Tigers Weekly 2005 Season

Week 21: 8/24/05 - 8/30/05

What a rotten week for the Tigers!  In what has to be
the worst performance by a pitching staff in a single
week, the Tigers surrendered fifty-eight runs in six
games.  That's over nine runs per game.  Amazingly,
the offense managed to club their way to one victory
(though twice they scored eight runs in losing
efforts).  The gem of the week for the staff was
Friday in Boston where they managed to hold the Red
Sox to nine runs on ten hits.  Terrible.  Capping the
tumultuous week was the immediate surrendering of a
five-run lead by Jeremy Bonderman to the Cleveland
Indians.  After the first inning it was 6-5 Tribe. 
Talk about your momentum killers...

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Week of 8/24 - 8/30
 
Record:  1-5  LLLWLL-
 
Undy-Five-Hundy:  Maybe it's not that surprising that
the index is climbing and the pitching is taking a
beating.  Looking at the August schedule, the Tigers
have played just five games against teams that are
sub-five-hundred.  The Tigers are 12-13 in August and
have a chance to pull even for the month Wednesday
night.  It doesn't look like there will be a
double-header, so the club will have to make a trip
back to the Jake for one game if necessary (for
Cleveland's playoff hopes).  The index jumps to five.
 
Up Next for the Tigers...

August 31      @ Cleveland 
September 1-4  @ Chicago White Sox
September 5-7    Cleveland
 
AL Central Standings...

CWS  80 50 -
CLE  74 58 7
MIN  70 62 11
DET  62 67 17.5
KCR  42 88 38
 
Tigers Division...

STL  84 49 -
|
SDP  65 66 18
MIL  64 68 19.5
DET  62 67 20
TEX  63 69 20.5
CHC  63 69 20.5
 
AL Wild Card (BOS, CWS, OAK leading divisions...)

NYY -
CLE 0.5
LAA 1
MIN 4.5
 
NL Wild Card (ATL, STL, SDP leading divisions...)

FLA -
PHI -
HOU 0.5
NYM 0.5
WAS 1.5
 
Tigers News and Notes:  no news...

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Tiger of the Week...
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Any time that you hit a grand slam it's a big deal. When you hit two in a week you are on fire. Dmitri Young is on the warpath lately, going .440 over this last week and hitting salamis on Saturday and Monday. Luckily the one on Saturday was not hit for naught. I love watching Da-Meat-Hook circle the bases doing that little thing he does with his left hand. He is certainly the Tiger that is the most fun.

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Poll Question...
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There is a month left in the season and there has been
a lot of hubbub over who is going to win the Cy Young
awards this year.  The National League has a three-way
race between Roger Clemens, Chris Carpenter, and
Dontrelle Willis.  In the American League there
appears to be no clear favorite for the award.  Roy
Hallady has the best ERA, but he has missed a number
of starts due to injury.  After Halladay the field is
muddled with several pitchers with similar ERAs.  
 
Who do you think will win the awards and, if the
season ended today, to whom do you think the awards
should go?  (better, Chas?)

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Game Linescores...
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August 24:  Oakland 9 - Detroit 2
Starters:  OAK: Saarloos 7IP - DET: Bonderman 3IP
OAK  112 401 000  9 15 0
DET  000 000 020  2 10 1
W: Saarloos  (9-6)
L: Bonderman (14-10)
 
August 25:  Oakland 11 - Detroit 1
Starters:  OAK: Zito 6IP - DET: Maroth 3.2IP
OAK  212 310 002  11 15 1
DET  000 000 010   1  7 1
W: Zito   (12-10)
L: Maroth (11-12)
 
August 26:  Detroit 8 - Boston 9
Starters:  DET: Johnson 5.2IP - BOS: Wakefield 6IP
DET  100 400 210  8 13 1
BOS  003 024 00X  9 10 1
W: Wakefield (13-10)
L: Johnson   (7-10)
S: Timlin    (3)
 
August 27:  Detroit 12 - Boston 8
Starters:  DET: Douglass 3IP - BOS: Arroyo 5.1IP
DET  000 503 130  12 17 0
BOS  006 100 100   8 13 1
W: Colon (2-5)
L: Papelbon (0-1)
 
August 28:  Detroit 3 - Boston 11
Starters:  DET: Robertson 5.2IP - BOS: Wells 7IP
DET  101 010 000   3 10 1
BOS  120 104 12X  11 14 2
W: Wells     (11-6)
L: Robertson (6-11)
 
August 29:  Detroit 8 - Cleveland 10
Starters:  DET: Bonderman 3.1IP - CLE: Elarton 3IP
DET  502 010 000   8 12 2
CLE  600 310 00X  10 12 0
W: Cabrera   (2-0)
L: Bonderman (14-11)
S: Wickman   (35)
 
August 30:  game postponed due to rain..

