Frank Thomas tames Tigers in marathon game

Frank Thomas!

I don't know if it was something that Tigers pitchers were consciously trying to do or not, but a number of pitchers came up and in on him on the first pitch. One even went behind his head. Late in the game when Fernando Rodney failed to push Thomas off the plate by starting him off with two pitches low and away, Thomas crushed his third offering on a line drive over the left field wall.

Brandon McCarthy finally looked like a big league pitcher out there. He still has a small margin for error, but he looked like he had a plan this time out.

In the third inning, he and AJ were able to get multiple hitters chasing his change up down in the zone. That will be the key pitch for McCarthy. If he has a good motion and location on that pitch, they can't sit on his fastball, or pass on every curveball that he throws.

His curveball wasn't that great last night. In fact, he was hanging quite a few of them. He had the Tigers hitters off balance just enough so that they couldn't really tee off on him. Pudge Rodriguez got a look at three straight hangers, but wasn't able to muscle the third one out for the final out of the sixth.

Hawk likes to beat the 'you win 60, you lose 60, it's what you do with the other 42' drum an awful lot. I'd like to know where he classified last nights' game.

I'd classify it as one of the 60 losses. There's no way we should win that game.

If you missed the game, I suggest you go to MLB.com and watch the spectacular play that Juan Uribe made in the ninth. The play becomes all the more amazing when you take into account that he's still playing with a sore back. I think he rushed back a little but because Pablo Ozuna was stealing his thunder.

That's some voodoo magic working in the bullpen.

I was going to write about Shingo Takatsu after his last outing, but decided to hold off. He's been very good in June, and has regained some trust from me. I was very glad to see him pick up the win. He sure did look happy when he recorded that final out.

Could be a trade in the works with the D'backs.

The D'backs got to see a whole lot of bullpen on Wednesday. Luis Vizcaino has to be the guy who the Sox are shopping. He's out of options, and wore out my patience long ago. He didn't even look good in his 2.1 scoreless last night. Maybe the D'Backs were fooled by the results.

Cotts and Shingo both have options left, and have pitched very effectively lately, so I don't see them as options. Marte, Politte, and Hermanson are too valuable to be giving up. On top of all that, I can't think of anything on the major league level that Arizona could give us to make the team better. The deal would have to be for prospects.