Before the 2008 season began, Sports Illustrated picked the Detroit Tigers to win the world series. Hopes were very high in motown. Before Christmas, general manger Dave Dombrowski made a blockbuster deal with Florida and got Miguel Cabrera & Dontrelle Willis. Doing so however, meant losing two of their biggest prospects in pitcher Andrew Miller, outfielder Cameron Maybin. The Tigers then signed Cabrera to an eight year deal worth 153 million dollars.
With questions marks still in the Tigers bullpen, most people around the big leagues thought they were a lock to win it all. Imagine the shock and horror facing Tiger fans when the team started the season 0-7. April and May were both plagued with mediocre baseball. The team struggled to find its rhythm until June where they broke out with a 19-8 month. Here is a break down of each month’s win, lose record:
March: 0-1
April: 13-14
May: 10-17
June: 19-8
July 5-7
Which leaves the Tigers 47-47 going into the all star break. This is heart breaking because I know the team could have played so much better.
Jeff’s Midseason Awards
Most Valuable Player - Offensively: Marcus Thames - He hit 17 home runs already, one less then he hit all of last year! He’s been a vital player in clutch situations, and the Tigers would have been much worse without him.
Most Valuable Player - Pitching:Armando Galarraga - He’s 7-3 with a 3.27 ERA. He’s constant and steady. Every time he is on the mound, I feel it’s a game the Tigers can win.
Least Valuable Player - Offensively: Gary Sheffield - Our DH has been hurt, but it’s been a very bad half of the year for Gary. Almost makes me wish they would sign Barry Bonds. Bring the drama, Barry can still mash.
Least Valuable Player - Pitching Staff: Dontrelle Willis - He’s not even on the team anymore, he’s playing for single A in Lakeland. To think we gave up Andrew Miller (who hasn’t set the world on fire in Florida, but still) for him? Yikes!
Biggest Surprise Postive - Thames - He’s been awesome.
Biggest Surprise Negative -Jacque Jones. We trade Omar Infante for him, and now Jones is out of baseball and Imfante is a decent bench player for the Braves.
Work Horse - Miguel Cabrera, playing in all but 3 games.
In the middle of a rain delay, Detroit Tigers closer Todd Jones dons a Maggs wig and shirt and does an awesome impersonation of Magglio Ordonez’s 2006 home run.
This is the original home run that Jones is reenacting. The audio I synced from the radio broadcast. It’s Dan Dickerson making the greatest call I have ever heard.
Chadr from Motownsports.com grabbed this off of his TV.
This is clip from Baseball Tonight.
Chadr from Motonsports.com found another video and sent it my way:
Today was a celebration in Detroit. The Red Wings have won their 11th Stanley Cup, the fourth in the past eleven years. It was a hot and sunny day and everyone was having a wonderful time until the Mayor of Detroit took the stage. The million fans in down town Detroit let him know what they think of him.
They booed and didn’t stop until he left the stage. I hope he gets the message. We are tired of his scandals, its time for him to resign.. enough already!
The Red Wings were thirty-five seconds away from the championship in game five. The disappointment now in the past, we can win the Stanley Cup tonight in Pittsburgh. It won’t be easy, as they are very good at home. And if I had to make a prediction, it will be we will be playing game seven back in Detroit, but don’t listen to me, we can still do this! Go Wings!
“Loyalty to any one sports team is pretty hard to justify. Because the players are always changing, the team can move to another city, you’re actually rooting for the clothes when you get right down to it. You know what I mean, you are standing and cheering and yelling for your clothes to beat the clothes from another city. Fans will be so in love with a player but if he goes to another team, they boo him. This is the same human being in a different shirt, they hate him now. Boo! Different shirt! Boo!” - Jerry Seinfeld, The Label Maker
This little routine by Jerry Seinfeld has always stood out in my mind. It’s true because for my whole life I’ve been a fan of the Detroit Tigers. It doesn’t matter who wears the Old English D, if the player is a Tiger I root for them. Kenny Rogers was not a popular player when he was on the Texas Rangers. Most thought negatively when his name was mentioned, however when he game to the Tigers, he instantly became a hero to the city, (especially after his magical post season in 2006).
