Today was a good day for the Tigers. Today was a bit of a letdown for me, however, as I came to the realization that I'd neglected this blog for too long. I did have (do have?) several good reasons for the neglect, however. I've been working two jobs. One is at Comerica Park, naturally, and the other is as a delivery driver for Jimmy John's. Between working both jobs on a near-daily basis, and dealing with a nasty tension headache/loss of vision/pinched nerve in my back causing me a lot of constant pain and forcing me to curtail my hours worked and leaving me on my back for a lot of time, I've been dealing with a lot.
I was finally able to work a full game today. The Tigers hosted Photo Day, which allowed fans to gather on the playing field and take pictures with a good number of players. I think the only players that didn't show were Alex Avila, Jose Valverde and Austin Jackson, and each had their reasons for staying out of the spotlight. But before the fans got a chance to hassle the Tigers, I had my shot. As I walked down to field level to start checking out the seats and manning the gate that would allow (or disallow) fans access to the hallowed grounds, I got a wild hair up my rear and started chatting up the pitchers as they were finishing their pre-game workouts. Max Scherzer was my first victim; as he finished his long-toss and walked over to the dugout, I took the opportunity to talk with him about hopefully seeing him out in public for a charity appearance. He seemed really cool about it and actually talked with me like a regular person rather than dismissing me like they would a typical fan. Next was Rick Porcello, fresh off of his quality start on Saturday and a stint of wind sprints today. I congratulated him on his performance the day prior and he had a surprised smirk on his face before answering. I guess people don't talk to him as much. Finally, I shot an innocent Taco Bell-based question to Justin Verlander. He grinned and said something about a Gordita Crunch. Figuring my luck was running out, I went back to work much as they did.
The game was a blast to watch. It's pretty rare for the Tigers to have a rookie come out and pitch a quality start on their first time out, but that's exactly what we got today thanks to Jose Alvarez. Unfortunately, we had to deal with Ryan Raburn hitting a home run again and ruining the kid's no-hitter. Thankfully, Don Kelly had a rare burst of power and put the Tigers up 4-1 for good. The brooms were out, the kids got to run the bases post-game, and everyone but the Indians left happy.
I'll get back to updating this blog more often after I complete my move at the end of the month. It's gonna be a trying time around here until then.
