Tigers Weekly 2007 Season

Week 16: 7/27/07 - 8/16/07

What's up Tiger fans?  It's been a long time since the
last Weekly, but the game tonight put me in a little
mood to write.  This Monday is a big day in my
non-Weekly writing life, so after that I should be
back to my old self.  Though the Tigers haven't been
giving me much inspiration, there's still no excuse
for missing a couple of weeks.  This issue, which I am
dubbing The Slump Issue, will be light, but it needs
to be done.  The Tigers have won four of their last
six: is the slump finally over?

New Subscribers...

Tiffany "Tettleton" Techerne

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Slump Record:  7-13

Up Next for the Tigers...

August 17-19  @ New York Yankees
August 20-23    Cleveland
August 24-27    New York Yankees

AL Central Standings

DET  67 54 -
CLE  66 54 0.5
MIN  60 60 6.5
CWS  54 66 12.5
KCR  52 67 14      (still playing)

Tigers Division  

BOS  72 48 -
|
SEA  66 52 5
NYM  67 53 5
DET  67 54 5.5
NYY  67 54 5.5
CLE  66 54 6
SDP  64 55 7.5   (still playing)

Tigers News and Notes:  OK, so there were lots of
transactions in the last three weeks.  Notable moves
were Kenny Rogers being placed on the DL again, the
callup of Jair Jurrjens for his first major league
start, Jordan Tata getting demoted after one good and
two poor starts, and the return of Fernando Rodney
(who has been great since his return).  Joel Zumaya is
due to come off the DL very soon (they were saying by
Monday tonight) to further strengthen the bullpen. 
The flu bug is going around the clubhouse (reminds me
of playing The Oregon Trail: "Zeke has influenza"
"Clara has dysentary" etc.).  Among those affected
have been Polanco, Monroe, Jones, and Verlander.  

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Tiger of the Slump...
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He's making a case for AL MVP, and Magglio Ordonez kept up his lofty batting average even during this tough stretch of games. Throughout this season, Ordonez has provided a consistent bat in the middle of the line-up (even when Gary Sheffield wasn't hitting). With Sheff back on track, Ordonez is assured of getting good pitches and getting at-bats with runners on base. He recently passed the 100 RBI mark, becoming the first Tiger to have back-to-back 100 RBI seasons since Dean "The Grand-Slam-in-a-Ten-Run-Game Machine" Palmer. Maggs is one of the many players on the current roster that makes G.M. Dave Dombrowksi look like King Midas. Plus you gotta love the hair!

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Perez Suspended... AGAIN!
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Somehow, Neifi Perez was caught with another illegal
substance in his body and will now have to serve an
eighty game suspension.  Eighty games!  This will be
the last we see of Neifi for sure this year and I
would be surprised to see him re-signed.  To give
Neifi the benefit though, he claims that he didn't get
a fair deal.  

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2960857

In my opinion, this situation isn't worth worrying
about.  There's a pennant race out there and Perez was
never a significant piece of this ball club.  I hope
that he gets justice, whatever that may be.   

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Poll Question...
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The Wild Card used to be looking like it would go to
the runner-up in the Central.  However, Cleveland and
Detroit have fallen off their pace of .600 baseball
and now the Wild Card is a log-jam that now includes
the Yankees and Mariners.  From where do you think the
AL Wild Card will come?  

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Game Linescores...
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July 27:  Detroit 6 - Anaheim 11
Starters:  DET: Robertson 5.2IP - ANA: Weaver 5.1IP
DET  200 121 000   6 15 0
ANA  620 000 30X  11 13 1
W: Weaver    (7-5)
L: Robertson (6-8)

July 28:  Detroit 3 - Anaheim 10
Starters:  DET: Miller 5IP - ANA: Saunders 5.1IP
DET  100 002 000   3 11 1
ANA  000 012 07X  10 13 0
W: Shields (3-3)
L: Grilli  (5-3)

July 29:  Detroit 4 - Anaheim 13
Starters:  DET: Bonderman 2.1IP - ANA: Moseley 4.2IP
DET  001 120 000   4  8 1
ANA  426 000 01X  13 13 0
W: Bootcheck (3-2)
L: Bonderman (10-3)

July 30:  Detroit 5 - Oakland 2
Starters:  DET: Tata 7IP - OAK: Blanton 6.2IP
DET  100 002 200  5 11 0
OAK  000 200 000  2  8 1
W: Tata    (1-0)
L: Blanton (8-8)
S: Jones   (28)

July 31:  Detroit 3 - Oakland 7
Starters:  DET: Verlander 5.1IP - OAK: Haren 6IP
DET  120 000 000  3  7 2
OAK  010 004 20X  7 10 3
W: Haren     (13-3)
L: Verlander (11-4)

August 1:  Detroit 2 - Oakland 3
Starters:  DET: Robertson 6IP - OAK: Braden 5.1IP
DET  010 001 000  2 7 0
OAK  002 001 00X  3 9 0
W: Brown     (1-0)
L: Robertson (6-9)
S: Embree    (12)

August 2:  no game sceduled...

