Tigers Weekly 2005 Season

Week 1: 4/4/05 - 4/11/05

Up, down, up, down... The Tigers have been painting
the fence in their first week of real baseball.  The
team opened the season with a strong win over the
Royals and then split the remaining two games to take
the series.  Over the weekend the Tigers outscored
Cleveland by eight runs but lost two of three.  The
club has shown that they can beat you down on any
given day but they have come up short in the close
games.  The Tigers were terrible last season in one
run contests, so this trend will have to change if
they are to take things to the next level.  The boys
get a big test early this week with a three game set
at the Metrodome.  Luckily they'll miss Cy Young
winner Johan Santana, who pitched Sunday night against
the White Sox.  The division is a log-jam early on
with every team compiling at least three wins.  The
Tigers play all of their April games, save two at
Baltimore, against the Central.  They can really make
a statement with a strong start.
 
Reminder:  Tigers Weekly issues can now be viewed on
the web at www.tigersweekly.com.  Visit often and let
me know what you think of the site (created and
maintained by Nic Gilbert).
 
New Subscribers...  the first issue of the year
usually brings a few more fans into the ring, and 2005
has proven to be no different.  I'd like to welcome
these new readers and hope to hear from them often.
 
Paul "St. Jerome" Kersey
Chuck "Wapner" Claus
Jamie "Walker" Rykse 
Dan "Even" Stevens   
Matt "Chip" Stevens (no relation)
Suzy "Q" Watson
Mike "Dombrowksi" Dabkowski

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Support Ferny!!!
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Want to know how you can support one of the Weekly's
readers?  Anthony "Ferny" Morano, former MCC
battery-mate of my brother Brian, has a radio show
that airs on Saturday nights (Sunday mornings) at 2AM
Eastern time on KLAV 1230AM Las Vegas.  You can listen
to the show on the internet at www.klav1230am.com or,
if you want, you can call the show toll free
1-866-820-5528 (and tell 'em Tigers Weekly sent you!).
 
Ferny, one of these nights I will be calling in about
the Tigers (as Furious Fred on the bench), so stay
sharp, for know ye not when the master of the house
will call.

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Goin' To Work...
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Attention Pistons fans!!!  Fellow MCC grad Steve
Sprague is the author of the weekly Pistons
newsletter, Goin' To Work.  If you love the NBA then
you will love this newsletter.  E-mail him at
ScubaSteveUM@hotmail.com to join the party. 
DEEEETROIT BAAAASKETBALLLLL!

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"WEEK" OF 4/4 - 4/11
 
Record:  3-3  W-LWLWL-
 
Undy Five-Hundy:  The Tigers, like a lot of other
teams in MLB, finished their first two series at an
even record of 3-3.  They now take the show on the
road for an eight game trip.  Negative numbers is what
we're looking for here.  Last season the index
finished at 18.  That wasn't bad compared to the last
couple of years, but we should expect it to be even
lower this season.
 
Up Next for the Tigers...

April 12-14  @ Minnesota
April 15-17  @ Kansas City
April 18-19  @ Baltimore
 
AL Central Standings...

CWS  5 2 - 
DET  3 3 1.5
MIN  3 3 1.5
CLE  3 4 2
KCR  3 4 2
 
Tigers News and Notes:  Ramon Hernandez was placed on
the 15-day DL with a sprained thumb.  The team
recalled Marcus Thames to take his place.  Magglio
Ordonez has missed four games in a row with the flu. 
Not a great start for the new Tiger, but at least it's
not his knee that is sidelining him.

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Tiger of the Week...
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Maybe he wasn't the most obvious choice for the honor, given Dmitri Young's 3 HR performance on opening day or Carlos Guillen's .455 batting average, but new Tiger Kyle Farnsworth had a week that represents exactly what the Tigers need him and other relievers to do. The former Cub appeared in four games and racked up six K's in 4.1 innings without yielding an earned run. Two of those appearances (three innings) came against the Indians while the game was close. For a team that had bullpen woes and lost a lot of close games last season, weeks like this will be more than welcome.