It also brings up the question, is it okay to boo your players or team? If your loyalty belongs to the team and not the player, is it okay to boo an individual athlete when they screw up? I think so, because they are disgracing the uniform of your team. Jason Grilli comes to mind; a horrible player, I knew for sure he would give up a lead whenever the brought him in to pitch, so when the fans booed him, he got what he deserved. I personally never boo (except extreme cases), because I always have an optimistic view the team can pull out of whatever funk they are in.
My Tigers Resume
I got a nasty comment sometime back about how I was fake johnny-come-lately Detroit Tigers fan. He asked me to post where I was in 2003 (the year we lost 119 games). He also wanted to know my Tigers Resume, whatever that means. I’ve never thought about putting a “tigers resume” together, but I’ll bite on his stupid comment and give you my resume.
I have been a Tigers fan since as long I could remember. Baseball has always been the sport of my heart and the Tigers have always been very personal to me. I’ve been a season ticket holder many times over, including 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2003. I was one of the first fans ever to enter the gates of Comerica Park, we got there on opening day ay 7am and were the first in line!
Favorite Players
Alan Trammell
Kirk Gibson
Mickey Tettleton
C.J. Nitkowski
Travis Fryman
Bobby Higginson
Gabe Kapler
Robert Fick
Brad Ausmus
Jose Macias
Gregg Jefferies
Dean Palmer
Todd Jones
Jeff Weaver
Roger Cedeno
Brandon Inge
Justin Verlander
Ivan Rodriguez
Curtis Granderson
Kenny Rogers
Magglio Ordonez
Placido Polanco
I’ll update my Tigers resume when I think of items to add to it.
Detroit Tiger’s very own, Comerica Park has ranked 4th overall on awesome major league baseball ball parks! That’s pretty nice considering there 30 MLB parks! Get the full story here. Notice how we got a team quality of #1!
Here are the best plays from game 3 of the Detroit, Colorado series. Osgood looked awesome! The Wings go up 3-0 and look to sweep the Aves out of the playoffs!
The Detroit Tigers are on a roll. After a miserable start to the season, the Tigers seem to have found a nice rhythm, and their power has arrived. They’ve scored 37 runs in just the last three games and have won four games in a row! The central division now looks like:
Chicago White Sox 11-9
Minnesota Twins 10-12
Detroit Tigers 10-13
Kansas City Royals 9-12
Cleveland Indians 9-12
Everyone’s favorite Tiger, Curtis Granderson is back and his second game was as good as his first! After getting on base all four times at bat yesterday, he had a home-run and a walk today!
Thankfully, the central division has been horrid this year. The Tigers are only 2.5 half games out of first place. The Angels and Yankee’s are next up, let’s hope our bats stay alive.
My first live blogging! I’ll be watching the Tigers game and updating the post every time something exciting or interesting happens!
Live Tigers Notes
The Indians no longer play in “Jacob’s Field” - it’s now called “Progressive Field.” It will be hard not call it “the Jake.”
Brian Bluhm was killed one year ago today
The Line ups for the game … Detroit
C - Rodriguez, Ivan
2B - Polanco, Placido
DH - Sheffield, Gary
RF - Ordonez, Magglio
3B - Cabrera, Miguel
1B - Guillen, Carlos
SS - Renteria, Edgar
LF - Thames, Marcus
CF - Inge, Brandon
Cleveland
CF - Sizemore, Grady
LF - Dellucci, David
DH - Hafner, Travis
C - Martinez, Victor
SS - Peralta, Jhonny
1B - Garko, Ryan
2B - Cabrera, Asdrubal
RF - Gutierrez, Franklin
I’m surprised C.C. is still winless, 0-2!
After the game, looking back I’m not as surprised. CC was horrible tonight in his third lost. The Tigers made it look like he was pitching with softballs.
The First Inning
Top
Snoozefest
Bottom
Dellucci hits a home run.
Good Guys 0 - Indians 1
The Second Inning
Top
Magglio Walks!
Cabrera hits a home run!!!
Good Guys 2 - Indians 1
Carlos strikes out
Edgar singles
Thames pops out
Inge singles!
2 men on base, 2 outs
Pudge lines out to third.
