Tigers Weekly 2006 Season

Week 5: 5/10/06 - 5/16/06

"A lot of us were on that team that lost 119 games in
2003, and we fought hard to keep it to that many.  We
used to dream about getting to .500, and now we're
looking at first place. This is an incredible
turnaround." - Brandon Inge

Editors Note - Ten current Tigers played on the 2003
squad:  Inge, Young, Monroe, Santiago, Infante,
Maroth, Bonderman, Walker, Robertson, Rodney.

Tigers Weekly comes to you this week from sunny North
Carolina.  The only thing looking better than the
weather down here is the Tigers back up north.  After
some brief struggles where Detroit lost four of five
the Tigers have roared back with their fourth
five-game winning streak of the season.  They continue
to dominate away from Comerica.  A 5-3 mark on this
last venture brings their record to a sizzling 16-7 on
the road this year.  And with Chicago falling to the
D-Rays last night the Tigers are in a tie for first in
the Central and tied with the White Sox for the best
record in baseball!  The first interleague series is
this weekend and you can see the Tigers take on the
surprising Cincinnati Reds at Comerica Park.  In fact
you'll be able to see the Tigers a lot in the future. 
Five of the next six series (including this one with
Minnesota) are at home (which the Tigers had coming to
them since they had played nine more game on the road
than at home).

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Week of 5/10 - 5/16

Record:  5-0  W-WWW-W

Undy-Five-Hundy:  It's almost insulting to the team to
include the UFH these days.  But you can't mess with
tradition.  The Tigers are now a dozen games OVER
five-hundy putting the index at -12.  

Up Next for the Tigers...

May 17-18  Minnesota
May 19-21  Cincinnati
May 22-25  @ Kansas City

AL Central Standings...

CWS  25 13 -
DET  25 13 -
CLE  18 21 7.5
MIN  17 22 8.5
KCR  10 26 14

Tigers Division...

CWS  25 13 -
DET  25 13 -
NYM  24 14 1
BOS  23 14 1.5
STL  24 15 1.5

Amazing that the Tigers Division is the cream of the
crop.  Lots of season remains, though.  

Tigers  News and Notes:  Jordan Tata was optioned to
Toledo after Wednesday's game.  Roman Colon takes his
place in the bullpen.  The Mudhens' website reports
that in two starts Colon has pitched 6.2 innings and
has surrendered four hits, two walks, and five
unearned runs.  It's a strange line.  Dmitri Young was
back in the lineup on Tuesday after some more time off
to heal his leg.  By sweeping the Tribe this weekend
the Tigers earned their first three-game sweep ever at
Jacobs Field.

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Tiger of the Week...
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I happen to believe the second version of "Love Rollercoaster" (as done by the Red Hot Chili Peppers) is better than the original (as done by The Ohio Players). Whether the Rollercoaster Todd Jones is better in his second stint with the Tigers remains to be seen. Jones blew his first save last week in Minnesota but bounced back this week with four saves in five games. He gave up four hits, no walks, and struck out three in those four innings of work. The best part was that he surrendered no runs. Three of those save opportunities involved Jones being given a three-run lead. I just hope he can be as stingy when he has no room for error (like in his other save this week). At ten for eleven, though, it's tough to complain. Fernando Rodney picked up the save in the other Tigers win this week, giving Jones a day of rest.

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Stormy Horizons...
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The upcoming schedule looks pretty favorable.  Two
more games against the Twins at home, three against a
Reds team that has lost eight of twelve, and a four
game series in Kansas City.  After that is all over,
LOOK OUT!  The Tigers are going to get put through the
meat grinder as they face Cleveland, the Yankees,
Boston, the White Sox, and Toronto.  Other than
Cleveland (who is a great hitting team) those teams
round out the top five teams (along with Detroit) in
the American League.  The combined record of those
five teams is 109-80.  This stretch could be the
gauntlet the Tigers have to run to establish whether
they are contenders or pretenders.  It should be fun
to watch.

