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Here comes the trade deadline! Are you ready for some
uber-analyzation? Names like Alfonso Soriano and
Bobby Abreu are flying across the air-waves as Tiger
fans speculate who could end up wearing the Olde
English D. Meanwhile, the current Tigers finish up
another successful week of baseball. The Tigs won a
big series with the White Sox (the final two games,
which they won, were on national TV) and also took two
of three from AL West leading Oakland. Detroit looks
to win their fourth consecutive series since the
All-Star Break with a win at the Jake Wednesday at
noon (on ESPN, all you transplants). By the time the
next Weekly comes out we'll see what kind of squad is
going to take us down the stretch.
New Subscribers...
Josh "Seoul Man" Bilsborrow
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Week of 7/19 - 7/25
Record: 5-2 WWWLWWL
Chase for Five-Hundy: The magic number for a
five-hundy season is down to 14. If you're wondering,
the magic number to clinch the division is at 56
(knocking on wood as I type). Currently the UFH index
is at a comfy -34.
Up Next for the Tigers...
July 26 @ Cleveland
July 27 no game scheduled...
July 28-30 @ Minnesota
July 31 - Aug 3 @ Tampa Bay
Lots of the Tribe coming up. The season series with
Cleveland ends before September. August is looking
like a tough month. A good test for the club. This
series in Minnesota will be trying... the Tigers will
face both Francisco Liriano (Friday) and Johan Santana
(Sunday). Maybe Vance Wilson can weave a little more
magic.
AL Central Standings...
DET 67 33 -
CWS 59 40 7.5
MIN 58 41 8.5
CLE 44 55 22.5
KCR 35 64 31.5
Tigers Divsion...
DET 67 33 -
BOS 61 38 5.5
CWS 59 40 7.5
NYY 58 40 8 <--- Playoff Cushion
NYM 59 41 8
Tigers News and Notes: Da' Meat Hook, or Dmitri
Young, was activated this week at the expense of
little used Ramon Santiago. Dmitri was battling
substance abuse and some depression problems. Read
up on his return here:
http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.
jsp?ymd=20060721&content_id=1567876&vkey=news_det&fext
=.jsp&c_id=det
He has been an instant boost to the team, providing
eight hits in five games. The surge has boosted his
average from .169 to .231, and he hit his first two
home-runs of the season. For that, Dmitri also earns
Tiger of the Week honors.
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From the Fans...
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Here's a nice Tigers page on http://www.MLive.com sent in by
Anthony "Ferny" Morano. Look for the interview with
Sparky Anderson.
http://www.mlive.com/tigers/
Also, here are some fast facts provided by Nic "Gilby"
Gilbert...
As of games played 7/24:
1.Bonderman is 7-0 in road starts this year and hasn't
lost anywhere since May 29 -- going 6-0 in a span of
10 outings.
2.The Tigers improved to a major league-best 34-15
outside of Michigan.
3.According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Detroit is the
first team since the 1891 St. Louis Browns to score
five runs or more in the first inning of three
straight games. They were the 3rd team to ever do
that. Those 1891 Browns followed five- and six-run
first innings against the Cincinnati Porkers with five
against the Columbus Colts. Most importantly, they
were the first team to do it in the modern era. Games
before 1889 went by different rules and thus, this
record is considered the first ever in the modern era.
4.Detoit is outscoring teams 65-39 in 1st inning this
season.
5.Before Dmitri Young's bat in the 8th inning (which
was a K) he was batting .344 at Jacobs Field, which is
the second best batting average at the park behind
Derek Jeter.
6.Remarkably, the Tigers have gained 45 1/2 games
against the Indians in the standings since the end of
last season. Detroit finished 2005 with a 71-91
record, 22 games behind second-place Cleveland
(93-69).
7.The Tigers have hit 103 homers at Jacobs Field since
1994 - the most by any visiting team.
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Trades So Far...
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Keep up with all the trading that goes on at the ESPN
transactions page.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/transactions
The White Sox have picked up Sandy Alomar Jr. and Mike
MacDougal recently. They are also rumored to be in
the market for Alfonso Soriano. That would give
them... another awesome bat. Maybe not exactly what
they need. Also, the Royals have been pretty active
(not just the MacDougal deal). I think the Royals
signed a lot of those vets so they could trade them at
the deadline for some prospects. We'll see if they
continue to deal.
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Tigers Weekly Baseball Game 2006...
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The 2nd annual Tigers Weekly Baseball Game was a
smashing success! A total of 24 players participated
in a full nine inning game. The weather was perfect,
the field was in good shape, and good times were had
by all. The Agate group even had uniforms which their
company paid for! How cool is that? I'll have to get
in touch with my sponsors and see if The Weekly can do
the same for the next game.