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Poll Question...
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OK, now to all of this steroid business.  Alex Sanchez
was the first major leaguer to receive a suspension
(ten days) for testing positive for steroids.  Just
recently, Jorge Piedra of the Rockies was suspended
for the same reason.  Many minor leaguers were also
suspended for similar violations.  The fact that a
player as "insignificant" and light-hitting as Sanchez
was the first to be found out suggests that there
could be players of all types that are on some sort of
juice.  Both Sanchez and Piedra claim the positive
tests were for over-the-counter substances that were
purchased and taken before they were outlawed this
season.
 
Do you think that the new testing policy will
implicate any big stars of the game, and if so, who do
you think is likely to test positive?  Feel free to
weigh in with any thoughts on the steroid controversy.
 
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Missing Persons Report...
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The first issue resulted in a lot of e-mails bouncing
back to me.  Here is a list of people that I have lost
touch with.
 
Gary Conkle
Craig VanSplunter
Aaron Pelttari
Mark Yingling
Tom Lenfesty
Chris Marlink
Jason Martin
 
If you know these people, find out if they are still
interested in receiving the Weekly.  If they are, get
me their new addresses and I will update their contact
info.  If they want off the list, let me know and I
will remove them.  Thanks.

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Game Linescores...
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April 4:  Kansas City 2 - Detroit 11
Starters:  KCR: Lima 3IP - DET: Bonderman 7IP
KCR  000 010 010   2  7 1
DET  032 030 12X  11 13 1
W: Bonderman (1-0)
L: Lima      (0-1)
 
April 5:  no game scheduled...
 
April 6:  Kansas City 7 - Detroit 2
Starters:  KCR: Hernandez 7IP - DET: Maroth 3.2IP
KCR  200 300 110  7 15 0
DET  001 000 001  2  6 0
W: Hernandez (1-0)
L: Maroth    (0-1)
 
April 7:  Kansas City 3 - Detroit 7
Starters:  KCR: Grienke 2.1IP - DET: Johnson 6.2IP
KCR  000 000 012  3  9 1
DET  000 001 60X  7 14 2
W: Johnson (1-0)
L: M. Wood (0-1)
 
EN:  Grienke was hit by a line drive in the third
inning and came out of the game.
 
April 8:  Cleveland 4 - Detroit 3
Starters:  CLE: Elarton 5.1IP - DET: Robertson 7IP
CLE  000 110 020  4 6 2
DET  001 001 010  3 6 2
W: Riske   (1-0)
L: Urbina  (0-1)
S: Wickman (1)
 
April 9:  Cleveland 1 - Detroit 11
Starters:  CLE: Westbrook 2IP - DET: Ledezma 6IP
CLE  000 100 000   1  8 3
DET  215 300 00X  11 11 0
W: Ledezma   (1-0)
L: Westbrook (0-2)
 
April 10:  Cleveland 7 - Detroit 6
Starters:  CLE: Davis 6IP - DET: Bonderman 6IP
CLE  601 000 000  7  9 1
DET  021 020 001  6 10 0
W: Davis     (1-0)
L: Bonderman (1-1)
S: Wickman   (2)
 
April 11:  no game scheduled...

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Readers Write In...
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Peter "The Poet" Ciofani
 
I now know it's officially spring. Good luck to the
Tigers (except, of course, when they play the Tribe)

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Adam "Kip" Twa
 
Welcome back Tools, good to read the TW as always.
Just something about a "home-town", low key, no
butt-kissing columnists spouting uneducated crap and
getting paid for it, type of stuff. That was a
compliment, really. Kepe up the good work, it is
appreciated.
 
As for the standings predictions, I don't see many
longshots, but I will do my best to mix it up and even
justify it, so that I'm not just pulling it out of my
butt if it comes true.
 