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Gotcha...
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One of the most hilarious things to see in a
successful execution of the hidden ball trick. 
Basically the pitcher pretends like he has the ball
when, in reality, the first baseman (usually) has it. 
Once the runner takes his lead the fielder tags him
out.  The reason it is so hard to pull off is that
most runners don't lead off until the pitcher is on
the mound.  To be on the mound without the ball is a
balk, so the pitcher must convince the runner that he
has the ball and catch him mentally napping.  Also,
there is usually a conference at the mound to make
such a transfer, so that should alert the runner and
first base coach.  Check it out under "What's New" at
retrosheet.

http://www.retrosheet.org

Ozzie Guillen gets lots of credit for being a smart
manager, but Oz got caught three times in his career
(and TWICE in 1989) with the hidden ball trick.  What
a patsy!

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Poll Question...
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The Tigers are smoking!  But no one Tiger is standing
out as the obvious choice for an All-Star.  In 2004
the Twins were near the top of the division (0.5 games
ouut of first) and received only one All-Star (Joe
Nathan).  Which Tiger is most deserving (so far) of an
All-Star spot and how many Tigers do you see making
the team?

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Game Linescores...
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May 10:  Detroit 6 - Baltimore 3
Starters:  DET: Verlander 6.1IP - BAL: Lopez 6IP
DET  200 000 400  6 10 0
BAL  000 100 200  3  9 2
W: Verlander (4-3)
L: Lopez     (1-5)
S: Jones     (7)

May 11:  game postponed due to rain...

May 12:  Detroit 5 - Cleveland 4
Starters:  DET: Rogers 6.1IP - CLE: Lee 7IP
DET  010 010 300  5 12 1
CLE  000 011 110  4 10 0
W: Rogers (6-2)
L: Lee    (2-4)
S: Jones  (8)

May 13:  Detroit 3 - Cleveland 0
Starters:  DET: Bonderman 8IP - CLE: Sabathia 8IP
DET  001 001 010  3 7 0
CLE  000 000 000  0 5 3
W: Bonderman (4-2)
L: Sabathia  (2-1)
S: Jones     (9)

May 14:  Detroit 3 - Cleveland 2
Starters:  DET: Maroth 6IP - CLE: Johnson 6IP
DET  000 000 300  3 9 1
CLE  000 010 010  2 9 1
W: Maroth  (5-2)
L: Johnson (2-3)
S: Rodney  (6)

May 15:  no game scheduled...

May 16:  Minnesota 4 - Detroit 7
Starters:  MIN: Lohse 2.2IP - DET: Robertson 5IP
MIN  012 000 100  4 10 0
DET  005 200 00X  7 10 1
W: Robertson (4-2)
L: Lohse     (2-4)
S: Jones     (10)

Editors Note:  34 of 38 decisions have gone to Tigers
starters so far.

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Readers Write In...
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Matt "New" Houser

O'Toole-- I think long-time TW subscribers will agree:
Is there anything better than tuning in to your team's
game and finding out it's Lima Time!?  Especially when
you assumed that he was out of baseball and the
division leaders and hated rivals are running him out
there against your team, and for a bonus he's sporting
a ridiculously big blonde 'fro and still does the
double fist pump after striking  someone out, even
though he's losing.  Lima Time!  Braves win, 13-3.

-Matt

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Dallas "Big D" Senters

gotta love tigers bi-weekly.  
-i found it hard to care about the bat flip incident,
but i would have thought a longer suspension was in
order.  if the tool could prove he can hit he could
be flipping bats at big league umps.
-breaking news:  barry bonds is accused of taking 
steroids.  i thought the 'big head' thing was just
about him being so cocky.  i can't believe this.

go reds...go indians 

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Mike "The Doctor" Claus

Being in Colorado, I haven't been able to see many
Tigers games, but have caught a few on MLB.tv.
Obviously, we are all estatic about the hot start. 

The number one thing that stands out is the pitching.
I have been shocked at how confident this staff is.
Rogers is looking like an all-star, and Bonderman is
much more suited to #2 role. All of the starters have
been rock solid, and the bullpen has exceeded all
expectations. 

