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The Tigers are closing in on being a contending
baseball team. 2006 is the year that the front office
has had their sights set on. We can certainly see
that it wasn't 2005. Detroit fans have been able to
watch a decent ball club this season, but not a good
one. A good team doesn't blow five run leads. A good
team doesn't have outfielders falling over on routine
plays. A good team won't give up a three-run homer
when they're up by two in the eighth inning. If the
Tigers are to contend next season they will need to
strengthen their pitching (starters and bullpen) and
figure out how to win close games. Until then we fans
are left to watch the 2005 Tigers limp through the
remainder of the season.
New Subscribers...
"Pete" Rose ????
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Week of 8/3 - 8/9
Record: 3-4 WWLLLWL
Undy-Five-Hundy: It was only two weeks ago that the
Tigers were at an even 50-50. Since then they've
dropped nine of twelve. This week the index climbs to
six. The last time the Tigers were six under they put
together a nice run. Let's hope we see another.
Up Next for the Tigers...
August 10-11 @ Toronto
August 12-14 @ Kansas City
August 13-15 Boston
AL Central Standings...
CWS 73 39 -
CLE 61 52 12.5
MIN 57 56 16.5
DET 53 59 20
KCR 38 74 35
AL Wild Card... (BOS, CWS, ANA lead divisions)
OAK 64 48 -
NYY 60 51 3.5
CLE 61 52 3.5
NL Wild Card... (ATL, STL, SDP lead division)
HOU 60 52 -
WAS 59 53 1
PHI 59 54 1.5
FLA 58 54 2
NYM 57 55 3
MIL 56 58 5
Tigers Division
CWS 73 39 -
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BAL 54 58 19
CHC 54 59 19.5
DET 53 59 20
ARI 54 60 20
CIN 51 62 9.5
Tigers News and Notes: no news...
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Tiger of the Week...
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Tigers pitching yeilded 41 runs this week... almost
six runs per game. I give the offense some love for
managing to win three of the seven contests. In two
of those victories the Tigers needed at least 8 and 9
runs to win and the offense provided. Nobody was
exceptional this week, so a group award seemed in
order.
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Oh My god, they Re-instated Kenny!
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Kenny Rogers will be eligible to pitch again on
Wednesday as an arbitrator ended Kenny's suspension at
thirteen games. The move goes trumps the decision of
Bud Selig. Many people, myself included, are unhappy
with the move.
http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t
=7744
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Poll Question...
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What are the qualifications for an activity to be
classified a sport? Webster defines a sport as
-noun
a) a source of diversion
b) sexual play (huh?)
c) 1) physical activity engaged in for pleasure
2) a particular activity (as an athletic game) so
engaged in.
Under certain definitions, things such as poker,
cheerleading, and hopscotch can be considered sports.
Certainly none of these qualify when one uses the word
"sport" in conversation. What are qualities of a
sport?
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Game Linescores...
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August 3: Seattle 7 - Detroit 10
Starters: SEA: Meche 4.2IP - DET: Maroth 6IP
SEA 000 302 020 7 10 1
DET 400 050 01X 10 13 0
W: Maroth (9-11)
L: Meche (10-8)
S: Rodney (1)
August 4: Seattle 1 - Detroit 3
Starters: SEA: Hernandez 5IP - DET: Douglass 8IP
SEA 000 000 100 1 3 1
DET 101 000 01X 3 7 0
W: Douglass (4-1)
L: Hernandez (0-1)
S: Rodney (2)
Happy Birthday to me...Tigers Win!
August 5: Cleveland 9 - Detroit 6
Starters: CLE: Sabathia 6IP - DET: Robertson 5IP
CLE 000 009 000 9 16 0
DET 000 100 500 6 6 1
W: Sabathia (7-9)
L: Robertson (5-10)
S: Howry (3)
August 6: Cleveland 4 - Detroit 2
Starters: CLE: Westbrook 7IP - DET: Bonderman 6IP
CLE 200 100 100 4 14 1
DET 000 002 000 2 5 0
W: Westbrook (10-12)
L: Bonderman (13-8)
S: Wickman (30)
August 7: Cleveland 6 - Detroit 5
Starters: CLE: Elarton 5.2IP - DET: Johnson 7IP
CLE 000 030 030 6 8 4
DET 050 000 000 5 9 1
W: Riske (3-3)
L: Rodney (1-2)
S: Wickman (31)
August 8: Detroit 9 - Toronto 8 F/12
Starters: DET: Maroth 5.2IP - TOR: Bush 4.2IP
DET 401 110 001 001 9 15 0
TOR 110 202 020 000 8 20 1
W: Darensbourg (1-0)
L: Schoeneweis (2-3)
S: Dingman (2)
August 9: Detroit 4 - Toronto 6
Starters: DET: Douglass 5.2IP - TOR: McGowan 6.1IP
DET 000 010 300 4 11 0
TOR 000 024 00X 6 7 1
W: McGowan (1-0)
L: Douglass (4-2)
S: Batista (19)
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Readers Write In...
