Tigers Weekly 2008 Season

WEEK 7: 5/16/08 - 5/22/08

You know those movies where someone hears 
something and asks "What was that?"  To which the 
response is "It was just the wind?"  I feel like that's 
where we're at right now.  The Tigers are the big scary 
threat that may be lurking around the corner.  Or they 
may just be the wind.  Once again the club is showing 
signs of busting out and assuming the role they were 
predicted to portray from the start of the season.  But 
is the recent sweep of the Mariners a sign of things to 
come or simply a quick breath of air in the battle with 
the furious undertow?  The last time the Tigers swept a 
series they went on to battle Minnesota... and pulled 
an epic fail.  This time they get the Twinkies on their 
own turf, where the boys took both games of a two-
game series earlier in the season.  The Tigers have 
been bad in several areas this season; particularly 
against the Central (Detroit is an anemic 4-15 in 
division).  A turnaround has to start somewhere.  
Better now than later. 

This week's issue will be slightly abridged.  

New Subscribers...

John "McCain" McCann
Mark "Leiter" Rasler

------------------------------------------------------

Week of 5/16 - 5/22

Record:  4-2  LWL-WWW

Undy-Five-Hundy:  The Wings are in the Stanley Cup 
Finals for the first time in six seasons, the Pistons come 
home 1-1 in the Eastern Conference Finals, and the 
Tigers... are just seven games undy-five-hundy.  Well 
that's certainly not very glamourous, but after hitting a 
season worst ten games undy (twice) it's not so bad... 
and it's an improvement over last week.  The best 
thing about sweeping Seattle is that we now no longer 
pulling for the worst team (record-wise) in the 
American League.  That was the case going into 
Tuesday.  

Up Next for the Tigers...

May 23-25    Minnesota
May 26-28  @ Anaheim
May 29       no game scheduled...

AL Central Standings...

CWS  26 20 -
MIN  23 24 3.5
CLE  22 25 4.5
KCR  21 26 5.5
DET  20 27 6.5

Tigers Division...

BOS  31 19 -
|
KCR  21 26 8.5
CIN  21 27 9
DET  20 27 9.5
WAS  20 28 10
SFG  19 29 11

Tigers News and Notes:  Jacque Jones was signed to 
a minor league contract by the Florida Marlins and 
looks to be activated this weekend.  Best of luck with 
his new team; I hope he can hit for them.  Lefty Matt 
Joyce, who was called up after Jones' release, has five 
homers already in his time in the majors (almost one 
homer every seven at-bats).  Good call.  Dontrelle 
Willis is back in action... but he'll begin by working in 
the bullpen.  Reliever Clay Rapada was placed on the 
15-day DL, making room for the D-Train.  See link 
for article...

http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp
?ymd=20080521&content_id=2742758&vkey=news_det&fext
=.jsp&c_id=det

------------------------------------------------------
Tiger of the Week...
------------------------------------------------------

Funk that! Last week we discussed how Edgar Renteria was struggling and needed to pick things up. Well pick things up he did, with a .435 batting average this week, while leading the team in RBIs (6) and, with Miguel Cabrera, leading the team in runs scored (5). The offensive awakening earns Edgar the Tiger of the Week. Honorable mentions go out to various members of the pitching staff. Todd Jones saved the lone win in Arizona (a one-run affair) and stopped the ninth-inning bleeding Tuesday night for another save. Freddy Dolsi pitched three innings of scroreless ball on Thursday for his first big-league save, and Justin Verlander struck out seven and allowed one run in six innings in his only start.

------------------------------------------------------
Leyland Goes Off...
------------------------------------------------------

This sent in by Tom "Brookens" Bellsky.  Thanks to 
him, or I would have missed the whole incident.  Jason 
Grilli haters and Jim Leyland enthusiasts should 
definitely check this out.  

---

Matt- 

Here's some of Leyland's comments from yesterday.  
good stuff. 

http://mvn.com/mlb-tigers/2008/05/20/jim-leyland-
says-many-bleep-able-things-causes-flip-out-and-
effects/

Tom

---

If you get an error message, there should be a link to 
the article on the right hand side of the page that starts 
"Jim Leyland say many bleep-able things..."

Here's the corresponding article in USA Today that 
apparently sparked Leyland's comments...

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/al/tigers
/2008-05-19-paper-tigers_N.htm

-----------------------------------------------------

Toolie's Trashtalk...

Things started off really poorly this week.  I got to see 
a good deal of the Diamondbacks series and most of it 
wasn't pretty.  The seventh inning of Friday's game 
was an absolute nightmare; two defensive miscues 
allowed the D-Backs to take the lead, and the Tigers 
layed down in the final two innings.  They barely hung 
on Saturday, and then left a good deal of runners on 
base Sunday en route to another shutout (the seventh 
of the season).  

Then the Mariners came to town and the bats woke 
up.  The Tigers outscored the M's 30-14, with both 
the hitting and starting pitching clicking during the same 
series.  Things could be looking good for the 
weekend, with the Twins' starters having a combined 
3-10 record.  Just don't look at the fact the Tigers' 
starters are a combined 6-13.  Of course it won't be 
easy; the Twins always play tough ball.  

Gary Sheffield had three hits today, raising his average 
over .200 for the first time in a while.  He could be 
headed for a hot stretch like he had last year.  
Somthing had better get hot, with him hitting in that 
three-slot.  

There may be a game in my near future this weekend, 
so I'll do my best to keep the fire burning.  Saturday 
will be an electric night in Detroit, with the Pistons, 
Wings, and Tigers all in action.  Let's hope they can 
pull off the trifecta.  I wonder what the odds are on a 
Saturday Detroit parlay? 

My apologies for the shortened issue this week.  Time 
got the best of me.  Had I written this on Sunday the 
mood would have been gloomy.  What a difference a 
sweep makes.  

I'm out.
 





-----------------------------------------------------

Tigers Weekly is in no way affiliated with the Detroit
Tigers or Major League Baseball.  
 
If you know anyone that would like a subscription to TW,
send an email to editor@tigersweekly.com and give their
names and e-mail addresses. If your e-mail address is
changing, drop a line and it will be updated...

Play Ball!

-----------------------------------------------------