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After a solid road trip, where Detroit went 5-2
against two opponents with winning records, the Tigers
dropped consecutive series to the Royals and White
Sox. Baseball is a funny game, but this week isn't
too hard to decipher. It really seems that the
schedule after the All-Star Break is taking its toll.
Not only did the Tigers start on Thursday, but they
have not had a day off since play resumed, they've
made a trip to the west coast, they have only played
three home games, the two top setup men in the bullpen
are still out, and one of the days consisted of a
day-night double-header. Put it all together and you
get one tired bullpen.
No rest for the wicked, however, as the Tigers must
travel out west again before a day off on Thursday,
followed by an eleven-game homestand. The trade
deadline is the end of the month. Though it's been
predicted that this will be a relatively quiet year
for trades, there should be a good deal of buzz in the
next few days.
New Subscribers...
Eric "Gates" Brown
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Week of 7/20 - 7/26
Record: 3-5 LWLW(LL)WL
Up Next for the Tigers...
July 27-29 @ Anaheim (FOX Sat., ESPN Sun.)
July 30 - Aug, 1 @ Oakland
August 2 no game scheduled...
AL Central Standings...
DET 60 41 -
CLE 59 43 1.5
MIN 51 50 9
CWS 46 56 14.5
KCR 44 57 16
Tigers Division
BOS 62 40 -
DET 60 41 1.5
ANA 58 42 3
CLE 59 43 3
NYM 57 44 4.5
Tigers News and Notes: Busy week on the old bus line
from Detroit to Toledo. First switch made was Mike
Hessman in for Timo Perez. As Craig Monroe was
feeling better from back spasms, the need for a
right-handed bat to spell Sean Casey at first was more
pressing than the reserve outfielder. Virgil Vasquez
was recalled to pitch the second game of Tuesday's
double-header... Jose Capellan was sent to Toledo to
make room. After Vasquez's start, he was sent back to
the Mud Hens and Tim Byrdak returned to the bullpen
from the disabled list.
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Tiger of the Week...
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The Kids are All Right. That's what I have to say
about the slew of call-ups that made great
contributions to the Tigers this week.
#3 Star: Virgil Vasquez made his second start of the
year. His first start was a debacle in Minnesota,
witnessed by a Sunday Night Baseball audience. On the
smaller stage, Vasquez thrived, holding the White Sox
to two runs in five innings. Too bad for Virgil the
bullpen couldn't hold it.
#2 Star: Mike Hessman is 4 for 12 with five RBIs in
his first three games with the big club. He's getting
the hits when they count. He had two hits and two
RBIs in his debut, he hit an early homer in Wednesday
night's game, and a go-ahead single on Thursday.
#1 Star: Ryan Raburn was en fuego in Wednesday
night's slugfest in Chicago. Raburn punished Jose
Contreras with a pair of homers, and then continued to
terrorize Sox pitching with two more hits and a grand
total of seven RBIs... in one game!
The three Mud Hens combined to give the team great
production and comprise the Tigers of the Week. You
can't count on this kind of output all year, but it's
nice when it comes. You've got to think that it keeps
things fresh and exciting for the regulars, as well,
when these guys are getting in the act.
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Near Milestones...
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Bonds is now two homers away from tying Hank Aaron.
A-Rod has 499 homers. Tom Glavine has 299 wins.
Griffey is nearing the 600 club, as he just hit #588
this afternoon.
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Random Noise...
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Here are two baseball nuggets worth a look sent in
this week by readers.
By Chas "Grey Fox Claus...
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=caple
/070725&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab5pos2
and a bit of baseball humor courtesy of Ace "In The
Hole" Hackenberg
http://news.yahoo.com/comics/uclickcomics/20070724/
cx_bl_uc/bl20070724
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Poll Question...
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What are the best/worst seats you've ever had for a
professional sporting event or for college football or
basketball?
Mine were either the seats about 20 rows behind home
plate in 2003 or the time I sat, with my dad and a
friend, two rows behind the Mets bullpen at Tiger
Stadium and my dad heckled the Mets the whole game.
