Tigers - Cardinals 6/24/06

Normally I wait until after a series is over before I start typing but tonight's game, which clocked in at nearly 4 hours, was to good to wait until Monday afternoon to re-cap. No long ass preface to this game let's just dive right in.

1:) Rod Allen and Mario Impemba are the worst announcing team in the history of baseball. I know this has nothing to do with the game itself but the two of them almost ruined what was possibly the most exciting game of the year. I dont mind Impemba so much because he just seems like a corny douchebag but Rod Allen is awful. I write a ton about how much I hate these guys but I won't stop complaining until they are gone. A list of tonights offenses by Mr. Allen.

1.A) Confusing Albert Pujols with Albert Belle. Then he referred to Pujols as "P-H-A-T" Albert twice, spelling it out for us both times, just in case we didnt get it before.

1.B) Continuing his urban grammar/spelling lessons that impress only Mario, and makes the rest of the viewing audience cringe, ( I also hate Impembas crush on Allen, I bet he broadcasts most of the games with his left hand placed on Allen's crotch) says that Curtis Granderson is "B-A-D-D, badd". Later on Allen broke out the thesaurus and described Granderson's play so far in the game as "nice" and then to really emphasize how amazing Granderson has been so far he says he's "really nice". Seriously, these guys make Dan Dickerson and Jim Price on the radio look like Ernie Harwell and Vin Scully. Speaking of Harwell, would anybody be opposed to the idea of just hooking up a live feed of the game to Harwell as he broadcast the game from the couch, who cares if he's nearly 90 and would mispronounce a ton of names he'd still be better then these guys. But I digress.

2. Back to Granderson, to quote Allen he is "nice" and "B-A-D-D" and to be more blunt pretty fucking spectacular. 4-5 tonight with 1 BB 3 runs, he stole third and scored from first to win it in the 10th, and even though he didnt really show it this game he has a lot of pop, like 20-25 homerun a year pop. He's about two weeks away from me going out and laying down a 150 bucks on a number 28 jersey. I couldn't be happier with this years team but can you imagine an outfield of Cameron Maybin and Granderson in a couple of years. Nice.

3. Earlier today I was talking to a friend of mine and we were discussing how the Tigers have had few spectacular defensive plays this year and how you hardly see them on WebGems even though they are a pretty solid if not spectacular defensive team. Sure enough tonight we saw Shelton's diving snare and Kenny Rogers knockdown, scramble throw, both of which cracked the Sportscenter Top 10.

4. Joel Zumaya. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. He comes in and throws seven pitches five of which crack 101 with a high of 104 MPH. They didn't mention it on ESPN or the Yahoo! recap so it may have just been the effects of a fast gun but still that is unbelievable. 104 MPH!!! That's the fastest since the immortal Matt Anderson, (so lets make sure Zumaya doesnt enter any squid tossing contests). The very idea that there were rumors that Zumaya may be involved in a deal for John Smoltz is so ludicrous that just the mere thought of it makes me want to vomit in rage. (OK I can tell Im worked up now, I'll try to calm down) Seriously though didnt we trade a young up and coming pitcher for an over the hill starter for the stretch run just 20 years ago? Didn't we trade away a young JOHN SMOLTZ 19 years ago for a 36 year old Doyle Alexander who got his ass lit up to the tune of 10 runs in nine playoff innings before completely decomposing during a 6-18 season in 1989. Did some people not learn from this, did anyone think this was a good idea. Good thing Leyland crushed this rumor like the 60 cigarette butts he puts out a day because if this wouldve happened I would be driving around with Dave Dombrowski in my trunk and no jury wouldve convicted me. Just so you know.