This year we played with the natural dimensions of the
field (last year we moved home plate back). This time
we didn't allow any advancing on steals or on passed
balls. You could, however, take first on a strikeout
if the catcher dropped the ball (I think it happened
once). The twelve men in the order batted through and
people subbed in and out of the field throughout the
game. Here is the box score of what went down. One
player for the Weekly, Marc Ostrander, had to leave
early. Jimmy Vessell's girlfriend Amanda did a nice
job keeping the book for us. Note that ERAs have last
year's game factored in...
Saturday, July 22
The Weekly 3 - Agate 2
Starters: TW: N. Martzke 5IP - Agate: J. Tkaczyk 5IP
TW 000 100 110 3 9 2
AG 000 010 100 2 5 5
W: J. Vessell (1-0)
L: M. McKeown (0-1)
THE WEEKLY
AB R H RBI BB SO
D. Senters 3 0 0 0 1 0
M. Puckett 4 0 0 0 0 0
J. Vessell 4 1 1 0 0 0
N. Martzke 3 0 1 0 1 1
B. Vessell 4 0 2 1 0 1
M. Dabkowski 4 0 1 0 0 1
J. Timmer 4 0 0 0 0 2
M. Ostrander 2 0 0 0 0 1
A. Shafer 4 0 0 0 0 2
J. Chapin 3 1 1 0 0 2
M. O'Toole 3 0 1 1 0 0
B. Beckmann 3 1 2 0 0 0
Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO ERA
N. Martke 5 1 1 1 3 4 1.80
J. Vessell 4 4 1 1 1 7 1.80
AGATE
AB R H RBI BB SO
H. Cleland 3 0 0 0 1 3
M. Collins 4 0 0 0 0 1
W. Pelowski 3 2 1 0 1 0
J. Tkaczyk 1 0 0 0 2 1
M. Damnar? 3 0 1 0 0 0
K. Strom 3 0 1 2 0 0
D. Finkbeiner 2 0 0 0 0 2
J. Fradette 3 0 0 0 0 1
C. Surato 3 0 0 0 0 1
C. Claus 3 0 2 0 0 0
D. Simpson 3 0 0 0 0 2
Pitching IP H R ER BB SO ERA
J. Tkaczyk 5 4 1 0 0 3 5.00
D. Simpson 2 2 1 0 0 3 0.00
M. McKeown 2 3 1 1 2 4 4.50
Umpire: Cameron Rodgers
Attendance: About 10-15 people
Weather: Warm and sunny.
MVP: First an honorable mention goes out to the
pitchers. They all did a great job. This year they
walked a total of six batters over nine innings, where
last year there were fifteen walks over six and a half
innings. That kept the game moving at a nice pace.
But the MVP of the game is Dallas "Mouth of the South"
Senters. Not only did Dallas distract Team Agate with
a constant flow of (good-natured) comments, he also
made two fine defensive plays. In the fifth, after
Agate had tied the game and loaded the bases, Dallas
made a fine running catch in left field to end the
threat. Then, in the 8th, Agate had runners on first
and second with one out and trailed 3-2. Dan Simpson
hit a grounder to Nate Martzke at shortstop, who
tossed to Mike Dabkowski at second for one, but the
relay to first was just a little wide. The runner
from second rounded third and was heading home. The
first baseman (me) made a throw on the run and threw
it in the dirt. Dallas, now catching, made a
run-saving scoop and applied the tag. Without those
two plays the game most certainly would have gone in
Agate's favor. Way to go, Big D!
After the game we had a "home-run" derby. Actually,
we set up cones in the outfield and if you carried the
cones it was considered a homer. A handful of people
hit one homer, some (like me) hit none, but Josh
Tkaczyk was the big bopper with, drum roll please, TWO
home runs. Nobody cleared the fence in fair
territory, though Jimmy Vessell hit one over that was
just foul and his one "homer" that counted hit the
fence in the air. Also, one of the Agate guys pulled
one well into a nearby backyard. At least none of us
will be named in Canseco's next book.
It was another amazing experience for all involved.
Many of the people there were all for having another
game this summer, so if you are interested in playing
another game or interested in playing for the first
time let me know.
Many photos of the game, taken by Josh's wife, can be
viewed at the following link.
http://www.tkaczyk.org/sites/sports/baseball/game2
/index.htm
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Poll Question...
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You'll have to wait to answer until the trade deadline
is over, but how would you rate what the Tigers
(Dombrowski) did/did not do?
