Metrodome Blues

The Up's & Down's of Todd Jones.

The 2007 Detroit Tigers started the month of May exactly where they left off in April (winning 5 of 6); entering Game #32 (May 9th) the Tigers were 21-10, winning 10 of their last 12 games. After the Tigers won the first game against Seattle, they split the next two, as the Tigers headed to Minnesota with a 22-11 record.

I was thinking I had to be at least three games ahead of the actual season pace, turns out I was only a game ahead of pace for the most part (up to as many as 2 games ahead).

at MINNESOTA
Game #34 - Durbin (4-0) vs. Jo.Santana
Game #35- K.Rogers (0-3) vs. S.Baker
Game #36- Maroth (1-0) vs. Bonser

Originally with Justin Verlander being my ace, his turn in the rotation was due for a start on Game #36, but since the Twins had Boof Bonser pitching that game, I pushed Verlander's start back a game, so I can have my best four pitchers (including Verlander to kick off the series) in Boston for it's tough four-game series. Mike Maroth will get his 2nd start of the season for Detroit.

I beat Johan Santana a few weeks back at home, but now we face him in the Metrodome.

The Tigers at one point had a 3-1 lead, until Jason Kubel (batting 7th) hit a two-run HR, that's the thing about Rod Gardenhire's Twins then, they were tough, great fundamental team & had guys like Jason Kubel with HR power in the 7th spot!

The Twins' batting order:
1. Luis Castillo - 2B
2. Jason Bartlett -SS
3. Joe Mauer - C
4. Micheal Cuddyer - RF
5. Justin Morneau -1B
6. Torii Hunter - CF
7. Jason Kubel -DH
8. Jason Tyner - LF
9. Nick Punto - 3B

The team is usually a solid fielding one in APBA (43 pts), they have an ace in Santana (his last season with Minnesota), a closer in Joe Nathan. They would later trade 2B-Luis Castillo to the New York Mets, which didn't help the Mets from eventually choking the division lead to the Phillies.

The Twins would add 5 more runs with their 7th & 8th innings, as my bullpen (which was much-better of late, at least before Minnesota) reverts to it's problems. The final score would be 9-4, handing Chad Durbin his first loss (4-1).

In the 2nd game of the series, I started Ryan Raburn in left -- trying to get some batting average in there, Craig Monroe & Marcus Thames are my regular left-fielders. Monroe was over-achieving in batting average for quite awhile, but is now starting to come back down to Earth, as his average is now down to .247 (in real-life he batted .212 & would be traded to the Cubs in the 2nd half). Thames batted .242 in 2007, but has been lousy for me through 40 at-bats (.125 batting average)! The move for Raburn to start seemed to pay off as he hit his 2nd HR of the season with a three-run blast off of Scott Baker. The Twins of course, would fight back with a two-run HR by Justin Morneau, the Twins would score another run in the fourth to tie it up 3-3. It would stand this way until the Twins load up the bases & score the winning run on a grounder hit by Joe Mauer to Brandon Inge -- as Nick Punto the winning run scores, walk-off.

So I'm trying to avoid my first sweep of the season, entering the 3rd & final game of the series, I have Mike Maroth against Bonser. Maroth won his only start of the season (4 ER in 6 IP)on the last day in April against the Baltimore Orioles -- Maroth has pitched 6 relief innings allowing only a run this season as well. Maroth is an APBA D-R and would actually go deep into the game, not allowing a single run for the first seven innings, advancing his APBA Grade to an A-R entering the 8th. Maroth would allow a run in the bottom of the 8th, but still had a 4-1 lead -- thanks to Brandon Inge's three-run HR in the second inning.
Todd Jones entered the game with 9 saves, but would blow the save, the Twins would tie the game, force extras, in which Jason Bartlett (who came off the bench for Casilla) would hit a two-out triple & score the winning run off Luis Castillo's walk-off single. Grrrrrr...

So now it's off the Beantown, to face the eventual World Champions, coming off a deflating sweep & a bullpen that just doesn't have any answers -- Oh joy! Did I mention I am now a game behind pace of the actual season, and also have Cleveland at the end of the month.

The real-life Tigers started to hit a snag at this point as well, and would lose their first five meetings against the eventual A.L. Central Champion Cleveland Indians. Everything has mirrored actual life up to this point, hopefully we can reverse fate against Boston & Cleveland.

One thing is for sure, we have our work cut out for us.