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One week of baseball is in the books and the Tigers
have produced a mixed bag of results. Some of the
team (Nate Robertson, Curtis Granderson, Todd Jones)
is hot out of the gate while others (Brandon Inge,
Jose Mesa, Gary Sheffield) are struggling. That's
translated into four wins and three losses. The
Tigers should be happy with their four victories as
they could easily be 0-7. Some late heroics and solid
bullpen pitching has given the Tigers these wins.
Starting pitching has been quite good with the
exception of Chad Durbin's Tiger debut Monday in
Baltimore. Hopefully the bats heat up with the
weather.
New Subscribers...
Nicole "Terry" Stenback
Holly "A.L. West"erfield
Jim "TGI" Freitag
Bob "Homer Hankee" Willenbring
Ryan "Klesk"Opalewski
Justin "Lewis" Carroll
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"Week" of 4/2 - 4/10
Record: 4-3 L-W-LWWLW
Up Next for the Tigers...
April 11 @ Baltimore
April 12-15 @ Toronto
April 16-18 Kansas City
AL Central Standings...
CLE 3 1 -
MIN 4 3 0.5
DET 4 3 0.5
CWS 3 3 1 (game in progress)
KCR 3 5 2
Tigers News and Notes: Gary Sheffield will wear the
number 42 on Jackie Robinson Day (April 15). One
player per team will be wearing that number, except
for the Dodgers... because everyone on the Dodgers
will wear 42 on Jackie Robinson Day! If you didn't
know, Sheffield now wears the #3 of Alan Trammell
(with Trammell's blessing). I hope that one day
Trammell has his number retired, even if he never
makes the Hall of Fame. Someone from that team (the
1984 championship team) and era deserves to be
en-statued in the outfield as a tribute to their
accomplishments. Trammell is the obvious choice as he
was the face of the organization and, along with Lou
Whitaker, played his entire career with Detroit. If
only he had had more coaching success!
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Tiger of the Week...
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As mentioned, the Tigers have needed their bullpen to
lock down some close games. Many people were curious
as to whether Joel Zumaya would supplant Todd Jones as
the closer sooner or later. The answer appears to be
"later." In five appearances this week Todd Jones has
pitched nearly flawlessly, giving up no runs on two
walks and two hits in five innings. In the process
Jones collected a save in each of the Tigers'
victories and three of those saves were earned in
one-run games. Nothing is more deflating than blowing
a late lead, and Jones has made sure that the Tigers
walked away with four in the win column. A strong
bullpen will be absolutely necessary for the Tigers to
have another successful season.
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Home Away from Home...
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Cleveland was hit hard this week. Not the pitching
staff, but the city. Mother Nature opened up a 55
gallon drum of precipitation that blanketed Jacobs
field over the weekend, causing a four-game series
with Seattle to be postponed. The Tribe's next series
was to be at home against the Angels, but the field
was still not game-ready. This forced MLB to move the
series to Milwaukee. The reason they did this is
because this is the only trip that Anaheim (or LA or
whatever they're called) is making to Cleveland. The
same is true of Seattle, and now those teams will need
to arrange to find two mutual open dates and play
double-headers on both of them. For Cleveland to deal
with a similar sutation with the Angels would have
been nearly unmanageable. I hope they are offering
discounted seats to those games at Miller Park.
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Musical Channels...
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In an effort to get every Tigers game (save last
Saturday's game at Kansas City) on television, yet
still carry the Red Wings and Pistons, the Tigers will
be airing on FSN Plus on certain dates. The following
link has a list of some television providers and the
channels where those Tiger games can be found. There
are many upcoming dates where the Tigers will be on
Plus and those are also listed on at this site.
http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press
_release.jsp?ymd=20070409&content_id=1888245&vkey=pr_
det&fext=.jsp&c_id=det
What would be a good nickname for this channel? You
know, like "The Deuce" for ESPN2?
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Poll Question...
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Kenny Rogers is out for half of the year! This is a
big blow to the pitching staff. For now Chad Durbin
is the replacement. He didn't do so well in his first
start, but we should probably give him a look or two
more before we make him walk the plank.
Which Tiger do you think would be the worst possible
player to lose to injury for the year? Is that player
absolutely necessary for the Tigers to qualify for the
post-season?
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Game Linescores...
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Opening Day
April 2: Toronto 5 - Detroit 3 F/10
Starters: TOR: Halladay 6IP - DET: Bonderman 6IP
TOR 300 000 000 2 5 7 1
DET 001 020 000 0 3 7 0
W: Frasor (1-0)
L: Rodney (0-1)
S: Ryan (1)
April 3: no game scheduled...