Bottom
1,2,3 inning….
The Third Inning
Top
Left the room, sorry! I missed a good inning! Polanco doubles to left, and Cabrera singles him home!
Good Guys 3 - Indians 1
Bottom
And another 1,2,3 inning! Galarraga is un-hittable!
The Fourth Inning
Top
Inge walks, nothing else happens…
Bottom
1 - 2 - 3
Galarraga has shut down the last 11 Indian batters.
The Fifth Inning
Top
Polanco walks to start the inning.
Sabathia just baulked tying to catch Polanco stealing second base. Polanco is awarded the base.
Sheffield battles Sabathia after 10 or 11 pitches and draws the walk!
Man on first and second, no outs.
Magglio walks!
Bases loaded, no outs for Miggs!!
Cabrera hits a single up the middle and scores two! The boo birds come out at “the Jake.”
Good Guys 5 - Indians 1
Guillen singles! Bases Loaded again; no outs!
Edgar Renteria hits a GRAND SLAM!And there are still no outs! The boo birds are all over the place now! We will get a new pitcher. C.C. is done for the night!
Good Guys 9 - Indians 1
Thames singles - still no outs!
Inge hits a double! Man on second and third! NO OUTS!!!
Pudge strikes out for the first out of the inning and the crowd goes nuts! (They are not happy).
Okay this is crazy! Polanco hits to third, but when the ball gets back to their catcher, Martinez he just tages the base and not the runner, so he’s safe! They get the runner at third however!
Good Guys 10 - Indians 1
Sheffield pops out for the last out of the inning
Bottom
Here come the Indiands…
Peralta files out to center field…
Garko is up to bat, a drunken fan is yelling “you’re the man Garko, ya baby, you do it baby.” Nice…
Garko foul tips it into the glove
2 quick outs! And forth strike outs for Galarraga!
Cabrera strikes out looking! Five for Galarraga - 14 in a row for Galarraga!
The Sixth Inning
Top
Maggs walks
Cabrera is human! He strikes out looking.
Guillen walks, he’s the seventh Tiger to walk tonight! Caroles get’s a pitch runner! Ryan Raburn in the game!
Renteria walks!
NEW PITCHER
Clete Thomas pinch hits for Thames
Thames pops out to third.
Brandon Inge up to bat…
Inge walks with the bases loaded!
Good Guys 11 - Indians 1
Pudge pops out…
Bottom
Cabrera moves to first base… Raburn to Centerfield, Inge to Third Base
Here come Galarraga… 14 Straight retired; 5 strikeouts; 0 walks
1, 2, 3 inning AGAIN!
17 Straight retired; 6 strikeouts; 0 walks
The Seventh Inning
Top
Maggs gets a hit!
Inning ends eventless…
Bottom
Galarraga hits a batter! They have a runner on base!
Next batter pops up.
Galarraga hits another batter! uh-oh…
Ground out to second!
With two outs in the seventh, Galarraga’s night is over! He pitched amazing in what should be his first major league win! Well done!
New pitcher is: JASON GRILLI AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Now I know we have a 10 run lead, but I’m scared now…
WHAT A SHOCK! Grilli gives up a Texas League Single. The Indians score a run.
Good Guys 12 - Indians 2
Please get Grilli out of this game.
Batter pops up, inning over.
The Eighth Inning
Top
Tigers are next…
Raburn doubles to lead off the inning!
Edgar Renteria sigles to center; Raburn scores! That’s 5 RBI’s for Renteria!
Good Guys 12 - Indians 2
Thomas singles to center! That’s three straight hits for the Tigers! Pinch runner for Renteria.
Three batters later we have three outs, lets hope Grilli is not back on the mound…
Bottom
Here comes the Indians
Ahh, Grilli is back…
And a surprise to no one, Grilli gives up a hit…
Next two batters pop out….
Rod Quote of the Night: “Comerca Park is none for being a pitchers park.” REALLY???
Another pop out, inning over…
The Ninth Inning
Top
New pitcher for the Indians - Masa Kobayashi
Sheff singles in the lead off spot! His swing looks great!
Maggs up next
WILD PITCH moves Sheff over to second base.
