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This late issue of Tigers Weekly is brought to you by
rain delays and Miller Lite. My apologies. It was
another down week for the Tigers as they continue to
look for their first series win since taking two of
three from the Red Sox. They had a chance against the
Yankees and couldn't do it. They had two chances
against Anaheim and couldn't do it. They had a chance
last night against Seattle and couldn't do it.
Detroit is going to want to figure things out soon
since they are headed to Minnesota for four big ones
against the Twins. It's tough to win in the
Metrodome, though the Tigers have had a little success
there this season (3-3 there this year). The Tigs
still have a decent lead on both the Twins and White
Sox, but they could really put a hammer lock on the
playoffs with a big series in Minneapolis.
In honor of Steve "Crocodile Hunter" Irwin I will be
dropping random "Crikey"s into this week's edition.
Looks like Thursday's game vs. Minnesota is slated to
be broadcast on ESPN2.
New Subscribers...
Jason "Dmitri" Youngs
Matt "Tony Toni" Tonero
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Week of 8/30 - 9/5
Record: 3-5 (LW)LWLLWL
Magic Numbers: The two teams to watch are the Twins
(divisional number) and the White Sox (playoff
number). Those associations could change, of course.
The divisional magic number stands as 21 and the
playoff magic number is 19. There are 23 games left
on the Tigers' schedule.
Up Next for the Tigers...
September 6 Seattle
September 7-10 @ Minnesota
September 11 no game scheduled...
September 12-13 Texas
Up Next for MIN: @TBD (1), DET (4), OAK (3)
Up Next for CWS: @BOS (1), CLE (4), @ ANA (3)
AL Central Standings...
DET 85 54 -
MIN 80 57 4
CWS 79 59 5.5 <--- Playoff Cushion
CLE 66 71 18
KCR 52 88 33.5
Tigers Division...
NYM 84 52 -
DET 85 54 0.5
NYY 82 55 2.5
MIN 80 57 4.5
CWS 79 59 6
OAK 79 59 6
AL Wild Card (NYY, DET, OAK leading divisions)
MIN -
CWS 1.5
BOS 6
NL Wild Card (NYM, STL, LAD leading divisions)
SDP -
PHI 2
FLA 3
SFG 3.5
CIN 3.5
HOU 5
ATL 5.5
Tigers News and Notes: ESPN reports that the Tigers
have recalled Andrew Clevlen. He must be Brent's twin
brother or something. Guillen is out for a while with
a bad hamstring. More details below. Other brought
up this week (with the rosters expanding in September)
include Jordan Tata, Chris Shelton, infielder Kevin
Hooper, and Ramon Santiago. Crikey that's a lot of
call-ups!
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Tiger of the Week...
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Last week I said that Magglio needed to start looking
less like Rapunzel and more like Samson. He took a
step in that direction this week going 9 for 28 and
hitting two home runs. Crikey! The power had really
disappeared from Magglio's game since the All-Star
Break so those were nice to see. In that big win over
the Yankees the star of the game was Craig Monroe, but
it was Ordonez's homer which got the Tigers their
first two runs. That was a big win for the team and
it's nice to see Magglio contributing in a way that
his contract dictates.
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Campus Comments Alert...
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Love college football? Then Campus Comments is the
newsletter for you. Written by fellow Hillsdale
graduate, Chas Claus, it's the craze that started it
all. To put it another way, if Campus Comments is
"Happy Days" then Tigers Weekly is "Joanie Loves
Chachi." It's a great read and the editor does a
fantastic job. E-mail him at chas79@hotmail.com if
you are interested.
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Guillen Joins Polanco on DL...
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Carlos Guillen became the latest victim of the injury
bug as he strained his hamstring on Saturday against
Anaheim. Unlike Polanco's injury, which saved a game
for Detroit, Guillen's injury may have cost the Tigers
a victory. Carlos opened the bottom of the ninth with
a deep shot to the gap. It should have been an easy
triple, but he pulled up lame into second base. The
Tigers failed to score in the inning and lost in the
tenth.
