Tigers Weekly 2006 Season

Week 16: 8/9/06 - 8/15/06

What have we learned this week, class?  

That pitching is the key!

It was one of the bleakest weekends yet for the
Tigers, and that was due to six errors and the White
Sox pitching circles around the Bengal hitters.  There
was a lot of fear in the D after the second sweep of
the year (both at the hands of the White Sox). 
Detroit had to go into Fenway to face Big Papi and the
hard-hitting Red Sox.  The Tigers were picked up by
great outings from Nate Robertson and Jeremy
Bonderman, and the Tigers have taken the first two of
their three-game set with Boston.  What we're seeing
is that the team that brings good pitching to the
table (backed up by solid defense) has a big
advantage.  Thankfully pitching has been the Tigers'
strong suit in 2006.

Seven games remain against the White Sox.  The four at
Comerica kick off next week starting on Monday.  If
you want to see one of these games you had better get
your tickets now.  I'll be there for the first of the
four.  

Notice to all you transplants:  Tigers @ Red Sox
Wednesday night on ESPN.  Rangers @ Tigers Thursday
night on ESPN. 

New Subscribers...

Bill "Freehan" Bringedahl
Bonnie "Ice" Berg
Bob "Feller" Muttart
Richard "The Lyin'" Hart

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Week of 8/9 - 8/15

Record: 2-4  L-LLLWW

Chase for Five-Hundy:  Only two wins this week, so the
Tigers still need three wins to reach 81 wins.  Since
the White Sox beat up on the Tigs the magic number in
the division only falls to 38.  Thanks to the Royals
for taking a game from the White Sox on Tuesday.  

Up Next for the Tigers...

August 16     @ Boston
August 17-20  Texas
August 21-24  Chicago White Sox

AL Central Standings...

DET  78 41 -
CWS  71 47 6.5
MIN  69 49 8.5
CLE  53 65 24.5
KCR  42 78 36.5

Tigers Division...

DET  78 41 -
NYY  70 46 6.5
CWS  71 47 6.5
NYM  71 47 6.5
MIN  69 49 8.5   <--- Playoff Cushion

AL Wild Card  (NYY, DET, OAK leading divisions)...

CWS -
MIN 2
BOS 3

NL Wild Card (NYM, STL, LAD leading divisions)...

CIN -
SDP 1
ARZ 1.5   <--- still playing
COL 2.5   <--- still playing
PHI 2.5
HOU 4

Tigers News and Notes:  Placido Polanco sustained a
separated shoulder in the seventh inning Tuesday
night.  He made a fine catch to save a run, but it may
cost him some time in the field.  The injury presented
Jim Leyland with a tough situation.  Omar Infante had
started the game at third base but was replaced by
Inge in the bottom of the seventh, leaving nobody on
the bench who had played any infield position other
than first.  So Pudge Rodriguez was called on to move
from catcher to second and Vance Wilson took over
behind the plate.  Pudge did all right for his two
innings, even makings a nice catch behind first base. 
I expect that someone along the lines of Ramon
Santiago will be recalled and Infante will take over
as the regular second baseman until Polanco returns.

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Tiger of the Week...
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Did anyone have a good series in Chicago? There was one guy. Sean Casey went 5 for 10 in Chicago with a homer and three RBIs. He followed that up with two big nights in Boston. "The Mayor" is 4 for 8 with a walk in the first two games at Fenway and has tacked on another four RBIs in those two nights. This guy can hit! He's coming up with some crucial RBIs here. His homer against the White Sox broke a 0-0 tie in the sixth inning on Saturday. His two-out single on Monday extended the Tigers' lead to a semi-comfortable 5-0, and his seventh-inning double on Tuesday turned the game around. This week Sean Casey was a big difference maker and we should hope that this Dombrowski addition continues to pay dividends.

