My Detroit Tigers: What can I say? Anyone who’s either a fan or follows baseball in general knows they imploded after the All-Star break, and I have to admit something: when they did, I basically checked out mentally on the season. When I started this blog I was really excited about the season so I thought I’d have more to write about, but as they folded (and I got busy with other things), the material just dried up. I was still watching games, but my enthusiasm drained away. Does that make me a bad fan?? I keep coming back every year and have loved baseball since I was 12 years old (1984, that magical year), but can it be considered masochistic continuing to watch a team you know is going down the tubes? (I guess the same question can be asked of long-suffering Lions fans, of which I’m one as well. But at least the freakin’ Tigers have won something in the last 50 years)

I don’t want to be a fairweather fan, nor do I want to be a bandwagoneer. Some of those losses were good games they just didn’t come out ahead on. And some of the play has been fantastic this year: Cabrera, naturally. Austin Jackson, who spent most of the year with an at-or-near .300 BA. Boesch was great, even though he slid, but its to be expected; he’s still got tremendous potential and I look forward to him next year. Other rookies like Will Rhymes made great contributions, so there is a nucleus to work with for sure. But injuries and slumps and just plain lackadaisical ballplaying on some people’s parts (no names need mentioning; if you follow the team you know which guys have been in the low .200′s or even below the Mendoza line at times) wore the team down this year, and they never recovered.

As of tonight they are playing their last series of the year in Baltimore, and while I am melancholy about the end of the season, I am already anticipating spring, especially since I know there will definitely be changes over the winter (Bonderman, Inge and most likely Damon will be gone; have to see what happens with Magglio; also have to see about Guillen’s recovery). It’s going to be a different team next year, and even Leyland acknowledged this week to the media that he’s aware his job is on the line in 2011 (his contract is currently up at the end of next season), so I am hoping it will put an extra charge into their competitiveness. 2010 started great for these guys; now it’s time to take the next step. Time to put this year into the record books and look forward to the next one.

I’m considering altering the focus of my page somewhat, and making it less Tiger-centric (even though I love ‘em but lets face it: they spiraled out of control in the second half of this season and it’s been painful to watch at times). I’ll be revamping it at some point in the near future to talk more about general topics and I’ll be throwing sports into the mix as well (the Lions’ season is two weeks old, and oy vey, not so impressive). So stay tuned … as the famous comedian Arnold Braunschweiger said, “I’ll be back!”

First, the offense of Brennan Boesch continues to impress; really remarkable considering the fact that he’s really come out of nowhere as a rookie (he wasn’t on my radar in the minors, at any rate). He contributed to a 6-2 win over the visiting Pirates tonight in interleague play, belting solo shot in the fourth inning for his 8th homer of the year. That puts his BA at a tremendous .343 since coming to the bigs, proving he’s earned the rookie of the month honors he won in the AL for May and picking up nicely where Action Jackson has cooled off with the bat somewhat (though I am still being won over by him daily, especially on defense, as in the great running catch he made once again tonight in deep center. Curtis who??). It was a nice win tonight and something sorely needed, with the bats being cold for the most part across the bulk of the last two weeks.

We’ve slid some in the division, as Minnesota continues to prove they refuse to lose (they beat Atlanta tonight 2-1 of course), so we’re hovering at 4 1/2 back. I hate to admit it, but unless there’s a drastic change in the fortunes of some other teams contending for wild card slots in the AL, our only hope may be to try and get the lead from the Twinkies. This could very well get down to the wire once again, as it did last year. And here’s to hoping it turns out a hell of a lot better than that did.

At any rate, the subject mentioned in this post’s title is the other thing I had on my mind. I wanted give props once again to a set of pictures that a gentleman was nice enough to share with my 1984 Tigers Facebook group some time back; they’re all from the old Tiger Stadium, with most of them from the 1970s. I was checking them out once again tonight and there are some really cool shots in there, so I encourage readers here to see them here: Vintage Tiger Stadium Photos.

Voters can register (if you haven’t already done so) and vote here:
Detroit Tigers All-Star Voting

The link provided also gives instructions on how voters can be automatically entered for a chance to win a pair of tickets to a Tiger home game and also an opportunity to meet a Tigers All-Star prior to said game.

As I write this, the Twins’ Justin Morneau has (fortunately) taken the top slot at first base from the Yankees’ Mark Teixeira (I say fortunately because at least Morneau’s numbers justify him getting the most votes, as opposed to the popularity contest dominating some of the other positions and loading them up with Yank-Mes). But that doesn’t mean we should give up!! Keep voting for Cabrera at 1B.

Unfortunately it appears the only other Tigers even being considered by anyone are Ordonez and Action Jackson as outfielders (see the results below, a screenshot of voting results I took as of this afternoon), so our work is cut out for us there as well. Do your part!

Source: MLB.com: A.L. Race Has New Leader At First Base

It’s just over 16 minutes in length … see how many logos you recognize, and remember to look everywhere. There’s also a couple of shoutouts to fictional logos as well (for example, when the Michelin Man/Cop enters the KFC and looks up at the menu … there’s one on the left that some may recognize from a previously popular animated show).

