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DAY 134
Sunday August 12th
Detroit MI
No pressure this morning, as today's game does not start until 1.05, and the ballpark is visible from my hotel. It is a beautiful stadium, built in an area that also includes the football stadium and the opera house. The stadium is much more open than the previous two I have visited, which provides a very attractive vista.
Anyone who didn't know that the Detroit team is called the Tigers would be left in no doubt approaching the stadium; there are tigers everywhere, statues, pictures, probably more than in India.
The Cincinnati connection has been at work again, and provided me with an excellent seat just behind first base. Although the temperature peaks at 86 degrees, the early afternoon sun makes it feel hotter, and people take regular breaks to go and stand by the concessions in the shade. The stadium is so well designed that there is even a good view from there.
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The visitors are the Oakland Athletics, and their third baseman Marco Scutaro opens the scoring with a two run homer in the second. This just serves to wake the sleeping Tigers, and their right fielder Magglio Ordonez opens the bottom of the second with a solo home run. This is a prologue to a remarkable sequence of events, and a series of walks and singles puts the Tigers 5-2 ahead. This brings Ordonez to the plate again, with two on and two outs. He homers again, a three run shot this time, to put the home team 8-2 ahead, and become only the second man in team history to hit two home runs in the same inning.
This basically decides the game, although both sides chip away and the final score is 11-5. At the end of the game it is announced that the Tigers' short stop, Placido Polanco, has just played his 143rd game of error free baseball, tying a major league record.
I'm constantly aware on this trip that all I'm seeing of these great American cities is the ballpark, a hotel and a couple of restaurants. The early finish to the game gives me the opportunity to see a little of Detroit, so I head off to the waterfront. It's a very pleasant area, with a lovely monument marking the "underground" which helped slaves escape from the US into Canada.
There is also a Caribbean festival, with people milling around enjoying the heat of the evening and the reggae band.
But there are no restaurants open (it's Sunday again!), so, after a lengthy walk, I end up back at the brewhouse opposite the hotel. I'm not complaining. |
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