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"Anything you can do I can do better. I can do
anything better than you."
"No you can't."
"Yes I can."
"No you can't."
"Yes I can."
"No you can't."
"Yes I can. YES I CAN!" - Tigers/White Sox Love Song
White Sox take two of three from the Cubs. Tigers
sweep Cubs. White Sox sweep Cardinals. Tigers Sweep
Cardinals. White Sox take two of three from the
Astros. Tigers go for the sweep on Wednesday. White
Sox sweep Reds. Tigers... well you can't win 'em all.
The Tigers and White Sox continued their schooling of
the NL Central this week making short work of the
Cardinals and Astros. Neither has lost a series to
any of the NL Central teams and the trend should
continue this weekend as they take on the Pirates and
Cubs. The Twins also have been carving up the NL...
heck, even the Royals have won seven of eight! Years
ago the AL Central was widely thought of as the worst
division. It's anything but that in 2006.
We say goodbye to interleague play this week. The
Tigers wrap things up with a series in Pittsburgh and
finish the first half out west.
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Week of 6/21 - 6/27
Record: 5-1 L-WWWWW
Undy-Five-Hundy: 28 games! OVER FIVE-HUNDY! 15-2
in their last seventeen! Fifty-three wins means that
they need just twenty-nine more to guarantee a
winning season. Ten wins a month... that would be a
REAL disappointment. Looking good in the D.
Up Next for the Tigers...
June 28 Houston
June 29 no game scheduled...
June 30 - July 2 @ Pittsburgh
July 3-5 @ Oakland
AL Central Standings...
DET 53 25 -
CWS 50 26 2
MIN 41 35 11
CLE 35 41 17
KCR 25 50 26.5
Tigers Division...
DET 53 25 -
CWS 50 26 2
BOS 46 28 5
NYM 47 29 5
NYY 43 32 8.5
Tigers News and Notes: no transactions this week.
Here's a little fact to highlight that the Tigers are
no fluke this year. The quick-starting 2003 Royals,
who ended up being pretenders, were just 42-36 after
78 games and were tied with the Twins for the AL
Central lead.
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Tiger of the Week...
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Had he not been called on to pinch-hit Wednesday in
Milwaukee, Curtis Granderson would have brought a
nine-game hitting streak into Tuesday night's game
against Houston. Granderson was held hitless Tuesday,
but he has delivered some clutch hits this week.
Granderson hasn't been the prototypical lead-off man
who steals bases (only five this year) but he is tied
for ninth in the AL with 44 walks and trails only
Ichiro for best OBP for an American League lead-off
hitter. There's pop in his bat as evidenced by his 11
homers and he ranks fourth in RBIs on the Tigers
(impressive for a lead-off hitter). According to the
ESPN site he's hitting a monstrous .404 with runners
in scoring position (second on the team to Polanco's
.415). In the Season Preview I had this to say:
"Granderson seems to have more promise to be a
complete player than Logan, who offers little more
than his speed. Granderson's ability to get on base
will be vital to jump-starting the Tigers' offense.
We know that Polanco and Pudge can hit behind him."
Curtis definitely deserves some big accolades for his
contribution to the Tigers' offensive production.
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Ozziefest...
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I hate the Chicago White Sox. I've never liked the
team and when they became the kings of the AL Central
it made my blood boil. If you're playing in Chicago
then nobody is safe. If the players aren't brawling
with you the fans are rushing your first-base coach.
The one part about the team that I like is their
manager, Ozzie Guillen.
Ozzie finds himself in a bit of PC trouble after some
comments he made regarding Jay Mariotti, a columnist
for the Chicago Sun-Times and frequent guest on the
ESPN show Around the Horn. A pretty good review of
all that happened can be read here:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2496753
Ozzie is a great manager and I like how he is honest
in a confrontational way. Slurs aside, the real issue
is the long-running rift between the White Sox and Jay
Mariotti. I don't have much love for these columnists
who think they are superstars and Mariotti is one of
my least favorite. It sounds like Jay is being a baby
regarding his situation with the White Sox.
I get the impression that Ozzie is a badass. I would
love to hang out with that guy. I'm sure I'd hate him
if I ever pissed him off, but I'd take that chance.
Does anyone REALLY think the White Sox are going to
fire this guy (GM Ken Holland hinted that action would
be taken if Ozzie makes more outbursts)? All he did
was end an 80+ year World Series drought. Plus his
players love him. I'm confident that Ozzie is here to
stay.
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Tigers Weekly Baseball Game...
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The date for the Tigers Weekly Baseball Game is set!
The stars will align on July 22nd at the old high
school field of Holt High School once again. The time
has not yet been set.
You can still decide to come and play. If you are
planning on playing, please let me know as soon as
possible that you're in and what times are better for
you. This will be a near-full-speed game of BASEBALL.