My worst seats were the free tickets that a friend and
I got for the "Basketbowl" at Ford Field, where MSU
lost to Kentucky. We sat in the last row of the
endzone, and you couldn't even see the twine move when
a basket was made. We still had a good time, though,
and it was my first time at Ford Field (I still
haven't found a reason to be there for a Lions game).
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Game Linescores...
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July 20: Kansas City 10 - Detroit 2
Starters: KCR: Meche 7IP - DET: Rogers 6.1IP
KCR 103 000 204 10 15 1
DET 100 001 000 2 5 3
W: Meche (7-6)
L: Rogers (3-2)
---
Toolie Sees a Ball Game: I thought Tigers/Royals
tickets would be no problem to land a week in advance.
I was wrong. I thought if I left East Lansing at
4:15PM for Flint we would make it to the game on time.
I was wrong. I thought that seeing Kenny Rogers
pitching against the Royals would be a lock to put me
3-1 on the year. I was wrong.
It turned out to be a strange trip, indeed. On the
Monday before the game I tried to get three seats to
the game on the Tigers website but all I could get was
"standing room only." We settled for those, but
didn't even get to the game until the third inning (I
missed the Dunkin' Donuts race), where the Royals had
already built a 4-1 lead. The Tigers would never
really challenge for the lead, and KC went on to win
easily.
Having to use the restroom on the way down, we of
course ran into terrible traffic on I-75. By the time
we exited on Lafayette we had a plan to drop me off at
Greektown Casino so I could get some relief. To my
chagrin, the road was blocked a ways up from the
casino, so I got out and figured I'd walk. About a
half a block down the road I noticed some concealing
bushes next to a church and figured the Lord would
understand. A minute and a half later I caught up
with Lia and her dad (who found a great parking spot
on the street) and we walked to witness the lackluster
game.
It was good to see old college / baseball road trip
buddies Chas "Grey Fox" Claus, Kirk "Country Boy"
Hanna, and Tim "Dawg" Daggett as we all gathered
behind section 104/105 in right field to watch the
game, where the beer vendors are so close you can
almost reach out and grab a cold one for yourself.
All in all it was great to see the stadium so packed
and the crowd in such a festive mood. The worst part
about having SRO tickets was that I rarely paid
attention to the game (which may have been a blessing
on this night). In the future I'll probably make sure
to get seats, even if that means paying a little extra
through auxillary websites.
---
July 21: Kansas City 8 - Detroit 10 F/10
Starters: KCR: De La Rosa 4.1IP - DET: Verlander 5.2IP
KCR 101 012 012 0 8 12 0
DET 203 020 100 2 10 14 0
W: Durbin (7-3)
L: Soria (1-3)
July 22: Kansas City 5 - Detroit 2
Starters: KCR: Bannister 7IP - DET: Robertson 6IP
KCR 000 201 200 5 13 1
DET 001 000 001 2 6 2
W: Bannister (6-6)
L: Robertson (6-7)
July 23: Detroit 9 - Chicago White Sox 6
Starters: DET: Miller 4.2IP - CWS: Buehrle 6.1IP
DET 101 300 220 9 18 0
CWS 020 121 000 6 11 0
W: Grilli (4-2)
L: Buerhle (7-6)
S: Jones (27)
July 24: Double-header
Game One: Detroit 3 - Chicago White Sox 5
Starters: DET: Bonderman 7IP - CWS: Vazquez 8IP
DET 100 011 000 3 4 0
CWS 200 012 00X 5 9 0
W: Vazquez (8-5)
L: Bonderman (10-2)
S: Jenks (27)
Game Two: Detroit 7 - Chicago White Sox 8
Starters: DET: Vasquez 5IP - CWS: Floyd 4.2IP
DET 130 120 000 7 14 0
CWS 010 002 32X 8 11 1
W: Thornton (3-3)
L: Miner (1-2)
S: Jenks (28)
July 25: Detroit 13 - Chicago White Sox 9
Starters: DET: Rogers 4IP - CWS: Contreras 4.2IP
DET 011 350 003 13 19 0
CWS 302 202 000 9 10 0
W: Grilli (5-2)
L: Contreras (5-13)
S: Byrdak (1)
July 26: Detroit 3 - Chicago White Sox 4
Starters: DET: Verlander 7IP - CWS: Danks 6.2IP
DET 001 002 000 3 6 2
CWS 000 200 011 4 4 0
W: Jenks (3-4)
L: Miner (1-3)
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Readers Write In...