In 1997 the Marlins (i.e. Dombrowski) made the
following moves near the trade deadline.
Traded Billy McMillon for Darren Daulton
Traded Mark Hutton for Craig Counsell
Traded Matt Whisenant for Matt Treanor
post-deadline (waiver deal, I guess):
Traded Rick Helling for LHP Ed Vosberg
Daulton and Counsell were regulars in the World Series
and Vosberg pitched three innings (maybe he was a
situational guy). I also learned that they picked up
Derrek Lee and A.J. Burnett in their post-World Series
fire sale.
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Game Linescores...
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July 19: Chicago White Sox 2 - Detroit 5
Starters: CWS: Vazquez 6IP - DET: Bonderman 7.1IP
CWS 001 010 000 2 5 1
DET 000 005 00X 5 7 0
W: Bonderman (10-4)
L: Vazquez (9-5)
July 20: Chicago White Sox 1 - Detroit 2
Starters: CWS: Contreras 7IP - DET: Rogers 6IP
CWS 000 100 000 1 7 0
DET 000 001 10X 2 7 1
W: Zumaya (5-1)
L: Contreras (9-2)
S: Jones (25)
July 21: Oakland 4 - Detroit 7
Starters: OAK: Haren 6IP - DET: Verlander 6IP
OAK 001 000 003 4 11 0
DET 000 331 00X 7 11 0
W: Verlander (12-4)
L: Haren (6-9)
July 22: Oakland 9 - Detroit 5
Starters: OAK: Blanton 5IP - DET: Miner 2.1IP
OAK 050 012 010 9 11 1
DET 500 000 000 5 14 0
W: Blanton (10-8)
L: Ledezma (1-1)
July 23: Oakland 4 - Detroit 8
Starters: OAK: Loaiza 3IP - DET: Robertson 7IP
OAK 003 000 100 4 6 3
DET 611 000 00X 8 11 1
W: Robertson (9-6)
L: Loaiza (4-6)
July 24: Detroit 9 - Cleveland 7
Starters: DET: Bonderman 5IP - CLE: Lee 4IP
DET 500 110 020 9 17 0
CLE 000 130 120 7 11 1
W: Bonderman (11-4)
L: Lee (9-8)
S: Jones (26)
July 25: Detroit 7 - Cleveland 12
Starters: DET: Rogers 0.2IP - CLE: Byrd 3IP
DET 030 400 000 7 13 1
CLE 701 001 30X 12 13 1
W: Davis (3-1)
L: Rogers (11-4)
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Readers Write In...
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Ch"Aase" Claus
Toolio -
What a great time it is to be a Tigers fan! As I was
8 years old when the Tigers last made the playoffs, I
am reveling in a playoff run that I can fully
appreciate.
Having recently spend several days in Chicago, I have
a things to say about the White Sox. Those who have
pointed out their inferiority complex are 100%
correct. My cousin Matt, a die-hard White Sox fan,
called me yesterday with the Sox leading the Tigers
2-0, and spent most of the call talking about how
badly Dusty Baker was getting torched in the
newspaper,
rather than taunting me for how the Sox had been
beating us like a rented mule.
I was also perusing the Chicago Tribune one morning
and found the results of the annual national Harris
Poll that determines the most popular teams in the
MLB. While I was not surprised by the top of the
list, I was surprised that the crappy Cubs were as
beloved as they are and that the World Series didn't
do much to cut the gap beween the Cubs & Sox. I was
also pleasantly surprised by how the Tigers are viewed
across the nation. [Also, why do the Devil Rays even
exist?!?!] Make your predictions and then check your
results:
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index
.asp?PID=681
As to the Editor's question of postseason contenders,
I'm going to go out on a few limbs. As a newletter
editor myself, it makes for better conversation
than the formulaic prediction, which would be: Red Sox
/ White Sox / Whoever & Tigers wildcard ... Mets /
Cardinals / Whoever & Astros wildcard.
Forget that - let's be unreasonable! Here you go -
let's have some fun...
AL WEST / NL WEST
These divisions are a joke! The fact that both of the
Wests face the distinct threat of a sub-.500 division
winner every year is bad for baseball. If conspiracy
theorists think that the "East Coast Bias"
exists already, playing terrible baseball won't make
it any better. Why SHOULD we pay attention to any
team beyond the Rocky Mountains?
As a way of comparison, were Minnesota suddenly moved
to either the AL WEST or NL WEST, they would go from
3rd place & 9.5 games back to 1st place, and a
comfortable lead of 7-8 games.