August 3:  Chicago White Sox 7 - Detroit 4
Starters:  CWS: Buehrle 8IP - DET: Miller 4IP
CWS  010 500 001  7 13 0
DET  000 300 001  4  8 0
W: Buehrle (9-6)
L: Miller  (5-4)

August 4:  Chicago White Sox 7 - Detroit 5
Starters:  CWS: Vazquez 7IP - DET: Bonderman 7IP
CWS  402 000 010  7 12 0
DET  021 000 020  5  8 1
W: Vazquez   (9-6)
L: Bonderman (10-4)
S: Jenks     (31)

August 5:  Chicago White Sox 3 - Detroit 1
Starters:  CWS: Floyd 6IP - DET: Tata 5IP
CWS  010 020 000  3 6 1
DET  000 000 010  1 8 0
W: Floyd (1-1)
L: Tata  (1-1)
S: Jenks (32)

August 6:  Tampa Bay 4 - Detroit 6
Starters:  TBD: Jackson 6IP - DET: Verlander 6IP
TBD  100 030 000  4  8 0
DET  101 000 40X  6 13 2
W: Miner  (2-3)
L: Glover (5-4)
S: Jones  (29)

August 7:  Tampa Bay 6 - Detroit 9
Starters:  TBD: Hammel 4IP - DET: Robertson 7.2IP
TBD  001 000 140  6 14 1
DET  122 010 03X  9 16 0
W: Byrdak  (1-0)
L: Wheeler (1-5)
S: Jones   (30)

August 8:  Tampa Bay 7 - Detroit 1
Starters:  TBD:  Shields 7IP - DET: Durbin 4.1IP
TBD  200 012 020  7 16 0
DET  000 100 000  1  7 0
W: Shields (9-7)
L: Durbin  (7-4)

August 9:  Tampa Bay 8 - Detroit 1
Starters:  TBD: Kazmir 6IP - DET: Bonderman 6IP
TBD  100 021 400  8 14 1
DET  000 000 100  1  8 0
W: Kazmir    (9-7)
L: Bonderman (10-5)

August 10:  Oakland 16 - Detroit 10
Starters:  OAK: Blanton 4IP - DET: Tata 2IP
OAK  124 108 000  16 14 0
DET  010 531 000  10  9 0
W: Lugo    (3-0)
L: McBride (1-1)

August 11:  Oakland 2 - Detroit 5
Starters:  OAK: Haren 6.1IP - DET: Verlander 6IP
OAK  001 010 000  2  7 1
DET  100 002 02X  5 12 1
W: Verlander (12-4)
L: Haren     (13-4)
S: Jones     (31)

August 12:  Oakland 6 - Detroit 11
Starters:  OAK: Braden 1.2IP - DET: Robertson 5.2IP
OAK  020 200 101   6  8 0
DET  080 011 10X  11 11 1
W: Robertson (7-9)
L: Braden    (1-7)

August 13:  Oakland 7 - Detroit 2
Starters:  OAK: Gaudin 6.2IP - DET: Durbin 4.1IP
OAK  202 021 000  7 12 1
DET  200 000 000  2  4 2
W: Gaudin (9-8)
L: Durbin (7-5)

August 14:  Detroit 6 - Cleveland 2  F/10
Starters:  DET: Bonderman 7IP - CLE: Sabathia 7IP
DET  000 001 100 4  6 14 0
CLE  200 000 000 0  2  6 0 
W: Rodney   (2-5)
L: Borowski (2-5)

August 15:  Detroit 2 - Cleveland 5
Starters:  DET: Jurrjens 7IP - CLE: Carmona 8IP
DET  010 000 010  2 5 1
CLE  021 001 01X  5 6 2
W: Carmona  (14-7)
L: Jurrjens (0-1)
S: Borowski (33)

August 16:  Detroit 8 - New York Yankees 5
Starters:  DET: Verlander 5.1IP - NYY: Mussina 5IP
DET  420 010 100  8 10 0
NYY  102 000 002  5 12 1
W: Verlander (13-4)
L: Mussina   (8-8)

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Readers Write In...
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Nic "Gilby" Gilbert

In response to your Q/A about the Tigers catcher
situation, it has already been said that should a
situation arise, Inge would never catch a game for the
Tigers again.  Apparently they want him to focus on
3rd and 3rd only.  Should something drastic happen, it
has been said in the past that Chris Shelton would be
called up to catch.  If it happened in a game (before
the punishment) it was said that Neife Perez would be
the catcher.  This just shows that the Tigers believe
Util IF means you play ANY position you are deemed to
play.

