THE Wisconsin Pursue The Pennant Chapter: DC Dice Rollin'

More Tigers dice-rollin' comin' atcha!

The Nick-Mar-Tom-Tort annual baseball trip went down over the weekend (really need to name this thing properly), and our dice, charts, and cards made it past TSA without incident. My deck of Tigers managed to squeeze in 2 series during some of our downtime, while avoiding the blazing East Coast heat. Here's the details -

First up, Torto @ Nick:

Game 1: J.Pineiro @ R.Romero
Romero got off to a rocky start here, walking one, and plunking two before getting out of a bases loaded 1st inning jam. The next inning the Tigers broke through with 2 on the strength of three singles and a walk, and compounded by a Matt Joyce throwing error. Nick countered with a 2-run HR shot by righty-killer Matt Joyce. A solo shot from Jhonny Peralta and an RBI triple from Konerko and RBI singles from Joey Batts and Juan Pierre was enought to get the win though in the later innings. Nick mustered 2 more runs, but insurance was later piled on by a Joey Batts solo blast.
Torto wins 7-4
WP - J.Pineiro; LP - R.Romero; Save - K.Slowey
HR - J.Peralta, J.Bautista, M.Joyce, D.Ortiz

Game 2: J.Vargas @ J.Peavy
Jake Peavy looked like the guy we remembered from 2-3 years ago in this one, pitching a no-hitter into the 7th until Joe Mauer broke it up with a single, followed by a Paul Konerko HR blast, giving Torto the 2-0 lead. Vargas and Koji Uehara preserved the lead, giving up only 1 run - partly due to a Elvis Andrus error in the 8th. Going into the 9th, Uehara got the 25th out, but Torto decided to hand the ball to lefty specialist, Brian Duensing. Duensing walked lefty Brett Gardner, and Gardner stole second - and headed around to 3rd when Mauer airmailed the throw into center. Mike Napoli was then intentionally walked to get to the lefty-lefty matchup and put the double-play into effect. Nick stayed the course with Brennan Boesch (a lefty who can hit lefties) and was rewarded with a 3-run walk off homerun.
Nick wins 4-2
WP - D.Bard; LP - B.Duensing
HR - P.Konerko, B.Boesch

Game 3: D.Fister @ F.Hernandez
After stealing game 2 with some late inning heroics, Nick felt pretty good going into the game with the AL Cy Young award winner toeing the rubber. My squad's only hope was to get to King Felix early - and they did. But by sitting with the bat resting on their shoulders. Andrus led off the game with a single, and then King Felix proceeded to throw 4 consecutive walks before getting an out. With 1 out, Felix walked in another run, and then the Grandyman hit a 2-RBI single, before the inning ended. Spotting us a 4-run lead was just what Doug Fister (I hardly know her!) needed to boost his confidence. Two more insurance runs in the top of the ninth, made it 6-1, and Fister cruised for 8+ innings, giving up only 1, until giving up back-to-back solo jacks to Jim Thome and David Ortiz in the bottom of the 9th. With the score at 6-3, Grant Balfour came in and got the save, albeit while giving up another run.
Torto wins 6-4
WP - D.Fister; LP - F.Hernandez; Save - G.Balfour
HR - J.Thome, D.Ortiz

Torto wins series 2-1

Later, Mar and I tangled for game one in the hotel, and games 2-3 in the Reagan International Airport terminal. More details...

Game 1: J.Weaver @ G.Floyd
My Tigers jumped out to a quick lead, scoring 2 in the bottom of the first on a Boring Barton RBI double, and a Jose Bautista sac fly. A solo shot by Adrien Beltre (4th on the year) made it 3-0 thru the 7th. Mario finally broke thru on Floyd in the 8th, on a 3-run shot from Birther Luke Scott, to tie it 3-3. But bottom of the 9th, Mauer led off with a double, and was scored on a Bautista single. Mario threatened in the 9th with 2 on and 2 out, but couldn't bring the tying run across.
Torto wins 4-3
WP - J.Crain; LP - J.Weaver
HR - A.Beltre, L.Scott

Game 2: C.C.Sebathia @ J.Guthrie
Not much to say in this one - C.C. dominated the entire way, and my rolls went to sleep. The Tigers managed only 2 hits struck out 8 times. Mario picked up runs 1 at a time, in the 1st, 3rd, 6th, and 9th.
Mario wins 4-0
WP - C.C. Sebathia (CG); LP - J.Guthrie
HR - none

Game 3: C.Pavano @ J.Pineiro
The rubber match was a dogfight all the way, and lasted 13 innings, ending about 15 minutes before our plane was boarding. Both teams piled on 3 runs in the 4th, and both starters got chased by the end of the 5th. Mario got all of his first 5 runs on 4 home runs and a single. The Tigers got theirs by slapping the ball around the field and using The Rabbits (Pierre, Granderson, Span, Andrus, and Hudson) to use their speed running all over the bases. With the game tied 5-5 after 5, the bats went quiet for both teams all the way into extra innings. My guys threatened in the 11th, on a leadoff walk to Pierre, but he couldn't get sent around. Finally in the 13th, The Rabbits struck again - Grandy walked, O-Dog advanced him over on a ground ball, Pierre beat out a bunt to put runners on the corners, and Andrus bunted Grandy home on a suicide squeeze - taking full advantage of Miguel Cabrera's D-range on a 'Tough Play?" roll.
Torto wins 6-5 in 13 innings
WP - K.Uehara; LP - B.Logan
HR - A.Callaspo, V.Wells, N.Swisher, M.Cabrera

Torto takes series 2-1, pushing my overall record to 8-4. Weird to be a 3rd of the way done already, but there it is. Watch out for The Rabbits - 20 SBs in 12 games! Catch 'em if you can AL catchers!