One-Sided Trade

The Tigers today traded a minor leaguer I've never heard of (which probably means he'll wind up in the Hall of Fame) for outfielder Delmon Young who was once a hot prospect for the Tampa Bay Rays back when they were still the Devil Rays, but who turned out to be a bit of a bust for the Twins.  The whole thing was odd, as Detroit made the deal while the Twins were in town to open a three-game series against the Tigers here tonight, so Young wound up being told of the trade prior to boarding the Twins team bus from their Birmingham hotel to Comerica Park.  "I'm not going to spend $50 bucks on a cab ride," said Young.

So far, and to be fair we are in the third inning of Young's first game as a Tiger, the deal has been one-sided in favor of Detroit since all Young did was homer in his first at-bat as a Tiger.  This raises the question: how many players have homered for their new team against their old team in their first at bat with their new team on the same day they were traded?  We have no idea.  It may be a baseball first.  Personally, in the 111 years of the modern era--yes, the "modern era" in baseball dates to 1900 which doesn't sound all that "modern" when you think about it--I'm going to guess that there has been a player who did what Young has just done.  But perhaps not.  Perhaps we have just seen baseball history made.  The boys over at the Elias Sports Service will have it figured out soon enough, and as soon as we hear from them we will let you know.

Young's feat, regardless of the degree of history involved in it, has been overshadowed for the moment by the way the Twins knocked Rick Porcello around in the third as they scored three.  The Tigers made two errors in the inning and I don't have to tell you that it is never, ever a good thing when you give the other team extra outs.

It's good to be back at the ballpark.  The Tigers just wrapped up a 9-game road trip yesterday so this is the first time in a long time we've been at our seat on press row.  Cleveland's off tonight.  The White Sox are off tonight.  The outcome of the game here this evening thus means the difference between a three game lead for the Tigers of the Indians, or a two game edge.  We'll keep you posted...

The Tigers, who scored five runs Saturday night in Baltimore after starting an inning with the first two hitters making out, just scored two in their half of the third after two were out and the bases were empty.  Miguel Cabrera singled and Victor Martinez homered.  3-3 here...after three.

Now it's 6-5 Twins after six and Porcello is out in favor of Daniel Schlereth.  Porcello allowed six runs (4 earned) on 9 hits, and he gave up Jim Thome's 599th career homer in Minnesota's three-run 6th.  They would have scored four, but Alex Avila stood in there and held onto the ball as Ben Revere tried for an inside-the-park homer but was thrown out on a great relay from Ryan Raburn to the plate for the final out.  Avila then doubled in Ordonez in the Detroit 6th before scoring himself on Wilson Betemit's sac fly.  So...it's Minnesota 6, Detroit 5 in the top of the 7th.  And it's a pretty good ballgame.

I don't know how good the game is now...but we have seen history--maybe for the second time tonight, but certainly no doubt about the fact that it was history as Jim Thome has just hit his 600th career home run.  I watched it the whole way out through the binoclulars.  It was a towering fly to left and it cleared the fence by ten feet or so.  It would not have been a home run had the Tigers not brought the fences in a few years ago.  But they did, and it wound up in the Detroit bullpen.  I've never seen a 600th homer before.  I'm guessing there will be a reporter or two around Thome's locker after the game, and I suppose I will be one of them.  Meanwhile, the Tigers are in real trouble now.  Schlereth walked two and struck out two before Thome connected and oh those walks will kill you.  In this case, they accounted for a three run homer and a 9-5 Twins lead.  Raburn has just led off the Detroit 7th with a big fly of his own, HR #11 (the same as Thome's hit this year but only career #50 for Raburn) and now it's 9-6 Twins as the Tigers continue to hit in the 7th.

Still 9-6 Minnesota as we head to the bottom of the 9th and, as such, things don't look good.  I'll shut this thing down for down as I have to head downstairs to go ask the players what went wrong.  Unless there's a miracle rally of some sort, that is.

No miracle rally.  The Tigs went out in the 9th on, like, five pitches and they lose 9-6.  The lead is two.