[As a side question, why the heck are the divisions
aligned the way they are? Why not move the Royals to
the AL WEST (where they would be 18 games out instead
of 31) and then move the Brewers from the inexplicable
6-team NL CENTRAL to the AL CENTRAL, which, although
the Brewers are an old NL team,
Milwaukee did play in the AL for a long time as well.
For those of us who have actually made the drive,
Milwaukee is a much more geographically
sensible place to include in the CENTRAL, while being
in the WEST would not make Royals' travel much worse
than it already is. Then you would actually have 6
divisions with 5 teams each instead of 4-5-5-5-5-6.
What am I missing here?]
Editors Note: I think I can answer this. I used to
have the same question... I found it absurd. The
reason that the leagues are not balanced is so that
there are an even number of teams in each league.
Thus there is always someone to play. Otherwise there
would always have to be an interleague series going on
or two teams would always be idle. - Toolie
Anyway, as a Tigers fan, the AL WEST team that I least
want to see in the playoffs is Oakland - for whatever
reason, they have our number. Unfortunately, I do
think that the A's will make the playoffs out of
the AL WEST.
I also believe that San Diego will hold on to win the
NL WEST because I numbered the five teams in my mind,
wrote #s 1-5 on scraps of paper, put them facedown on
a table, mixed them up, and selected one ... #1 - San
Diego.
NL CENTRAL
Though there are six teams in the division, it seems
that they are falling over themselves trying to lose
it. The Cubs have been an absolute joke & Dusty Baker
is done, though he'll probably get until the end of
the season. Pittsburgh is a minor league team.
Cincinnati and Milwaukee have played
surprisingly well, but I don't think that it's enough
to get into the post-season. Houston put all of their
eggs in the Clemens basket, and a 2-3 record with
almost no run support isn't good enough to warrant the
$22,000,000 they spent for it. Even though the
Cardinals have been playing like garbage and their
pitching situation is a joke, St. Louis will win this
division.
NL EAST
Atlanta makes a run ... the Mets barely hang on to win
the division ... the Braves get the Wild Card ... the
Mets lose their first-round playoff matchup, but the
Braves win theirs.
AL CENTRAL / AL EAST
I've got to run, so I'll make this short and
unexplained. Detroit and the Yankees win, both pairs
of Sox fade in a big way, and Toronto (minus G-ea
Hillenbrand) sneaks in for the Wild Card.
PLAYOFFS
Detroit Tigers d. Toronto Blue Jays (3-1)
New York Yankees d. Oakland Athletics (3-0)
St. Louis Cardinals d. New York Mets (3-2)
Atlanta Braves d. San Diego Padres (3-1)
New York Yankees d. Detroit Tigers (4-2)
St. Louis Cardinals d. Atlanta Braves (4-3)
New York Yankees d. St. Louis Cardinals (4-0)
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Andy "Kin Korn" Karnitz
A quick hit & I'm out- I may have said some crappy
things about DY in recent months, oe thought some not
so nice thoughts about him. Last Friday's revelations
that Mr. Young was going through rehab and is 60+ days
clean and sober made me(who hasn't had a drink in 15+
months) feel like an ass. I send my apologies to him.
Congrats, DY! I hope you can get it back on track-
you're off to a nice re-start - and I hope you get to
do it for the Tigers.
I'm tryin', Matt, to figure out which baseball movie
to review next. Thanks for yer critique of my
critique.
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More from Ch"Aase" Claus!!!
Another thing, loyal readers...
As the trade deadline approaches, I can't help but
enjoy the fact that there is a serious question as to
whether or not we need to make a move. Translate that
as: "Are we already perfect?" In years past, the
pertinent question at this time of year was "Who can
we unload on some poor sap?"
-or-
"Do you think anyone would trade entire franchises
with us?"
I tried to think of a useful measure of this years'
consistency to juxtapose with previous seasons, and
the best I can do is to do a lineup comparison
between Opening Day and Closing Day. I realize that
this measurement is wrought with problems and
complications, among which are being trade deadline
sellers, and giving minor leaguers a shot at the end
of a lost year. These issues can best be expounded
upon by Dan Simpson or perhaps some of O'Toole's
buddies in the math department. I leave that to them.
Still, I find the following comparison remarkable.
These are the batting orders for Opening Day and
Closing Day for the 2001-2004 seasons (Baseball
Almanac doesn't have 2005 done yet), as well as for
this year. For this season's "last" game, I used the
game in which Polanco got hit in the face, assuming
that he is a "regular." [Also, I included the
pitchers, just for gags. I don't expect to pitch the
same guy on opening and closing day, other than by
coincidence. In-game substitues appear after
slashes.]
