Posted by:

D-Town Warrior

| 04:29 PM ET  12.13 | I am a huge fan of Maglio Ordonez and the Detroit Tigers.  I have been to several dozens of games over the last 5 years and Comerica definetely holds a special place in my heart.  But one Tiger inparticular is my absolute favorite, and that is Maglio Ordonez.  I was a fan of his even back when he played with the Chicago White Sox organazation.  Even when he was smacking the Detroit pitchers all around Tiger Stadium and Comerica, he was one of my favorites to watch because of his sweet swing and great work ethic.  When he went down with a freak injury to his knee and spent 2 years in and out of baseball.  The White Sox pretty much discarded him and treated him like dirt and I felt that was pretty disgusting after all this man had put up with in Chitown (Frank Thomas's whinning and Kenny Williams, the worst GM in the game along with an idiot for a coach).  When the Tigers picked him up as a free agent in '05, I was absolutely thrilled.  I alot of friends who are also Tigers fans that were not so happy about the signing.  Many followers were very skeptical of a team that would sign a guy with bad knees to a very large contract following a year off, but not this guy!  I knew that if anyone could pull off a comeback like this, it was Mags.  But in his first season with the Detroit organization, disaster struck.  About 2 1/2 weeks into the season he went down with a sports hernia that would linger all year long.  He had a bad year and everyone was so quick to call him a bad investment and also throw jabs at David Dombrowski, the man personally responsible for pulling this team out of the bottom tier of teams in MLB.  But I was more optomistic, and I heard it from everyone when I would say, "Just wait and see for yourself".  As we all know, he has a great year in '06, as did the whole Tigers team and made it back to the postseason for the first time in 19 years.  I saw him play 27 games that year for the Tigers and he earned every penny.  The bests moment in my life in sports came in October of that year.  It was Game 4 of the ALCS and I had great seats for my twin brother and I.  Right in back of the Detroit bullpen in left field for the clincher that would send us back to the World Series for the first time since '84.  The Tigers came back to tie the game at 3 all heading into the bottom of the 9th.  After two quick outs, Craig Monroe hit a sharp single into left center and Polonco followed suit with a single of his own.  Here came Maglio, in a situation he had been before with the pennant on the line.  As I sat there and thought to myself, I wondered to myself if this was fate.  I am the only person that I knew that has stuck with Mag's through the rough start and all the way until now.  He took a sharp slider just off the inside corner for ball one.  My brother looks at me and says, "Hay, your guy could end it right here!!"  I looked to him and said, "HE WILL!"  Just as I looked back to the field, he stung the pitch over the fence and right to me.  It actually didn't come RIGHT to me, but it was damn close!!  The game was over, the Tigers had one the pennant and I had acheived what most sports fans dream of.  My favorite player had won the game and the series for my favorite team and you know the rest of the story.  We flopped in the WS, but I have renewed hope that after last season's near MVP season for Mag's, we will win it all in '08 and Mags will get his worth!!