Also: I should point out that there’s plenty of NSFW language, so beware!

(Note: watching the short at YouTube gives you the added options of higher resolutions for a slightly sharper picture depending on your monitor’s settings)

I wanted to reprint a short list from the Detroit Free Press today, with the five biggest moves the team’s made so far this year, all of which have been spot on:

Nate Robertson

On March 30, the left-hander was traded to the Marlins for minor league pitcher Jay Voss and cash.

Brennan Boesch

The outfielder was called up to replace the injured Carlos Guillen on April 23. Boesch was named American League rookie of the month for May.

Scott Sizemore

On May 16, the second baseman was optioned to Triple-A Toledo after an 0-14 streak. When Guillen returned for the DL, he took the starting second base job.

Dontrelle Willis

The left-hander was designated for assignment May 30. On June 1, he was traded to the Diamondbacks for right-hander Billy Buckner.

Adam Everett

The shortstop joined the Tigers before last season but was cut Sunday after batting .185 this season. Danny Worth was recalled from Toledo.

There’s not a stinker in the bunch so far and I hope they continue on this trend. Wonder which way the axe will swing next …. ?

EDIT: I forgot to drop in this gem, also from the Free Press, running down Everett’s “highlights” from this year. A mere five fill out their list, including a sac fly and a sac bunt. Seriously.

Seems like the Galarraga furor has more or less died down, and I couldn’t be happier. I thought it might be something of a catharsis to listen to sports talk radio and check out the newspapers the next day, but really all it did was give me a feeling of overkill. Bud Selig proved what most of us guessed from the start: that he wasn’t about to undo tradition and “the human element” of the game and overturn the call, so everyone’s complaining was much ado about nothing. I suppose it was a chance for everyone to vent, but in the end, judging by Galarraga’s handling of the whole situation, I think the rest of us took it far worse than he.

By Thursday afternoon I was well burnt out on the entire incident. And all the anti-Joyce Facebook groups and other nonsense that went out across the internet in the course of the evening and day after just struck me as silly. I wanted no part of it, even going as far as to take down the one picture I had posted of Joyce, with the caption “This is why we can’t have nice things”, two hours after it had happened. Common sense prevailed (for once!).

As far as Jim Joyce goes, I wish the man well and no ill will. He owned the mistake, was forgiven by the man he robbed of his place in history, and that’s enough for me. For the most part, everyone afterward showed a decent amount of class in handling it all, although Joyce was booed briefly at Comerica Park upon his name being announced as home plate umpire the next day. But that was to be expected of course, and I believe it was a minority of fans who apparently felt like they just had to make a statement, the man’s apologies be damned.

Of course, then he goes to Philadelphia and gets confronted with the boo-birds even there, so I have a feeling he may (unfortunately) have to deal with it for at least a while. There is a decent article about Joyce in today’s Detroit Free Press that’s worth checking out though, in the hopes of gaining a little insight into a man who has long been respected in baseball circles throughout his career, up to and including last Wednesday night.

As far as the rest of the team goes, we’re still treading the waters of inconsistency. Thursday’s recovery game was a great win over Cleveland, and then Friday night saw another lack of production on offense, and a lackluster effort by Scherzer, who wowed us all the Sunday previous to that. I really hoped he was onto something, but his outing instead ran his ERA up to 6.66 (scary!) and his record to 2-5 as we were beaten by Kansas City 7-3. How we can get beaten by a team struggling just to stay out of the cellar is beyond me, but with the way our bats are running hot and cold lately, its no wonder.

Saturday was better, with Verlander getting the win (despite a respectable showing by KC’s Hochevar, who got us for 10 Ks, his season high). JV had a strong start, but then the wheels started to come off in the 7th and he did not survive the eighth, as he was relieved in short order by Zumaya, Coke and then Valverde, who had a rare save lasting more than one inning (he came in for Coke with one out in the bottom of the 8th). Valverde has been a great pick up for the team this year, I have to say. I did not know much about him before he got here, but I can say I definitely don’t sweat the way I used to when F-Rodney or Todd Jones used to come in. You were never sure what was going to happen, especially with Rodney, and I definitely don’t miss him.

Cabrera homered on Saturday to give himself 17 on the year, and then later in the game Guillen doubled Cabrera and Boesch. Inge contributed with a single along the way which scored Guillen, and the Tigers won that one 4-2. Which brings us to today. Bonderman started and here I hoped was another opportunity for him to also find some consistency after his last couple of starts. No such luck; over the course of the game he was responsible for all 7 KC runs and 11 hits. Perry relieved Bondo after 5 2/3 but was no help, as he has been looking really shoddy as of late.

Perry faced one batter and was promptly pulled for the Aussie Brad Thomas, who finished out the game. The Royals took it 7-2, with our only scoring courtesy of Ordonez (left field single) and Santiago (bunt single). No fireworks to speak of, as the rest of the offensive lineup was quiet as a church mouse on Sunday, appropriately. Things are still looking really wishy-washy, and we’re still mired at 3 1/2 games behind Minnesota, who apparently can do no wrong, especially when we need them to.

