Keeping Track of the Tigers

I spent the last three days at a company meeting, which was held off-site at a resort hotel near Atlantic City. These things are always good news/bad news. The good news is that it's three days away from my cubicle, and I get to stay in a nice hotel. The bad news is that I'm trapped with co-workers around the clock. Don't get me wrong--the best part of my job is that my colleagues are almost all very nice people. I just like to keep my work and non-work lives separate. Fortunately, we did have a few hours downtime each day, so I could swim in the pool, etc.

On Wednesday night, as is my custom, I snuck away from our group dinner as early as possible. I remembered that the Tigers/White Sox game was on ESPN. Detroit, hanging on to a slim lead in the A.L. Central over Chicago, had lost the first game of this key series the night before.

On the way to my room I noticed the game was on the bar TV, and I saw the Tigers were down, 2-1, but had the bases loaded with one out. I stayed long enough to see Marcus Thames ground into a force play.

Once up in my room, I turned the game on and Craig Monroe was up to bat. Soon enough Monroe launched the ball into the seats for a grand slam. The Tiger pitching kept the Sox at bay, and Detroit won.

The next day, Thursday, the meeting wrapped up just shy of two o'clock. The Tigers and White Sox were playing the rubber game of the series during the day, so I looked forward to listening to the game as I drove home.

It was a pitcher's duel between Kenny Rogers and Jose Contreras. The Sox picked up an early run, and as I drove through the Pine Barrens Contreras set down the Tigers easily. It wasn't until I reached Hightstown that Ivan Rodriguez's two-out single up the middle tied the game at 1.

I got home and parked the car and went inside and turned the game on TV. I was just in time to see the replay of Chris Shelton's double, which scored Craig Monroe with the go-ahead run. What I didn't see that happened while I was walking from the car to the house, was Marcus Thames' take-out slide, pictured here, which broke up a double-play and kept the inning alive. The Tigers ended up winning 2-1.

The Tigers now have a five-and-half game lead, their largest of the season. They and the White Sox still have ten games against each other before it's over. I hope my heart can take it.