2001 (Record: 66-96)
OPENING DAY --- CLOSING DAY
Cedeno --- Macias
Easley --- Easley/Jackson
Higginson --- Higginson/McGee
T.Clark/Jackson --- Simon
McMillon/J.Clark --- Halter
Cruz --- Fick
Encarnacion --- Cruz
Halter --- Munson
Inge/Fick/Cardona --- Inge
Weaver --- Lima/Bernero
TURNOVER: 4/9 players
---
2002 (Record: 55-106)
OPENING DAY --- CLOSING DAY
Higginson --- Torres
Halter --- Infante
Fick --- Munson
Young/Simon --- Pena
Melusky --- Monroe
Paquette/Jackson --- Jackson
Cruz --- Lombard
Easley --- Inge
Macias --- Truby
Redman/Perisho --- Maroth/Rodney/Walker
TURNOVER: 9/9 players
---
2003 (Record: 43-119)
OPENING DAY --- CLOSING DAY
Kingsale --- Sanchez/Torres
Infante --- Morris
Young --- Higginson/Petrick
Higginson --- Young
Palmer --- Monroe
Pena/Paquette --- Pena
Munson --- Halter
Inge --- Inge/Hinch/Walbeck
Santiago --- Santiago
Maroth/Walker/German --- Maroth/Mears/Bonderman/Walker
TURNOVER: 4/9 players
---
2004 (Record: 72-90)
OPENING DAY --- CLOSING DAY
Sanchez/Torres --- Infante
Vina --- Higginson
Rodriguez --- Monroe
White/Norton --- White/Thames
Pena --- Pena/Shelton
Guillen/Infante --- Inge
Higginson --- Munson/Smith
Monroe --- Raburn
Munson/Inge --- Logan
Cornejo/Colyer --- Robertson/Ennis/Novoa/Walker
TURNOVER: 4/9 players
---
2006 (Record: 67-33 so far)
OPENING DAY --- RECENT GAME
Granderson --- Granderson
Polanco --- Polanco/Infante
Rodriguez --- Rodriguez
Ordonez --- Ordonez
Young --- Guillen
Shelton --- Thames
Guillen --- Young/Shelton
Monroe --- Monroe
Inge --- Inge
TURNOVER: Thames has become a regular, decreasing
Monroe's playing time significantly and
Young/Shelton's playing time slightly. Other than
that, there is virtually no difference. 6 of the 9
players are even batting in the same slot after 100
games as they were in game #1.
---
I'm not sure this means much of anything, but I do
think its great that Leyland seems to have properly
assessed his talent - something that wasn't
done well by the Randy Smith / Buddy Bell / Larry
Parrish / Phil Garner / Luis Pujols / Alan Trammell
crowd. Let's just hope that the trend holds.
As a side note, as I was typing, I had PTI on in the
background, while Todd Jones was being interviewed.
He offered the following gem, regarding the Tigers
pitching staff: "Your best chance of scoring is going
to be off of me."
Kickin' Some ChAase!
OUT.
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Toolie's Trashtalk...
Thanks to Chas for writing the Weekly for me this
week. I can tell that he's getting into the groove
for Campus Comments, which will be starting once
college football gets going. Those interested in the
newsletter that started it all, e-mail Chas at
chas79@hotmail.com. It's an amazing experience.
Harold Reynolds is done at ESPN! That was pretty
abrupt. Some people didn't like H.R. but I always
enjoyed Baseball Tonight when he was on. I can't
think of a former player on there that I like better.
Too bad.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2529688
While the Sox series was quite exciting to watch,
these last two games against Cleveland have been
painful. Both games featured huge early leads that
were almost blown, but not. So you couldn't stop
watching (OK, I couldn't anyway) but the team behind
never caught the team in the lead. The game on Monday
was three hours and fourty-eight minutes. Yuck. Win
or lose, those marathon games with the Tribe can be
taxing.
Don't sleep on those Twins. While the White Sox
remain in second place in the Central, that could be
different when the Tigers roll into the Metrodome.
Just one game separates the two teams. The AL Wild
Card race is very tight, but with two months to play,
all that is pretty much irrelevant. Teams just have
to keep playing their best until September and see
where they are then.
Chas, I got a good charge out of the differences in
lineup. George Lombard, Chris Truby, Warren Morris,
and John Ennis are names that bring back some
disastrous times. Still, I wonder what the rosters
looked like in mid-July. That would give a little
more perspective on the current situation I think.
Go Tigers!
I'm out...
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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!
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