins (.218 BA and .451 SLG with 8 home runs). But he saves up something special for when he plays Detroit. 3 of his 8 home runs have been against the Tigers, including a 3 run blast on Tuesday night that turned out to be the game winner. There is some serious emotion there. It reminds me of Magglio Ordonez playing against the White Sox, he just seems to take it up a few notches against his old team (which is should be really scary for Chicago). C-Mo lets his bat speak for him saying “This could have been for you, but now it’s going to hurt you Detroit!”. I admire that (even if I wouldn’t take him back).

There is much to this game that stats don’t really show. That’s why it’s fun to watch teams like Detroit and Minnesota play it the way it is supposed to be played. I just hope Detroit plays a little bit harder on Wednesday to take the series.