Tigers Live Blog!

My New Most Disliked Tiger

Edwin Jackson was lights out tonight. Absolutely, without question lights freaking out. Until Patterson said, "Keep him in, he's pitching a one hitter."

Of course, next pitch...gone. No more shut out. Otter and I were still optimistic, a two run lead late in the game will give you brief glances of optimism. Bobby Seay came in, faced one batter, got the out and his work was done for the night.

And then...Brandon Lyon happened. Yes, the same Brandon Lyon that gave up back to back to back to back home runs against Boston in spring training. The same Brandon Lyon that occasionally closed for the Diamondbacks last year and was supposed to be the closer for the 09 Tigers. I had my doubts after the Boston Massacre and those doubts were realized tonight.

With two away in the bottom of the 8th Lyon served up a meatball to Aaron Hill who promptly hit the ball half way to Moose Jaw to give the Jays the lead.

Hope was not lost as Inge came up and hit another moonshot to tie the game in the top of the 9th but then Lyon was for some reason left in the game where he loaded the bases and Rod Barajas hit a walk off sac fly to center to end the game.

After a great (spectacular really) start by Jackson, Brandon Lyon lost the Tigers their second game of the season. And in one fell swoop...has earned himself onto my shit list along with Bobby Higginson, Juan Gonzalez, and Fernando F-ing Rodney as my most disliked Tigers of all time.

And wtf Leyland? Why not Perry or hell even Rodney in the 9th? Get gas can Lyon out of the damn game! I know who I'm gonna boo like hell when I make my first trip to Comerica this year.

Brandon Lyon, you suck.

News and Notes and Stuff

Porcello is in the rotation, Perry is in the bullpen, and Thames is the DH.

So is this some kind of April Fool's joke on me or something? Everything I wanted the Tigers to do, they did? I like it!

So according to the Freep and the Detroit News and the Tigers' website the Tigers have one more cut to make having to choose between Brent Clevlen and Jeff Larish. Early reports say it will be Larish to take the final roster spot. The only problem I have with this is the fact that Clevlen is out of minor league options and would have to clear waivers for the Tigers to keep him in Toledo and I don't think a player with his potential would clear waivers. The Tigers will most likely try to trade Clevlen before having to lose him to the waiver wire. It's kind of sad but that's how baseball works.

The Free Press reported that the starting rotation will be Verlander, Jackson, Galarraga, Miner, and Porcello (who will most likely be the Comerica Park opening day starter which is kind of bad ass). Robertson, and Seay will be the lefties out of the bullpen with Rincon, Perry, F-ing Rodney, Lyon, and Bonine rounding out the pitching staff. When/if Bonderman gets healthy again and can be effective, this will send Miner back to the pen and could possibly mean Perry goes to Toledo or Erie unless he comes out next week throwing gas and getting outs. The same can be said for Zumaya but, as much as I hate to say this, I'm close to giving up on him. I hope he proves me wrong and can do what he did in 2006 but only time will tell.

The 2009 season starts on Monday at 7:15 in Toronto. Live-ish blog will most likely be happening.

Now for something completely different...

The Pistons are in 7th place in the Eastern Conference. They are two games ahead of 9th place Charlotte. This means I am now a Charlotte Bobcats fan for the rest of the season. I want the Pistons to miss the playoffs, get in the lottery and draft someone useful for next year. Iverson is back and two games after his layoff he's bitching about not playing enough. Joe Dumars...you have failed us as fans and driven the current day Pistons back into the Teal Era Pistons and I am no longer a fan of your team. The hell with it, BRING BACK THE TEAL!!! I'm done with the Detroit Pistons and the NBA as a whole. GO BOBCATS!

Other than Opening Day being 5 days away, the only thing that brings a smile to my face is the Wings. With six games left in the regular season, the Wings have second place in the West locked up and are four points back from San Jose for the President's Cup (awarded to the team with the most points in the regular season and usually a playoff curse). If the season ended today, the Wings would be the second seed in the playoffs and would take on Anahiem in the first round. A matchup that makes me nervous yet confident. It's almost time to grow that playoff beard again!

Oh, and the Lions still suck and will most likely draft Joey Harrington, I mean Matt Stafford with the first pick of the draft. Just what we need, another quarterback that will continue to lead the Lions down the path of ultimate disappointment.

Remember Michigan fans, if you aren't rooting for State this weekend in the Final Four, you're an asshole!
Don't be a douchebag, root for the Sparties!

