Game Date: May 5, 2007
Tigers 7, Royals 5 / Box Score
WP: Mesa (1-1), LP: Duckworth (0-1), SV: Jones (12)
Royal Home Runs: Sweeney (3), German (2), LaRue (1)
Royals Record: 10-21
The wheels came off in the late innings again. This time, I think the blame can be placed on Emil Brown. With the Royals up 5-4 to start the seventh inning, Emil Brown smoked a line drive to center field. And he stood at home plate at watched it thinking he'd hit a home run. Then he went into his home run trot. Problem was, the ball hit the wall and he was thrown out at second. You could feel the air leave the stadium.
As a Royals fan, I've tolerated a lot over the years. Bad managers, bad players, bad personnel moves by ownership, bad trades, poor planning, and several 100-loss seasons. I tolerate them because that's the reality of a small market team that hasn't drafted well (until recently, arguably) and hasn't had the cash to sign or keep top notch players. I haven't liked it, but it's just the way it is. What I cannot tolerate is a player who doesn't hustle. I'll stop there before I say more than I should.
The very next inning, the Tigers got to Duckworth and Soria. How bizarre was the wild pitch that Duckworth threw that allowed Polanco to take second and third base? And what took Ross Gload so long to retrieve the ball after it bounced off the back stop towards first base?
Soria came in at that point and Ordonez doubled on another bizarre play. Emil Brown was playing way off the line in left field. Apparently the charts say that Ordonez doesn't pull the ball down the left field line. If that's true, then the charts were wrong. After an intentional walk to Carlos Guillen, Craig Monroe singled in two runs and the Tigers were up 7-5. The Royals went down in order the final two innings.
Tomorrow Zack Greinke (1-3, 4.70) goes against Chad Durbin (1-1, 6.39). Greinke is 6-2 in his career against the Tigers with a 2.86 ERA. Durbin is 1-1 against the Royals with a 6.53 ERA.
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