Tigers Weekly 2006 Season

Week 20: 9/6/06 - 9/12/06

"It's Sept. 11 and we're in first place.  There's no
rah-rah speeches or anything. ... This is a grind, and
you've got to grind it out for 162 games. It's quite
simple that we've got to win some games."

- Jim Leyland

We're down to the last three weeks of the season and
the Tigers are in a fight for their playoff lives. 
They had a chance to secure a spot this week in
Minnesota, but the red-hot Twins took three of the
four games.  The lead that was once 10 games is down
to a game and a half.  September certainly has been
exciting!  

The schedule seems to favor the Tigers as they have
one more game against Texas, three against Chicago,
and three with Toronto.  The other ten games come
against the Royals (6) and the Orioles (4).  Minnesota
and Chicago hook up on the last weekend of the season
and they each have a tough road trip remaining
(Chicago is out west right now).  But last season
Cleveland taught us that an easy schedule is no
guarantee.  The Tigers will have to play, and more
specifically hit, better if they are to have a taste
of the post-season.  

Out of town viewing alert:  The game vs. Texas on
Wednesday at 7PM is scheduled to appear on ESPN.

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Week of 9/6 - 9/12

Record:  2-4  LWLLL-W

Magic Numbers: 

Division (Twins) - 17
Playoffs (White Sox) - 14
Games Remaining:  17

Up Next for the Tigers...

September 13     Texas
September 14     no game scheduled...
September 15-17  Baltimore 
September 18-20  @ Chicago White Sox

Up Next for MIN: OAK (1), @ CLE (4), @ BOS (3)
Up Next for CWS: ANA (1), @ OAK (3), DET (3)

AL Central Standings...

DET  87 58 -
MIN  85 59 1.5
CWS  83 62 4
CLE  68 75 18
KCR  55 90 32

Tigers Division...

NYM  89 55 -
NYY  87 56 1.5
DET  87 58 2.5
MIN  85 59 4
CWS  83 62 6.5

In the following, the number in parentheses gives the
number of games the team is trailing their division
leader.  

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

MIN  -   (1.5)
CWS  2.5 (4)

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

SDP  -   (1.5)
SFG  1.5 (3)
FLA  2   (16.5)
PHI  2   (16.5)
CIN  2.5 (5)
HOU  4.5 (7)
ATL  5   (19.5)

Tigers News and Notes:  The Tigers got help this week
in the form of two starters returning to the roster. 
Mike Maroth, out since late May, returned on the 7th
and pitched out of the bullpen on Friday night. 
Maroth gave the Tigers two scoreless innings on one
hit in their 9-5 loss to Minnesota.  That night also
saw the return of Carlos Guillen who had been nursing
a sore hamstring.  Guillen made his presence felt with
two homers on Tuesday, including a walk-off shot.  In
some downer news, Joel Zumaya will be out a few days
with a sore wrist.  The Tigers unexpectedly released
Dmitri Young!  More on that below.  Also, Nook Logan,
who had been in Toledo all year, was traded to
Washington.  He has been up with the Nationals ever
since the trade.  Best wishes to Nook.

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Tiger of the Week...
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Pudge Rodriguez was a huge catalyst for the Florida Marlins in their World Series campaign of 2003. This September he is giving the Tigers production that is reminiscient of that run. Before tonight (where he posted an 0 for 4) he had a six-game hitting streak where he scored six times and knocked in three runs. Pudge is a leader and the best way to lead is by example.

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20/20 Vision...
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Carlos Guillen continues his pursuit of a 20 homer, 20
stolen base season.  He now has 19 HRs and 17 SBs. 
With a tender hamstring, however, he may not be
getting those three stolen bases.  Meanwhile, Alfonso
Soriano of the Nationals is going for 40/40 (actually
50/40).  He is at 45/39 right now.  Here's a good
trivia question.  There have been only three other
players in history to go 40/40.  Who were they?  Click
below for the answer.  Hints:  They all happened
between 1988-1998... two in the AL, one in the NL.  

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/hitting/hi4040c.shtml

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Tigers Weekly Baseball Game...
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Another Tigers Weekly / Agate baseball game is in the
works for Saturday September 23.  The guys from Agate
have expressed interest and should have a full team. 
If you are interested in playing on that day (sometime
well before the MSU game) please let me know.  

Josh Tkaczyk, of Team Agate, has also extended an
invitation to all players to his place for the MSU
game, burgers, and brats.  Watch the Spartans take on
the Irish.  Baseball and then college football... what
a Saturday (Tigers v. Royals that night as well)!

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Young Released...
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In a surprising move, the Tigers gave Dmitri Young his
unconditional release after Wednesday's loss to the
Mariners.  Officials are saying that the move is
strictly performace related.  Dmitri is hitting .292
with 7 homers since his return, so they must be
unsatisfied with his timely hitting.  That leaves Sean
Casey and Chris Shelton as the main options at first
base.  One thing I like is that, as Dmitri was saying
his good-byes, he told the players "Go win this." 
Classy.  Happy trails, Dmitri.  You were a lot of fun
to watch.  

http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.
jsp?ymd=20060906&content_id=1649848&vkey=news_det&
fext=.jsp&c_id=det

Editor's Note: It seems like every significant thing
this season has happened on a Wednesday, making it old
news in the Weekly.  I guess it comes with the
territory.

