Thames, Shelton help Tigers win finale
07/20/2006
DETROIT -- The Tigers keep opening eyes around baseball. This time, the eyes were Tadahito Iguchi's.
Hours after Craig Monroe beat the White Sox with a grand slam Wednesday night, Marcus Thames won the series with a slide. His takeout of Iguchi at second base kept the seventh inning going for Chris Shelton, whose two-out double pushed the Tigers ahead for a 2-1 win Thursday afternoon at Comerica Park.
It was the kind of play that usually heats up rivalries. Given the chatter going on between clubhouses Thursday morning, the environment was ripe for that. But it's a play everyone applauded, from the sellout crowd to the visiting dugout.
"It was great," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "That's the way to play the game. That's the way people should play the game. I think when you do that, you show intensity. I was applauding."
That's the type of play most any team would make, Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. The idea that only certain teams play hard, he said, is a myth. Every team does. Thames simply had the opportunity to do it at the right time.
"It was the difference in the ballgame," Leyland said.
It was one of the few opportunities the Tigers had against White Sox starter Jose Contreras. The split-finger artist hadn't lost a decision in a year before falling in his last start. The way he was pitching Thursday didn't show any sign he'd lose again.
Contreras scattered three hits through five innings and had retired nine straight batters entering the sixth. Two 3-0 counts from there helped doom him.
Contreras fell behind on Curtis Granderson, who hit a 3-1 pitch for a bloop double down the left-field line leading off the sixth. Two batters later, Ivan Rodriguez hit a bouncer through the middle for an RBI single, tying the game.
After Joel Zumaya (5-1) relieved Kenny Rogers for a scoreless seventh, the Tigers went back to work against Contreras, who again fell behind a hitter when he couldn't afford it. Thames drew a four-pitch walk with one out in the inning to put a runner on base for Monroe, who had tripled to deep center and flied out to the right-center-field fence in his previous two at-bats against Contreras.
This time, Contreras (9-2) got Monroe to hit a ground ball to third base. But Joe Crede's throw to second forced Iguchi across the bag to catch it and drew him into Thames' sights.
Thames knows about physical play, having gone to college on a football scholarship, but he doesn't relish contact. When he saw Iguchi coming across his line of sight as he was running into second base, he anticipated a play.
"The third baseman hung him out to dry," Thames said. "It was a bad feed from him. I don't want to hurt a guy, but I want him to know I'm coming in and trying to make sure he doesn't get off a good throw."
The only toss into the air was Iguchi. The 6-foot-2, 220-pound Thames slid hard and late to the inside of the bag, his legs catching the 5-foot-10, 200-pound Iguchi above his left ankle and flipping him over without a throw.
"Everybody in the league would've done that," Leyland said. "The White Sox do that. I don't see anybody not playing hard. That's just baseball, but that's good baseball."
It was about as adept as Thames gets when it comes to baserunning. Much of his contribution has been at the plate, where his 19 home runs lead the club. With 37 of his 65 hits this year going for extra bases, he doesn't stop at first base very often. Much like in football, he didn't know he had made a difference until the play was over.
"When I got up, I heard the crowd going crazy," he said, "so I knew something good had happened."
With Monroe safely at first base, up came Shelton, whose 0-for-14 slump was deeper than the 0-for-10 Monroe carried before his grand slam Wednesday. Shelton couldn't carry the ball out, but his drive to the fence in left-center field was just as effective in allowing Monroe to score.
"You just want to contribute," said Shelton. "Anytime you can contribute, it's big. Hopefully this will spark something and we can roll off a few more big hits."
Contreras' second straight defeat was also his first loss in his last five starts versus the Tigers, against whom he had been 7-2 lifetime with a 3.36 ERA.
As dramatic as Wednesday's win was for the Tigers, Leyland joked that he had awakened in the middle of the night with nightmares about Contreras' pitches. Contreras crossed the Tigers up Thursday by throwing a changeup that they hadn't seen before.
"We talked about it before the game: We've gotta go out and be aggressive against him," Leyland said. "If you get something to hit, better get a good swing on it early, because he can pick you apart."
Yet the sometimes free-swinging Tigers struck out just once against Contreras, who had fanned at least three batters in all 17 of his previous starts this year.
"I wouldn't say we exactly knocked him around," Leyland said. "We didn't knock the [tar] out of him, but we won the game."
The only way they could win, Leyland said, was if Rogers gave them a chance. Rogers, who had struggled over his last four starts, had to rely on his craftiness to do it. He loaded the bases with one out in the fourth with help from two walks and escaped with just one run allowed. After taking a line drive off his chest and throwing the ball away for a single and an error, he stranded another runner on third in the fifth by striking out Jim Thome looking at a breaking ball on the outside corner.