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Mike "The Rabbi" McKeown
Hey Matt,
Sorry I missed the game! I heard from the guys that
they had a great time and are looking forward to the
next one! I'll try to make sure I can get to the next
game.
As far as the poll questions go, I was like you, at
first I was upset that they dealt our "closer of the
future" for prospects. After reading DD's reasoning
though, I thought it was a smart move. Plus, we may
be able to sign him in the off season anyway. I can't
blame Farnsworth for wanting to test the free agent
market, but I think this trade will hurt his value as
a FA. He's going back to a setup role (at least for a
little while) and teams might be less likely to throw
big money at a "potential" closer who has yet to
really prove himself for any extended period of time
in that role.
It sounds like this Colon kid is the real deal though,
and he looked GOOD on Tuesday night. I realize one
inning isn't much to go on, but he has a live arm
w/great movement and it sounds like he's got four
legitimate pitches. He could be a solid starter
w/that many pitches. Atlanta didn't want to let him
go, and based on the number of great arms they have,
that's a real compliment to this kid's "potential" (a
word we Tiger fans have learned to LOATH).
I think DD is doing a great job overall. Yes, some
moves have backfired (Vina, Percival) but he needed to
overspend on players (DY, Pudge) to help legitimize
this ballclub. Those signings let FA's and teams
alike know that Detroit is serious about contending
and will do whatever they feel necessary to bring a
winner back to a town that deserves it. It looks like
they could eclipse 2 million fans this year, imagine
what this town would do if we were actually playing
for something at the end of August!!! DD will
continue to build us a winner, and I firmly believe
that we have a lot of solid major leaguers in place
for a run next year.
It's so nice to be "complaining" about this team
"underperforming" in August, rather than
(involuntarily shudders) the 2003 team where we
were just HOPING to not get swept every series
(involuntarily shudders again). Looking back at the
beginning of the year, I remember thinking that a .500
ballclub is what we had, and would've been happy to
finish the season 81-81. I thought then that 2006
would be the year where we really start to put it all
together. I still believe that, although I think we
would actually been 5-10 over .500 if we'd had Guillen
and Ordonez for the full first half.
Palmeiro? I'm taking a wait-and-see approach on it,
but I find it VERY HARD to believe that a player in
his position "unknowingly" takes a banned substance.
Five years from now, it may come up, and might cost
him a first ballot hall of fame vote, but he'll get in
for sure sooner rather than later.
My humble apologies for the long-windedness, but I
LOVE TALKING TIGERS BASEBALL!!! Plus, I don't write in
much, so I've gotta take full advantage of the
opportunity. Feel free to edit this down to something
more manageable!
Take Care,
Mike McKeown
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"Kickin' ChAase" Claus
1. Thanks to a recent visit to see family & friends in
places like South Bend, Colorado Springs, and San
Jose, I managed to knock three more stadiums
off my list. This brings my total to 24 MLB stadiums
(old and new DET, PIT, BAL, BOS, CLE, old and new CWS,
STL, KC, MIN, MIL, CHC, FLA, TB, ATL, CIN, WSH, PHI,
NYM, NYY, COL, OAK, SF) visited in my short but
illustrious career as a baseball fan. Very soon, I
plan to publish my analysis and rank order of these
stadiums, to the glory of Matt O'Toole and Tigers
Weekly.
2. Which brings me to my second point, how does one
objectively compare stadiums, one to another? What
are the factors that should be taken into
consideration? Fans? Quality of Team? Tailgating
circumstances? Quality of opponenet? Neighborhood? Hot
dog prices? Beer choices? How do I compare a
slightly-remembered, one-time childhood trip to Old
Comiskey Park to my numerous and recent visits to
Comerica Park? How can a great aged park like
Fenway be effectively compared to a new palace such as
Camden Yards? Help me out, fellow readers!
3. I am an outspoken opponent of the Kyle Farnsworth
trade. This is not so much because I am a Farnsworth
defender so much as I hate to see us have to be in the
market for a closer during the off-season. Remember
the outset of the season, Farnsworth/Urbina/Percival
for 7/8/9 setup? It was the envy of the league.
Since then, we've lost Percival (through no fault of
our own) and Urbina (for genuine value in Placido
Polanco). I just hate to see us get rid of the third
part of the equation, and for what? Two clowns I've
never heard of! If the off-season were to come upon
us today, our biggest need would be the bullpen,
especially the role of the closer. Closers are not
easy to come by and if we can't find one, we have only
ourselves to blame. (Oh, and the fault or credit -
either way - I pin on Dombrowski alone. Trammell
should not be held accountable.)