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Readers Write In...
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"Dig" Dug Senters...
 
Give me any August baseball game in the AL Central in
favor of any meaningless NFL preseason game.  If I had
to watch either Nascar, the WNBA, golf, or fishing on
television, I would watch fishing.  But none of 
them are entertaining in the slightest.
 
Dug S.

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Dan "Berol" Kemp
 
Sweet Poll this week!  
 
1.  Tigers, by a landslide.  Nothing against the
Lions, but I like professional baseball better than
pro football.
 
2.  Again, I'd pick the baseball game.  I don't care
for preseason sports all that much because many 
teams only play their starting players for a set of
plays before the subs come in during preseason. I 
follow preseason enough to know which players on my
team's roster but that's about it.  If I had the 
chance to see a regular season football game and a
game at Spring Training, I'd pick football even 
though I like baseball better. 
 
3.  Another easy one!  Fishing all the way.  I'm not a
fan of the WNBA.  In fact, I'm surprised that the 
league has existed for this long.  I thought it was
going to flop after a few seasons, but so far I stand 
corrected.  Regardless, I refuse to watch it even if
it does become more mainstream.  Besides, watching 
Jimmy Houston's oddly shaped head and out of control
hair is a riot.  I'm the kind of person that likes 
to sleep until noon on Saturday if I have the chance,
but I used to wake up early (~8am) to watch this 
stuff in high school.  Thanks to the wonders of DISH
network this kind of stuff gets played all day long 
on the Outdoor channel which is more than I can say
about the WNBA.
 
4.  Now this one is tough.  I think it depends if
"watch" means on TV or in person.  I'll admit that I
used to watch NASCAR a few years back.  I lost
interest once I figured out that it is just a giant
soap opera with people fighting in the pits and none
of the cars are remote "stock."  (I know, I'm a slow
learner.  I think Brett and Lance helped sway my
interest AWAY from NASCAR!)  Anyways, if I'm watching
on TV, I don't think I'd care.  Both are excellent to
turn on during a Sunday afternoon and take a nap to on
the couch.  Attending in person, I'd prefer golf. 
There is something more tangible about watching a 
tournament and being able to see Tiger, Els, etc. take
a putt as opposed to being able to say you saw 
Jeff Gordon's car.
 
Nats vs. Cards on Saturday.  I'll be there.  I think
it is scheduled to be on FOX so watch the game and 
keep your eyes peeled for my bald head.
 
Eagle_Scout

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Deana "Carter" Carr
 
Poll Question...
 
Which would you rather watch, and why?  
 
1.  A Lions pre-season game or a Tigers game in August
I like the Lions a lot, but if there is ever a chance
to watch a Tigers baseball game vs football, it's the
Tigers game---hands down, no matter when it is.
 
2.  A neutral pre-season game or a neutral baseball
game in August that contains at least one contender.
Again, I like football, but if there is a choice to
watch a baseball game vs a football game, I'd almost
always pick the baseball game.  UNLESS it were a Lions
game and the baseball game was "the contender" playing
a team I couldn't care less about.
 
3.  A WNBA game or Fishing (note: if you choose
Fishing then you would have to get up early on
Saturday to watch it).
I wouldn't watch fishing if I were sitting on the
couch and it came on without me having to touch a
button on the remote.  I think I'd take a nap.  (Of
course that's probably the result if I watched it,
anyway.)
 
4.  NASCAR or Golf.
That's a tough one.......no it isn't.  Neither one. 
I'd go back to my nap.
 
Deana "Carter" Carr

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Steve "Stone" Sprague
 
Tough poll question this week, I 'll give it a shot
though.
 
1) Tiger's game or Lion's pre-season game?
 
I'll go with the Tigers game here.  Pre-season
football doesn't do much for me.  Just the first
couple of series when the starters are in, 
otherwise it's akin to watching a football practice.
 
2)  Neutral baseball or neutral pre-season football.
 
Again I'll go with baseball, see above explanation.
 
3)  WNBA or fishing?
 
This is the toughest question.  Both are about as
exciting as watching paint dry.  I love basketball,
but what I love about it is the high flying
rebounding and shot blocking, the alley oop dunks, the
fast breaks.  None of these things are present in the
WNBA.  Shot blocks are not prevalent, certainly not
Ben Wallace type blocks, rebounds more resemble a
rugby scrum, alley oops aren't even a thought, and
fast breaks are more along the lines of, "I guess I'd
better hurry a little, oh wait there's someone within 
ten feet, better shoot a pull up jumper."
 