Aw Hell....and Other Points of Note

The Tigers released Gary Sheffield this morning. I'm kind of sad about this. I mean, the guy was 1 Home Run away from 500 and the Tigers cut him before he had the chance to get it. I always liked watching Sheff play ball with the Olde English D on his chest, but those days are now over. I hope for nothing but the best for Gary Sheffield.

Now, on a more positive note...THE TIGERS RELEASED GARY SHEFFIELD! Do you realize what this means?? This means Marcus Thames, one of my favorite Tigers in recent history, could be the new everyday DH!! This means BOMBS A FREAKING WAY!!!
That, of course, is my own wishful thinking. In reality, after trading prospect Rudy Darrow to the Braves (what is it with the Tigers constantly trading with Atlanta?) for extremely speedy outfielder Josh Anderson, what we will most likely see is Carlos Guillen taking more days as the DH with Anderson taking his place in Left. This is something that the fan in me disagrees with, but the baseball guy in me thinks could potentially work out. Anderson provides the Tigers with much needed speed on the basepaths AND a left handed bat in a lineup full of right handed hitters. All that is well and good, until I did a little more research on the guy and found out Baseball Prospectus had this to say about him: "Now 26, he's still nothing more than a fifth outfielder." Um, what?

So apparently Anderson kind of sucks? So does this actually mean Marcus Thames could be the every day DH and backup first baseman? Why did they go for Anderson again? Basically I'm saying I have no idea what could happen. Let's just hope my first guess was right about Thames as the DH and he'll hit like 97 home runs this year.

Speaking of the Tigers, what the hell are they gonna do about this starting rotation?? Going into the year, this is what we all had in mind...Verlander, Bonderman, Galarraga, Jackson, and Robertson, Willis, Miner, someone else. Not entirely too bad of a rotation. Now, with injuries and all that, it could look something like this...Verlander, Galarraga, Jackson, Some guy, and please God please let it be Rick Porcello. Bondo is still not ready and will start the season in the Minor Leagues rehabbing. Willis is on the DL with an anxiety disorder and Robertson, although he has pitched well this spring, sprained the thumb on his pitching hand apparently trying to barehand a throw from second. All I can tell you is this, Rick Porcello needs to be in the starting rotation. I would be perfectly happy with a Verlander, Galarraga, Jackson, Robertson, and Porcello rotation. Of course, I'm not Jim Leyland so my opinion does not matter.

The bullpen might just be the strongest part of this pitching staff. Eddie Bonine has pitched 14 spring innings and allowed one run and is 3 for 3 in save opportunities. Bobby Seay has a 1.42 ERA in 12.2 innings this spring. Clay Rapada is at 1.64 in 11 innings. Juan Rincon, who is my new favorite as the Tigers closer after Brandon Lyon gave up 4 bombs in a row last week, has pitched flawlessly this spring with no runs allowed in his 12.1 innings. Hell, even Fernando F-ing Rodney has earned the praise of Leyland. But the one wild card I want to throw into the mix is young fireballer Ryan Perry. The 22 year old rookie has a spring ERA of 0.84 in 10.2 innings allowing only one run and striking out 11. If you're Jim Leyland, how in the hell do you not give this kid a plane ticket to Detroit in a few days?

Enough Tiger talk. It's getting me a little too fired up for opening day (April 6th in Toronto, oh and by the way, if Porcello would in fact be the fifth starter, he would be the opening day starter at Comerica Park on April 10th which would be awesome). Let's talk about how my brackets went all "Boom Goes the Dynamite" on me.

In my Final Four, I had Louisville, Memphis, North Carolina, and Pitt. Well, Louisville got beat by State, Memphis by Mizzou, and Pitt by 'Nova. My only remainder is North Carolina. The good news is, they are on the opposite side of the bracket as Michigan State which allows me to root for the Sparties on Saturday.

And how cool is that? How cool is it that the Sparties are in the Final Four at Ford Field? With all the B.S. surrounding the state of Michigan right now, this could turn out to be a much needed distraction. And I can tell you this, I am a life long Michigan fan but I will guaran-damn-tee you I will be pulling for State with no hesitation at all. And for all you Michigan fans out there, if you are not rooting for State, you are assholes. Sometimes you just have to root for what's right and right now, being a State fan for a weekend is just the right thing to do. And if you have a problem with me saying this, then you are the asshole Michigan fans I am referring to right now.