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Beware the Ides of August...
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As we've noted, the schedule here in the middle of
August is downright naughty.  So far the Tigs are 3-5
in the Twins - Yankees stretch.  After that series in
New York the Tigers come home for the Angels and
Mariners.  That promises to be a little easier of a
ride than we're enduring now.  If the Tigers finish
that Twins - Yankees stretch at .500 then I'll be
pretty OK with that.  The schedule after September 15
has a lot of weaker teams (ten games vs. Baltimore and
KC).  However, that doesn't always translate into wins
(see Cleveland 2005, September).

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Poll Question...
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I know that I've asked this in years past, but it's a
fun topic and there are a lot of new readers.  Who is
your least favorite sports personality and why? 
Here's mine.

The first time I heard Skip Bayless was one day when
he was filling in for Jim Rome.  People repeatedly
called in to tell Skip what a bad job he was doing,
but I didn't feel he was doing too poorly.  I sort of
liked the guy.  Now that I see his face all the time
and have to hear his lame ideas I realize that these
callers were right on the money.  I'm now to the point
where I can't stand the guy.  He gets worked up about
the dumbest things and almost always over-reacts. 
Just this Monday he triumphantly spewed this tidbit on
"Cold Pizza:"  "The Tigers are going to get swept by
the Red Sox!!!"  How's that one working out for you,
Skippy?  But I'll bet he doesn't even remember saying
it.  What a boob.

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Game Linescores...
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August 9:  Minnesota 4 - Detroit 3
Starters:  MIN: Santana 7IP - DET: Bonderman 7IP
MIN  100 000 120  4 9 1
DET  000 001 200  3 4 0
W: Santana (13-5)
L: Zumaya  (6-2)
S: Nathan  (25)

August 10:  no game scheduled...

August 11:  Detroit 0 - Chicago White Sox 5
Starters:  DET: Verlander 5IP - CWS: Contreras 9IP
DET  000 000 000  0  3 2
CWS  001 040 00X  5 15 0
W: Contreras (11-4)
L: Verlander (14-5)

August 12:  Detroit 3 - Chicago White Sox 4
Starters:  DET: Rogers 7IP - CWS: Buerhle 6IP
DET  000 030 000  3 7 3
CWS  000 030 10X  4 4 0   <---- 4 hits
W: MacDougal (1-0)
L: Rogers    (11-6)  <---- 4 unearned runs

August 13:  Detroit 3 - Chicago White Sox 7
Starters:  DET: Miner 5.1IP - CWS: Garcia 7IP
DET  101 100 000  3 11 1
CWS  130 000 12X  7 11 0
W: Garcia (11-7)
L: Miner  (7-3)
S: Jenks  (33)

August 14:  Detroit 7 - Boston 4
Starters:  DET: Robertson 6IP - BOS: Beckett 6IP
DET  302 000 020  7 9 1
BOS  000 012 010  4 9 1
W: Robertson (11-9)
L: Beckett   (13-7)
S: Jones     (32)

August 15:  Detroit 3 - Boston 2
Starters:  DET: Bonderman 7.2IP - BOS: Schilling 7IP
DET  000 000 201  3 11 0
BOS  001 000 010  2  6 0
W: Rodney (6-3)
L: Timlin (5-2)
S: Jones  (33)

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Readers Write In...
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Steve "Stone" Sprague

Here's some celebs you forgot:

Eminem - he has the Old English D on his forearm, that
earns him a pass.
The Rest of D12 - Again this is due to prominent use
of the Tigers logo
Tom Selleck - He wore a Tigers hat as Magnum PI, that
was during the 80's when Detroit was kicked around a
lot.
Bob Seger - A Pistons season ticket holder for
something like twenty years earns him some love in
other sports.

That's my list and I'm sticking to it.

Steve Sprague

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Jeanie "Light Brown Hair" Fowler

Regarding celebrities at Tiger games:  I can only
think of two others - Jeff Daniels and (don't hit me,
now) Michael Moore.

Editors Note:  I'll save Michael Moore a seat right
between Ted Nugent and Jack Kevorkian.

