Making us locals proud

I should have written about this since last night but I have as much energy right now as Bob Wickman after running a couple of warm-up laps. Jair Jurrjens took the mound for the Indians again last night as he got his 2nd Major League start, ironically also against Fausto Carmona and the Indians.

The difference was that he got to pitch at home this time, and he put in a great performance as he held Cleveland to 1 hit and 1 run through 6 1/3 innings, leading the Tigers to a 2-1 win. Jurrjens, the native of Curacao had all the locals, me included, glued to the tube as he worked through that Indians order.

It's only been two games but I'm sure that the Tigers must be thrilled with what they've seen from Jurrjens so far. In his debut in Cleveland, he went 7 innings and gave up 4 runs, but last night he was more relaxed and the results were visible.

Keep in mind that he hasn't even pitched in AAA yet, and the Tigers threw him right in the middle of a very big pennant race, against one of the more potent offenses in the game. Not the easiest of tasks for a 21-year old.

Besides Jurrjens, Tiger fans got to see the return of Joel Zumaya who made his first appearance since coming of the D.L. and he was throwing nasty stuff as usual. With the Tiger bullpen healthy again, this team should be very difficult to beat down the stretch.

With Andruw Jones hurt and stinking up the joint, at least Jair brought a smile to our faces last night.