on the july 17th game:

Did Quantrill think the score would be tied?

"Yeah, or else Giambi was dead," he said. "One of the two, or both."

Jason Giambi lived to tell about it. He leaped and pounced to his left, spearing the ball behind him for an out, then flopping into the dirt.

"There wasn't a whole lot of think time," Giambi said. "I just dove and laid myself out. It was hooking. There wasn't much left to keep it in my webbing. It was right in the tip of my webbing and ended up sticking."

After a strikeout, Omar Infante rifled a ball toward the third-base line. Rodriguez left his feet and reached high, grabbing the liner to end the inning. The lead was intact, somehow.

I was just making sure my cornermen weren't sleeping," Quantrill said. "I figured if I wasn't getting them out when they were hitting it soft, I might as well let them hit rockets - as long as they weren't at me." [nytimes]


i am ecstatic this tigers series is over:

1. i don't have to see omar infante's batting stance for a VERY VERY VERY long time. omar is newly a member of that elite group of players whose batting stances make me want to gouge out my eyeballs with a rusty fork. the others: johnny damon, jim leyritz, craig counsell.
2. detroit's lineup announcer guy. jesus fucking christ. he sounded like he was doing a monster truck rally, not a baseball game. i kept expecting to hear "SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAAAAY!"