Don't be a douchebag, root for the Sparties!

Sparty On!

Gentlemen, Start Your Remotes

Ok, let's do a little what's on tap this weekend.
Tonight-Tigers and lookintheattic.com softball (who's your dot com?) at 7
Tomorrow - Tigers at 7. Wings at 8. Pistons at 8:30. Christ.
Sunday - 1100 miles of racing with the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 and the Tigers are at 1.
Monday - Wings at 8. Pistons at 8:30. Tigers at 9.

This all brings up an interesting point. What are you going to watch? We all have certain strategies when things like this happen. I for one will be primarily watching the Wings (of course) and during commercials I'll send it over to the Tigers and then the Pistons just for score updates, not long enough to miss any hockey though. That or I'll just go to the bar and watch all three at once. Which brings me to my next point...anyone want to go to the bar with me and watch the games?

The Pistons impressed the hell right out of me last night. They looked like the old school Pistons. Not the Bad Boys but the "Goin to Work" crew. They played great defense, Rip was knocking down jumpers left and right. Sheed felt like playing so he did and he played well. They had that "look" of a team poised to make a run at a championship last night it was also great to see someone beat the Celts at home. If only they can keep losing on the road, the Pistons win the series. Something tells me that might not happen but I'll be rooting for them anyway. And yes, I am starting to warm up to the Pistons a little bit. And no, I'm not jumping on the bandwagon, I was never off the bandwagon.

In other news...



Jim Leyland went on a bleep laden mini tirade in the clubhouse after Mondays game and it apparently worked. The Tigers looked like the team we all hoped they would be in the sweep of the series against Seattle. I'm not getting too excited just yet though. If they play well this weekend against the Twins then I'll be a little excited, possibly even a slight bit giddy at the prospects of everything possibly coming together. It's still too early to get too disappointed or too happy. Nobody has ever won a pennant in May.

As for the Wings, Franzen was cleared to practice yesterday and will most likely be playing tomorrow night which also makes me happy in the bathing suit area. Franzen is more of an impact player than anyone gives him credit for as he makes the Wings not such a one trick pony with the Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Holmstrom line. That and he's a big nasty bastard who likes him a little contact here and there. It will be fun to watch, I just hope he didn't forget how to play hockey with that long layoff.

What do we as fans need to be aware of as we go into the Stanley Cup Finals against the now hated Pittsburgh Penguins. The key to winning the series and hoisting Lord Stanley's Cup consists of six letters. C, M, S, F, G and sometimes Y.

Crosby - The face of the new NHL. The Next One. Hockey Jesus. Sidney Crosby is the most dynamic player the league has seen since Wayne Gretzky. I'm not calling him Gretzky at all, I'm just saying it's been a while since we've seen a player like Crosby take the ice. He makes everyone on the ice with him better at all times. You cannot stop Sidney Crosby, you can only hope to contain him or hope that he crashes into the boards and jacks his ankle up again.

Malkin - Evgeni Malkin is the other face of the new NHL. At 20 years old he is already making a name for himself as a pure goal scorer who also plays very physical. On any other team he is an absolute superstar and franchise player. He doesn't have the passing skills, defensive skills, computer hacking skills, or nunchuk skills, that Crosby has, but he is an absolute force on the offensive side of the puck.

Staal - Jordin Staal is the most underrated of the young Pittsburgh superstars. Don Cherry has praised this youngster as a Steve Yzerman type of player. Not a huge goal scorer but can put the puck in the net when he has to. A great passer and a true team player who works extremely hard on both ends of the ice. He worries me because he is the kind of player who will get a key goal on a borderline lucky shot that could send a series into a frenzy.

Fluery - Marc-Andre Fluery was drafted first overall by the Pens in 2003 and has been considered to be the true future of the franchise. He has played extremely well in the playoffs thus far with a 1.70 goals against average against 388 shots and has an amazing 12-2 record coming into the Stanley Cup Finals. The only advantage the Wings could have against Fluery is that he is just like Turco in the fact that he doesn't handle traffic in front of the net very well. He will make the saves he is supposed to make while being very technically sound. He hasn't seen much traffic thus far in the playoffs as many of the teams in the East don't emphasize that as much as the Wings do. All they need to do is get in the youngster's head a bit and hope for the best.

