Sometimes I want to rail on Major League Baseball about the lameness of so many things it does — the vapid celebrity softball game, the interminable Home Run Derby, the “this-time-it-counts” angle on the All-Star Game — but then I realize it’s probably me just getting old. The Tigers’ collection of All Stars is the largest since 1985 when the club sent six players to the Metrodome for the game managed by Sparky Anderson. Here’s a look at the largest classes of Tigers All Stars since 1984 and the team’s record that season: 1984 (104-58) Willie Hernandez Chet Lemon Jack Morris Lance Parrish Alan Trammell Lou Whitaker 1985 (84-77) Willie Hernandez Jack Morris Lance Parrish Dan Petry Alan Trammell Lou Whitaker 2007 (88-74) Carlos Guillen…
Many of you have written to ask what happened to the Detroit Tigers Podcast. Without going into the boring details, the fact is that Ian and I both were unavoidably detained over the past few months. But that’s about to change. We will restart the podcast machine after the All-Star Game and take the second half by storm. More or less. Thanks to everyone who’s been asking — and thanks for your patience as we carve out time to do a show we love producing for our listeners. With Justin Verlander’s complete-game win yesterday at Coors Field, he limited the Rockies to one run on four hits. It marked the second-straight outing in which he tossed a complete game while limiting his opponent to as…
Each October, I’m astounded to learn that Halloween is the second-largest retail holiday of the year. I’m not a fan of Halloween, though I do like the occasional, or frequent, Kit Kat. It’s a treat to be able to watch the World Series on Halloween, though the Aubrey Huff and Edgar Renteria sightings are undoubtedly the “trick” part of the equation. In our highest vote-gettin’ poll of the season, Fungo readers were emphatic on what the Tigers’ next offseason move should be: target Nationals’ slugger and free-agent-to-be Adam Dunn. Twenty-four percent (148 voters) of the 628 readers casting votes selected Dunn as their top choice. Here are the runners up: Sign Jason Werth (16%, 103 Votes) Sign Victor Martinez (15%, 97 Votes) Trade for…
For several reasons, I had an uneasy feeling during last night’s win over the Yankees, not the least of which was Brad Thomas getting the emergency start. But the more I watched and considered the situation, the better I felt. After all, the Tigers only needed three to four innings out of Thomas and they could hand it over to Eddie Bonine, then the back end of the ‘pen. Both guys were solid and showed a national TV audience why the Tigers are hanging around the upper floors of the A.L. Central: the relief corps, of course. This is a much more preferable scenario than the tension that normally accompanies a Dontrelle Willis start. Other thoughts rattling around my brain: While it wasn’t ESPN…
Just how bad was the first 20 minutes of the movie “Funny People”? Bad enough for me to turn it off and look closer at Dontrelle Willis‘s stats since coming to Detroit. Here’s what I found, along with some random tidbits to consider over breakfast: Would you have guessed that one week into the season that Justin Verlander‘s ERA would be three-times higher than Willis’s? Go ahead and poke all the holes in that question. I’ll wait. If you had to guess which lefty trade acquisition has a better ERA during his time in Detroit, who would you guess: Willis or Jarrod Washburn? The answer? Washburn by an eyelash — 7.73 vs. 7.77. Take Dontrelle’s first start of the year out of the equation…
