Tigers Weekly 2006 Season

Week 12: 7/12/06 - 7/18/06

The All-Star Break is gone and the Tigers are back in
action.  Last Wednesday was officially the worst day
of the summer as there was nothing doing in MLB. 
While many players wish that the All-Star Break would
be extended, I think any longer of a rest would drive
me nuts.  

Right now the Tigers are battling the Chicago White
Sox in a three-game series at Comerica.  Earlier in
the year the Tigers were swept by the Sox at home and
Chicago opened this series up with a sound 7-1
victory.  Jon Garland baffled the hitters while the
ChiSox sluggers pounded out the homers.  The season
series is now 6-1 Chicago.  I can live with the Tigers
losing this series, but they cannot get swept again. 
A split of these last two games will leave them with a
3.5 game lead, but a sweep will get everyone from here
to Lakeland talking about how the Tigers can't compete
with the American League's best. 

Wednesday's (7PM) and Thursday's (1PM) games will be
on ESPN.  Also, the Tigers/A's game on Saturday was
moved up to 1:20PM and will be FOX's Game of the Week.
All you Tiger transplants will be able to cheer on
the team from afar.

New Subscribers...

"Pretty" Kitty Ryznar

-----------------------------------------------------

Week of 7/12 - 7/18

Record:  3-2  -WWWL-L

Undy-Five-Hundy:  The prospects of finishing
Undy-Five-Hundy (a phrase I've been hearing on
Sportscenter lately...grrrrrrr) continue to shrink. 
Just 19 more wins get the Tigers to 81... the FIRST
magic number. 

Up Next for the Tigers...

July 19-20  Chicago White Sox
July 21-23  Oakland
July 24-26  @ Cleveland 

AL Central Standings...

DET  62 31 -
CWS  58 34 3.5
MIN  52 40 9.5
CLE  41 51 20.5
KCR  32 61 30

Tigers Division...

DET  62 31 -
CWS  58 34 3.5
BOS  56 36 5.5
NYM  56 37 6
NYY  54 36 6.5   <---- playoff spot cushion

Note:  Minnesota is the next highest team, which gives
the AL Central three of the top six teams in the
majors.  Toronto is seventh, which gives the AL East
and Central six of the top seven teams in all of
baseball.  It's tough in the AL!

Tigers News and Notes:  Trade rumors are swirling with
regards to the Tigers.  The two names I hear the most
are Bobby Abreu and John Smoltz.  Abreu is a superstar
lefty outfielder for the Phillies.  He'd fit nicely in
left field and would be a big on-base guy.  If you
remember, he easily won the Home-Run Derby last year
at Comerica, but he hasn't much of a power stroke
since then.  It's been said that the Tigers would have
to pick up something like a 16 million dollar option
for 2008 for Abreu to waive his no-trade clause.  Not
sure what the Phillies are going to want in return
(probably pitching prospects or Zumaya).  I hope the
Tigs don't trade for Smoltz, simply because it makes
it possible for the Tigers to get bamboozled twice
over the same player (the Doyle deal was good for
Detroit at the time, but the Braves ultimately got the
better end of the deal).

-----------------------------------------------------
Tiger of the Week...
-----------------------------------------------------

Marcus Thames finally has the chance to play full-time. Last season Thames got El Shaft Supremo when he was left off the team in favor of Bobby Higginson (a move that supposedly killed Trammell's cred with the team). Against the Royals, Thames hit two homers (both in Sunday's loss) and drove in eight. The injury to Dmitri Young could have seriously crippled the team, but Thames has stepped in and produced good-Dmitri type numbers. He has also played a decent left-field while Craig Monroe's foot heals.