April 4: Toronto 9 - Detroit 10
Starters: TOR: Burnett 2IP - DET: Robertson 5.2IP
TOR 000 002 070 9 16 0
DET 008 100 10X 10 13 0
W: Robertson (1-0)
L: Burnett (0-1)
S: Jones (1)
April 5: game postponed due to bad weather...
makeup game scheduled for September 10, which is
thankfully in the middle of a homestand.
April 6: Detroit 1 - Kansas City 3
Starters: DET: Verlander 6IP - KCR: de la Rosa 7IP
DET 010 000 000 1 5 1
KCR 100 000 20X 3 5 0
W: de la Rosa (1-0)
L: Mesa (0-1)
S: Riske (1)
April 7: Detroit 6 - Kansas City 5
Starter: DET: Maroth 5IP - KCR: Meche 7IP
DET 103 110 000 6 8 1
KCR 013 001 000 5 10 0
W: Maroth (1-0)
L: Meche (1-1)
S: Jones (2)
April 8: Detroit 3 - Kansas City 2
Starters: DET: Bonderman 6IP - KCR: Duckworth 6.1IP
DET 000 000 003 3 6 0
KCR 101 000 000 2 9 0
W: Rodney (1-1)
L: Riske (0-1)
S: Jones (3)
April 9: Detroit 2 - Baltimore 6
Starters: DET: Durbin 4.2IP - BAL: Cabrera 7.2IP
DET 010 000 010 2 7 0
BAL 004 020 00X 6 10 0
W: Cabrera (1-1)
L: Durbin (0-1)
April 10: Detroit 3 - Baltimore 1
Starters: DET: Robertson 7.1IP - BAL: Wright 5IP
DET 000 002 010 3 8 0
BAL 000 000 010 1 5 1
W: Robertson (2-0)
L: Wright (0-2)
S: Jones (4)
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Readers Write In...
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Josh "Snacks" Avery
Hey Toolie, here are my 2007 predictions I'm pretty
sure will go wrong. First of all, why is everyone
overrating the Cubs? If you spend 300 million to
renovate a piece of crap, is it not then just a 300
million dollar piece of crap? Sorry Cubs fans not this
year.
Predictions AL: Division winners Boston, Detroit,The
Los Angeles Angels of Orange County. Wild Card:
Cleveland
ALCS Boston over Detroit in six.
Rookie of the year: Daisuke Matzuzaka Boston
CY Young: John Lackey LAA
MVP: Grady Sizemore CLE (first of many)
NL: Division winners Mets, Brewers,Padres Wild card:
The Iladelphia Phillies
NLCS: Milwaukee over NY in 7
Rookie of the year: Kevin Kouzmanoff San Diego
CY Young: Ben Sheets, Milwaukee
MVP: Ryan Howard Philadelphia (I know it's a huge
reach)
World series: Boston over Milwaukee in 6 I've been on
the Brewers for three years now,just remember who it
was that picked them to go far. Thanks Toolie and keep
up the good work. Josh Avery (Snacks)
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Dallas "Big D" Senters
Opening day was pretty sweet. Indians and Reds both
won. I like that. With one full day of baseball
done, I make bold predictions for the season:
NL: east - braves, central - cardinals, west -
diamondbacks, WC - brewers
old old young young
AL: east - yankees, central - indians, west -
athletics, WC - tigers
old young young old-ish
NL: MVP - pujols (stl), CY - r johnson (ari), HR -
dunn (cin)
AL: MVP - a rodriguez (nyy), CY - halladay (tor), HR
- a rodriguez
(nyy)
I have no confidence in my NL picks, except for
Pujols. Cards lose to Indians in the World Series in
6.
Now I just need to hope that Cincy proves my picks
wrong and gets it to the playoff picture.
DS
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Brian "Stymie" O'Toole
Big ups to my brother who despite many more helpings
on his plate finds time to brush it off and deliver
the "Weekly." That was a food AND baseball
reference to all those not as quick witted as "Kin
Korn" Karnitz. Glaus I couldn't get through all ten
questions . . . as the great Ray Cioe once said, "Is
he going through the Litany of Saints?" I sure hope
my younger, and much smarter, brother scores me some
tickets to a Tigers game this season. Maybe we can
parlay it into a weekend when NASCAR is at the MIS!
(That's Michigan International Speedway for you
Snowbirds!) Well I watched the Bengals (not the ones
that are always in trouble with the law) drop their
home opener today. That's a baseball AND football
reference for all you ladies who read the "Weekly."
It's tough working at the bar and having to watch all
this baseball and basketball and such. I wonder what
the odds of Florida winning back-to-back championships
was? If only I knew someone who was good at math . .
. . . . . . . .
Later bro,
Yo BROTHER
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Nick "Brevity" Ciofani
Watch out for Jose Mesa, he'll get ya!
TOOLIE: He got us Friday in Kansas City!
