Tigers Weekly 2007 Season

Week 14: 7/12/07 - 7/19/07

"If I take a day off, it's because the manager gave me
the day off, not because the umpire gave me the day
off."  - Pudge Rodriguez on not playing on Sunday
after receiving a suspension.  

It was quite the road trip for the Tigers right out of
the All-Star Break.  If you were paying attention this
week then there was plenty to hold your interest.  The
first game of the second-half involved some
controversial calls, one of them resulting in Pudge
Rodriguez being ejected and eventually suspended. 
Spark plug Gary Sheffield was in the news a couple of
times.  The Tigers went into Minnesota and swept a
series, winning each game by one run.  

Things couldn't be too much better for the Tigers, who
have the best record in baseball heading into the dog
days.  Starting pitching is firing on all cylinders. 
The batting order is living up to their top-billing. 
Todd Jones is untouchable.  Even the replacement
players are contributing in a positive way.  The only
things Jim Leyland could ask his brother (who is a
priest) to pray for would be team health and the
lowering of cigarette taxes in Michigan.  The Tigers
are still waiting for Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya
to return to the bullpen, Vance Wilson is done for the
year, and just Wednesday Marcus Thames landed on the
DL after he pulled his hamstring making a game-saving
catch (I was immediately reminded of Polanco's
catch/injury last year in Boston).  The Tigers now
hold a two game lead on the Indians and a nine game
lead on the Twins.  Padding this lead with so many
players ailing is a good sign.  Look out when the club
is 100%. 

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"Week" of 7/11 - 7/19

Record:  5-2  LWLW-WWW

Up Next for the Tigers...

July 20-22  Kansas City
July 23-26  @ Chicago White Sox (5 games)
July 27-30  @ Anaheim

AL Central Standings...

DET  57 36 - 
CLE  56 39 2
MIN  49 46 9
CWS  43 51 14.5
KCR  41 53 16.5

Tigers Division...

DET  57 36 -
ANA  56 38 1.5
BOS  56 39 2
CLE  56 39 2
SEA  53 39 3.5

Tigers News and Notes:  The Tigers traded Roman Colon,
who was at Toledo, to the Royals for a player to be
named later.  Colon had been involved in a clubhouse
altercation earlier in the season and it seems like
moving him was good for the organization.  Colon was
acquired by the Tigers two years ago along with Zach
Miner in a midseason trade that sent Kyle Farnsworth
to Atlanta.  Marcus Thames earned a trip to the
short-term disabled list, which led to the calling up
of MLB veteran Timo Perez.  The timing is terrible for
Marcus, who had clearly established himself as the
go-to guy over Craig Monroe (now hitting .219).  Perez
made an immediate impact with the club, getting on
base twice and scoring the winning run in Thursday's
win in Minnesota.  

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Tiger of the Week...
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A part of me wants to give the award to Todd Jones again. This week he saved four of the five Tiger wins. Each save against the Twins were of the one-run variety. Not wanting to face the anti-Jones lynch mob I'll bestow the honor on Marcus Thames. Playing every day (at first and left field) until his injury, Thames hit .292, but two big plays stand out. Thames had a three-run homer early on in the Tigers win Sunday in Seattle. His other notable play was a nice catch that he picked off the Metrodome turf in the eighth inning of Wednesday's win against the Twins. With Craig Monroe struggling, Thames had stepped in nicely and picked up the slack. While Thames is on the DL, Monroe will get his chance to play his way back into the lineup. I hope Craig gets things going, but if I had to choose right now between Thames and Monroe, I'd much rather see Marcus at the plate in a tight spot.

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Who's Giving a Damn?
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In an effort to fill the summer void, Sportscenter is
running a tournament called "Who's Now" to determine
which superstar is the most "Now."  In other words,
it's a popularity contest.  

Last year SC's summer gimmick was "50 States in 50
Days."  The utility of that series wore off quickly,
but at least I was interested the first few times. 
The moment I saw this "Who's Now" bit I scrambled to
find my remote.  Only Paris Hilton coverage causes a
faster channel change.  The most maddening thing to me
about these pieces, which exist because there is "so
much" time to fill, is that SC STILL gives bare-bones
baseball highlights.  I saw a Royals/Indians recap the
other day that showed ONE play from a 5-3 Indians win.
One.  This highlight did nothing more than the score
scrolling at the bottom of the screen, except I got to
actually see Ryan Garko's home run.  I'm sure there
were more exciting plays in the game, but only those
in Cleveland and Kansas City will ever know.  Much
like you rarely see videos on MTV, highlights are
becoming an endangered species on Sportscenter.

But at least we know, with detailed voting analysis,
that Maria Sharapova is more popular than Vince Young.

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Bonds Breathing Down Aaron's Neck...
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Barry Bonds now trails Hank Aaron by just two home
runs.  Ironically the Giants are in Milwaukee for
three games... the city where Aaron played the
majority of his career, and the city that is home to
Bud Selig (who may not be present when Bonds breaks
the record).  

