I’ve seen much worse at Phillies games, probably because they were playing the Mets. I normally sit in the upper deck since that is cheaper and for one game, I wasn’t paying attention to the game for the 3rd through the 7th just because of all the junk that was going on.

I grew up fighting Philly fans off…. I’m used to it by now, haha.

I like Thames at 1B for one main reason-showcasing him for a potential trade. I like Thames in general, but having him and Monroe both seems redundant. Craig hasn’t helped his stock recently, so Thames seems likely to bring us a better deal. Plus I’d like to see him catch on with another team where he can really shine, kind of like Carlos Pena with the Devil Rays. Hey, maybe Pena’s available!

I arrived early for BP and was surprised to see how many Tiger fans were there. I even met another guy who had flown in from Denver for the game. Our hitters were wowing everyone with the display of power in BP, which is of course meaningless, but I overheard multiple comments from the Phillies fans about how our guys were giving out many many more souvenirs to the fans in the outfield seats than the home team was. I liked to hear the tone of respect before the game even started.

Interesting pregame presentation. They awarded the Babe Ruth Award to Ryan Howard for his home runs last year, and it was presented to him by the Babe’s 91 year-old daughter. I found it moving to be in the presence of someone so closely connected with what’s become almost mythological by now. She’s holding up pretty well too, so I suspect she didn’t inherit her father’s propensity for fast living.

But then Moyer owned us. He threw 80% changeups, sometimes reaching as low as 68, so I can’t explain it but it worked. Normally my concern in such a close game would have been the ‘pen, but no. It was the bats. It got a little interesting facing Alfonseca in the 9th with the tying run at the plate, to no avail.

All in all, a nice park. Interesting that the out-of-town scoreboard shows outs and men on base in each game. We don’t have that at Coors Field. I bypassed the endless cheesesteak line. My seats were 1st base side, pretty high up, and had no bother from the locals whatsoever, even in my 80′s era Tigers road jersey. Like I said, there were a ton of Tiger fans, all showing their colors and I didn’t see or hear any confrontation anywhere. Filing out after the game, we would pass each other and say that we’ll get ‘em tomorrow.

All-Star Mark Grace, for much of the first half of his career.

I hoped that Sheff would have launched a HR ball into the seats behind me and broken the teeth of the a-holes jawing the entire time but alas….

And… he had such a dismal April. If you factor that in and look at his performance the last 30 days, there is absolutely nothing wrong with Casey’s offensive production (save for no home runs, which is rather odd)… Even with no home runs he is slugging .451 and batting for average at .363 the past 30 days. I’ll take Casey in the lineup anyday.

And PLEASE don’t compare Sean Casey to Neifi Perez… that’s downright sacreligious