-----------------------------------------------------
Tigers Weekly Baseball Game 2006
-----------------------------------------------------

The game is, at last, upon us.  Players from all over
the midwest will converge on Holt, Michigan, for seven
innings of baseball on Saturday July 22 at 3PM.  A
Home-Run Derby will follow, and then a bull-session at
a local establishment to talk about the game and enjoy
frosty beverages.  I had initially planned to have
this so we could watch the Tigers' game afterwards,
but the game was moved up to be shown nationally on
FOX.  The weather actually looks pleasant!  Confirmed
players are:

Josh Tkaczyk and his band of merry men (7-9 players)
Toolie
Dallas Senters
Chas Claus
Jeff Chapin
Mike Dabkowski
Joe Timmer
Brian Vessell
Jimmy Vessell
Mike Puckett
Ben Beckmann

There may be a couple of more (Thurston, Martzke), but
I'm not totally sure that they're in.  Looks like
we'll have all the equipment we'll need, but please
bring everything you have.  It doesn't hurt to be
overprepared.  I'd suggest showing up by 2PM so that
we can choose teams and take infield/outfield.  

You can still play!  Just let me know that you are
coming so that I can send you directions to the field.
 
Time for me to go to the batting cages...

-----------------------------------------------------
Poll Question...
-----------------------------------------------------

Now that the All-Star Break is over and we have seen
just over a half a season of baseball, how do you
think the teams will finish?  The Mets are dominating
the NL East, but the other two divisions are wide
open.  Also, the NL Wild Card is anyone's guess.  In
the AL, the West is tight from top to bottom and six
teams from the East and Central are vying for the
other three playoff spots.  So who ends up playing in
October?

-----------------------------------------------------
Game Linescores...
-----------------------------------------------------

July 12:  no game scheduled...

July 13:  Kansas City 4 - Detroit 6
Starters:  KCR: Duckworth 4.2IP - DET: Bonderman 5.2IP
KCR  110 200 000  4 10 1
DET  000 150 00X  6  9 0
W: Bonderman (9-4)
L: Duckworth (1-2)
S: Jones     (24)

July 14:  Kansas City 9 - Detroit 10
Starters:  KCR:  Redman 5IP - DET: Rogers 4IP
KCR  040 110 030   9 14 2
DET  002 103 301  10 11 1
W: Jones   (2-5)
L: Affeldt (4-6)

---

Gilby Sees a Ball Game:  Another visit to CoPa with
Lindsay and another comeback win for the Tigers.  The
day started off a little rough with thunderstorms and
clouds in the area.  I tried to park at the Greektown
casino (it is free if you take the 5 minutes to go
inside and get your ticket validated) but it was full
even though I watched 10 cars leave the structure as I
was caught at the light.  Since it looked like heavy
rain, I park in the garage next to CoPa for a big ole
15 buckeroos.  We headed into the stadium and hoped we
would be able to see the game.  The start of the game
was delayed 40 minutes cause of the rain (my second
rain delay of the season), so we decided to get some
grub.  Did you know you can get a big basket of
chicken fingers and fries for only $7?  It was a steal
compared to the other prices at the stadium.  Also of
note, the beer garden offers beer for only $6.50
compared to $8 elsewhere.
 
The game itself was rather slow and long, but
exciting.  Game time was over 3.5 hrs, 19 runs, 25
hits, 2 errors, 9 walks, you get the picture.   The
Tigers used a rather unusual lineup, Infante playing
CF and Inge batting 6th.  Rogers did not look like he
should have been pitching that night.  4 runs in the
second and things were not looking good.  Although,
just as always, the Tigers managed to keep in the game
and actually took a lead on some nice hitting in the
6th and 7th keyed by Teahen and Sanders errors.  All
looked good, especially with Zumaya coming into the
game in the 8th, but 8 batters latter, the game was
tied again.  At this point, I was starting to not care
who won.
 
READER BE WARNED ADULT CONTENT HERE!!!
That sets up for the final inning of play.  Todd Jones
actual looks ok in the top half of the 9th.  Our seats
were in the left field corner a few rows up from the
bullpen.  As the Tigers come to bat, some clown
decides that it would be a good idea to blowup and
toss a 2 foot penis with balls into the crowd.  No
sooner than it is hit a security guard is chasing this
thing down.  A little boy points at it and asks his 
mother, "What is that mommy?"  The mother says that
it's nothing, but his older blurts out, "that is a 
penis" and the little boy covers his mouth and laughs.
It was priceless and something only you can get while
going to the ballpark. The funny part is, as soon as 
it gets towards the corner, Guillen rips a shot down
the line and over the fence. HOMERUN and the game is 
over. I just think the ball got a little happy and 
wanted in on the action.  After some post game 
fireworks and cheering we head on home.  Dashing Donut
won the race and I lost.