One move that caused me to take note was sending
Jordan Tata down to Toledo. The guy looked very good
in a few outings, and looks like he'll have a good
future with the team. The problem is, management has
him penned as a starter, and there isn't room in the
rotation. So looking at the future the Tigers rotation
will look something like this:

Rogers (At least 2 more years)
Bonderman 
FREE AGENT (Got to figure we'll get one more, probably
a veteran Rogers type)
Verlander
Tata/Maroth/Robertson/Ledezma

So if Tata is as good as I think he is, Maroth and/or
Robertson will be on their way out.

In the pen, I think Zumaya and Rodney are here to
stay. Ledezma may make his way there, hopefully
replacing Walker. Robertson is a more obvious choice
than Maroth to make a move to the pen, but I could see
Maroth's mid-80's fastball as a nice set-up to Zumaya.

The point is, have you ever been more confident about
the Tigers future?  To be sure, we'll need to pray
that Granderson continues to develop, and we find a
lefthanded bat-but as far as pitching is concerned the
future has never been brighter. 

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Kevin "Seitzer" Kopec

Toolie-

We were at the Tigers game against the Twins where
they won 18-1 as well.  We had a crew of 14 for the
Adam Tate bachelor party.  Too bad I didn't know you
were going or we could've swung by and said hello...we
also hit Greektown post-game.

KG Kopec

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Dan "Berol" Kemp

Hi Matt,
I went to the Cards/D-backs game on Friday.  I went
with my brother and we left in the early afternoon
hoping to get there early enough to see batting
practice.  Those plans were foiled by a traffic jam at
the intersection of Highway 63 and Interstate 70 in
Columbia.  I have no clue why they make you go into
town to make this interchange, but if traffic is bad
it will cost you 45 mintues.

Despite that problem, we got to the stadium about an
hour early.  After having to go back to the car for
the camera, we got to the stadium and started looking
for the Will Call booth.  A lady at a ticket gate
pointed us to the south side of the stadium (Popular
Street).  This was another mistake that sent us
through a muddy construction site, and it would have
been faster to hit the ticket booth on the North side
of the stadium. Live and learn.

I was one of the fans that didn't really see a huge
need for a new stadium but my initial impressions of
the stadium are that it seems very nice.  I was
impressed with how open this stadium is compared to  
old Busch.  You can see straight into the stadium from
the parking garage.  From inside, the stadium opens to
the arch if you sit behind homeplate which is a nice
touch.  Some construction proceeds, but should be done
by Memorial day weekend when they open the seats  
behind left field.

We got our tickets and got in to the stadium about 20
minutes early.  We had standing room only tickets and
to my surprise, there are actually section numbers on
those tickets.  They have specific sections taped off
with yellow tape that you are supposed stand in.   
Cards took a 2-0 lead after the first.  Pujols had one
RBI, Edmonds had the other.  Edmonds almost had a home
run, but turned into sac fly instead.  After the
first, we moved to some better seats that my brother
had spotted empty.  We got some along the third base
side, towards the back of the lower deck.  Normal cost
onthe ticket is $38.  We made out pretty well on the
deal, as we paid $13 for our standing box.

Despite pitching a solid game, Mulder gave up a two
run shot to Byrnes which tied the game at 2-2 in the
fifth.  A Pujols walk later in the bottom half of the
fifth led to a Edmonds home run, putting St. Louis up
4-2.  Rodriguez poked a run in during the bottom of
the 6th, making the game 5-2.

In the sixth inning, a persistent beer vendor was
desperately trying to make a sale.  Nobody was caving
into his presence and he started to get frustrated. 
After a few minutes of this, he walked to the front of
the section and yells, "Does anybody want a beer
besides me!?  Does anybody here even drink this
stuff?"  After no response besides laughter, he walked
off in disgust.

During the ninth, we snuck down pretty close to the
field.  St. Louis brought in Isringhausen to close the
game.  He started off struggling, as he has several
times this year.  He gave up a run, and some of the
drunks next to us started heckling him pretty heavily.
  
It seems like he has to make it dramatic before he
takes it seriously.  Once he gave up the run, he
pitched well and ended up with the save.  Cards win
5-3.

I've attached a picture from our seats that we found
empty after the first inning.