As far as the MLB brass is concerned, Bonds certainly
cannot break this record on the road.  It would be the
worst possible scenario for an already bad situation. 
He will almost certainly be booed anywhere outside of
San Francisco, and the highlight of the record-setter
will undoubtedly be played over and over.  To have
such a hostile crowd reaction to the breaking of the
biggest record in sports would be a big embarrassment
for MLB.  However Selig feels about Barry, he has to
be on his knees praying that Bonds breaks the record
at home... Barry's home, that is.  

Selig had better be there when Bonds breaks the
reocrd, or I will lose all respect for him.  The
commissioner stood and watched as baseball got
homer-happy to bring itself back from the abyss of the
1994 strike.  The media craze surrounding McGwire and
Sosa (Treaty of Versailles) is ultimately what spawned
the 'Roided One (Hitler) into juicing (bringing the
Third Reich to power) under Selig's (Neville
Chamberlain) nose and breaking baseball's most sacred
record (totally dominating Europe).  You can't ignore
this anymore, Bud.  Unless you've got someone (U.S.A.)
to go Tonya Harding on Barry's knees, it will soon be
time to salute as Adolf parades through the Arc de
Triomphe.  

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Poll Question...
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The July 31 trade deadline is fast approaching.  Last
year the Tigers made a deadline deal for Sean Casey,
getting him from the Pirates for virtually nothing. 
The move paid off, as Casey was the Tigers' best
hitter in the World Series.  Where do the Tigers need
the most help and from where do you think they can
glean a player?  

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Game Linescores...
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July 12:  Detroit 2 - Seattle 3
Starters:  DET: Miller 5IP - SEA: Hernandez 6.1IP
DET  101 000 000  2 11 3
SEA  000 030 00X  3  6 1
W: Hernandez (6-4)
L: Miller    (4-3)
S: Putz      (25)

July 13:  Detroit 6 - Seattle 3
Starters:  DET: Bonderman 7IP - SEA: Washburn 6IP
DET  004 001 100  6 10 0
SEA  011 000 100  3  9 1
W: Bonderman (10-1)
L: Washburn  (8-7)
S: Jones     (23)

July 14:  Detroit 4 - Seattle 6
Starters:  DET: Rogers 5IP - SEA: Batista 6IP
DET  100 000 030  4 9 1
SEA  010 104 00X  6 6 1
W: Batista (9-7)
L: Rogers  (3-1)
S: Putz    (26)

July 15:  Detroit 11 - Seattle 7
Starters:  DET: Verlander 7IP - SEA: Weaver 5IP
DET  001 403 120  11 12 2
SEA  110 010 103   7 10 1
W: Verlander (11-3)
L: Weaver    (2-7)

July 16:  no game scheduled...

July 17:  Detroit 1 - Minnesota 0
Starters:  DET: Robertson 7IP - MIN: Garza 7IP
DET  000 001 000  1 5 0
MIN  000 000 000  0 3 1
W: Robertson (6-6)
L: Garza     (1-1)
S: Jones     (24)

July 18:  Detroit 3 - Minnesota 2
Starters:  DET: Miller 5IP - MIN: Santana 8IP
DET  000 201 000  3  6 1
MIN  000 011 000  2 10 0
W: Miller  (5-3)
L: Santana (11-7)
S: Jones   (25)

July 19:  Detroit 4 - Minnesota 3  F/10
Starters:  DET: Bonderman 6.2IP - MIN: Baker 6.1IP
DET  000 000 300 1  4 14 0
MIN  000 001 200 0  3 11 1
W: Miner  (1-1)
L: Nathan (3-2)
S: Jones  (26)

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Readers Write In...
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Justin "Loki" Carroll

Sometimes - - 

when people get emo all the time like every night over
small things, I have to hate on them.  I just do. 
There should be an emo-barometer that gauges 
how much they are going to suck that night.  I mean an
occasional, "THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT! THE GIANTS
WIN THE PENNANT! THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!" is okay.
But I don't think the commentators should be all Ryan
Leaf about things; screaming and yelling as if they
can actually do something. 

I think the Chicago White Sox commentators are the
worst bar none. The Tiger commentators are where the
money is at. Think about it; Inge is for the children,
Pudge is for the children, and the Tigers commentators
are for the children. 

And that is the way things go. 

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Chas "Grey Fox" Claus

For Tigers Weekly - Grey Fox on the Prowl...

In the wake of Philadelphia's 10,000th loss this week,
I decided to do a bit of research and find out who
else enjoys historical sucky-ness to the extent 
that the City of Brotherly love does.  I encourage the
trivia buffs among the readership to take this
40-point quiz and then check your
answers...

1. (5 points) Assuming that no team suddenly starts
going 22-140 every year, what will be the next 5
franchises to reach 10,000-loss Hall of Shame?

2. (4 points) Though the Phillies' .468 winning
percentage isn't good, there are 4 teams that have
worse ones.  Name them.

