Friday, March 24, 2006

Only 240 hours until opening day

Zumaya to the left of me! Verlander to the right of me!

Today, the Tigers lost by a touchdown (pat good) and a field goal to our hated rivals from the southwest... yep, you guessed it, the Houston Astro's. Usually a 13-3 loss really dampens my mood, but not this time, we'll get our revenge in the World Series.


Yesterday was actually one of the most important days in recent Tiger history. Not only did the Tigers win a Grapefruit league thriller in extra innings over the Phillies, but two of the best pitching prospects the Tigers have had in my entire existence took the mound and secured spots on the major league roster. I'd say probably me and like 30 other geeks are the only ones that actually were aware of this, but this is huge nonetheless. I'm pretty sure not many other people were using the internet on their phones during class to check how zumaya and verlander pitched in spring training. Anyways, after the game Verlander was named our 5th starter and Zumaya will start the season out of the bull pen.

Before spring training, I did not think that Verlander or Zumaya would make the team. But apparently when your stiffest competition is a guy named Colon, I should not of underestimated them. Zumaya and Verlander won these spots on the team, they were the most deserving.

I bet you, one of my 8 or so loyal readers are asking yourself if I have ever seen these guys pitch? Well, my gentle souls, I can tell you I have, and thus I consider myself somewhat coherent when it comes to this. I actually went to the futures game during the all-star break just to watch these two pitch. Unfortunately, when you are 20 years and 10 months old, they don't round up. So, me and one of my buddies downed as much cheap whiskey in the parking lot, leading to us missing the first couple of innings. Verlander started, we missed it because we were taking shots of "Ten High" whiskey. Wow, that was stupid. But we did see Zumaya pitch, and he turned in a very steve nebraska-esque performance. At least, thats how the drunk me remembers it. And to be fair to me, I had to watch the celebrity softball classic right after the futures game, so it wouldn't of been acceptable to be sober while watching Jon Lovitz play softball against Bo Jackson and SI swimsuit models. Also, DETROITS OWN Uncle Kracker was the mid-game entertainment.

Later I was in attendence for one of Verlander's rare major league starts last year. At that time, he was very raw, but definitely had a ton of potential. His fastball reaches the upper 90's and his curve ball can become a devastating pitch if he is able to mix up his pitches well. I believe the Tigers lost that game like 4-1 and it was late august. By that time, we had already given up on the season so the score really doesn't matter. Verlander is ranked as one of the top 10 prospects in all of baseball.

Also, in case the caption to the picture was confusing. You were supposed to sing it, and then fill in the rest of the dylan lyrics after that. Hopefully for my hearts sake, Zumaya and Verlander aren't clowns and/or jokers this year, LOL. Hopefully Verlander can go all Josh Beckett on the MLB's ass this year, and we'll have a plus .500 record.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can't wait to sing that song all season long. Still can't belive I missed out on Ten High/Luvitz/Uncle Kraker, but you better belive I'm counting the the 238 hours until we get to see these guys stuff in their fist full seasons.

Anonymous said...

Old Dominion pretty much is a baseball player factory.

Brady Green said...

thank you readers for your comments...

to answer LR#2's message, yes, you really should feel upset that you were not able to watch the host from entertainment tonight play softball against US GOLD MEDAL softball players. and the ten high was delicious, as expected.

ODU is a baseball factory. that basically is an iron-true fact. can't argue with that track record.

Anonymous said...

i stumbled upon this article when doing a google search on Ten High Whiskey. it just so happens that i am also a loyal tigers fan. i live in livonia and would love to go to a game and party with you now that you're 21 im assuming. we can do it like we werent 21 and pass around a bottle of 10 high and get retarded watching the tigers. let me get your number. party on brady

Anonymous said...

It was Stealer's Wheel who sang the song "Stuck in the Middle with You" trying to do their best Robert Zimmerman impression...Not Dylan!

Anonymous said...

Verlander Sucks!

Brady Green said...

anonymous,
I found your comment delightfully creepy. Interesting...but definitely creepy. I'm just going to leave it at that.

and dylan purist, I want to sock you in the chest. in a good way.

bill gullickson...always an honor to have a Tigers great visiting my blog!