Nic

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Robert "Jerry" Maguire

Is Rabelo the starting catcher of the future for the
Tigers? Nobody’s Pudge, but I can see Mike as a very
solid MLB catcher for a number of years, offense and
defense. Let him apprentice with Pudge for 3-4 more
years, till Pudge is ready to retire or move. Or
manage the Tigers. Or…trade C-Mo for some
established catcher. Monroe is great, I’d trade him
because he’s good, that is, if we need to go get a
catcher. Actually, since so many people seem to think
Jones belongs in the same class with Gagne, why not
trade Jones for A-Rod (Guillen to 1st) + Joe Mauer?
Thanks, Matt, for a fun forum. 

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Daron "Erstad" Garrett

Well I'm going on the road to catch the Cleveland
series and fly from there to NYC Aug 17-20 for a bit
more beat down on the Yanks.  I'll do a beat report
for you.  I'm sure to get inot some altercations due
to my Sheff jersey I'll be sporting into the stadium. 
I might not make it past game 1.  Hope things are
going well.

"Joe Torre and George Bush hate black people."\

Gary "Kanye" West

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Lee "Hot" Cole

EDITOR'S NOTE: Written shortly after Jonny Gomes of
the D-Rays hit an 8th inning grand slam to tie the
game on August 7th.

I can't believe I just predicted how the 8th inning
would turn out.  Robertson lets one guy get on base;
Leyland pulls him; Leyland replaces him with Grilli;
Grilli finds a way to load the bases (he's an expert
at this); Grilli gives up a grand slam.  No really,
being a paranoid fan, I was imagining that this would
happen.

To add insult to injury, Leyland actually lets
Robertson get two outs and still replaces him with
that joker, Grilli (who I would not hesitate
to punch in the face if I saw him in the street).  

I can't believe I'm saying this, but if the Tigers
fired Jim Leyland after this game, I don't think I
would care.  Why the hell with a four run lead in the
eighth would you put in the one person who could
possibly lose you the game?

Can we trade Grilli, along with cash considerations of
$5 million to the Braves to get Ledezma back?

If the Tigers lose this game, I'm boycotting them for
at least a week.

Ughh

Out,
Lee 

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Toolie's Trashtalk...

On the day of the trade deadline, I logged in to the
ESPN chat room, where one of their analysts (Jonah
Keri) was taking questions and discussing possible
trades.  For the most part he did an adequate job, but
there was an exchange that led me to believe that this
guy was a nothing more than a baseball dabbler. 

Someone raised the question about who was a better CF:
Curtis Granderson or Grady Sizemore.  The answer to
this question is debatable, but my problem arose when
someone brought up the fact that Sizemore strikes out
far too often (this is also the case with our boy
Curtis).  Keri's response was on the level of
"strikeouts aren't much different than other types of
outs... when is the world going to realize this?" 
Then another reader made the point that a strikeout is
better than hitting into a double-play, and the
fly-by-night analyst sung the reader's praises.  

This arguement might hold some weight if Sizemore and
Granderson A) are consistently up with men on base or
B) are notorious for grounding into twin-killings.  As
it is, A) both players hit lead-off, and therefore are
always up at least once a game with the bases empty...
and don't get good RBI chances due to hitting behind
the bottom of the order, and B) as of the trade
deadline, the two have combined to ground into two
double-plays this season (both attributable to
Sizemore).  As two guys with a lot of speed, they are
much better served putting the ball anywhere on the
ground and attempting to leg it out (or benefit from
an error) than trying to get on base by striking out
(good luck)... not to mention there are several other
instances where a non-K out can accomplish something
positive (just this Sunday Curtis struck out with a
man on third with one out).  I tried to sneak a
comment to this effect in, but the trade deadline had
just passed and the chat session was terminated.  He
may not have posted it anyway, as this basic analysis
would have revealed that Mr. Keri was manning the chat
room simply because the real baseball guys were out
getting the scoop on the trades.  This member of Chat
Room Veterans for Truth couldn't let the spread of bad
baseball ethos slide.  

Leyland's post-game interviews are priceless.  I used
to switch over to Baseball Tonight immediately after a
Tigers game was over, but now I find myself sticking
around for Tigers Live.  Plus it gives me some more
Rod Allen time... YOU KNOW!

Huge couple of weeks here for the Tigers.  If they can
put together a nice little run against these two
contending teams they will give themselves a leg up
heading into September.  Let's hope they continue with
the recent run of good pitching and keep hitting the
ball.  Aside from the flu, the Tigers are finally
getting healthy.  Time for the full squad to rekindle
the magic of 2006. 

I'm back.
 





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