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Toolie's Trashtalk...

It's been tough not being able to watch my Tigers
while I've been here in Raleigh.  In spite of that I'm
having  a blast.  My bro gets married on Saturday and
I've already stopped in to see the campuses at UNC and
Duke.   I even caught a glimpse of the lacrosse team
practicing at Duke.  Both campuses (check out Duke
Gardens if you're in the neighborhood) were beautiful
though I found the math department at UNC to be a bit
ghetto.  

I did listen to a bit of the Tigers/Indians game on
Friday night. I caught the game on 1100AM which is a
Cleveland station.  One cool thing about NC is that
you get a ton of baseball games on the radio.  Before
I found the game I wanted I ran across Yanks/A's,
Mets/Brewers, Marlins/Pirates, Braves/Nationals,
Phillies/Reds, and Royals/Orioles.  One thing to note
is that the color announcer for the Yankees is a
woman.  I've never heard that before.  She was doing a
decent job, I thought.  The thing that rubs me funny
about that, though, is it's hard to relate to a female
announcer in baseball since women generally don't play
the sport (they play softball).  It's the same feeling
with that lady that does Big Ten football games on
ESPN.  You don't get the feeling like they can inject
personal experience into their commentary.  

There is no time like Lima Time.  I've said in the
past that, win or lose, Lima makes a game fun to
watch.  He's eccentric whether he's dominating or
getting beat on.  I hope that he sticks around for a
while.  He's good for baseball.  

Claus, I have to scratch my head at your slighting of
Jamie Walker.  You must be a tough man to please. 
Walker (once a Rule 5 draft pick) has been one of the
best pitchers out of the pen this season.  His ERA is
1.04 and his WHIP is below one.  His K/BB ratio is
amazing and over the last three years lefties are
hitting .219 off Jamie (though this season they are
hitting .333).  I am a big Jamie Walker fan and I
don't think he's going anywhere anytime soon.  If
anything, the Tigers should be looking for another
strong lefty to complement Walker.  For now Bobby Seay
fills that role.  

As far as Robertson or Maroth moving to the pen,
that's an interesting subject.  Robertson pitched his
way out of the pen and into the rotation a couple of
years ago and Maroth has been nothing but a starter. 
If Maroth continues to have success this season I
can't see him moving to the pen.  Either he stays in
the rotation (Rogers can't pitch forever) or the
Tigers trade him.  Teams are always looking for
good left-handed pitching.  His value would be wasted
in the bullpen.  If I had to guess I'd say there's a
higher likelihood of Robertson assuming a bullpen
role, perhaps even this season if Dombrowski starts
dealing.  

And that's a whole new subject... the trade deadline. 
For once it looks like the Tigers could be buyers. 
There's still two months and change until the
deadline, but you have to think that the Tigs will
still be in some sort of contention by then.  I have
always had this romanticized dream of the Tigers going
wire-to-wire with the team they have.  But mid-season
trades are almost a given with competitive teams.  A
quick counter-example would be last year's White Sox. 
Their only move was acquiring Geoff Blum, a rather
minor move.  I just hope Detroit can git-r-done.

The Tigers gained a share of the best record in
baseball but it went relatively unnoticed at ESPN and
CBS Sportsline.  The Tigers fifth straight win didn't
even make the main headlines page on either site! 
What did make it?  Hideki Matsui returns to Yankee
Stadium for first time since wrist injury.  Who cares?
I can't think of anything less interesting than that
headline.  It seems there is still little interest in
the surprising Tigers.  That, or perhaps the big-wigs
don't have faith that the D can keep it up.   

Berol, I'm sure you'll get accustomed to the new
stadium.  I swore that I'd never warm up to Comerica
but after a while it became home.  The view of the
arch is probably more impressive than the view of the
whales and the rest of downtown Detroit.  

Kopec, it's statistically impressive that we didn't
run into each other.  If there's any more information
on the road trip let me know, though I probably won't
be able to swing it this summer.  

Let's hope the good times continue to roll.  And let's
hope the Pistons can close out the Cavs.  They're
still in good shape.  

I'm out.
 





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Play Ball!

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