Tale Of Three Games

The night of August 10, 2007 will be known at Comerica Park as when three different games were happening. At one point the A’s were leading the Tigers 8-1, and it looked like the A’s were on their way to a rout of a team struggling to find its competitive niche. By the end of the fifth, the Tigers had shown their power scoring eight unanswered runs which included a solo home run by Gary Sheffield and a grand slam by Marcus Thames whom we had missed the last two weeks.

This looked like the Tigers we enjoyed watching earlier in the season, and we only hoped the Tiger bullpen could hold off the A’s for the rest of the game. The very next half inning, the Tigers gave it all back, allowing eight unanswered runs. This included Macay McBride throwing a pitch to Jack Cust with the bases loaded which Cust tried to hit over the center field fountain. He settled for hitting the ball into the center field bushes which is still a long blast, and gave him a grand slam for the 12-9 lead for the A’s. From that point the A’s outscored the Tigers 4-1 for a 16-10 A’s victory.

This game was for me like so many other fans a roller coaster of emotion, being discouraged, then elated, and finally thoroughly disappointed. We thought we saw our team catch their stride, but then they reverted back to the slide.

What do you do after a game like that? The only thing is to forget about it and try to get a win tonight. Let’s see if Justin Verlander can find some of his magic from June 12 to give the Tigers an easy time of it.