Late to the Live Blogging

Because it's still too cold to play golf, you, the lucky readers, get to witness the result of live blogging today's game. I had to clean the kitchen, however, so I'm starting in the third inning.

• Wow, this inning has had everything. A walk, a bunt that puts pressure on the defense, good baserunning, some help from the umps, and some timely hitting. An RBI single from the OC, a bases loading bunt from Rivera, and Bengie with a three run double. Six runs in one inning. I repeat SIX RUNS IN ONE INNING. Hell, that's more than I expected on the enire road trip. That may actually be enough for Lackey.
• Note to the Tigers broadcasters: Nope, Nate Robinson didn't discover anything in that last start against Texas.
• Bad throw by Cabrera, but a nice turn by Kennedy to get the double play. It sure is nice to have him back at second base.
• Kotchman upate: 10 for his last 15. Three more hits yesterday. He appears to be getting back on track. His average is back up to .270 after his horrendous start.
• WOW! That ball was absolutely hammered by Rivera. I'm beginning to feel a bit more comfortable abou this game. 9-0 Angels in the top of the fourth. Seriously, he crushed that ball. It would have been a homer in the old configuration.
• Double play to end the fourth. I have a hard time on double plays like that one. Was it a great play, or was it just a great job of fixing screw ups? It reminds me of the Ichiro catch about which I recently wrote. Certainly Erstad did a great job. Kennedy made a great turn on another tough play, but made a bad throw that Erstad had to fix. Let's just call it even and two outs.
• Carlos Guillen gets thrown out stretching a double into a triple. Good call. He looked out at full speed, but if you slow it down on TiVo, it's even clearer that he's out. So what do the Tigers' broadcasters say? One needed one replay to say he was safe, the other needed two. So when they slow it down and watch it again, a frozen frame showing the glove on the leg before the foot hit the bag "Well, it's really close". Whatever fellas.
• Lackey with another strikeout. Six strong innings, one run allowed. Lost in the hoopla over the inept offense has been the fairly decent work by the starters. Keep it up, guys.
• Two Tigers hurt in this game. One is on a fantasy team of mine. That's not good.
• Dallas drew a walk. Normally not of note, but he did a good job fouling off some tough pitches and keeping the at bat alive, then he laid off a very tough pitch. Good sign. Sometimes when guys foul pitches off, they get in that swing, swing, swing mode. Dallas, of course, starts out in that mode, so when he can lay off a tough curve ball down and in, that's good to see.
• 113 effective pitches for Lackey. He tired a bit at the end, but he was solid throughout. Another quality start, and for once, the offense chipped in to help him out. Good job, John.
• Stop the presses!! Kevin Gregg threw a wild pitch!! Will wonders never cease?
• Nook Logan is given a base hit on a ball that was totally booted by Kennedy. What the hell have happened to the expectations from major leaguers when every single routine grounder is all of the sudden a "tough play" where booting it shouldn't be an error?
• 9-3 final score. Not necessarily a good job of ham-n-egging it, but a win is a win, and they needed this one. Good start to the trip. Let's see if they can keep it going in Cleveland.