More important is that the Tigers will be without the
middle of their infield for who knows how long.
Polanco won't be back for a couple of weeks at the
earliest. Neifi Perez also has a minor injury (sore
hand), leaving the vaunted 2003 middle infield of
Infante-Santiago to fill the gaps. Kevin Hooper was
brought up as an emergency infielder and he even
pinch-ran for Magglio in the 9th on Sunday. Hooper
hit .276 with Toledo and had 24 steals in 36 attempts.
http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article
.jsp?ymd=20060903&content_id=1644313&vkey=news_det
&fext=.jsp&c_id=det
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Tigers on the Net...
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Here are some fun Tiger-related articles gleaned this
week from the internet:
Do the Tigers have staying power?
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page
=baker/060904
Jones thinks hitters need to be patient. (sent in by
Matt Klozik)
http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic
.php?t=122474
Big Red is back... crikey!
http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article
.jsp?ymd=20060904&content_id=1644787&vkey=news_det
&fext=.jsp&c_id=det
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Pena Helps Out the Tigers...
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Carlos Pena may not be wearing the Olde English D
anymore, but that doesn't mean he isn't aiding the
Tigers' playoff run. Pena belted a walk-off homerun
on Monday night as the Red Sox beat the White Sox.
Carlos seems like a good guy and I hope that he gets
his career back on track. For now we can be happy
that he is helping keep those White Sox down.
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Poll Question...
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Where are the Tigers going to finish this season?
Will they win the division? The Wild Card? Will they
be eclipsed by both the Twins and White Sox? If they
win the division, will they hold off the Yankees for
home field? Nothing is settled yet, so each remaining
game is huge.
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Game Linescores...
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August 30: Day/Night Doubleheader
Game One: Detroit 0 - New York Yankees 2
Starters: DET: Robertson 7IP - NYY: Wang 7.2IP
DET 000 000 000 0 4 2
NYY 000 020 00X 2 10 1
W: Wang (16-5)
L: Robertson (11-11)
S: Rivera (32)
Game Two: Detroit 5 - New York Yankees 3
Starters: DET: Ledezma 5.1IP - NYY: Wright 6.1IP
DET 010 100 003 5 9 0
NYY 000 003 000 3 3 0
W: Grilli (2-2)
L: Proctor (5-4)
S: Jones (35)
August 31: Detroit 4 - New York Yankees 6
Starters: DET: Bonderman 5.1IP - NYY: Johnson 8IP
DET 010 001 002 4 5 0
NYY 001 210 20X 6 14 0
W: Johnson (15-10)
L: Bonderman (11-7)
S: Rivera (33)
September 1: Anaheim 0 - Detroit 9
Starters: ANA: E. Santana 4IP - DET: Rogers 7IP
ANA 000 000 000 0 5 1
DET 120 200 04X 9 12 0
W: Rogers (15-6)
L: E. Santana (13-7)
September 2: Anaheim 7 - Detroit 2 F/10 innings
Starter: ANA: Saunders 7.1IP - DET: Verlander 7IP
ANA 000 000 011 5 7 11 0
DET 000 000 020 0 2 9 2
W: Rodriguez (2-2)
L: Jones (2-6)
September 3: Anaheim 2 - Detroit 1
Starters: ANA: Escobar 8IP - DET: Ledezma 6IP
ANA 000 110 000 2 3 3
DET 001 000 000 1 3 0
W: Escobar (9-12)
L: Ledezma (2-2)
S: Rodriguez (37)
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Toolie Sees a Ball Game: Sunday Night Baseball
involves the Tigers for the first time this season (I
think). Either way this was a big night for Detroit.
Lia and I arrived in Greektown around 5:30PM and met
up with Gilby and his girlfriend, Lindsey, and we
grubbed it up at Hellas. After dinner we picked up
the tickets and had a pregame beer at the Elwood Bar.
No Miller Lite on tap? Crikey!