Interesting This Day In Tigers History notes from the
scorecard.
 
July 13, 1979 - Detroit rookie Dan Petry picks up his
first major league victory as he pitched the Tigers to
a 3-1 victory over the White Sox.
 
July 14, 1934 - Detroit batters collected an American
League record 11 doubles as they beat the Yankees
12-11 at Tiger Stadium.
 
---This is my favorite---
 
July 15, 1973 - Nolan Ryan hurls a no-hitter in
Detroit as he strikes out 17 Tigers.  Subsequently,
Norm Cash comes to bat in the sixth inning with a
table leg.
 
3-1 on the year in Tigers games.  Hopefully I can see
many more.

---

July 15:  Kansas City 0 - Detroit 6
Starters:  KCR: Gobble 5IP - DET: Verlander 7IP
KCR  000 000 000  0  3 0
DET  011 202 00X  6 11 2
W: Verlander (11-4)
L: Gobble    (3-3)

---

Toolie Sees a Ball Game:  The Tigers offered a great
deal and my cousins and I took advantage.  We
caravaned to downtown and found a place to park on the
street.  It was a hot walk from Greektown to the Fox
Theater, but we made it and soaked up the A.C. We were
about 15 minutes late for the movie, so we decided it
would be easier to sit in the balcony. 

The Fox Theater was impressive... and the lower level
was quite full.  There was a huge screen on which the
movie was playing, but the sound was a little tough to
hear (a lot of echo and the background music
interfered).  Field of Dreams is one of the best
baseball movies ever and it's one of the few movies in
which I almost cry... ALMOST!!!  

After the movie we headed into the park.  I ran into
Matt and Nadia Bechler, a pair of Hillsdale grads,
going in to have dinner at Johnny Rocket's (good music
there, though I once heard Love Shack...what is
that?).  Later, in the stadium, I saw Baseball
Road-Trippers Jason "Ricky" Craven and Mike "Colonel"
Kopec.  Turns out the 2006 trip is soon to happen.  My
cousin Amy also ran into someone she knew.  It's a
small world.  

The game was sold out!  I know the Tigers are good,
but I wouldn't have guessed that they would sell out
against the Royals.  It was Negro League Tribute Day
and the teams were wearing the throwbacks... it almost
looked like Field of Dreams out there.  

Verlander was in trouble early but he pitched around
it.  At one point Verlander set down eleven straight. 
The Tigers systematically took care of the Royals,
scoring their six runs over four different innings. 
Curtis Granderson layed down two nice sac-bunts, in
consecutive at-bats, to move runners to second and
third.  Each time Placido Polanco followed with RBIs
(a single that scored two and a sac-fly).  Pudge had a
3 for 4 day and Omar Infante had a pair of hits.  My
boy, Jamie Walker, pitched a solid two innings to
close out the game.  There was a feel about the game
that the Tigers had it in the bag the whole way.

Early in the game my cousin Andy pointed out that the
Tigers were getting some use out of Dmitri while he's
injured.  See the attached picture.  We got a good
laugh out of that.

















I was especially impressed with the Comerica
faithful's participation in the singing of "Take Me
Out to the Ball Game."  Look out soccer fans... we're
catching up.  Fireworks after the game were nice. 
Tigers are 3-2 for me.  "The Original" Dashing Donut
won the race.  

Standings...
"The Original" Dashing Donut - 2
Cuppy Coffee - 2
Biggie Bagel - 1

---

July 16:  Kansas City 9 - Detroit 6
Starters:  KCR: Elarton 6IP - DET: Miner 4.1IP
KCR  004 021 200  9 14 1
DET  010 002 030  6  8 3
W: Elarton   (4-9)
L: Miner     (6-2)
S: MacDougal (1)

July 17:  no game scheduled...

