No, no...YES!
Last year at the end of the year, after the Tigers had gone to the World Series and lost, a little sports collector opened up shop in the local mall. One day, I made my dad go in there with me, since sports collectors are hands on with their customers, and excuse me but I was a bit nervous about being the only one in there looking around.
Anyway, what we were looking at were baseball cards. A bunch of nice Tigers cards, and what I remember the most about that day was that the guy reached down into the case and took out a card he obviously already valued. A Justin Verlander rookie card.
Now, I'm not saying it was the same card. I honestly don't remember. All I remember saying was "Wow, he doesn't even look like Justin Verlander. He looks really old in that picture." Which, actually, makes me believe this card has nothing to do with the card I actually saw. But it works.
The strange thing about this day was that the guy was trying hardcore to get me interested in buying the Verlander card. And it was like twenty bucks or something. Not bad. Of course, I wasn't really looking to buy anything, but I seriously considered getting it. I mean, he'd already won Rookie of the Year, and having the rookie card of a Rookie of the Year...I mean, come on. It's a good thing. Then, I thought..."But it's only been a year. If I buy this card, that means I'm banking on Verlander actually being great throughout his career." I guess I didn't want to bank on that. So we walked out of there without it.
A season later, and Justin Verlander has just thrown his first no-hitter, the first no-hitter in Tigers history since Jack Morris did it in 1984 - the year we won it all.
I watched every pitch of this no-hitter, and I have to have a record of it because I'm 20, and this is the first time this has happened for the Tigers since I've been alive. That's how big this is.
I have to remember some things. Like the fact that in the second inning, I actually thought, "Wouldn't it be cool if he pitched a no-hitter?" Of course, the second inning is too early, and at that point it's pretty ridiculous to even think about something like that, but I want it recorded that I thought it. However, right after I thought that I thought, "Haha. Like that's going to happen."
Well, then all of a sudden it was the fifth inning. And I noticed he was still dealing, and I told my dad to come in and watch, because Verlander was pitching a no-hitter. He laughed. And then yelled at me for jinxing it if it actually was happening. And then didn't come watch.
So I kept watching. The Tigers scored in the sixth, making their lead 3 to 0, but I almost didn't care. I wanted to see Verlander pitch. And sure enough, he still had the no-no at the end of six. And at the end of seven. I started to realize just how crazy this was, just how impossible. I logged in to MLB.com and read the headline: "Justin case you hadn't noticed, No-No in progress." I got chills.
I watched a hard-hit ball shot to right field, and I held my breath. But Magglio knew what was at stake, and put his body on the line to make a very pretty sliding catch.
I watched Neifi Perez scoop an outfield-bound ground ball and shovel it behind his back to Placido Polanco who tagged the bag and whipped around to throw Gross out at first for the inning-ending double play. I watched and I screamed, and I promise I won't say anything bad about Neifi Perez for at least a month, even if he loses us ten games.
And then the eighth was over, and there were three outs to go. "He's going to do it. He's going to do it." I called my parents up to watch, and we all sat holding our breaths as the final three batters came up to face Justin. He struck out the first two easily, as they looked ridiculously lost at the plate. It took his strike-out total to 12, four more than his career high.
Then came the last batter, J.J. Hardy. The Magglio Ordonez of the Brewers.
Hardy stared at a first pitch fastball, coming in at 102 miles per hour - Verlander's 110th pitch of the night, and faster than any that had come before. Right on the outside corner for a strike, with the movement of a snake. The crowd was on their feet, and so was I, and when the next pitch came and Hardy fouled it off, I was elated - Verlander was one strike away from a no-hitter.
Then the ball was off the bat. Justin immediately pumped his fist, and I knew he had it...when the ball went into Magglio's glove for the final out, the crowd went wild. I went wild. My parents went wild. My dad had tears in his eyes, and so did I.
I still can't believe I got to watch it all. This has to be the pinnacle moment of my career as a Tiger fan. It was more exciting, more invigorating, and more satisfying than a hundred Magglio walk-off home runs to go to the World Series.
And I really wish I'd bought that freaking card.
Anyway, what we were looking at were baseball cards. A bunch of nice Tigers cards, and what I remember the most about that day was that the guy reached down into the case and took out a card he obviously already valued. A Justin Verlander rookie card.
