All during the Yankee game I kept looking up at the scoreboard to the Tigers/Brewers score… first it was 1-0 in the third, then 3-0 in the sixth, then 4-0 in the seventh. I keep thinking to myself, “Verlander must be throwing a gem!” When the score was still 4-0 in the eighth, I started to get extremely curious…. no longer was I thinking about the inevitable quality start from Verlander, but I was actually beginning to think something “special” might be going on in MoTown. The game in Detroit was progressing so fast…. Certainly a shutout, but maybe even a one-hitter, or a no-hitter?? (No disrespect intended to the bullpen, but I absolutely expected to see a 4-1, or even 4-2 score after eight innings).

When I saw the 4-0 score after nine innings, I was absolutely convinced Verlander was in the midst of pitching a complete game, perhaps something entirely historical. Leyland must be letting him finish it off, I thought, for whatever the reason. (Again, no disrepsect to the bullpen, but the game was simply moving too fast to support any other theory, and the goose-egg in runs for the Brewers simply over-ruled any probable scenario involving the bullpen).

The 4-0 final score sealed the deal in my imagination. Even if Jones came in, and even if he didn’t allow a run (which didn’t seem likely to me) the game couldn’t possibly be over so soon. Jones may have wiggled out of his usual jam or two with no runs, but only after a walk or two here, a bloop hit there, etc., etc. I knew right then Verlander had pitched a complete game shutout. The dreamer I am, I began envisioning the ensuing no-hitter celebratory fanfare at Comerica, even as I filed out of Yankee stadium amid scores of drunken Yankee fans elated to win their seventh straight victory.

Needless to say, I couldn’t wait to find out just what happened in Detroit. On the drive to my suburban Long Island home, I flipped through the radio station to tune into the Met game, hoping to learn just went down in MoTown.

I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!!!!