Tigers Weekly 2007 Season

Week 19: 8/31/07 - 9/06/07

If you like things close and cozy, then this was the
week for you.  The Tigers split six games this week,
but all but one of the games was a nail-biter.  Three
games went to extra-innings, and one was won in the
bottom of the ninth inning.  The bright side of this
is that the Tigers were able to win a couple of these
squeakers and take another series.  The flip-side is
that they had a legitimate shot to win each game this
week and things just didn't always go their way
(including blowing a seven-run lead on Sunday).  

Speaking of things going one's way, the Indians put
some major distance between themselves and the Tigers
by sweeping the Twins and taking two of three from the
White Sox.  It looks like the Tigers will have to
focus on catching the Yankees, unless Cleveland pulls
one of their flops (remember the last week of 2005?). 
Three games remain with the Tribe, and without a sweep
it will be almost impossible for the Bengals to raise
a division title flag next year.  

Time is running out to make a push for the
post-season, and 3-3 weeks will only get the Tigers a
ticket to the off-season.  

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Week of 8/31 - 9/6

Record:  3-3 LWL-LWW

Up Next for the Tigers...

Sept. 7-9    Seattle
Sept. 10     Toronto
Sept. 11-12  Texas (three games)
Sept. 13     no game scheduled...

Up Next for NYY  (KCR 3, TOR 3)
Up Next for SEA  (DET 3, OAK 3)
Up Next for CLE  (ANA 3, CWS 3)

AL Central Standings...

CLE  81 58 -  (still playing...)
DET  75 65 6.5  
MIN  69 71 12.5
KCR  62 77 19
CWS  59 81 22.5

AL Wild Card... (BOS, CLE, ANA leading divisions)

NYY -
SEA 3
DET 3

NL Wild Card... (NYM, MIL/CHC, ARI leading divisions)

SDP -
LAD 2.5
PHI 3
COL 4

Tigers News and Notes:  The Tigers got a couple of
shots in the arm this week as Kenny Rogers and Gary
Sheffield returned from the disabled list.  Earlier in
the week the rosters were expanded and, as was
reported last week, Mike Hessman, Omar Infante, Yorman
Bazardo, and Jose Capellan were added to the
big-league squad.  

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Tiger of the Week...
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How should one act in a pennant chase? The one way to act is like Timo, who made the most of his playing time this week. In the last four games that Perez has started (going back to the Kansas City series), he has tallied multi-hit performances. The last two days have been rather good for Perez, as he was the catalyst in the Tigers' two wins over the White Sox. On Wednesday Perez made a tough catch in left field and later ripped one off the right field wall with two outs in the eleventh to end the game. The next day, Perez pinch-hit to lead off the ninth and reached on an error. That started a two-run rally where the Tigers were able to come back from blowing the lead in the eighth inning. In his time with the Tigers, Timo has posted a .384 batting average. It's nice to be able to have some hope when the non-regulars get put in the lineup. Back in the day, the "B" team usually meant no chance of a win. Substitutes like Timo and Ryan Raburn are giving the Tigers a chance to win every night.

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It's Later...
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Bob Maguire asks: "where the @#$% is the player to be
named later for Mike Maroth and why did we hafta
wait?"

Last week I wasn't doing my job, and I forgot to
include the two players that were finally acquired by
the Tigers.  As for why we have to wait, I believe the
process goes something like this.  

Team A wants to acquire a player from Team B in return
for a prospect.  Team B hasn't been actively scouting
Team A's (not necessarily Oakland) farm system, so
they get some time to make their decision.  By a
certain date, Team B has to choose one of the players
from a predetermined list to complete the trade.

That being said, the Tigers made two of these trades
this season, dealing Mike Maroth to the Cardinals and
then Craig Monroe, in a waiver deal, to the Cubs.  In
return, they received RHP Chris Lambert and LHP Clay
Rapada.  The deals were finalized last week and both
pitchers were assigned to the Mud Hens.  

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MAKE UP!!!
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Complete this line:  "April showers bring..."

The answer?  "... September make-up games."  I know,
that was too easy.  This week the Tigers will conclude
what they started way back on the first week of the
season with the Toronto Blue Jays.  The next day, they
will play a double-header with Texas to make up for a
rain-out in June.  It keeps things interesting, with
plenty of baseball to watch, but it also puts strain
on the pitching staff.  

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Poll Question...
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The Tigers' batting order has been pretty thin
recently, with many non-regulars seeing a lot of
playing time.  Players such as Timo Perez, Ramon
Santiago, and even Mike Hessman are cracking the
lineup in this time of high stakes.  Leyland has used
many different defensive alignments, utilizing Carlos
Guillen at first base and Santiago at short.  

With the current roster, what would be your ideal
lineup?  How often would you give players rest?  Who
would patrol left field regularly (Thames? Raburn?) or
third base (Inge? Raburn?) of first base (Guillen?
Casey? Thames?)?

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Game Linescores...
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August 31:  Detroit 4 - Oakland 5   F/10
Starters:  DET: Vasquez 4IP - OAK: Blanton 7IP
DET  020 000 002 0  4  9 0
OAK  010 300 000 1  5 10 0
W: Street (3-2)
L: Zumaya (1-3)

September 1:  Detroit 6 - Oakland 1
Starters:  DET: Verlander 6.2IP - OAK: Haren 6IP
DET  102 000 210  6 13 0
OAK  000 100 000  1  8 0
W: Verlander (15-5)
L: Haren     (14-6)

September 2:  Detroit 7 - Oakland 8  F/10
Starters:  DET: Robertson 6IP - OAK: Braden 4.2IP
DET  200 050 000 0  7 11 0
OAK  000 020 302 1  8 12 0
W: Street  (4-2)
L: Bazardo (0-1)

September 3:  no game scheduled...