July 18:  Chicago White Sox 7 - Detroit 1
Starters:  CWS: Garland 7IP - DET: Robertson 6.2IP
CWS  010 102 300  7 10 0
DET  000 010 000  1  7 0
W: Garland   (9-3)
L: Robertson (8-6)

-----------------------------------------------------
Readers Write In...
-----------------------------------------------------

Tim "'Roc' Raines" Daggett
 
I am enjoying the perfect summer evening!  My almost 6
month old son Isaac is asleep in the stroller from an
earlier walk, I'm on my 3rd brain freeze from a sonic
slushy, and I just finished listening to the Tigers
win 6-4 over the Royals (on mlb.com audio) in their
first game back from the All Sox break.  (Seriously,
half the AL reserves were White Sox.  Ozzie Guillen is
a jerk no matter how much he cries over Roberto
Clemente, and jokes with Pudge in the dug out.)  
 
In Answer to the pool question, the rest of July is
the most important stretch.  The Tigers have played
crazy good in the first half, and everyone that cares
is wondering if and when they are going to fall apart,
including themselves.  The All Star Break always seems
to be a Watershed period in the long Baseball season,
so you know the Tigers players are hoping things stay
as they have been, and that they really are 'good.' 
If they get into August in the A.L. Central lead,
having competed with Chicago and Minnesota over the
next couple of weeks, the season is gonna start to
feel really short.  The Media is gonna start to cover
a lot more.  And we'll all have dreams of Tigers
playoff baseball dancing in our heads.
 
I do think the Tigers continue to play well, and that
they make the playoffs, and the Yankees don’t! 
Whether we can hang with the White Sox all season is
gonna be tough.  Although, they have a serious
inferiority complex in the Windy City.  If you've been
to a white sox game recently, think about all the
street side tee-shirt sellers you had to pass on the
way to your car.  They were all some version of the
theme "Cubs are no good."  When you walk out of a Cubs
game, except for the occasional "Anti Cardinals"
shirt, nothing against the other Chicago Team. 
Seriously, You’re the Defending World Series Champs,
and the Cubs are in last place (And Cursed), hold your
heads a little higher.

O'Toole, I'm unfortunately probably out for the ball game. I'm bummed, but just not sure I can make it work. If I'm some how the difference in having enough players or something, let me know, but otherwise count me out. Thought you might enjoy a pic of the Kid. He's already about to outgrow his 1st Tigers Shirt. Any chance his picture makes it into the next Weekly?

-----------------------------------------------------

Nick "McMahon" Ciofani

you better have wrestling theme songs in between
innings.

-----------------------------------------------------

Andy "Ebert" Karnitz

***May contain movie spoilers***
 
So, preceding the ballgame we caught, Matt,
Amy, Ricardo, Poobie and I watched "Field of Dreams"
at Detroit's famous Fox Theater . 
 
The theater is a real gem, built in 1931 and restored
by Mr. Ilitch in the last 15 years or so. We arrived a
bit late, and after everyone used the "elmer" (the
O'Toole's don't refer to the restroom as the "john"
because that was our grandfather's name), we found 5
seats together in the balcony. Admittedly, I was
distracted for a few minutes looking around the
theater.
 
If you haven't seen the film, I'll tell you that it's
first rate entertainment, but the baseball history is
just a bit flawed. Kevin Costner's character, Ray, is
a '60's radical, estranged from his late father(a
former minor league catcher) in Ray's teens. Ray's dad
instilled in his child a love and sense of history for
the game. Dad, however, misinformed his kid as to the
innocence of Joe Jackson in the 1919 World Series.
Sure, Shoeless Joe hit well in the Series, but the
Reds hit an inordinate amount of triples to left field
in that Series. 
 
Ray, suffering from what I can only describe as "acid
flashbacks" builds a baseball diamond in his Iowa
cornfield. Shoeless Joe walks out of the corn to play
another game, and is later joined by the 7 fellow
"Black" Sox who were banned from the game. One of
these guys is suited up in the "tools of
ignorance"(catcher's gear). This is the second
historical inaccuracy. White Sox catcher Ray Schalk
wasn't suspended or banned. Why would he return w/ the
rest of the tankers(okay, third sacker Buck Weaver
didn't tank a thing but was aware of the scheme)?
 
There's some attempted book-burning in the film. I've
never seen Matt so fired up as when Ray's wife,
Annie(Amy Maddigan, I think), shouts down the
attempted censors using hippy logic. Matt was pumping
his fists, and at one point he stood up and shouted
something like "Power to the People"(I'm not quite
sure what he said because Ricardo and Poobie were
making such a racket! I'm surprised the management
didn't toss us to the curb, what with all the
ruckus!). I was afraid Matt was gonna leave us to
attend an IWW rally, Wobbly that he is.
 