The Yankees take the East, that isn't too hard, but I
don't think they will run away with it as some think.
While RJ will be a stud, and could seriously win 20+,
I'm not sold on the rest of the staff, short of
Pavano, who won't dominate, but will no doubt benefit
from the stud offense. That said, there are holes in
their O with Bernie and Womack, and even Giambi. That
and Sheff isn't particularly spry anymore, and when in
the line-up will hit, but it's if he plays that will
be the question with that shoulder of his. All that
said, they are pretty much a lock in the east. 
 
Anaheim (I refuse the LAA) and Seattle will fight for
the West, with the Angels O being heavenly, youth and
experience blended masterfully and swatting teams to
death, I am picking Vlad and his apostles. Seattle's
staff is still a bit shaky, but potentially very good
if all the potential rises to the top with Madritsch,
Meche and if Piniero can stay steady. Moyer might die
on the mound, but the bats will be strong. I even see
Brett Boone returning to a fair refelction of his
former self (I think getting off the juice will help,
did you see how small he was yesterday!). Contrary to
some who think tighter races will be in the NL, I see
these two fighting hard, and this being the division I
might be wrong in.  
 
I think the Central is more up for grabs than some
say, although many are saying it should be busy.
While Radke is solid, especially with as few walks as
he gives up, I think he's benefitted from a weak
division,  even with his improvements. So with an
increasingly tougher division, and a middle infield
and hot corner made up of a few average/sub-average(?)
guys that their bats won't win them as many games as
they need. Look for Buerhle, the Cuban Connection and
Freddy to actually pitch their way to the division.
Konerko, Rowand, Uribe and Iguchi are gooing to club
enough to bring in runs, not necessarily HR's, to keep
them in it to win it. 
 
The Mariners will then scoop up the WC with things
clicking late for the young arms. Cause although I
loved the reversing of the curse, I think that the
call of a previous writer will be correct, that the
Red Sox will dive this year and miss the playoffs.
 
Whew, feel free to truncate this if need be!
 
And now for the NL-
 
A slight stretch here, but I think San Diego's young
arms, Lawrence and Eaton break out behind Peavy, and
williams plays the role of the Menards version to
Maddux's Home Depot; cheaper, not quite as nice, but
very useful and effective enough. Believe it or not we
will see the most games from Nevin and Klesko in a
while, following the lead of one Brett Boone. Yes, I
am creating a conspiracy theory here of post-juice
tests, and fewer injuries, and good numbers. Bonds
can't cry the Geriatrics, I mean the Giants into the
post-season, neither can Schmidt pitch, although they
will give people fits. You know, like the old guys you
play basketball with, just crafty enough to piss you
off, but they can't really run with you. The Dodgers
will take SD to the wire though, but wind up at home
come September, as Lowe, Weaver and Perez are just not
enough to make up for their hitters getting lost in
cavernous Dodger Stadium.
 
The NL East takes over for the central as the division
that beats up on itself incessantly, with the Marlins
excelling with what I think is the strongest overall
team in the entire League. If someone wants to contend
this feel free, but they can do it all - hit for power
and avg, create runs NL style with small ball, pitch
with hot young stuff(with considerable experience too)
and close things out with Mota, or even Six-fingers
himself is a pinch.
 
Atlanta will pitch itself in the playoffs via the WC.
More on the dirty-dirty come playoff time.
 
Rounding out the NL, I want to pick the Cubs. Really I
do. But they will persist with going cold at the most
in-opportune times, and even though they will lead the
Central, even significantly in the middle of the
season, Wood will crumble, Prior will get hurt,
Zambrano willl lose his focus, Nomar will hurt
something (even though he will be really good until
then), and so on and so forth. So the Cards will take
the central, sometime in mid-august, although they
will flirt with first for part of the early season.
Their pitchers, although by no means great will be
just enough, and the bats that went cold in the
post-season will seek retribution.
 