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Lia "The Scorekeeper" Bottinelli
Two things:
1. I must agree that "Who's Now" is SC trash.
2. I hope Barry gets booed IN San Francisco.
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Nick "The Greek" Ciofani
I'm counting the days until the Indians beat the Red
Sox and the Tigers beat the Angels in the playoffs and
meet in the ALCS.
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John "David Lee" Rothwell
Let me pose this question. With the trading deadline
fast approaching do the tigers need to trade for a
catcher? I am not talking about someone to replace
Pudge, but when I look at the minor league rosters for
the Tigers, I see no one that could step in as a back
up if Rabelo goes down. I believe that the future
catcher position is the weakest in the organization.
Any thoughts?
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Anthony "Ferny" Morano
On the flight to Michigan I couldn't help but think
about the first 13 yrs I've lived in Southern Ca,
and last yr being the 1st time the tigers finished
above .500 and now finally able to witness pennant
fever! I arrived in ske town and while inhaling
my favorite Station Burger in record time who walks in
but toolie, Stymie and parents! Awesome.
Sat July 7
Parents, Sis, & the Runks:
Arrived at stadium to find Chelios packed so we
decided to go into the stadium. I was amazed to see
the largest turkey drumstick in the world on sale at
the concession stand. Tall Labatt's blue please!
We settled into our seats behind the sox dugout in the
2nd deck with an amazing view of downtown skyline!
Big Papi wasted no time flipping his wrist and hitting
a shot of bondo to take quick 2-0 lead.
After listening to the fake Boston fans for four
innings (where did they come from Canada?) C-Mo
ignored the boos and delivered a rocket past lazy ass
ManRam for a 2 RBI double. Red Sox fans I hear
crickets!. After the Tigers stranded so many runners
in scoring position the 2nd largest crowd in
comerica history got to see extra innings as Pudge hit
a walk off single past a diving Coco to win it the
13th! I was impressed by Boston's Defense,Fireworks,
Italian Sausage, Tig's bullpen and how bad JD Drew
sucks!
..I'm writing this while tigers beating
chi-sox Hessman just went big fly!
Sun July 8 (Guys day at park.)
Day game we arrived to 95 deg heat & found out our
seats in the lf bleachers.Not bad seats but with
a pole in the way it sucked. Gary went crazy
giving the tig's big early lead with a HR and 2
Double's. Not to be outdone Marcus Thames hit a
monster shot that almost hit the camera in dead center
(As Rod Allen Says He's Country Strong!)
Another Labatt blue please I tell the vendor as I
watch in amazement Granderson make a web-gem
willie mays hayes catch robbing Wily-Mo of a
Hr Awesome! The sox made a game of it as C-Mo
continues to be lazy on Defense with 2 errors and the
tigers had 5 total. Todd Jones almost gave me a heart
attack before getting the 6-5 save. Tigers Sweep!
..Hessman just makes a nice off balance throw to nail
the runner!
I know this might offend some tiger fans but I think
it's time to trade C-Mo. He seems like he's going thru
the motions and with the Maybin in the minors I don't
feel C-Mo worth a big contract! On the other I was
impressed by Zach Miner and Macay McBride in relief
work!
It was a great experience being part of a pennant race
and I can't wait to see the tigers this Friday here in
Anaheim. Hopefully Tigers fans will be loud and
supportive!
Ferny
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Chuck "Big Papi" Claus
Is there any baseball stat as meaningless as the
number of saves? I am
tired of listening to the Todd Jones apologists
"...but he has twentywhatever saves!" after he blows
yet another lead.
How could you NOT get 90% of your potential saves?
