The News from Detroit City

Last night I went to sleep in Detroit city,
And I dreamed about those cotton fields and home.
I dreamed about my mother,
dear old papa, sister and brother,
And I dreamed about that girl,
whose been waitin' for so long.

I want to go home, I want to go home,
Oh Lord, I want to go home.

by Danny Dill and Mel Tillis

We don't want to go home just yet, but we did want to go to Detroit city. Dorcas and I have vowed to catch a Major League Baseball game every chance we get as we travel across the country on our adventures. It's pretty easy to do here in the upper Midwest, as there is a MLB town about every hundred miles. We saw the Cardinals in St. Louis in 2007 and the Twins in Minnesota last year. Unfortunately we missed the Cleveland Indians last week, since they were playing out on the west coast. We are camped only 50 miles north of Detroit and decided to stay at St. Clair a few days longer than we had originally planned, in order to catch a Tigers game. The Tigers were starting a home stand tonight against the Baltimore Orioles. We bought some cheap-seat tickets and headed to town. We parked near the Greektown Casino about eight blocks from Comerica Park and took a tour of downtown Detroit on the Detroit People Mover, a light rail train system that travels about on a 2.9 mile overhead track around the central area of downtown Detroit. We did one full circuit and got a fairly quick tour of the city. After our city tour we ate a fine dinner at Plaka Cafe, one of the many Greek restaurants in Detroit's Greektown.

Then disaster struck! Stepping out of the restaurant onto the street Dorcas turned her ankle on the low step onto the sidewalk. Those who know Dorcas know that turning her ankle is not terribly uncommon; it happens about once every year or so. It quickly began swelling turning blue, and my immediate concern was if her injury would affect our trip into the Boundary Waters about 3 weeks later. I suggested we go back into the restaurant and see if we could turn this mishap into a free meal or some windfall cash, or at least some ice in a bag, but Dorcas was too embarrassed to do any of those things, so we walked and hobbled (Dorcas in severe pain) the eight blocks to the stadium. We got to the stadium well before the start of the game and wandered around looking at the sights at Comerica Park. Later, as the swelling increased, it occurred to me that I could take Dorcas to the first aid station in the stadium and get some free treatment. There we met a very friendly nurse, whose day job is working in the ER. The nurse pronounced that the ankle was probably not broken. She applied an ace bandage and an ice pack, and prescribed rest and elevation (the usual RICE formula for a sprain), advice which Dorcas promptly ignored.

Meanwhile, back at the game ..... The Tigers are in 1st place in the AL Central Division, but were coming off an 11-1 defeat at Cleveland the night before. The fans wanted blood. Detroit was starting Justin Verlander, their ace right-hander. On his second pitch he gave up a home run to deep center by Brian Roberts, a North Carolina boy from Durham. It went downhill from there for the home team. Verlander gave up a series of hits (three singles and two doubles) all to left field. Baltimore finished with 5 runs in the top of the 1st. The Tigers redeemed themselves somewhat by scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the inning: 1st inning 5-3. It looked like it was going to be a very long night. Actually the game moved rather quickly from that point. Verlander settled down and gave up only 2 more hits through the 8th inning, while the Tigers manufactured two more runs. With the score tied 5 to 5 and two outs in the bottom of the 9th, Detroit's Clete Thomas pounds a dinger over the center field wall to give the Tigers a 6-5 win. The crowd goes wild! For those with too much time on their hands, here is a complete game summary. We escaped the big city without being mugged and without further incident and were back in camp well before midnight. Matilda had stayed with a neighbor and her two dogs and two cats, so she had a fun evening as well.