The game was pretty exciting, even though there were
only six hits total. The Angels made three errors,
trying to give the game away, but the Tigs couldn't
capitalize. Magglio singled in the third with the
bases loaded, but Monroe was thrown out at the plate
and the inning was over. Vlad immediately tied the
game with a leadoff homer in the fourth. The Tigers
didn't even hold the lead for one pitch. A two-out
hit gave the Angels a lead they would not surrender.
The two hits in the third inning would be it for the
Tigers until Magglio singled to lead off the 9th. But
K-Rod locked up a save by setting down Casey, Pudge,
and Thames.
After the game, as we were saying good-byes, Dave
"Soup" Campbell walked by. Campbell used to be on
Baseball Tonight a lot and now he calls the Sunday
night games for ESPN radio. He also played for the
Tigers from '67-'69 (only 43 total games, though).
Campbell was born in Manistee, MI. I recognized him
and said "Hey, Dave Campbell..." and he said hi, or
something, and went into his hotel. I didn't want to
bug him, but it would have been cool to get a picture.
Oh well.
The loss makes me 4-4 on the year. I hope to make it
to at least one more game this season. Biggie Bagel
took home the win for the upper deck.
Standings...
Cuppy Coffee - 3
Biggie Bagel - 3
"The Original" Dashing Donut - 2
---
September 4: Seattle 2 - Detroit 6
Starters: SEA: Washburn 6.2IP - DET: Robertson 7IP
SEA 100 000 001 2 10 1
DET 200 000 40X 6 7 1
W: Robertson (12-11)
L: Washburn (8-13)
September 5: Seattle 4 - Detroit 3
Starters: SEA: Woods 4IP - DET: Bonderman 4IP
SEA 000 301 000 4 8 0
DET 300 000 000 3 7 1
W: Piniero (8-11)
L: Miller (0-1)
S: Putz (30)
Note: There was an 83 minute rain delay in the 5th
inning. Crikey!
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Readers Write In...
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Mike "Colonel" Kopec
Hey Toolio,
I didn't understand why the Tigers would send Clevlen
down to AA, instead of sending him to AAA. Can you
explain why they would have done this? Considering
how well (at least, I thought) he did up here, a
two-league drop seems like a kick in the groin to me.
Colonel
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Toolie's Trashtalk...
The Tigers continue to lose close games. Even the 7-2
loss was a close game (that should have been a win if
not for a Carlos Guillen error). The pitching
continues to be solid, but timely hitting has eluded
us lately.
I love the feeling of the full stadium and hearing the
fans belt out "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."
Americans may not have annoying soccer chants, but
TMOTTBG triumphs over "Oh Eh..Oh oh oh oh eh, Oh EHHH
oh EH oh EH oh EH" anyday. You know what I'm talking
about.
I know there was a baseball road-trip this year.
Where are the updates? Not being able to go I have to
live vicariously through the tripper's tales.
Chillin' the most!!!
There were seven shutouts on Tuesday. Crikey!
Since Guillen went down here are the stats for Infante
and Santiago.
Infante: 1 for 11, 2 RBI, 2K.
Santiago: 3 for 8, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 SB.
Hmmm, it's a small sample. Decent production from
Santiago. That's nice to see. Infante has actually
been playing well. Since the 20th he has raised his
average from .269 to .286. Crikey!
Vance just hit his fifth homer of the year to tie the
game at 1. Vance sure has made the most of his
homers. It seems like every time he hits one it's
huge.
Colonel, I think the team was planning on recalling
Clevlen in September, so it was probably just easier
to send him to Erie for that short while. Having
played there all year Clevlen was familiar with the
surroundings and maybe Erie was missing him in the
lineup. Not sure of the true intentions, but I'm
guessing that they told Clevlen "We're going to call
you back real soon" and I'd bet Clevlen was OK with
it. Remember, Clevlen was hitting in the .220s in
Erie, so it's not like Clevlen has impressed all year.
If Clevlen were not to make the team out of Spring
Training next year I would expect he ends up in
Toledo.
OK, still a 1-1 game with the Mariners. Tigers could
REALLY use to win this game. A little confidence
heading into the Metrodome couldn't hurt.
Crikey, I'm out!
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Play Ball!
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