3. (5 points) The Lions' having never been to the
Super Bowl is popular-yet-shameful trivia, but can you
name the fives current MLB franchises which have never
won their league's pennant & therefore never 
been to the World Series?

4. (1 point) Within 5 thousanths of a point, what is
the Tigers' franchise winning percentage?

5. (20 points) Correctly pair the following historical
major league team nicknames with the city where they
once played...

City Word Bank: Baltimore (1), Boston (1), Brooklyn
(4), Buffalo (1), Chicago (2), Cincinnati (1),
Cleveland (1), Detroit (1), Houston (1),New York (1),
Philadelphia (1), Pittsburgh (2), Seattle (1), St.
Louis (2)

_____ Alleghenys
_____ Bridegrooms
_____ Brown Stockings
_____ Buffeds
_____ Burghers
_____ Colt .45s
_____ Doves
_____ Gladiators
_____ Gothams
_____ Kelly's Killers
_____ Maroons
_____ Monumentals
_____ Naps
_____ Orphans
_____ Pilots
_____ Quakers
_____ Superbas
_____ Tip-Tops
_____ Whales
_____ Wolverines


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Toolie's Trashtalk...

Many thanks to Minnesota for their hospitality this
week.  How rare is it that the Tigers win a series at
the Metrodome, much less sweep it up?  Last year's
September collapse was coupled with a surge from the
Twins.  Though the Indians are a much more dire threat
in 2007, it's nice to put more distance between the
rest of the division.  

Planning on going to a game?  Good luck getting
tickets from the box office or the website.  On Monday
I tried to get three seats to Friday's game with
Kansas City and the best seats I was offered were
Standing Room Only.  I looked on some of the
second-hand sites (ticketcity.com, stubhub.com) and
found many tickets, but all with considerable markup. 
Some wackos were even asking over 130 dollars a ticket
for these games with the Royals.  Who needs to go see
the Tigers that badly?  For that money I can have a
grand time, watch the Tigers on TV, and still have
money for a cab-ride home afterwards.  I had similar
luck when searching for tickets for the Aug. 22 game
with the Tribe.  The sad reality of a winning team is
the stranglehold that scalpers have on available
tickets.  Looks like I'll be standing Friday night.  

I think Pudge got a raw deal when he was ejected from
last Thursday's game.  After a questionable call that
allowed strikeout victim Adrian Beltre to reach first,
a second call that went against Rodriguez set him off.
With one out, Seattle tried a hit-and-run.  The
Seattle hitter, Yuniesky Betancourt, swung and missed,
and his momentum made him step all the way over the
plate, right in the line of Pudge's throw.  The ball
ended up in center field, and Beltre moved to third. 
Rodriguez got in a heated argument with the home-plate
umpire, and as he tried to motion to where the hitter
had interfered, Pudge grazed the official.  For that
Rodriguez was ejected.  The league decided to suspend
the catcher for one game, but Pudge is appealing the
ruling, and he has Leyland's full support.  It set the
tone for the rest of the game, where Seattle ended up
taking the lead (on yet another controversial play)
and winning by one run.  It was just one of the
intense situations we witnessed this week.  Great to
have baseball back!

Poor Mike Maroth.  This Thursday he was tagged for ten
(yes, ten) runs in a loss to the Atlanta Braves.  The
worst part about it was that the highlight shows
played a clip where Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa
made a mound visit and Maroth made a motion to give
LaRussa the ball, but the skipper left him in the
game.  Maroth proceeded to give up a few more runs.  I
definitely hate seeing stuff like this happening to a
guy like Maroth.  I'm still a fan.

Gary is a naughty naughty boy.  At the plate he
continues to tear it up, making that .200 April seem
more and more like a figment of our imaginations.  He
saved some of that piss and vinegar for off-the-field
antics, as this week he took a shot at Joe Torre and
in a separate incident was fined for criticizing
umpires.  Sheffield made news when he claimed that the
Yankees manager treated black players unequally to
white players.  He was also fined for comments made
last month about the umpires in Cleveland, harkening
to the game where he was ejected for throwing a shard
of bat in the direction of the home-plate umpire.  As
far as the Torre thing goes, if you want to read
differning opinions on the subject, just do a quick
Google search for Gary.  You won't be short on
results.  For all of the controversy that surrounds
the man, it sure is fun to watch him hit (and to hear
Rod Allen react to the "lasers" Gary hits).  

David Beckham is now in America.  He's a soccer
(football) player.  You know... "Bend it Like
Beckham?"  You don't care?  Sorry to bother you with
that.  

One quick series and then it's back on the road.  It
will be interesting to see how the five games in
Chicago pan out.  Normally I am not confident when we
play the White Sox, and recently Chicago has been
playing very well.  They are getting good pitching and
Paul Konerko is finally looking like the player he is
expected to be.  Can't look past the Royals, though. 
We all remember that they're quite capable of taming
the Tigers at Comerica.  

The season marches on.  The Tigers are in first in the
league.  October can't get here soon enough.

I'm out.
 





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Play Ball!

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