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Craig "Rocky &" Boezwinkle
Hey Toolie,
First time long time. I figured I'd answer the call
and supply my predictions for the 2007 season. Here
are some wild guesses as to how I see things shaking
out:
AL
East: Red Sox
Central: Indians
West: Angels
WC: Yankees
NL
East: Mets
Central: Cubs
West: Dodgers
WC: Cards
Excellent work on the Weekly, thanks for putting it
out there. I managed to sneak away from work and
attend the second game of the year as the Tigers
out-froze the Jays to even the series at 1-1.
Highlights of the day included getting really cold,
watching Maggs stumble around in the outfield, and
getting to see a Granderson grand slam. That is,
until I got home and found out that Grandy was on my
opponents fantasy team for the week. Doh.
Good luck to the Salacious Crumbs and lets hope the
Tigs can outslug AL MVP Sizemore and win themselves
another division title. Oh, wait...
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Andy "Trumpets & Strumpets" Leon
My prediction is that Gary Sheffield will be injured
within 30 games.
Also, as Detroit titles may come after some adversity,
consider for a moment Buffalo titles:
Football - 0 in the modern day NFL (there was a title
back in the AFL days)
Basketball - no team
Baseball - our only saving grace, our AAA club has won
a few Governor's Cups
Hockey - 0 Stanley Cups, although I would be happy to
eat my words this postseason.
Following the post-2000 Spartans aren't a help
either....
Andy
TOOLIE: The 2007 Spartan Hockey team did all right
this year... National Champs! Way to go, Sparty!
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"Strokin" Brian Vessell
Hey Toolie! Good to hear from you again. The first
issue was fantastic. Here are my predictions for the
2007 season:
AL East - Bos, NYY, Tor, Bal, TB
AL Central - Det, *ChW, Min, KC, Cle
AL West - LAA, Oak, Sea, Tex
NL East - NYM, *Phi, Fla, Atl, Wsh
NL Central - StL, Cin, Mil, ChC, Hou, Pit
NL West - LA, Ari, SF, SD, Col
ALDS - Bos over ChW
ALDS - Det over LAA
NLDS - NYM over StL
NLDS - LA over Phi
ALCS - Bos over Det
NLCS - LA over NYM
World Series - Boston over Los Angeles
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Toolie's Trashtalk...
OK, one week down. It wasn't the best week, but it
wasn't all that bad and we're over five-hundy. I have
been surprised at how much trouble the Tigers are
having hitting. The last week or so of Spring
Training the Tigers were tearing the cover off of the
ball. I guess this reinforces the adage that you
shouldn't put too much into what happens in Florida.
The cold is probably a factor. Good thing our
pitchers don't seem to be affected.
I love my boy Robertson! He's "my boy" because I have
him in my Yahoo fantasy league this year (I have Jones
in my CBS league), but also because he has really
grown on me over the last year. Robertson was a riot
with the Big League Chew and his Gum-Time rallies.
The short clips they sometimes play of him on FSN
still make me laugh. Nate's off to a great start with
two very strong outings against the Blue Jays and
Orioles. I think the secret may be the duckbutt
hairstyle he is now sporting. The picture embedded in
this box score shows off a small portion of the
duckbutt. The beard is interesting as well. Some
might refer to him as a "nappy-headed ho," but I think
he looks good. Nate's pitching, along with his hair,
is in mid-season form (also nice to see that Magglio
came back with the mop).
http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/news/wrap.jsp?ymd=20070
410&content_id=1890896&vkey=wrapup2005&fext=.jsp&team
=away
Brandon Inge is 0 for 20. Ouch. I happen to be 1 for
1 lifetime in professional baseball stadiums... you
know, in case you were wondering.
My Crappy Predictions....
BOS, DET, ANA WC-CLE
NYM, CHC, LAD WC-STL
DET over BOS in ALCS
NYM over CHC in NLCS
DET over NYM in 6 games
Hey, it's the first year I can legitimately pick our
Tigers, so why not?
I am hoping to attend my first game at the end of the
month when the Minnesota Twins come calling. It
worked out for me last year as Lia and I got free
tickets to an 18-1 spanking. I almost got a home-run
ball that game too. I just hope all the snow is long
gone by then.
Play of the week is Pudge's ninth-inning three-run
homer on Sunday in Kansas City. After doing almost
nothing offensively all afternoon, the bomb by Pudge
snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and prevented
a series loss to the Royals. Like against Cleveland
last August, Pudge came through with a big-fly (not
his specialty) to lift the team to a win.
Jim Leyland is one of the funniest guys on the planet.
Every day he makes some observation that's so true
it's funny. Here's one gleaned from a Jason Beck
MLB.com article:
"I've seen it cold before. People act like it's
something new," -- Leyland, when asked about how the
first week's low temperatures are affecting the game
Perfect.
And with that,
I'm out!
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Tigers Weekly is in no way affiliated with the Detroit
Tigers or Major League Baseball.
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Play Ball!
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