4. Finally, I'd like to say a great, big THANK YOU to
the fans of the Oakland Athletics. Last weekend, I
had the pleasure of sitting in the stands and watching
the A's absolutely beat the crap out of Nate Robinson.
After going perfectly through the first three innings,
Natey gave up the dreaded
walk-single-single-grandslam-single-homer-double combo
to open the fourth. To make matters worse, I sat in
enemy territory wearing a
Pudge Rodriguez jersey as that particular player
became enraged, shoved two umpires with his mask, got
thrown out of the game, dumped a bucket of balls
on the field, whip his catching equipment onto the
field, and leave the stadium to the jeers and hatred
of 99% of the people present. Were I them, and they
I, I probably would have showered the Tigers' gray #7
with garbage, but not a single fan hit me with
anything or made any derogatory comments throughout
the duration of the ugly experience. Only several
innings later did any A's fans say anything to me
concerning the fact that I wore the jersey of a losing
road team, and even then, their commentary was
good-natured. And so A's Fan, I salute the courtesy
with which I was treated - despite yet another loss by
the Bengals, I had a wonderful time.
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Anthony "Ferny" Morano
In regards to the previous poll question I would
have to say the girl who does the detroit sports
report (yes I watch from the OC. They should import
something nice from Windsor! I was suprised to see
farnsworth go but its better they got colon than
prospects. You never know if Farnsworth doesn't close
in Atlanta is his value going to be in the 4 mil
range? He might just re-sign with the tigers and this
might have been a behind the scenes move with dd to
send him to a contender and his hometown. Call it a
crazy hunch
From a former catchers perspective why every time
the tigers pitcher has an 0-2 count they throw a pitch
95% of the time RIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE. You can
only use the element of suprise so often. Seattle
went deep again tonight on an 0-2 pitch.
Keep up the good work matt!
anthony
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Toolie's Trashtalk...
So they reinstated Kenny Rogers. Why? The
commissioner made a decision and it should be honored.
Rogers did an extremely stupid thing and cameramen
shouldn't have to worry about being attacked by
players, especially when they're on the field! I'm
sure those men had clearance to be there. Just like
coaches shouldn't have to worry about being attacked
by fans while doing their jobs, so crew members
shouldn't have to fear attacks by players. I think
Selig's suspension was fair.
I met Kenny Rogers once. It was the day that I was
able to meet the Twins and Tigers because an
acquaintance of mine in the math department had scored
me some tickets and passes. Rogers was in a good
mood, as the Twins had won the game, and we exchanged
a few words as he and some teammates left the locker
room. He seemed like a decent guy. Maybe he just hit
a breaking point with this whole situation.
Pudge is currently serving a four-game suspension for
his outburst in Oakland. Vance Wilson will get some
regular playing time in Toronto, and he has started to
make good on it, knocking in the winning run on
Monday. Here's what Vance had to say after that game.
"We needed it bad. Games like this are like a wake-up
call in basketball." Can someone tell me what the
heck he's talking about?
The recent sweep at the hands of the Indians is the
perfect example of why the Tigers aren't ready to
contend. They need to perform well against division
rivals, and they did not bring their A-game in that
series. Luckily I was in Texas and didn't have to
watch any of it. I did get some first-hand reports
from Chas Claus (in attendance) on Sunday, and he
voiced his utter disgust after the eighth inning as
Cleveland took a 6-5 lead after trailing 5-0 at one
point. It was a discouraging series, but I would like
to see the Indians win the Wild Card, so hopefully
they don't waste this sweep of the Tigers. Tonight
Cleveland scored eleven runs in the ninth against the
Royals to win 13-7. Maybe they have the magic.
Roman Colon hasn't been too impressive so far. On
Monday he surrendered a two-run homer that put the
Tigers in a one-run hole in the eighth inning in
Toronto. He hasn't had much work, though, so I can't
judge him yet. Apparently his numbers were better as
a starter. Hmmmmm... I hope they find a good spot for
him.
For anyone who watched the game tonight: Chris
Shelton got hosed on that strike-three call in the
seventh. That ball was several inches off the plate
and Shelton had fouled off a few pitches prior to that
one. He did not deserve to be rung up.
I hate people who generally know the Tigers have been
bad for a long time and then every time the Tigers
lose they make some comment like "Oh look the Tigers
lost again..." or something of that nature. This
happened tonight at bowling and if made my skin crawl.
I think these comments marginalize the actual
disappointment that true fans feel (people who know
what kind of streak the Tigs are on in the last
week/month). If you don't care about the Tigers then
save the snide remarks please.
Good work from the fellas who wrote in this week.
Excellent stuff.
Chas, I think to rate a ball park, you have to
consider what it would be like if that park were your
home park. Yankee Stadium was cool to see, but I
think if I had to go there for all my home games I
would grow tired of it. Camden and Philly's park
seemed more like places that I would want to frequent.
2AM... I'm out.
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Play Ball!
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