September 4:  Chicago White Sox 3 - Detroit 1
Starters:  CWS: Garland 7IP - DET: Bonderman 5.1IP
CWS  001 002 000  3 8 0
DET  000 001 000  1 9 1
W: Garland   (9-10)
L: Bonderman (11-8)
S: Jenks     (37)

September 5:  Chicago White Sox 1 - Detroit 2  F/11
Starters:  CWS: Floyd 6IP - DET: Rogers 5IP
CWS  001 000 000 00  1 4 0
DET  000 010 000 01  2 9 0
W: Seay     (2-0)
L: Phillips (0-1)

September 6:  Chicago White Sox 2 - Detroit 3
Starters:  CWS: Buehrle 7IP - DET: Durbin 5IP
CWS  000 000 020  2  7 1
DET  001 000 002  3 10 1
W: Seay  (3-0)
L: Jenks (3-5)

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Readers Write In...
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Justin "Greenleaf" Carroll

Don't hate on Inge. He just had a baby.  You can't hit
with a baby.

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Dave "You Can't Beat The Market" Dixon

We will miss the playoffs this year!  The pitching
just isn't there.  Too many injuries!

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Craig "Rocky &" Boezwinkle

Best line of the Weekly in my 2 or so years of reading
it:

“Much like Voltron,…”

I never thought I’d say this, but hopefully we don’t
have to play the Royals too many more times this
season.

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Nick "The Greek" Ciofani

I'm just so happy the White Sox are having a horrible
year.  But I hope the Tigers turn it around, I really
don't want to face the Yanks in the playoffs.  Go
Tribe!

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Anthony "Whoop-A" Williams

Good job churning out the Weekly, Matt; always a fun
read, even for occasional fans like me.

Some of my brothers-in-law were chatting about Pudge
last night.  Apparently next year the Tigers have the
option of keeping him, for $13 million, or giving him
$3 million and letting him walk if he wants to.
  
He's 36, I think, and his numbers have been dropping
lately (so the b-i-ls said).  But I hear there's a bit
of a drought on catchers right now.  What do you
think: should they keep Pudge, or save $10 million and
get a B-list catcher?

Anthony

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Bob "Jerry" Maguire

Matt,

As always I appreciate your insights. If I may share
also For my friend Brad the emblem of the Tigers’
season has been the fact that the temporary loss of a
guy named Jair Jurjjens has actually mattered. BTW,
hats off to Dr. JJJJ, no diss. BTW2, too bad we don’t
play no-holds-barred Scrabble®, with all those J’s. 

What do yall think: shouldn’t Inge be doing some
winter ball, AFL or Mexico or something, to get his
bat back where it can be? Geez, if he’s consistent,
he’s .275/30/90.

Poll—Tigers=wild card. Fantasy (read: delusion)—they
play the Cubs in the World Series. This is a dream for
me, I grew up in Chicago .

Regards,

Bob Maguire

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Toolie's Trashtalk...

If you get a chance, go to
http://www.detroittigers.com to watch the clip of
Polanco's game-winning single.  The part to listen for
is the Rod Allen quote of the week:  

"They beat Bobby Jenks?!?!" (Mario interlude) "They
beat big BOBBY Jenks!!!"

Man I hate Jenks.  Thank goodness we finally got to
him.  Chalk up another series win.  

The Mariners are coming to town and the Tigers are
getting them at the right time.  Seattle has lost nine
of its last ten games, and this series could be the
last hurrah for one of these teams.  Though the Royals
are playing well, I'm not expecting them to dominate
the Yankees this weekend.  

Anthony, if I had to guess as to what will happen next
year, I think the Tigers will give Pudge the money. 
It's not like they have the next Joe Mauer waiting to
fill in his shoes, and Mike Ilitch doesn't seem to be
pinching any pennies.  I'm not sure what the precedent
is about not picking up an option and then re-signing
the player for less.  Rodriguez still has plenty of
power to put butts in the seats and sell merchandise. 
You are right about his numbers being down, but it
still seems like he's got a good deal of life.  Also,
if Mike Rabelo is to be the Tigers catcher of the
future, another year learning under Pudge couldn't
hurt.  If they can sign him for less (after buying
out the contract for $3 million) then they should do
that.  If it's going to come down to Pudge for the big
money or using Vance Wilson (who is under contract
through 2008) or Rabelo as the #1 guy, I'd still feel
more comfortable with Rodriguez.  If they don't bring
him back, I think they should spend that money to
improve elsewhere.  

Appalachian State.  Too funny. 

This week was really up and down.  I received the bad
news on Sunday via text-message, and I watched Curtis
strike out on Tuesday with a chance to tie the game in
the ninth.  I'm not sure if it's grad school or the
Tigers that are putting all of these gray hairs on my
head.  Somewhere my dad is laughing.  

Verlander gets two starts this week (meaning a Tigers
Weekly week) and he's been the best pitcher of late. 
The Tigers' schedule is actually pretty easy down the
stretch, but it's been the bad teams that have given
us the most trouble.  Time for Leyland to reach into
his cigarette pack of tricks.  

I bet The Skip goes to Windsor to get his cigs... and
then after getting searched at the border he says
"Well, that's just the way it is... Michigan puts a
huge tax on cigarettes and that's what they're gonna
do.  It's unacceptable, so I go to Canada.  Not gonna
change, this interview's over."  And then he gets in
his car and takes off.

And the border agent does nothing.

I'm out.
 





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