Later, Ray takes drugs with Darth Vader and drives to
Minnesota, where Darth and Ray meet a
hitch-hiker/chainsaw killer. They go back to Iowa
where they watch more ghosts play ball and one of the
ghosts makes Ray cry. At the very end angry villagers
with torches show up at the farm. I assume they came
to burn down the hippy commune, but the credits roll
first, so I guess I'm just "blue-skying"  that there
was a happy ending.
 
Two things before I hit send:
 
1). Matt, I scored the game wrong. Verlander walked
only two- Stairs reached 1st in the 7th inning on
catcher's interference.

2). Read about the IWW here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IWW
 
Yours, Andy

-----------------------------------------------------

Toolie's Trashtalk...

Tough way to watch the Tigers lose tonight.  The Sox
only out hit us by three, but they made theirs count. 
It's like the White Sox are the Tigers' daddies. 
Let's see if Bondo can go out there and dominate on
national TV.  

The totally awesome guy from the Red Roof Inn
commercials (chances of me working
are...remote...HAHAHA) has appeared in another
commercial, this time for Kewadin Casinos.  In the
spot he gets bugged by a dog and tries to get it to go
away...until the dog's owner (a babe) shows up. 
Suddenly he's a big dog fan.  He and the babe proceed
to hit it off.  I love that guy!

An interesting fact from Saturday:  it was the first
day since 1978 in which all the teams played and no
saves were recorded.  There were six blown saves on
that day.  

Story: http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/9556780

Check out the sweet catch by the Rangers' Jerry
Hairston Jr.  The catch is great, but the post-catch
taunt of the fan is what makes the play (reminiscient
of when I "shhhhed" the rowdy Delts in an IM Hoops
game after sinking a trey...only to blow out my knee
later).  Click the link below and then on the video
link that says "Hairston robs Conine."

http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/gameday
_recap.jsp?ymd=20060715&content_id=1558154&vkey=recap
&fext=.jsp&c_id=tex

Here's a pretty decent article by a Chicago columnist
which resets the Tigers/White Sox/AL situation.  

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist
=rogers_phil&id=2522387

The author points to the Tigers' superior pitching so
far, but after this week I'm a tad concerned.  The
Tigers are 1-3-1 in the 2nd half as far as pitching
performances go.  Verlander was great, Bonderman was
OK, the rest of the gang stunk it up.  Hopefully this
is a hiccup and not the start of a 2nd-half trend.  

Here's what needs to happen.

Rogers: don't flop in the second half
Polanco: get up more with runners in scoring position
(hitting .400 with RISP but only has 36 RBIs)
Rodney:  return to early season form
Robertson:  get off the 3-game losing streak
Guillen:  cut down on the errors
Inge:  add about 30 points to your batting average
White Sox: stop kicking the Tigers' butts

Dagz, the kid looks great!  Just make sure he grows up
to be one of those kids in Colorado who pisses all the
other kids off by rooting for the Red Wings.  I'm not
really mad at Guillen for all of the Sox.  As long as
this system for choosing reserves is in place that's
what's going to happen... and Ozzie didn't abuse it
(like Torre has), I think.  The only position player
in the AL not to see action was Pierzinski.  Guillen
even took Maggs as a replacement for Manny Ramirez.

Andy, great review of the movie.  I was rolling.  You
should do more.  If you can roast Field of Dreams like
you did then no movie is safe!

Two big games for the Tigers against the Sox and then
no-slouch Oakland comes knocking.  It will be a tough
week in Tiger Town.  Let's hope for the best.  Three
of the next four games will be nationally televised,
so the Tigers should put their best paws forward.  

I'm out.
 





-----------------------------------------------------

Tigers Weekly is in no way affiliated with the Detroit
Tigers or Major League Baseball.  
 
If you know anyone that would like a subscription to TW,
send an email to editor@tigersweekly.com and give their
names and e-mail addresses. If your e-mail address is
changing, drop a line and it will be updated...

Play Ball!

-----------------------------------------------------