One move that was done right, however, was the DFA’ing of shortstop Adam Everett. Now, by all accounts the man is a nice enough guy and well-liked around the league, but that did nothing to help his paltry .185 at the dish, so he is the first of what I’m thinking are bound to be more adjustments over the course of the next month or so. Personally I never thought much of Everett in his time here, which is to say he never stood out to me (even with a 2009 fielding percentage of .969 and a BA better than his year this year, at .238); it’s been said he was worth the pick up last year, but I never really cottoned to it.

His season this year played out my reservations; he may have been serviceable with the glove (.992) but his bat never took off. Danny Worth is being recalled once more from Toledo to fill Everett’s place, so I guess Leyland is sticking with the platooning at short. Personally I would like to see Santiago get more of an every day role. We really haven’t seen what he can do on a day-to-day basis, but he’s got a decent bat (.248), so if it were me I’d bring Worth up as a backup only. But he impressed the team with his short stint last time around (leaving with a .333 BA), so it looks like they’ll be sharing time.

I suppose that’s plenty for now. Tomorrow is an off-day for the team, then they pick things up in the Windy City with three against the Sox. Once again, it seems like an opportune time to gain ground in the division, but the bats and the pitching have to get on (and stay on) track.

Galarraga’s Ninth Inning vs Cleveland Indians 6/2/10

By now anyone who knows even a little bit about baseball or spends any time around sports in general probably knows about what happened to the Tigers’ Armando Galarraga tonight. To be brief, the kid carried a perfect game into the ninth inning against Cleveland tonight … that is until he ran into the likes of first base umpire Jim Joyce.

So it’s two outs in the top of the ninth. Jason Donald is at the dish for Cleve-town, and takes a strike from Armando. The next pitch is a checked swing from Donald, and on the appeal Joyce says he didn’t go around. 1-1. On the next pitch, Donald taps a grounder toward the right side, where Cabrera was waiting to scoop it up. He throws to Galarraga who comes over to cover first and gets Donald out … or does he??

Without batting an eye, Jim Joyce throws the “safe” signal, and the whole of Comerica Park, the team and fans watching and listening everywhere are in disbelief. As the TV replays showed immediately, and will no doubt continue to show for days, Galarraga gets his foot on the first base bag and receives Cabrera’s throw while Jason Donald has nearly a full stride to go before he can even touch the base. To anyone with even slightly functional vision (except, of course, Joyce), Donald was out by what may as well have been a country mile.

Now I should mention that, in an irritatingly frustrating replay of my evening last night, I once again found myself on the phone with the same friend as last night, sorting out more computer issues for what would total three-and-a-half-hours. He called me at 10 minutes to seven, and once again I thought, “Bah this won’t take long”. HA! I finally got off the phone with him at about 10:30.

All the while, I’ve got the TV on but muted, and as the game progresses I see what’s taking place: this kid is creeping up on a perfect game. I don’t say anything to my friend on the phone, who’s really only a peripheral fan anyway, and I see on my Facebook feed that the posts are piling up (while being equally matched by posts telling people to STFU about it. Any baseball fan worth his salt knows, as much as superstitions can be silly to some, you do NOT talk about a no-hitter, perfect game, or anything else of that nature while it’s still in the making). So I’m doing my thing, trying to be helpful and all the while watching the game with one eye and no ears (it was muted, remember).

Before long, I realize we’re going into the ninth, but yet I’m still not done with what I volunteered to do, and I start to feel the proverbial butterflies, getting excited along with every other Tiger fan. But before I know it, it’s all over. I don’t realize what’s happened at first because the sound is down, but soon I see it on both my Facebook and the TV: I turn the sound back up long enough to confirm what I’m reading/seeing, and my heart sank. What would have been an awesome moment for Galarraga and the team, something to be talked about for years, was instantly replaced by something else that would be talked about and pondered and replayed for years, but for much more heartbreaking reasons.

Even now, as I went to the Tigers official site to see the replay clips, listening to Mario Impemba and Rod Allen’s tones of voice at the end of the replay, when it finally becomes apparent what’s happened, just makes a fan really feel bad for Galarraga. And what can you do? What can they say? What can anyone? As of right now, there appears to be no recourse, unless something really unexpected comes tomorrow from the commissioner’s office.

I would be shocked if that were the case, but you really feel as though something has to be done. Joyce did find his way to Galarraga after the game, owning up to his mistake and apologizing to the kid. And reaction everywhere has been vitriol aimed at the umpire. Maybe deservedly so, but at this juncture it just feels like wasted anger, even though I know a lot of it is fans venting at the outrageousness of it all. For a young pitcher on his way up, Galarraga seems to have taken it in stride tonight from the brief reaction footage I’ve seen, and that goes a long way toward speaking for his character. Maybe the rest of us are even taking it harder than he, but in any event, it’s really just a shame.

One thing is for certain: I’ll be glued to newspapers and radio most of the day tomorrow, gleaning more reaction from everyone, and I may have more thoughts then.