When used as TJ is used you 1) never come in with
runners on base 2) always come in with AT LEAST a
one run lead (often more) and 3) all you have to do is
get three outs without letting the other team catch up
(even if you give up two runs with a
three run lead you EARN a save. I suggest that most
pitchers coming into that situation night after night
would win 90% of their opportunities. How could they
not?
When you bring in your Closer the hometown fans should
breath a sigh of relief. A one, two three ninth inning
should be the rule not the exception.
TJ is not a great closer.
My question is this... what would be a more meaningful
measure of your closer's dominance?
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Toolie's Trashtalk...
For some reason I am watching the replay of today's
game as I write this. I must enjoy the pain.
Seay and Miner are about to walk the bases loaded.
Unfortunately it just gets worse in the ninth (Jenks
ownage and a replay of World Series bunt coverage).
It was a crazy series in Chicago, as the Tigers outhit
the White Sox in four of the five games but only
managed to win two. The bullpen was the culprit in
two of the losses, as the Tigers blew eighth inning
leads on their way to a pair of defeats. It's always
tough in Chicago. I will, later this season, witness
my first game at "The Cell" (U.S. Cellular Field, i.e.
New Comiskey). If I'm lucky I'll be be able to
witness the Tigers clinch the division or a playoff
spot (or both).
If you want to feel bad for somebody, then check out
the following clip. I watch it with the 2003 Tigers
in mind. It's absolutely like something that would
happen to that team. The Nats are up a run with two
outs in the ninth with nobody on and an 0-2 count on
the Phillies' Jimmy Rollins. And then this happens
(click on Rollins keeps Running video link).
http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/news/gameday_
recap.jsp?ymd=20070725&content_id=2108976&vkey=
recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=phi
Then the Phillies went on to win in extras. How tough
was it? To quote Dan Marino "...that's how tough it
is... but you wouldn't know, would you?" Tiger fans
know, Dan. Tiger fans know.
The replay of the Sox game just ended. Infuriating.
Apparently they had a town meeting in San Francisco to
discuss the Bonds situation. I hear that the meeting
highlights were the "Full House" marathon, the group
toke (of medicinal marijuana), the award for best drag
outfit (won by ESPN's Pedro Gomez), the official
banning of all members of the military, and the
popping of a pinata of Barry's head (which was filled
with syringes). That town seriously deserves Barry.
Anything goes in San Fran. I long for the days when I
hated San Francisco only because Joe Montana, Jerry
Rice, and Ronnie Lott would give me fits in Tecmo
Super Bowl.
John, good point about the catcher situation. This is
the last year of Pudge's contract, though the club has
a club option (13 mil) for 2008. He certainly seems
like he has some years left in him, but who knows what
kind of contract he will be looking for after 2008? I
also wonder if the Tigers would decline the option and
try to sign him for less? This seems an unlikely
move, as it would sour the relationship. With the NHL
salary cap, I think Ilitch would be fine with
extending Pudge another year. He's a good
investment... people love the guy! ...but to address
your actual question, it would be a strange thing for
Rabelo to go down. There are some unconventional
options: the Tigers could use Inge to give Pudge his
days off. You know Brandon can do it. The Mud Hens'
regular catcher, Dane Sardinha, is hitting .264
against AAA pitching. If any trade of this sort is
made, however, it won't make big headlines.
Just a reminder: I got the contract info for Pudge
from http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com . A great site.
Chuck, I agree that Todd Jones is not a great closer.
I don't think anyone disputes that stance. I'm just
saying it could be a lot worse. I would not be
opposed to the Tigers adding one of the available
relievers (Akinori Otsuka, Eric Gagne, Octavio Dotel)
as a setup man or a closer, though out of the three
only Gagne would be likely to supplant Jones.
Don't go to sleep on the Yankees. They are in a real
cupcake portion of their schedule and are creeping up
in the standings. Don't be surprised if, when the
Tigers finally play them, that they are in the thick
of the playoff hunt.
Look for the Tigers to do some damage out west and
come home 4-2 on the trip.
I'm out.
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Play Ball!
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