Magg hits a line shot to third base, easy throw to first for the out.
A year ago today I lost a friend. Brian Bluhm and I never met in real life, but he was someone I met online. He was a die hard Tigers fan and one hell of a guy. He even sent us a gift for Makenna when she was born in 2004. He was known online at motownsports. com as ESTREPE1 and he will never be forgotten. You can check out a memorial page for him on myspace.
The Tigers once again fell behind to the Twins and were in jeopard of losing another close game. A fan in the seats held up a sign that said, “Do the same thing you did last night.” The Tigers did just that, Miguel Cabrera hit a two-run home run in the 8th inning to lead the Tigers to their second straight come from behind win in as many nights! I was sitting on my couch in the living room and I about fell off it when he jacked it into the seats! My three year old little girl sensing my excitement started jumping up and down screaming, “go tigers, go tigers!” It was an awesome moment - I won’t soon forget!
The Tigers record is now 4-10 - We will be back to .500 in no time! Keep the faith Tiger fans!
Tiger End Notes
Another roller coster ride from Jonesy in the 9th inning!
Todd Jones recorded his third save (3/3)!
Clay Rapada looked good and hot his first major league win (1-0).
Gary Sheffield hit his first home run of the year when the left fielder tossed the ball out of his mit over the fence (1)!
“April in the D, April in the D, April in the D, April in the D!”
Fox Sports Detroit latest advertising campaign, could not get more obnoxious! I want to hurl the remote at the television every time it comes on (which is frequent)! The guys in the video are “Blacklist Union,” and are from Hollywood, California. God forbid they actually come to Detroit and get one of our talented bands for the commercial. Reminds me of how they used to film the “Detroit Sports Report” live from Seattle.
Yoda from Motown Sports started a photoshop the Tigers thread. It’s a fun and clever way for us fans to vent some frustration we are feeling towards the team.
How is this even possible? What universe am I living in? Our first win came after seven straight losses and of course we follow that up with another loss. I wasn’t to pull off seven straight wins but the Tigers are in serious trouble if they don’t come for air soon.
We start an important series tonight against the White Sox in Chicago. Let’s come to the game with our life guard shorts on and revive our beloved team!
Go Tigers!
Update: 4-12-08
The Tigers won! Thanks to all the life guards who helped breath life into our team! 2-8, you can’t stop us now!
With their seven-run splurge on Wednesday, the Tigers increased their 2008 run total by more than 46 percent, all in one Massachusetts evening. Throw in some sturdy work by the Detroit bullpen, and presto — victory was not only still possible, but inevitable. {full article}
Makenna and I watched in utter joy as the Detroit Tigers won for the first time this season. Sure we had to deal with Jonesy loading the bases before we got to place our first mark in the win column. Seven straight losses was hard to stomach, but it’s in the past now and we can move on. And frankly, I don’t want to talk or hear about it again.
Side note - I watched sports coverage of all three of our local sportscasts and “Tigers Live” after the ball game. Every idiot sportscaster had to make the same stupid “eight is enough” joke. Very clever guys.
I got a nasty comment sometime back about how I was fake johnny-come-lately Detroit Tigers fan. He asked me to post where I was in 2003 (the year we lost 119 games). He also wanted to know my Tigers Resume, whatever that means. I’ve never thought about putting a “tigers resume” together, but I’ll bite on his stupid comment and give you my resume. 
The Tigers once again fell behind to the Twins and were in jeopard of losing another close game. A fan in the seats held up a sign that said, “Do the same thing you did last night.” The Tigers did just that, Miguel Cabrera hit a two-run home run in the 8th inning to lead the Tigers to their second straight come from behind win in as many nights! I was sitting on my couch in the living room and I about fell off it when he jacked it into the seats! My three year old little girl sensing my excitement started jumping up and down screaming, “go tigers, go tigers!” It was an awesome moment - I won’t soon forget!
The Tigers are drowning and no ones close enough to them to throw them a rope. After nine games into the season, the Central Division looks like this:
Side note - I watched sports coverage of all three of our local sportscasts and “Tigers Live” after the ball game. Every idiot sportscaster had to make the same stupid “eight is enough” joke. Very clever guys.