Now, I'm not saying it was the same card. I honestly don't remember. All I remember saying was "Wow, he doesn't even look like Justin Verlander. He looks really old in that picture." Which, actually, makes me believe this card has nothing to do with the card I actually saw. But it works.
The strange thing about this day was that the guy was trying hardcore to get me interested in buying the Verlander card. And it was like twenty bucks or something. Not bad. Of course, I wasn't really looking to buy anything, but I seriously considered getting it. I mean, he'd already won Rookie of the Year, and having the rookie card of a Rookie of the Year...I mean, come on. It's a good thing. Then, I thought..."But it's only been a year. If I buy this card, that means I'm banking on Verlander actually being great throughout his career." I guess I didn't want to bank on that. So we walked out of there without it.
A season later, and Justin Verlander has just thrown his first no-hitter, the first no-hitter in Tigers history since Jack Morris did it in 1984 - the year we won it all.
I watched every pitch of this no-hitter, and I have to have a record of it because I'm 20, and this is the first time this has happened for the Tigers since I've been alive. That's how big this is.
I have to remember some things. Like the fact that in the second inning, I actually thought, "Wouldn't it be cool if he pitched a no-hitter?" Of course, the second inning is too early, and at that point it's pretty ridiculous to even think about something like that, but I want it recorded that I thought it. However, right after I thought that I thought, "Haha. Like that's going to happen."
Well, then all of a sudden it was the fifth inning. And I noticed he was still dealing, and I told my dad to come in and watch, because Verlander was pitching a no-hitter. He laughed. And then yelled at me for jinxing it if it actually was happening. And then didn't come watch.
So I kept watching. The Tigers scored in the sixth, making their lead 3 to 0, but I almost didn't care. I wanted to see Verlander pitch. And sure enough, he still had the no-no at the end of six. And at the end of seven. I started to realize just how crazy this was, just how impossible. I logged in to MLB.com and read the headline: "Justin case you hadn't noticed, No-No in progress." I got chills.
I watched a hard-hit ball shot to right field, and I held my breath. But Magglio knew what was at stake, and put his body on the line to make a very pretty sliding catch.
I watched Neifi Perez scoop an outfield-bound ground ball and shovel it behind his back to Placido Polanco who tagged the bag and whipped around to throw Gross out at first for the inning-ending double play. I watched and I screamed, and I promise I won't say anything bad about Neifi Perez for at least a month, even if he loses us ten games.
And then the eighth was over, and there were three outs to go. "He's going to do it. He's going to do it." I called my parents up to watch, and we all sat holding our breaths as the final three batters came up to face Justin. He struck out the first two easily, as they looked ridiculously lost at the plate. It took his strike-out total to 12, four more than his career high.
Then came the last batter, J.J. Hardy. The Magglio Ordonez of the Brewers.
Hardy stared at a first pitch fastball, coming in at 102 miles per hour - Verlander's 110th pitch of the night, and faster than any that had come before. Right on the outside corner for a strike, with the movement of a snake. The crowd was on their feet, and so was I, and when the next pitch came and Hardy fouled it off, I was elated - Verlander was one strike away from a no-hitter.
Then the ball was off the bat. Justin immediately pumped his fist, and I knew he had it...when the ball went into Magglio's glove for the final out, the crowd went wild. I went wild. My parents went wild. My dad had tears in his eyes, and so did I.
I still can't believe I got to watch it all. This has to be the pinnacle moment of my career as a Tiger fan. It was more exciting, more invigorating, and more satisfying than a hundred Magglio walk-off home runs to go to the World Series.
And I really wish I'd bought that freaking card.
Labels: blog entry, no-no, tigers, Verlander
3 Comments:
Very good analysis of the game. I caught the last inning and a half. It finally took a game such as this for the sportsworld to show some love for the Tigers. Listening to the national announcers on Fox Saturday, you thought the Tigers were getting their cans kicked by the Mets.
Let's not forget Verlander was suppose to be the top draft pick but the Padres elected to take a local boy and the Tigers got him instead. Shame on them.
As for Neifi....? Dusty Baker made mention of him on Baseball Tonight and his Gold Glove. Would the circumstances have been different had Guillen played, hmmm?
Good luck with your team.
My Mariners just watched their manager drive off into the sunset on a winning streak. ???????
Yeah, wasn't that strange...? Seattle only 2 games behind Detroit for the wild card and we have a 4 game series at Seattle after the break. By the way, nice Chiefs-Seahawks game Tuesday night, 17-3.
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