Verlander’s No-No and other Blah-Blah

Emptying my mental notebook before the last two days of the 2006-07 school year:

Not sure about the rest of you, but I can tell you exactly where I was and what I was doing when Jack Morris the Tigers’ most-recent no-hitter in 1984. I was sitting in Mike Lozen’s family room drafting for the Southern Michigan APBA League (tabletop baseball). My team that year was the Junior Gemini’s and I drafted only players born under the astrological sign of the Gemini (like myself). My first-round pick that year was Lance Parrish; and yes, I did draft Lenn Sakata the only big-leaguer at the time to share my June 8 birthday. Suffice to say, the Gemini’s didn’t have a strong team that year.

What a difference 23 years makes. I watched Justin Verlander on TiVo in my basement with my wife Carol and my 10-year-old daughter Helena who was still awake because “the announcers on the radio were screaming.” (She goes to sleep listening to Tigers’ games.)

Rod Allen called his stuff “filthy” and “nasty.” I’d agree. It looked pretty sick from where I sat. Much better than the stuff sophomore Jerry Piku was tossing up at Sterling Heights High some 22 years ago for Lakeview High!

What’s with the birds? I know there was talk about moths being an attraction for them, but the gulls are all over the place. It looks like a scene from a Bernard Malamud meets Alfred Hitchcock movie.

My family attended Sunday’s game and as I saw the birds festoon the field, I was thinking it’s a good thing Tim Byrdak’s on this team. Do you suppose Dave Dombrowski could trade for Paul Byrd? Does Mark Fidrych have anything left in the tank? Perhaps Larry Bird could offer some left-handed punch as a 6-9 first baseman?

Whomever did the message board Sunday was having some fun. Following Gary Sheffield’s homer in the first this message appeared: “The Iron Sheff Serves up Another One.” Later on following Ivan Rodriguez’s triple: “Hot Pudge Sunday.” Clever stuff.

The Sunday victory over the Mets featured a pair of triples – Rodriguez’s and Sheffield’s. Aside from an inside-the-park homer is there a more exciting play in baseball? You can have your longball, I’ll take 2-to-4 triples a game any day of the week. That’s why I loved the old dimensions of Comerica so much. There was even more room for the ball to get up the gap. I can’t wait to see how many Curtis Granderson ends up with.

Parting question: How good was Virgil Trucks? Two no-hitters inside three months of one another in 1952. Mr. McClary (Tom Sr. that is) any recollections of him?