Source: http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/
DETROIT -- The Tigers keep opening eyes around baseball. This time, the eyes were Tadahito Iguchi's.
Hours after Craig Monroe beat the White Sox with a grand slam Wednesday night, Marcus Thames won the series with a slide. His takeout of Iguchi at second base kept the seventh inning going for Chris Shelton, whose two-out double pushed the Tigers ahead for a 2-1 win Thursday afternoon at Comerica Park.
It was the kind of play that usually heats up rivalries. Given the chatter going on between clubhouses Thursday morning, the environment was ripe for that. But it's a play everyone applauded, from the sellout crowd to the visiting dugout.
"It was great," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "That's the way to play the game. That's the way people should play the game. I think when you do that, you show intensity. I was applauding."
That's the type of play most any team would make, Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. The idea that only certain teams play hard, he said, is a myth. Every team does. Thames simply had the opportunity to do it at the right time.
"It was the difference in the ballgame," Leyland said.
It was one of the few opportunities the Tigers had against White Sox starter Jose Contreras. The split-finger artist hadn't lost a decision in a year before falling in his last start. The way he was pitching Thursday didn't show any sign he'd lose again.
Contreras scattered three hits through five innings and had retired nine straight batters entering the sixth. Two 3-0 counts from there helped doom him.
Contreras fell behind on Curtis Granderson, who hit a 3-1 pitch for a bloop double down the left-field line leading off the sixth. Two batters later, Ivan Rodriguez hit a bouncer through the middle for an RBI single, tying the game.
After Joel Zumaya (5-1) relieved Kenny Rogers for a scoreless seventh, the Tigers went back to work against Contreras, who again fell behind a hitter when he couldn't afford it. Thames drew a four-pitch walk with one out in the inning to put a runner on base for Monroe, who had tripled to deep center and flied out to the right-center-field fence in his previous two at-bats against Contreras.
This time, Contreras (9-2) got Monroe to hit a ground ball to third base. But Joe Crede's throw to second forced Iguchi across the bag to catch it and drew him into Thames' sights.
Thames knows about physical play, having gone to college on a football scholarship, but he doesn't relish contact. When he saw Iguchi coming across his line of sight as he was running into second base, he anticipated a play.
"The third baseman hung him out to dry," Thames said. "It was a bad feed from him. I don't want to hurt a guy, but I want him to know I'm coming in and trying to make sure he doesn't get off a good throw."
The only toss into the air was Iguchi. The 6-foot-2, 220-pound Thames slid hard and late to the inside of the bag, his legs catching the 5-foot-10, 200-pound Iguchi above his left ankle and flipping him over without a throw.
"Everybody in the league would've done that," Leyland said. "The White Sox do that. I don't see anybody not playing hard. That's just baseball, but that's good baseball."
It was about as adept as Thames gets when it comes to baserunning. Much of his contribution has been at the plate, where his 19 home runs lead the club. With 37 of his 65 hits this year going for extra bases, he doesn't stop at first base very often. Much like in football, he didn't know he had made a difference until the play was over.
"When I got up, I heard the crowd going crazy," he said, "so I knew something good had happened."
With Monroe safely at first base, up came Shelton, whose 0-for-14 slump was deeper than the 0-for-10 Monroe carried before his grand slam Wednesday. Shelton couldn't carry the ball out, but his drive to the fence in left-center field was just as effective in allowing Monroe to score.
"You just want to contribute," said Shelton. "Anytime you can contribute, it's big. Hopefully this will spark something and we can roll off a few more big hits."
Contreras' second straight defeat was also his first loss in his last five starts versus the Tigers, against whom he had been 7-2 lifetime with a 3.36 ERA.
As dramatic as Wednesday's win was for the Tigers, Leyland joked that he had awakened in the middle of the night with nightmares about Contreras' pitches. Contreras crossed the Tigers up Thursday by throwing a changeup that they hadn't seen before.
"We talked about it before the game: We've gotta go out and be aggressive against him," Leyland said. "If you get something to hit, better get a good swing on it early, because he can pick you apart."
Yet the sometimes free-swinging Tigers struck out just once against Contreras, who had fanned at least three batters in all 17 of his previous starts this year.
"I wouldn't say we exactly knocked him around," Leyland said. "We didn't knock the [tar] out of him, but we won the game."
The only way they could win, Leyland said, was if Rogers gave them a chance. Rogers, who had struggled over his last four starts, had to rely on his craftiness to do it. He loaded the bases with one out in the fourth with help from two walks and escaped with just one run allowed. After taking a line drive off his chest and throwing the ball away for a single and an error, he stranded another runner on third in the fifth by striking out Jim Thome looking at a breaking ball on the outside corner.
Source: http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/
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