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Nick "The Greek" Ciofani

Oh my god, has the Tribe just won 5 in a row?  I don't
even recognize the bullpen but who really cares!  Also
Tiger fans, do you now see why us Tribe fans hate the
White Sox, please beat them this year.

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John "Hollywood" Rothwell

Have the Tigers been jinxed? As I write this on Monday
morning the tigers have lost five in a row. It was a
week ago that they won there last game. If you go back
and look at the events during that time one thing
sticks out in my mind. That was the broadcast team
putting Dick Devos in the play by play booth for part
of an inning. Devos said "he will turn Michigan around
just like the Tigers have." Yet this man could not
name one player on the team and made himself the
laughing stock of all of Michigan and worst yet, the
Tigers have not one a single game sense his
appearance. Yes, I blame this losing streak on Dick
Devos. No team makes that kind of mistakes without
some kind of curse or jinx on them.  What the tigers
need to do is have Jennifer Graholm in the play by
play box for a half inning to break this curse.  If
not it will be a third place finish for the Tigers and
a long October for us all. 
 
Hollywood

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Andy "Kin Korn" Karnitz

Hmm....So Dick DeVos goes to a Tigers' game and the
Tigers drop 5 straight. I smell a goat. Or is it a
black cat? (info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Billy_Goat_curse ) Or a bambino?(http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Curse_of_the_Bambino)
 
Maybe we can call it The Curse of the Silver Spoon.
 
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Toolie's Trashtalk...

Well it wasn't a visit from Jennie G. that turned the
Tigers around, it was a visit from Mark "The Bird"
Fidrych.  Fidrych joined Rod and Mario in the booth on
Monday night and it broke the big losing streak.  Just
more proof that baseball should be left to baseball.  

It's tough to write when the Tigers play Chicago and
Boston in the same week.  You can't just refer to them
as the Sox.  

Hahahaha check out this article...

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php
?t=116645

OK, I know that the NFL season is quickly approaching,
but should a pre-season NFL game get top billing on
Sportscenter?  What's so special about the Raiders and
Vikings in pre-season?  There were some good match-ups
in baseball on Monday (Tigers/Red Sox, Yankees/Angels,
any of the games involving an NL West team, Chipper
Jones hit three homers) that could have warranted the
first highlight.  This is sort of mountain out of a
mole hill stuff, but I just don't get that excited
about the NFL pre-season.  After the first quarter all
the scrubs are in.  

Here's an article on Leyland and the Tigers by Yahoo
writer and Nick Ciofani contemporary Jeff Passan.  I
still think this guy looks like Melvin from Tremors,
but whatever.  Thanks to Matt "Smokey" Klozik for the
heads-up on this article.  

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-leyland08
1206&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

And here's a good one about an old-school Tiger sent
in by Ch"Aase" Claus.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist
=thompson_wright&id=2543513&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos2

Jeremy Bonderman was SMOKIN' again this week!  Two
quality outings against Johan Santana and Curt
Schilling.  In both cases the bullpen wasn't able to
hold the lead.  One of those times the hitters bailed
out the pen.  Jamie Walker (one of my favorites) was
terribly ineffective this week.  In his last four
appearances he's retired one batter while giving up
three hits and two walks.  Leyland even opted for Wil
Ledezma on Tuesday to face David Ortiz in the 8th. 
Papi singled and tied the game anyway.  

On Sunday White Sox fans were chanting "Detroit Sucks"
and it was making my blood boil.  I only hope that we
have something to cheer about on Monday when they come
to town.  For now the Sox own the Tigers, but there
are still a lot of games left to play for Detroit to
establish that they can hang.  I think back to 1997
when the Red Wings were 0-3 against Colorado.  Then
came March 26th.  We all remember what happened there.
 And if you don't, here's a reminder, maggot!  Gotta
love the PASS logo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMLnuV7HZ7g&mode=
related&search=

Attached is a photo sent to me by my Aunt Jeanie. 
Check out Tiger Stadium in the background and the
sweet styles of days past.  =-)














I'm out...
 





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