So let's see how this looks;
NL
Padres
Cards 
Marlins
WC-Braves
 
Marlins club the Pads
Braves outpitch Cards
 
Marlins beat Braves in a great series
 
AL
Yankees
White Sox
Angels
Mariners
 
Yanks over Sox 
Mariners over Angels  
 
Editors Note:  The Mariners cannot play the Angels in
the divisional series (as ridiculous as that may
sound).  The Wild Card team, for some reason, can't
play their own division champion in the first round. 
Hence the Yankees and the Red Sox never meeting in the
divisional series all these times when the Yanks had
the best overall record.  
 
Mariners young staff gets scared and bats go cold
 
Yanks/Marlins, again, with my hatred of the Yanks
prevailing, and the Marlins once scrappy winners, go
on the verge of dynasty. (Yes, out there, but hey that
is what the spring is for!)
 
Bag it, tag it, send it to the butcher at the store-
 
Twa

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Keith "Damian" Miller
 
Prediction: The Mariners will win 84 games and finish
in a four-way tie for first (and last) in the AL-West.
Tigers will win 85 but be six back of the Twins.
Yankees and Red Sox make the playoffs (grrrrrrr). 
 
It is the Cardinals and everyone else in the NL. Back
to back league championships for St. Louis. 
 
After vanquishing the A's and Angels in back-to-back
tiebreaker game, the M's roll the Big Unit-less
Yankees (he goes down in August). Red Sox trip the
Twins. Seattle hosts the Red Sox in a deciding game 7
with Felix Hernandex on the mound. "King Felix" shuts
out the world champs with a 14-K, two-hitter and the
M's advance.
 
Cards destroy the Mariners in a five game World
Series.

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Dallas "Big D" Senters
 
hey matt
 
opening day split for my ohio teams.  the reds got out
early but then proceeded to get owned by pedro. 
luckily braden looper wasn't as solid as mets fans
were hoping.
 
predictions:
al - yankees/indians/angels/twins
nl - braves/cardinals/dodgers/marlins
mvp - guerrero/pujols
cy young - johnson(nyy)/oswalt(hou)
world series - cardinals def. angels
 
i hate the yankees

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"Dig" Dug Senters
 
These are my predictions.  See them come to pass:
 
AL East - NYY
AL Central - Tribe
AL West - LAA
AL Wild Card - BOS
(pause to weep, lamenting the Athletics' lack of
postseason play)
NL East - ATL
NL Central - STL
NL West - LAD
NL Wild Card - PHI
 
World Series - Cardinals defeat Yankees in seven games
 
AL MVP - Vladimir Guerrero (again)
NL MVP - Albert Pujols (Jim Thome runner-up)
 
AL Cy Young - Randy Johnson... 22 wins (Barry Zito
runner-up)
NL Cy Young - Tim Hudson, my favorite pitcher of all
time (Mark Mulder runner-up)
 
also...
Sammy Sosa hits 50 HR. Ken Griffey, Jr. stays healthy.
Mark McGwire writes a book, confessing his steroid
use.  Derek Jeter comes out of the closet, professing
his undying love for Mike Piazza.  Barry Bonds'
alleged steroid use confirmed, blames media.
 
Have a nice day.

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Matt "Chip" Stevens
 
AL East- Yanks, of course
AL Central- Detroit
AL West-Angels
Wildcard- BSox
NL East- Philly
NL Central- Cards
NL West- Dodgers (what a weak ass division)
Wildcard- Braves
Playoffs
AL 
Yanks over Sox   EN:  Impossible, as stated above.
Angels over Detroit 
Yanks over Oakland     EN:  ???Oakland???
NL
St. Louis over Atlanta
Dodgers over Philly
St. Louis over Philly   EN:  Poor Philly!!!
World Series
St. Louis over Yanks in 6

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"Naughty" Nate Cooper...
 
Hey Matt, what's going on?  Great to see the update. 
I was starting to worry that my main connection to the
Tigs this year was not going to be around.  I moved to
a new job in Madison, WI, so watching the Tigers is
going to be few and far between.  Stupid Brewers. 
Anywho, hope all is well.  I found a sweet bowling
alley here, brand new.  It is a hookers 
paradise.  I am averaging about 170, so you know the
lanes are helping :)  Again, love the update.  
 