Also, we'll need to provide some bats, batting
helmets, and catcher's gear. There will be an umpire.
Thanks to Lee Rodgers for setting things up for us
once again.
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If You Show It, They Will Come...
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Here's a pretty nice promotion that the Tigers are
running. I got word of this in "The Roar," the
Tigers' online newsletter. The seats for the game are
normally $20 and here you get the movie and the seat
for a total of $15. The catch is that you have to
watch the Royals.
BASEBALL AND A MOVIE
Looking for a fun way to enjoy two of America's
favorite summer pastimes?
The Fox Theatre and the Detroit Tigers are pleased to
bring you a very special "Baseball and a Movie" event!
Join us on Saturday, July 15th, when we'll be showing
one of the all-time greatest baseball movies, "Field
of Dreams," at the fabulous Fox Theatre. Then, take a
short walk across the street to Comerica Park, where
you can cheer on the Tigers as they host the Kansas
City Royals.
Tickets for both the movie and the baseball game are
only $15! The movie begins at 4 p.m., followed by the
Tigers game at 7:05 p.m.
BUY TICKETS NOW >>
http://click.mlb.com/ct/click?q=d5-p~AiQzL_a927YE
5HRcc~~ySF
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Big League Chew...
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I'm a little late on this, but it's one of the
funniest things going on this season.
It started a few weeks ago. The Tigers needed a rally
and Nate Robertson started chomping on a big wad of
Big League Chew. The Tigers got the rally and a
monster was born. Robertson continued his gum chewing
and the Tigers continued to come through in the
clutch. Pretty soon others on the team began to join
in the ritual and now it's a Tiger dugout tradition.
If it's late in the game and things are close and the
Tigers get a man on watch to see if they show the
dugout. You might see Robertson and company going to
town on that old Little League favorite. I'm sure it
tastes better than Bazooka Joe (but you miss out on
the great comics).
If the Tigers brass is smart they'll start selling
this stuff at the games. I'm sure fans would really
get into plugging their mouths full of BLC and it
would be a hilarious sight. Anaheim has the Rally
Monkey, the Braves have the Chop, the Tigers could
have the Gum. Next time I attend a game you can bet
that I'll be packing Chew.
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All-Star Voting...
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Voting ends this Thursday night for the All-Star
starters. You can vote at mlb.com. As of tonight
Pudge is trailing Jason Varitek by about 45,000 votes.
He's the Tigers' only legitamite shot to start at a
non-pitching spot.
Another note is that Ozzie Guillen chose Eric Wedge
(Cleveland) and John Gibbons (Toronto) as other
managers for the AL All-Star team. I thought that
Guillen might pick two Central managers and that
Leyland could get picked, but perhaps the fact that he
didn't manage last season figured into Ozzie's
decision. Whatever, as long as he doesn't screw the
Tigers by only taking two (or one). I think the Tigs
should get at least three All-Stars this year: any
combination of Rodriguez (only if Ozzie takes three
catchers and Pudge doesn't win the vote), Ordonez, and
two pitchers. If they get four it will probably be
justified. There are a lot of deserving pitchers.
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Poll Question...
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The Tigers ARE serious contenders this year. That
said, serious contenders have been known to make
trades at the deadline. That deadline is normally the
last day of July.
Where do the Tigers need the most help and who would
you like to see the Tigers acquire? Most deals that
have been whispered about so far have involved Joel
Zumaya. Keep that in mind when compiling your wish
list.
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Game Linescores...
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June 21: Detroit 3 - Milwaukee 4
Starters: DET: Robertson 6.2IP - MIL: Capuano 7IP
DET 020 010 000 3 9 2
MIL 100 001 20X 4 9 0
W: Capuano (8-4)
L: Zumaya (3-1)
S: Turnbow (21)
June 22: no game scheduled...
June 23: St. Louis 6 - Detroit 10
Starters: STL: Carpenter 7IP - DET: Verlander 6IP
STL 000 301 011 6 12 0
DET 120 040 03X 10 13 0
W: Verlander (9-4)
L: Carpenter (6-4)
June 24: St. Louis 6 - Detroit 7 F/10
Starters: STL: Suppan 5IP - DET: Rogers 5.1IP
STL 202 011 000 0 6 11 0
DET 200 101 002 1 7 15 1
W: Zumaya (4-1)
L: T. Johnson (0-1)
June 25: St. Louis 1 - Detroit 4
Starters: STL: Ponson 7.1IP - DET: Bonderman 7IP
STL 010 000 000 1 9 0
DET 000 100 03X 4 9 0
W: Ledezma (1-0)
L: Ponson (4-3)
S: Jones (20)
June 26: Houston 4 - Detroit 10
Starters: HOU: Rodriguez 6.2IP - DET: Miner 5.1IP
HOU 100 011 100 4 11 0
DET 005 100 13X 10 14 0
W: Miner (4-1)
L: Rodriguez (8-5)
June 27: Houston 0 - Detroit 4
Starters: HOU: Clemens 6.1IP - DET: Robertson 7IP
HOU 000 000 000 0 7 2
DET 000 000 31X 4 5 1
W: Robertson (8-3)
L: Clemens (0-2)
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Readers Write In...
