Your Detroit Tigers held on to beat the Sawks 6-5 last night. If you watched the 9th inning, you likely woke up still feeling ill from that episode this morning. Since the Tigers have been playing like some serious crumb bums, Valverde has seen limited playing time. For whatever reason, Leyland felt that last night was a good time to stretch P. Grande out in a 5 run game in the 8th inning. This resulted in Valverde throwing 60(!) pitches, 5 walks (1 int.), giving up a grand slam, a double, wincing in pain…and striking out 4. Ryan Perry was warming up, but you have to wonder why. If that stat line from above isn’t enough to get you put in the game, then I’m pretty sure no matter what you weren’t going in. My favorite play had to be the intentional walk that put the winning run on the bases in the 9th inning. That was just special. But, like I said, the Tigers won 6-5 and are awesome.
That episode from last night got me thinking about other coaches that have taken insane risks….that have worked out.
1. Rookie Of The Year. After Rowengartner miracolously unbreaks his arm reverting him back to sucky 12 year old status…The Cubs Manager decides “no biggy, let’s roll with this.” With no arm, Rowengartner has to rely on intentional walks and getting the outs on the basepaths through (illegal) hijinks. Unfortunately the hidden ball trick is a balk, and the whole walking off the mound and flapping your arms like a chicken move would result in a delay of game penalizing him a ball for each offense. Luckily for the Cubs, Jim Joyce was umpiring this game, so these hijinks work and incredibly there are two out. Up to the plate steps Heddo. Heddo seems to be a combination of Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb’s mean streak. Rowengartner decides to pitch to Heddo because…shut up, that’s why. Before this at bat, Rowengartner goes though a moment of deep introspection where he peels off part of his glove discovering that he’s been using his moms softball glove. Unfortunately it seems that Henry’s mom has suffered brain truama and urges him to go with the underhanded toss approach to the most feared hitter in movie history. Does it work out?
2. D2: The Mighty Ducks (the greatest movie ever). The world is on pins and needles as the Junior Goodwill Games hockey championship heads to a shootout between Team USA and the goons from Iceland. In round 5, phenom Adam Banks put USA up by one in the shootout. Unfortunately for Team USA, it is Gunnar Stahl’s turn. Gunnar Stahl is the flashy superstar from Iceland who has been terrorizing the worlds teenagers throughout this tournament. This is when things get wacky. Coach Bombay decides to insert Julie “The Cat” Gaffney into goal for Greg Goldberg. “The cat” had not played a minute in goal in the entire tournament. Not even against Trinidad. Gaffney was put in to replace Goldberg in the first USA/Iceland bloodbath, but was ejected immediately after coaxing a couple of Iceland players to sexually harass her who she then cheapshots resulting in her expulsion from the game. So, Gaffney with no prior game experience and no warm up is put in to face superstar Gunnar Stahl in round 5. Does Coach Bombay’s gamble work? Let’s find out.
Honorable mentions…Major League and Angels in the Outfield. In another life I already wrote something about these. Check them out here.
The Tigers are currently 6 games back in the Central race. But, if Trinidad can qualify for a worldwide hockey tournament then it appears that anything is possible.
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