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Liriano Returns...
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More bad news for the Tigers in the form of good news
for the Twins.  Minnesota will get their stellar
rookie, Francisco Liriano, back into their rotation
this week.  The move should give the Twins another
solid starter to anchor their playoff run.  At least
the Tigers don't have to face this team again this
season.  With the Tigers' inability to hit I wouldn't
be too confident in another head-to-head series.

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Flipping Out...
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Coin flips were performed to determine where any
one-game playoffs would be played.  The Tigers flipped
against the Twins and White Sox.  They won the flip
against the Twins, but lost to the White Sox.  These
flips usually end up irrelevant, but they are
necessary.  Check the link for the other scenarios.  

http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article
.jsp?ymd=20060912&content_id=1658612&vkey=news_mlb
&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

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Poll Question...
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Anybody out there?  How are you feeling about the
Tigers and their chances the rest of the way?  

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Game Linescores...
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September 6:  Seattle 5 - Detroit 4   F/10 
Starters:  SEA: Meche 7IP - DET: Rogers 7IP
SEA  010 003 000 1  5 14 1
DET  001 000 030 0  4  9 0
W: Huber  (1-0)
L: Zumaya (6-3)
S: Putz   (31)

September 7:  Detroit 7 - Minnesota 2
Starters:  DET: Verlander 7IP - MIN: Baker 5IP
DET  120 020 101  7 12 1
MIN  000 000 101  2 10 0
W: Verlander (16-7)
L: Baker     (4-8)

September 8:  Detroit 5 - Minnesota 9
Starters:  DET: Ledezma 4.1IP - MIN: Garza 4.1IP
DET  002 020 001  5 11 1
MIN  002 034 00X  9 13 0
W: Neshek  (4-1)
L: Ledezma (2-3)

September 9:  Detroit 1 - Minnesota 2
Starters:  DET: Robertson 7IP - MIN: Bonser 5IP
DET  000 100 000  1 5 2
MIN  020 000 00X  2 7 1
W: Bonser (5-5)
L: Robertson (12-12)
S: Nathan    (30)

September 10:  Detroit 1 - Minnesota 12
Starters:  DET: Bonderman 5.2IP - MIN: Santana 6.1IP
DET  000 000 001   1  7 1
MIN  110 015 40X  12 15 0
W: Santana   (18-5)
L: Bonderman (11-8)

September 11:  no game scheduled...

September 12:  Texas 2 - Detroit 3
Starters:  TEX: Padilla 7IP - DET: Rogers 7IP
TEX  000 100 100  2 10 2
DET  010 000 101  3  6 0
W: Rodney (7-3)
L: Mahay  (1-3)

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A couple readers wrote in very short blurbs, but I
neglected to include them this week.  

Toolie's Trashtalk...

What a game tonight!  For what a rotten weekend it was
the Tigers ended things on a good note.  Carlos
Guillen slammed a pair of homers and Craig Monroe
chipped in three outfield assists.  Craig's
contributions were huge.  He has been a savior in the
second half.  

The Braves will NOT win their division this year. 
What an amazing run it was.  They had been winning
divisions since I was in junior high.  It also appears
very unlikely that they will make the playoffs.  I was
growing rather fond of their divisional championship
streak, but I must admit it will be nice to see a
fresh team in the NL playoffs.  Everyone has to
re-tool sometime.  And looking back it seems like the
Tigers were smart not to deal for John Smoltz. 
Pitching has not been the problem.  Two great starts
from Kenny Rogers this week.  A great start from Nate
(no earned runs in the loss) and also a great start
from Verlander.  4/6 for good starts, but 2/6 in the
win column.  Hitting needs to come around.  152
strike-outs  versus 62 walks for Granderson.  Ouch.  

The hitting woes bring up a big question regarding the
Tigers' chances in the post-season.  So far the team
has killed bad pitching and they've been pretty good
at hitting the average pitchers.  But against the good
pitchers the Tigers haven't been able to do a whole
lot.  Now, this sounds bad, and all the pundits are
pointing to the Tigers' lack of consistent hitting as
their Achilles Heel.  But let us not forget that it is
pitching that wins championships.  The White Sox did
it last season (with less than perfect hitters) and I
think the Tigers can make a run if they get can just
get in.  It would help tremendously to win the
division and not have to take on the Yankees right
away.  Although, perhaps we'd have a better shot
against them in a short series?  I'm not sure one way
or the other there.  Their pitching isn't remarkable,
but that line-up (especially bringing back Sheffield
and Matsui... Matsui returned tonight) is a regular
Murderer's Row.  

This series with the White Sox will be big.  It would
be nice for the Tigers to win their two series with
the Rangers and the Orioles.  The more confidence
going to Chicago the better.  

Lastly, although it ended roughly, the Tigers were
11-8 against Minnesota this season.  For so many years
the Tigers have taken their lumps from the Twins, so
this is a big accomplishment.  They also went 13-6
versus the Tribe and are 11-1 against the Royals.  Do
we only play KC 18 times this season?  Am I missing a
game?  That doesn't seem fair.  The White Sox own us,
the only Central team to do so this season.  

For some reason I thought about Mo Vaughn today.  Man,
I couldn't stand that guy.  

I'm out.





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Play Ball!

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