Nate

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Steve "Stone" Sprague
 
Predictions made with my head:
 
Division Winners:
AL: Anaheim/Los Angeles (whatever they're called),
Minnesota, New York.
Wild Card:  Cleveland.
NL: LA, St. Louis, Atlanta.  Wild Card:  Houston.
 
Playoffs:  New York over Anaheim in the AL, Houston
over St. Louis in the NL.  New York over Houston for
the World Series.
 
Predictions made with my heart:
 
AL:  Anaheim, Detroit, New York.  Wild Card: 
Minnesota.
NL:  LA, St. Louis, Atlanta.  Wild Card:  Chicago.
 
Playoffs:  New York over Detroit in the AL, Chicago
over St. Louis in the NL.  Chicago over New York in
the World Series.  The Cubs finally get the monkey off
their back and do it by beating the teams with the
most and second most World Series championships.
 
That's all, get ready for a healthy rant about
steroids next week.
Steve Sprague

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Ch"Aase" Claus
 
A few remarks on the opening week of the season:
 
1. The Tigers played their way to a solid 3-3 to open
the year.  I was encouraged by the fact that we are
+16 in runs scored and have been winning or close in
five out of six games.  The Tigers may lose a lot of
games this year, but it won't be from a lack of run
scoring.
 
2. Bondermania came to a screeching halt yesterday,
due to an awful first inning.  The Tigs clawed their
way back into it, but never overcame the huge margin
that JB gave up.  Still, I have high hopes for the
young man.  He'll have some terrible outings this year
but I stand by my prediction of 19 wins.
 
3. I also stand by my prediction of BoSox not being a
significant factor in the playoff run.
 
4. I am so damn sick of ads for "Fever Pitch."  Any
self-respecting baseball fan will not go see this
movie.  Yankees/Red Sox does not = romantic comedy! 
Anyone I know that pays to see this movie in the
theatre is no longer my friend.
 
5. Question to TigerFan: what are the chances that
Pudge was Roiding up in seasons prior to this one? 
Have you seen his new body?  I put the chances at
about 70%.
 
AL: Yankees, Twins, Angels (Mariners)
NL: Braves, Cardinals, Padres (Marlins)
 
Yankees over Mariners
Angels over Twins
Marlins over Cardinals
Braves over Padres
 
Yankees over Angels
Marlins over Braves
 
Yankees over Marlins
 
Grey Fox OUT

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Matt "Huckleberry" Weiland
 
I feel like working backwards
Cardinals over Yankees
AL Wild Card-Boston
AL-Yankees, Angels, Twins
NL WC-Dodgers
NL-Cards, Giants, Braves
 
I wanted to reply with a smart comment but the
question wasn't a breeding ground for grief.
I do have some beef with MLB.com though.  The tigers
have dropped of the top of the team sites since the
teams are catergorized by Name and not City.  Toolie I
owe you a ticket-set the date.  Peace
Matt "looking forward to another season of clever
nicknames" Weiland  

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Toolie's Trashtalk...
 
Ahhh, it's great to have baseball back in our lives,
is it not?  Putting out the first issue of the year
made me very happy becaue I knew that I would be
getting a good deal of feedback from other devout
fans.  Great to hear from you, as always.  I will do
my best to keep the Weekly fresh from week to week,
and hopefully I will have some help from the Bengals
winning a few games every week.  
 
John Kruk just called the Tigers to be a surprise team
this year.  He cited the great offense and improved
bullpen, but noted that the starting pitching must be
consistent if they are to have a chance.  The Kruker
is pretty much dead on with this analysis, except that
it looks like a big X-factor will be the hitters'
ability to come up clutch in the late innings.  They
have already had two chances to steal games late and
are 0 for 2.  They were able to scratch one run out
against Bob Wickman on Sunday, but both hits tallied
in that case could be classified as lucky.  One thing
of note:  Higgy had two chances to come through in the
clutch and failed both times.  The first chance he had
a 3-1 count with the bases loaded on Friday and swung
at a questionable pitch, flying out to left and ending
the rally.  This was just after Cleveland pitcher
David Riske had walked in a run to make it 4-3.  Bobby
just doesn't seem to be the player he used to be. 
After this season we won't be seeing any more of Bobby
Higginson.  
 
