By Mike McClary in 2011 Postseason,Fungo Flash Polls | 2 comments
Fungo Flash Poll: Call Your Shot in the ALDS
Total Voters: 949
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By Mike McClary in Fungo Flashback | 0 comments
And we appreciate the optimism as much today as we did back then.
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By Mike McClary in 2011 Postseason,Fungoes | 1 comment
Predictions are such a cliche, aren’t they? But, hey, the Tigers are in the postseason and in the spirit of supporting the home team, here’s a rundown of predictions for the Tigers/Yankees series from across the baseball galaxy:
Local Writers
New York Writers
Newsday
ESPN
Fox Sports
The CBSSports.com Crew
Yahoo! Sports
And one final prediction: on the ride to work on Thursday I heard Larry King call into Power Alley with Jim Duquette and Kevin Kennedy on SiriusXM. Ol’ Larry picks the Tigers, for what it’s worth.
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By Mike McClary in Featured,Video | 0 comments
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By Mike McClary in 2011 Postseason,Featured,Fungoes | 7 comments
Remember in 2009 when Ozzie Guillen held back Jake Peavy so the righthander could face the Tigers in the final weekend? I was livid … because Guillen was making the Tigers’ road to a division title that much harder. But, as much as it pains me to admit this, I respected him for putting his best lineup out there even if the games didn’t matter for the White Sox.
Different story today.
With word out of Anaheim that Mike Scioscia has pulled Jered Weaver and Ervin Santana from their starts against the Rangers tonight, I’m furious at the Angels manager, someone I’ve always respected and whose teams I enjoy watching. Yes, his team’s been eliminated but by pitching rookies Tyler Chatwood tonight and Garrett Richards tomorrow Scioscia’s looking ahead to next year — while the Tigers and Rangers have their eyes on Friday.
We’re led to believe that the Angels pulled Weaver and Santana because they both have blown past their career highs for innings pitched. Maybe. But something’s fishy.
Of course, I’ll still pull for the Angels tonight and tomorrow, and as I’m watching I’ll daydream about what Jim Leyland might say to Scioscia the next time Bud Selig’s little “competition committee” gets together.
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By Mike McClary in Featured,Tuesday Tananas | 0 comments
Things keep looking up for the Tigers. The ALDS is fast approaching, Wilson Betemit is playing tonight and Ozzie Guillen is leaving the American League. Good times.
The Tigers are in first place, 13 games ahead of the Indians.
Today’s Game: Tigers vs. Indians - Max Scherzer (14-9, 4.37 ERA) vs. RHP Jeanmar Gomez (5-2, 3.52 ERA) | 7:05 p.m. – FSD/1270 AM and 97.1 FM
This season against the Indians, Scherzer is 2-0 with a 3.72 ERA. Lifetime he’s 3-3, 4.79 ERA.
Did you know that Scherzer has never thrown a complete game or a shutout in his major-league career?
Leading Off: The Tigers crushed the Indians and Ubaldo Jimenez Monday night 14-0. Doug Fister was his usual phenomenal self: eight innings, three hits, no walks, nine strikouts. And, 74 percent of his 109 pitches were strikes.
ALDS Start Time (Maybe): Matt Dery (@deryNBA) posted this on Twitter: “According to reports, Tigers would either host Bos or TB at 5 pm Friday for Game 1 or play at NYY at 8:30 fri night.” If it’s a 5 o’clock game, looks like I’m leaving work early.
The Tigers enter tonight’s game versus Cleveland having won 28 of their last 37 games dating back to Aug. 19, a .757 winning percentage — tops in the majors.
On this date in 1999, the Tigers played their final game at Tiger Stadium — an 8-2 win over the Royals. Homers by Karim Garcia, Luis Polonia and Robert Fick power the Tigers behind Brian Moehler.
We knew Doug Fister was good, but this is ridculous. From Elias Sports Bureau:
Remember at the trading deadline when the biggest-name pitcher moved was Ubaldo Jimenez? On Monday he was outpitched by a player whose trade received considerably less attention, Doug Fister. Fister improved to 8-1 since joining Detroit, making him only the fourth pitcher in the post-WWII Era to have at least eight wins with no more than one loss for a team after pitching for another major-league team earlier that season. The three others: Randy Johnson (10-1 for the 1998 Astros, after starting with the Mariners); Doyle Alexander (9-0 for the 1987 Tigers after starting with the Braves); and Rick Sutcliffe (16-1 for the 1984 Cubs after starting with the Indians.) Fister will end the season with a seven-game winning streak and Justin Verlander has won his last 12 decisions. They’re the first teammates to end a season with each on a winning streak of seven or more games, mainly or exclusively as a starting pitcher, since 1993, when Jason Bere and Wilson Alvarez of the White Sox each won their final seven decisions. The pair preceding Bere and Alvarez was Doyle Alexander (9) and Walt Terrell (8) for the 1987 Tigers.
I was talking to a friend of mine today about possible successors to Ozzie Guillen and we did a quick review of higher-profile bench coaches around the majors. One name he brought up was Kirk Gibson’s bench coach, Alan Trammell. While I fully support Tram getting another shot at managing, I can’t abide by him taking over the White Sox. Oh, and did you see where former Tigers manager Buddy Bell is in the mix for the Sox’ gig? Oy vey.
Happy 67th Birthday to Gary Sutherland. He hit .251 with a .295 on-base percentage with the Tigers from 1974-76 and played primarily at second base.
Checking in on trade pieces: In 31 games with the Mariners since the July 29 trade, Casper Wells is hitting .216 with seven home runs, 15 RBI and a .742 OPS. Meanwhile Charlie Furbush is 3-7 with a 6.62 ERA in 10 starts, and Chance Ruffin is 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA in 12 appearances.
Why should you keep watching baseball this week?, asks Rob Neyer. One reason he offers is to see if Jose Valverde can keep up his perfect-save routine:
Valverde’s been phenomenal this season, and is only seven saves from tying Tom Gordon’s American League for consecutive saves (over different seasons). And the best part is that Valverde’s doing all this with lower strikeout and higher walk rates than his career norms.
Wanna bet he blows one in October? I don’t know. I predicted Lidge would blow a postseason save after his perfect 2008, but he didn’t and the Phillies won the World Series.
On this date in 1986, Jack Morris shut out the Yankees 1-0 in 10 innings, raising his record to 20-8 and snapped Don Mattingly’s hitting streak at 24 consecutive games.
I’ve had seller’s remorse on Omar Infante for a couple of years now — and especially since Placido Polanco was set free after the ’09 season. Infante just signed a two-year, $8 million extension with the Marlins. He enters tonight’s game batting .279 with seven home runs, 49 RBIs and only eight errors in 146 games. He’d look pretty good playing second for the Tigers these days, no?
Finally, Happy 64th Birthday to Meat Loaf.
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By Mike McClary in Featured,Fungo Flash Polls | 0 comments
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