All riiiight... it's been like a week real-time, I've gotten enough of the "missed game" taste out of my mouth to go back and redo Game 3. It's still the strikeout-master but homer-prone Edgar Molina (1-0, 2.35) vs the Padres' youthful staff ace Steven Tyler (1-0, 6.75), this time for reals!
It's clear and 60 degrees out for this one. Oh boy, Southern California!
Top 1st: CF Alvin Romero grounds out 4-3. RF Frankie Faison hits one to the right of first baseman Carlos Palacios, who scoops it up and throws to P Steven Tyler for the out. 2B Joey Ramone hits a line drive right at the first baseman. 0-0.
Bottom 1st: RF Ed O'Neill strikes out swinging at a forkball. Phil McGraw flies out to center. Dale Earnhardt just stares at a low to mid 90s fastball on a 2-2 count to retire the side. 0-0.
Top 2nd: 3B Jose Ayala hits a one-hopper into right field for a leadoff base hit. 1B Niki Lauda hits into a 4-6-3 double play. LF Danny Hohman drives one into right that gets past Ed O'Neill and hits the wall for a double. SS Rob Curran hits one into right and turns it into a 2-out clutch RBI! It's a base hit with the speedy Hohman scoring from 2nd. 1-0! C Armando Flores belts one into deep left-center field! It's not going to clear the fences but it does bounce off the wall and by the time Phil McGraw gets it in, Curran's already scored from 1st base! 2-0! P Edgar Molina grounds out 4-3. 2-0, Tigers.
Bottom 2nd: 2B Paul McCartney strikes out on 3 pitches. Edgar Molina's gotten to 2 strikes on every hitter he's faced so far. 1B Carlos Palacios walks. LF Ian Everett grounds into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning. 2-0, Tigers.
Top 3rd: Romero leads off with a walk. I was expecting him to steal immediately but instead Frankie Faison swings at the first pitch and drills it into right. Ed O'Neill charges it and gets on it immediately but the relay to 3rd base is still not in time, and Faison gets to 2nd on the throw. Tyler strikes out Joey Ramone on a 3-2 fastball, swinging, that was at least a foot too high out of the strike zone. He'll pitch to Ayala. Ayala lines out to Paul McCartney at 2nd and this time Alvin Romero's aggression gets the better of him, as he's caught off base and the inning ends on a L4-3 double play. 2-0, Tigers.
Bottom 3rd: Joe Wicker hits a grounder to short that SS Rob Curran juuust manages to throw in time to first for the out. C Oliver Williams strikes out swinging. Steven Tyler also whiffs to retire the side. 2-0, Tigers.
Top 4th: Niki Lauda grounds out 4-3. Danny Hohman drills one into the left-center gap. It takes a weird bounce off the wall and he steams into third base ahead of the Phil McGraw throw! Rob Curran walks this time to set up the double play (note: not intentionally). The bottom of the Tigers order continues to kill Steven Tyler as Flores hits an RBI single up the middle to make it a 3-0 ballgame! Rob Curran holds up at 2nd. Edgar Molina, holder of that career .059 average, lays down a nice bunt that goes as a 2-4 sacrifice with both runners moving up 90 feet. Alvin Romero hits a soft liner right at 2B Paul McCartney to retire the side. 3-0, Tigers.
Bottom 4th: Ed O'Neill grounds out 4-3. Dr. Phil hits a can of corn to center. Dale Earnhardt grounds out 5-3. 3-0, Tigers.
Top 5th: Faison walks to lead it off. That's Steven Tyler's 3rd walk today and his 8th of the postseason in 16 IP. Make that 4 and 9 as he loses Joey Ramone on a 3-1 fastball in the dirt. Make
that 3 straight walks, this one to Jose Ayala, and now the bases are loaded with nobody out. For a rock musician, Tyler sure isn't handling the stage of the World Series well. Lauda pops out to Dale Earnhardt in front of 3rd and gives the Pads a shred of hope: they can get out of the inning with a double play. Or that... Danny Hohman strikes out looking for the 2nd out. Rob Curran hits a hot grounder that juuust gets past Paul McCartney into right field! Faison scores! 4-0! Here comes Joey Ramone to score! 5-0! The relay goes to third base and... they catch Ayala for the final out of the inning! 5-0, but it could have been worse! It's still pretty bad!
Bottom 5th: McCartney grounds out to short. He's now hitting just .217 in the postseason, speaking of guys wilting in the limelight. Carlos Palacios hits a hot grounder up the middle... SS Rob Curran dives for it, gets up, and throws him out in time! Ian Everett follows with another sure single past 2B Joey Ramone... that also turns into a diving stop and a 4-3 out! 5-0, Tigers, and something is happening right now that I can't say out loud because that would be a jinx.
Top 6th: Steven Tyler walks Armando Flores to lead it off. That's already 6 walks and he's up to 95 pitches. Molina tries to bunt, gets to 2 strikes, and then whiffs for Tyler's 2nd strikeout. Ramone hits a grounder past 3B Dale Earnhardt for a base hit, the catcher in front of him only moving up 90 feet. Frankie Faison hits one into right. Armando Flores isn't the fastest guy in the world but I guess he's not suuuper slow for a catcher... anyway he rounds 3rd to test that arm... and scores! 6-0 and Romero and Faison are on 2nd and 3rd. Tyler's not tired but maaaan we've got a game to win here; I'm calling the bullpen.
