Spent the day in Dunedin, Fl at Knology Park to watch the matchup between the Tigers and Blue Jays. Was initially worried about some rain but it turned out to be a pretty nice day, enough so that I got a bit burnt. The wind was out in full force and was behind the batters helping both Mike Hessman and Placido Polanco put the ball out of the park. Local Flordians view on the weather wasn’t exactly mine though but I just came in from Michigan.
The park was a nice park that is a bit smaller than Joker Marchant, holding a bit above 5,000 fans. There were quite a few Tiger fans in attendance as well. I was a bit surprised that so many turned out and many of them had also made the trip from Detroit.
Below are a number of key points and thoughts I took away from todays game:
- It was disappointing to see Bonderman struggle in the second inning. It felt like classic 2007 season Jeremy Bonderman wherein he struggled early and gave up some very solid outfield gap hits. Can’t say these runs are on him working on his changeup as Jeremy seems pleased with his progress on the pitch:
“I’m not happy giving up three runs,†Bonderman said. “But I am very happy with my changeup.â€
- Tigers had many bad at-bats. Jacque Jones reminded me of the Brandon Inge of last year by taking a couple half-swing called third-strike. He just simply looked stumped at the plate. Marcus Thames struck out with the bases loaded, swinging at a ball out of the zone.
- Finally got to see Denny Bautista pitch in person. He struggled a bit more than it might appear from the box score but he didn’t give up a run. He really takes his time between pitches as well but still doesn’t come close to Jose Mesa.
- Was looking forward to seeing Danny Worth but he took a single swing which resulted in a GIDP.
- St. Pierre looked good behind the dish. He connected with Sizemore to get a runner at second and with Hollimon at third. He took some of the better swings for Tiger batters today.
- Wished Bobby Seay would have stayed out a bit longer. He faced three batters and retired them pretty quickly.
Even though the Tigers lost and didn’t look great offensively in the process, it was a fun day. Tomorrow we’ll be going to the Tigers vs Pirates game at Joker Marchant. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to see Gary Sheffield, Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Guillen and Ivan Rodriguez, all of whom were not in attendance today.