Day 3 - Cleveland Indians @ Detroit Tigers

Well, three days into tripforthecycle, I have to say that I am thoroughly impressed with the variety and quality of the ballparks and cities that I am seeing. Chicago had some top notch ballparks, and the city, again, thoroughly impressed me, as it was clean, and easy to navigate. Detroit, today was no exception. Me and my dad got up at about 8 o’clock, to exercise and to head on out. After a very fast flight that was 20 minutes ahead of schedule, we were in Detroit. Firstly, this place is not as bad as it seems. It is very clean, and easy to navigate. The entire city is not one big trailer park, and not everyone in the city packs heat up every sleeve.

Comerica Park is a stunning example of how a simple thing like baseball can be turned into a dazzling experience for everyone. The place is an amusement park. There is a ferris wheel, a water show, and a museum all packed into one neat little place where there is still a game being played.

This game was spectacular. Early in the game, Nate Robertson, or “the TermiNATEor” (hardly fair.) was hardly brilliant, but Byrd was. He went 7 innings with only 6 hits allowed givin up four runs. Somehow, the Tigers also did so, creating a tie ball game into the ninth inning where neither side threatened the other. Amongst all the moans from Inge’s final fly out to left field, you could hear a faint “Free baseball.” That was me. At the time, I did not think that this game had much of an emotional impact on me, but I was later proved wrong.

With the bases loaded, and one out in the bottom of the tenth inning, the Tigers were threatening to end this game, but with a Guillen popout to third base and a Rodriguez comebacker to the pitcher, fans were beginning to become agitated.

A home run that was out of the park in a hurry was all the Indians needed to secure a 5-4 victory over the Tigers.

Some highlights: The Iron Sheff’s solo blast in the third inning.
Career game #2000 catching for Ivan Rodriguez.
A near walk-off Grand Slam for the Tigers in the tenth inning.

Pittsburgh, here I come.