Gonchar - Sergei Gonchar is a veteran defenseman who at one point in time was considered to be one of the best in the game. He is also just like Lidstrom and plays a very fundamental game and is a great passer. He'll take the body more than Liddy, but is smart about it as he has only seen the inside of the penalty box 3 times in the 14 games they've played thus far. You cannot rattle Sergei Gonchar. He is un-rattleable.

Youth - This is a young, young, young hockey team. But it is also a very, very, very good hockey team. The best way to beat a young team with a relatively old team is to get into their heads and tell them that they are too young to play against the big boys for the Cup. Out hit, out shoot, out hustle the Pens, and you will win. With youth comes inexperience. If the Wings can get the youngsters to take some bad penalties here and there (namely from Jarkko Ruutuu who is leading the Pens with 24 penalty minutes) and dump a few powerplay goals past Fluery, while staying out of the box themselves, they have a very, very good chance.

Tomorrow night, 8 o'clock on VERSUS the Stanley Cup Finals begin.

I can't freakin wait!

If I Could Write a Letter To...

Dear Jim Leyland,
WHAT THE F*CK WAS THAT?? Your team looked damn near unbeatable last week against the Yankees and was on it's way to .500 and close to the top of the division and then you go to the Goddamned Metrodome and get swept by the Twins. YOU WERE UP 6-0 IN THE FIRST YESTERDAY!!! What happened to having your boys play all 9 innings Jim? Don't you think that it may be time to flip over some tables and pitch a fit? Maybe put some cigarettes out on your arms or something. Hell, anything to inspire this team and wake up the bats. And for the love of Christ Himself TAKE JACQUE JONES OUT OF THE LINEUP!!! Am I the only one that realizes he's Bobby Higginson in disguise? Oh, and Chuck Hernendez (pitching coach) you're not out of this either, just because I'm yelling at Leyland doesn't mean you're exempt. Teach these youngsters how to IMPROVE on what they have and not just rely on God given ability. You're a coach, so COACH! Oh Lloyd McClendon (hitting coach) how in the hell could I have almost forgotten about you? Well, actually since we're second in the league in runs, you're doing ok for now...but I've got my eye on you Lloyd. Oh and one more thing, just get Jacque Jones out of there, tell Dombrowski to trade him back to Minnesota for Craig Monroe...I miss Craig and I'm pretty sure Rod Allen does too.
Angry and Frustrated,
Cole


Dear Kentucky Derby Champion Big Brown,
Congratulations on your victory. It was truly impressive and I can honestly say that I see you winning the Triple Crown this year. But I've said that about every Derby winner since I've started watching and caring about the Derby about 5 years ago. All of them eventually lost and Barbaro was eventually shot. Why'd you have to go and make the girl horse trip and break her ankles? Don't you know how fast those kids would've been? C'mon man, make one for the team!
I know he's just a freakin horse,
Cole

Dear Detroit Pistons,
It's been a week since I've last written you and in that week you've impressed me enough to actually watch your highlights on SportsCenter. I still am yet to watch a playoff game featuring you but I'm sure everything is just looking swell. Maybe after you run through the Magic and play the Celtics I'll start being a fan again. After you lose to the Celtics though, we'll sound the Detroit Pistons Fire Sale alarm and start over from the ground up. Hell, you guys might as well bring back the teal jerseys for a couple of years. And what's this I read about how Flip Saunders might be leaving or there is speculation about it? If someone doesn't want to coach you, you should just let them leave and hire Bobby Knight or Steve Fisher. I heard they are both available.
Still not giving a rat's ass but kind of warming up,
Cole

Dear MLS/WNBA/John Mayer,
That's enough! You were all novel ideas and now it's time to call it good and quit thinking that people still (or in the WNBA's case, ever) care about you. Hang up the cleats, scrunchies, or guitar and go retire somewhere.
Go Bull Dykes!
Cole


Dear Marty Turco (Dallas Stars' netminder, UM Grad and national champion)
Welcome back to Michigan Marty! Nice job last night with that quadruple overtime win. I love the work you've done over the years but I'm just going to have to say that for the next ten days or so...I hate your guts. And pass that along to Brendan Morrow, Mike Modano, and Sergei Zubov. Thursday can't come soon enough.
HERE COMES THE MULE!!
Cole

Dear Cinco de Mayo,
I realize the cultural significance, but you're just a poor man's Me.
Signed,
Saint Patrick's Day

Dear Anonymous Commenters,
Make up some cool nicknames or something. It's not that hard to do and I know you're smart enough to do it.
Love,
Cole