The new guy is Ruben Estrada, who's given up 2 runs on 5 hits in 1.1 IP so far this postseason. He was better in the regular season, I promise. With 1st base open... man, I hate putting the bat directly into the hands of the Joker, Jose Ayala, but we need the out at any base so the intentional walk is called. Ayala makes it academic by flying out to center field. Alvin Romero tags up and scores and it's 7-0 now! Niki Lauda hits one into the dirt in front of home plate; C Oliver Williams pounces on it easily and throws to first for the final out of the inning. 7-0, Tigers.
Bottom 6th: I'm not going to say what's happening - yet - but I will say that Molina has thrown to the minimum 15 batters so far in this game. Wicker strikes out. That's the 6th K Molina's recorded tonight. Williams grounds out 5-3. Pinch-hitting for the pitcher is Elijah Johnson; I'll save Dr. Jack for later. He grounds out 3-unassisted to retire the side. 7-0, Tigers.
Top 7th: With a couple lefties due up I'll bring in the southpaw Dan Pineau, who pitched 2/3rds of an inning the other night and previously threw a scoreless inning in that Game 1 13-10 stunner at Philadelphia. Danny Hohman's 2-3 with 2 runs scored tonight but he's been switching it up with LF Tom Berenger all season long so in comes the young actor. Berenger singles to left. Rob Curran's also been in a platoon all year but at this point with a 7-0 game I'll leave Curran and his superstar glove in this one. Pineau throws a 1-1 pitch into the dirt and it gets all the way to the backstop. Berenger moves up 90 feet on the wild pitch. 2 pitches later, Curran grounds out 3U with Berenger getting to 3rd. You intentionally walk the catcher here, right? I do that. Molina strikes out swinging and now all Pineau has to do to get out of this inning is to get the lefty batter Alvin Romero out. He does with another 3U grounder. 7-0, Tigers.
Bottom 7th: Tom Berenger takes over in left field. Edgar Molina is now 9 outs away from - turn your radios down, superstitious fans! - the first no-hitter in World Series history. WELP. I JINXED IT MYSELF. Molina loses the no-no and the shutout all at once as the leadoff man Ed O'Neill belts one into the right field stands for a leadoff homerun. 7-1! Dr. Phil grounds out 4-3. Molina by the way pitched 4 shutouts this year. How? He seems to give up at least 1 tater every single game. Dale Earnhardt grounds to short and it takes a good play by Rob Curran to throw him out. Paul McCartney hits a homerun to left-center! That's his 1st HR of the postseason and now it's 7-2! Palacios lines out to 2nd. 7-2, Tigers.
Top 8th: Someone's throwing in the bullpen - I don't have the warmup rule on to preserve my own sanity - but Pineau will stay in to face one last left-handed batter in Frankie Faison. Faison strikes out swinging and it's time to make that call...
On the mound is human scumbag Roy Moore, who allowed 2 runs on 4 hits in 1 inning in Game 2. Overall he's got a 9.00 ERA in the playoffs. Joey Ramone singles into right field. Ayala pops out to second. Moore jams Lauda on a 1-2 fastball and gets him to ground out quietly to 2nd. 7-2, Tigers.
Bottom 8th: Molina's still only thrown 75 pitches and I hate that I'm even contemplating pulling him. Well... after Paul McCartney there's not a lot of power in this lineup. Everett singles up the middle; it's the first hit in play off Molina all game long. Wicker strikes out - #7 on the night for Molina. Williams grounds out 4-3 for 2 out. Coming on in to pinch-hit for the pitcher is Dr. Jack Holman, who did have 2 HRs in 100 ABs in the regular season. He flies to center; it's no trouble for Alvin Romero, who catches it for the final out. 7-2, Tigers.
Top 9th: I'm bringing in the setup man Robbie Vaughn to keep Darius Parchman fully rested for Game 4. And hey, it's not like Vaugh is conceding the game or anything; he was 4-2, 1.34 in the regular season with 6 saves and has thrown 3.1 scoreless innings in the postseason. Berenger hits one over SS Rob Curran but Curran climbs the ladder for the line drive out. Curran flies to right. Flores hits a 2 out double into right field that will probably be for nothing because Edgar Molina's going to try to finish this game. Molina does in fact strike out to retire the side. 7-2, Tigers.
Bottom 9th: One defensive replacement here: 3B Joe Theismann will take over for Jose Ayala at the hot corner. Molina, as noted, will stay in here to pitch to the top of the Padres' order. Ed O'Neill, who homered in his last at-bat, hits a little roller in front of home plate that winds up being a base hit. Imagine if that was hit #1 of this game and not hit #4... Dr. Phil hits a slow grounder to 2nd base. Joey Ramone takes it the short way to 2nd base for out #1. Dale Earnhardt hits a slow looping line drive right at SS Rob Curran for the 2nd out. Now it's up to Paul McCartney... he grounds out 4-3 to end this one!
Well, it wasn't nearly as exciting as the first try through but the result was the same. The Tigers have sent the Padres to the brink and it'll take a good amount of effort just to not end this series in San Diego.