Fishing though requires getting up early on a Saturday
and watching guys your average nascar fan would
describe as a hill billy.
 
Got to go with the WNBA here.  Some of the players are
pretty hot, and some can shoot the lights out.
 
4)  NASCAR or golf?
 
This one depends on how long.  Nascar in small doses
can be entertaining, the pit stops and some of the
aggressive moves to take the lead are fun to
watch.  However, most times it resembles staring at a
tape of rush hour traffic on fast forward.  Golf at
least constantly switches the camera to some action. 
I'll take golf.
 
Sprague  

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Dallas "Boom Boom" Senters
 
hey matt
 
it's thursday night, and the indians and reds both
won...that's a pretty good night.  the reds are out of
it, i know, but i love to see that some of 
the pitching is coming around to go with the big bats
pounding the shtuff out of the ball.  if they end up
with new ownership next year, they had better not try
to reduce payroll at all (in fact adding a little for
a bonafide pitcher would make the reds worth talking
about this much in august) the indians need the a's to
lose, and the tigers really needed to beat the a's,
but for my brother's sake i guess i'll call the 
a's past couple of wins a wash.  die yankees (the new
york kind) not us (as texans referred to us).
 
poll:  which would i watch and why?
q1)  A Lions pre-season game or a Tigers game in
August
q2)  A neutral pre-season game or a neutral baseball
game in August that contains at least one contender
a1-2)  i hate preseason football, so i would rather
watch a baseball game.  tigers, contender, almost any
august baseball instead of preseason football...
 
q3)A WNBA game or Fishing (note: if you choose fishing
then you would have to get up early on Saturday to
watch it).
a3)  if the options are fishing and wnba, i think i
might take up needlepoint, that way i have something
sharp handy with which to gouge my eyes out.
 
q4)  NASCAR or Golf
a4)  i would much rather watch golf than
redneck-left-turning...the golf announcers' voices are
more conducive to the nap that i will automatically be
taking, and if i sleep through golf i won't be worried
that missed a good wreck.
 
dallas

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Paul "Checkmate" Klozik
 
G"Day Matt,
THANKS FOR THE NEWS ON THE ROAR OF THE NEW TIGERS.
THEY ARE DOING IT RIGHT FOR A CHANGE.
LET'S HOPE THEY CAN KEEP THE WINS COMING AT A STEADY
PACE.
 Keep your news coming. I am loving it.
 
Peace,
 
Paul K.

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Terrence "Poor Ole Terry" O'Toole
 
Yo Matt,
This your Father speaking ( typing)
My answers to this weeks poll questions are as
follows:
1)  A Tiger game in August
2)  Baseball with at least one contender
3)  Definitely - FISHING
4)  G O L F
 
Good to see Uncle "Handshake" is on the distribution
list of the Tigers Weekly, He will realy enyoy it, I'm
sure.
 
What happen to Nephew Andy K, such a short response
from someone with all kinds of answers! Cat got your
tongue Andrew?
 
Flash!!!! Lions finish ahead of Pack 2005. (I'm a
dreamer)
(editors note:  post received before the debacle on
Monday night)
 
Looks like the Crusaders could be a force to be
reckoned with this fall, the next 2 weeks will show us
what we've got. Look out for those Heights 
Tigers, fans will be there to watch not only the
Marching Band (Matt's FAVORITE) but also the exciting
football team.
 
Dad.

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Toolie's Trashtalk...
 
Great responses from the gallery this week!  I was
especially happy to see that baseball got the nod over
pre-season football.  I would choose baseball in both
cases, fishing as it has some novelty and I might
catch Looney Tunes during the commercials since it
would be Saturday morning (do they still run the Bugs
and Tweety Show on ABC?), and golf over NASCAR unless
I'm watching with my brother...then I'd pull for Jeff
Gordon just to burn him.
 
It was a terribly frustrating week to watch the
Tigers.  While the offense was encouraging, the
pitching staff couldn't retire a batter to save their
jobs.  Let's cross our fingers that the staff can snap
out of this funk and take advantage of the runs they
are being given.  On the bright side, the last time
the Tigers were rained out they went on to win eight
of nine.  
 
There are two great wild card races to watch this
season.  The entire NL East is still well alive for
the playoffs and two teams from each division in the
AL are vying for the four playoff spots.  The only
team that seems to be secure is the White Sox, though
a seven game lead can shrink rather quickly.  The
Indians and White Sox still play six more times this
season, so the race for the Central may not be over.  
 
Gotta cut things short this week.  If you can't say
anything nice...
 
Here's to hoping the news will be better next week! 
Until then, 
 
I'm out.






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