Here were some fun game notes from Opening Day...
 
---
 
Detroit OF Bobby Higginson, replaced by Ordonez, did
not start on Opening Day for the first time since 1995
-- and was booed during pregame introductions. ...
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and Michigan Gov.
Jennifer Granholm also were booed before the game. ...
The U.S. flag was at half-staff and a moment of
silence was observed for Pope John Paul II
 
---
 
Granholm is 2 for her last 2 as far as getting booed
in concerned.  I saw her at church this Sunday, but I
didn't ask her about it.  Bobby is on a real short
leash with the fans, but he can remedy that himself by
giving us a reason to be on his side.  Even the
faithful Tiger fans will turn sour after years of
ill-spent dollars.  But Higginson is from Philly, so
he should be able to handle some hometown tough love. 
The big drama at the beginning of the season was
Marcus Thames being sent to Toledo in favor of Bobby. 
Now that Thames is on the team and has instantly
contributed (grand slam on Saturday), it will be
interesting to see what the Tigers do once Ramon
Martinez comes off the DL.  
 
What is with this crappy "Trifecta" that ESPN is
putting on at midnight?  The concept is that from
12-1AM they do three twenty minute shows of "Outside
the Lines," "Baseball Tonight," and "NBA Fastbreak." 
Am I going to have to wait until 12:20AM every night
to see my Baseball Tonight, and then only get a twenty
minute version?  There had better be an earlier
version on the Deuce.  I think there may be a 10PM
show or something.  Man I can't stand Bob Ley.  The
worst are those Town Hall shows that he does
occasionally.  They may as well put those on Lifetime.
 
I saw Cheap Seats for the first time in March and it
is pretty hilarious.  It's basically "Mystery Science
Theater 3000" done to old crappy sports shows.  The
twin brothers, who vaguely remind me of J.D. "The
Extra" Ryznar, do a great job pointing out the lighter
side of some pretty odd programs.  Check it out if you
can (the show runs on ESPN Classic).  
 
Weiland, I also noticed the reordering of the teams on
MLB.com.  It takes a little more effort to get to the
Tiger's page, but it's manageable.  I really don't
like the new layout that ESPN.com has for its baseball
page.  There isn't even a pull-down bar for the teams,
and the team pages have those annoying buttons that
automatically open a menu when you scroll over them. 
CBSSportsline.com also has those.  There have been
tons of instances where I've tried to look at the MLB
or NFL scoreboards on Sportsline and I ended up on the
NASCAR drivers list.  That type of menu needs to be
abolished.
 
Thanks to all who entered their predictions, even if
they were impossible or involved one team losing more
than once in the playoffs.  You never know, I guess. 
;-)  No team looks extremely dominant in the early go,
but you have to believe that the traditional
powerhouses will rise up over time.  Let's enjoy it
while we can.  
 
I haven't seen "Fever Pitch," but my desire to see it
diminishes every time I see another ad for it.  I
think that I have a less than romantic view of crazy
Red Sox fan.  I probably will end up seeing it, but
now that the gauntlet has been laid down by Claus
(whose opinion on manly things always carries weight),
I'll have to hold until it reached video or Wells
Hall.  I did see "Mr. 3000" during the offseason.  It
had its moments, but wasn't anything special.  The
scenes with the sausage guy were the funniest.
 
OK, that should be enough for one week.  There are
many issues ahead so I should be saving some stuff for
those.  One nice thing is that the season usually
provides plenty to talk about. 
 
---
 
"That was a great day," Kansas City manager Tony Pena
said. "Good for him. Bad for us." - Tony Pena on
Dmitri Young's 3HR performance on Opening Day.
 
---
 
I'm out.
 





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Play Ball!

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