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Dr. Bob "Woodchuck" Hesse
Matt,
Good to hear from you. I've enjoyed your postings, but
haven't had time to reply. I do have one bone to pick
with the All-Star Ballot section:
Glad to hear you voted for Mauer, but voting for Pudge
at all? How is this any different than Yankee fans
voting for their boys? Joe is clearly the best hitting
catcher in the AL these days and a valid
all-star pick for my lowly Twins. If you want to
support small-market teams you should be fair about
the picks.
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Toolie's Trashtalk...
Go get 'em Tigers! The Cats continue to impress
winning in various types of games. After a close loss
to the Brew-crew the boys got back in the saddle and
lassoed the Cards and Stros. Two wins came courtesy
of the sluggers, two courtesy of the pitchers, and one
thanks to a late-inning comeback. They do it all!
Bob, I acknowledge that Rodriguez was a homer pick,
but I contend that I only made one such pick and folks
should get one free pass. It's clear that the New
York and Boston fans just vote for any of their
players that they recognize. I did not vote for
anyone on the Tigers that I didn't think deserved to
start... except Pudge. Mauer is having a ridiculously
good season (MVP type numbers, in fact) and will
certainly be on the squad. If I had my way the
managers could choose who to start regardless of the
players that are voted in. Since the game "counts" I
don't find it very fair that managers are forced to
start certain players. Heck, I should have voted for
some chumps on the NL ballot to make their team
weaker. If I were a Cards or Mets fan I'd vote
Varitek all day and twice on Sunday (not that Varitek
is a chump, but he's down this year). I doubt this
goes on to a great extent, but you can see how the
current system could skew the voting.
Some manager of an A level baseball team went on a
huge tirade this week. If you've watched the sports
shows then you know what I'm talking about. Tirades
are usually entertaining, but I really had no interest
in watching this guy explode. He manages A ball!
What's the big deal? You can't get too mad about
anything at that level. The guy was fined $1000 and
suspended seven games. Hopefully this all just goes
away. Watching this guy was a waste of time.
As far as Tigers team weaknesses go, you have to look
at first base and left field. Shelton started the
year great but has been pitiful since April by
first-baseman's standards. His defense is good, but
the bat has vanished (hitting undy-two-hundy in June).
Dmitri coming back doesn't offer much relief. In
left field Craig Monroe is battling with a bum ankle
and a .237 average. Marcus Thames is having a fine
season, but I get the feeling that Leyland would
rather use Marcus as the DH. If Dmitri could come
back and be the Young of old it would be a big boost
to solving one of these issues. If he doesn't impress
upon his return I would expect the Tigers to try and
upgrade at one of these spots. I do like Shelly and
Monroe, so ideally I'd just have them pick up the
slack.
I left Brandon Inge off of this list because, despite
his batting average, Brandon is really helping this
team. His defense has gone from shoddy to shimmering
and he leads the club with 16 homers (and he's the #9
hitter). I think the other two positions are of
greater concern than third base.
Pitching-wise we're looking great. Miner has done a
nice job while Maroth heals. The rest of the rotation
has been solid. It's been noted that Jones' ERA when
he enters in a save situation is in the threes.
That's a silver lining at least. The pen has given up
some timely homers, but overall we've seen great
results there.
Gilbo put up a nice trivia question this week on the
website. See if you can top Toolie and get all three
parts to the question correct. I got two out of
three.
http://www.tigersweekly.com
After Wednesday's game against Houston you won't be
able to catch action at Comerica until after the
break. Time to get ahead on summer chores so you can
support those Tigers during the dog days.
Oh yeah, I'm sending this from one of our
tigersweekly.com addresses. Yahoo has been a real
pain lately about sending mass e-mails. Apparently
they think I'm spamming. My new attempt is to send
this to the other address from my Yahoo and then pass
it along to you all from there. There I can send it
to 100 people at a time. I hope it works.
Tigers and White Sox continue to push each other.
Hopefully this continues and propels both teams into
the post-season. It would mark the first time ever
that the AL Wild Card would come from the Central and
would leave the Red Sox or Yankees on the outside
looking in (about time).
I'm out.
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Tigers Weekly is in no way affiliated with the Detroit
Tigers or Major League Baseball.
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Play Ball!
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