• I was looking at my notebook of random Tigers thoughts and here’s one leftover from the fall. The 2007 Padres lost a Game 163 and began a downward spiral that’s still in motion, more or less. Are the ‘09 Tigers following a similar path? What might the Padres look like if they had beaten the Rockies — and has Matt Holliday yet touched home plate? How would the 2010 Tigers look had they beaten the Twins in Game 163?

  My initial thoughts on the subject led me to believe the Tigers’ competitive window was just about shut and locked. Now, I’m not so sure. A month after the Curtis Granderson trade, I’m more confident that the Tigers are on footing that’s much more solid than the Padres of recent years. What do you think?

• Found this on Baseball-Reference.com yesterday:
  

  In a story in the New York Times, Detroit Tigers President Frank Navin blames the length of the games on the coachers (sic) boxes. Navin, reacting to American League President Ban Johnson’s complaint that too many games the previous season had taken two hours to play, says the boxes should be moved back so that the catcher can give the pitcher his signals more quickly. From where they are now, he said, the coaching players can detect the catcher’s signals unless he takes a lot of time to hide them. Navin said this slow signalling (sic) is the reason for the longer games.

  Two hours to play? If only we had that problem today.

• Were you as surprised as I was that the Giants signed Aubrey Huff to be their starting first baseman and cleanup hitter? Here’s what general manager Brian Sabean said of the Huff signing:
  

  “The more we examined what he has done and what we need, we thought this would be a good fit. He’s a fourth hitter who’s been a run producer and quite frankly he’s got the track record we were looking for. Even in a down year he drove in 85 runs which is something we needed.”

  You have to admire the man’s optimism.

• In our recent Fungo Pulse Check we asked: If only one of these Tigers could be elected to the Hall of Fame, who would you choose? Here are the results: Alan Trammell: 85 percent (33 votes); Jack Morris: 15 percent (six votes). I guess I’m in the distinct minority on Morris. Be sure to take our current poll in the sidebar –>.

• Happy Birthday to Jose Macias (38) and the late Vern Ruhle.

Have a great week.

I still hold out hope that these two Tigers legends make it into the Hall of Fame — especially Morris, who was my favorite player. Meanwhile, former Blue Jays, Mariners and Phillies GM Pat Gillick is making a case for The Cat but our friend Rob Neyer ain’t buying it:

Pat Gillick has been a brilliant baseball man for a long time. If I haven’t already, someday I will throw my weight squarely behind his Hall of Fame candidacy. But he’s just wrong about Jack Morris. Or at the least, he pretty obviously isn’t objective about Jack Morris. That’s fine. Being objective about old ballplayers isn’t Pat Gillick’s job.

(Be sure to read the whole post.)

Rob and I have a running thing about his Morris-as-Hall-of-Famer stance; he knows I think Morris belongs (admittedly based on my youthful bias towards that early 1980s core and the fact I attended Morris’s first major-league victory), and I know Rob thinks the numbers don’t add up.

Nevertheless, it’s fun to talk about. At least I think it is.

By the by, last year we ran a Fungo Pulse Check poll on this topic and here’s how it played out:

Does Jack Morris deserve to be in the Hall of Fame?

Total Voters: 58 — Yes! (62%, 36 Votes) — No! (38%, 22 Votes)

What do you think? Is Morris a Hall of Famer? And what about Tram?

Discuss.

American League East Standings: October 3, 1987

In game two of the final series, Jack Morris and Mike Flanagan faced off on a bright and blustery Saturday afternoon.

As they had in Toronto nine days earlier, the two veteran pitchers sparkled. The Jays grabbed an early 1-0 lead. The Tigers countered with a Mike Heath single and Bill Madlock double to knot the game. Both teams scored in the fifth.

But over the next seven innings neither team scored. Morris pitched nine strong innings to Flanagan’s 11.

“I’ve been in this league eight years facing Flanagan, and I’ve never seen him better,” Tom Brookens said to the Free Press’s John Lowe.

Mike Henneman relieved Morris in the tenth and shut down the Jays. Jeff Musselman took over for Flanagan but couldn’t pick up where the starter had left off.

Lou Whitaker led off the twelfth with a single that stirred up the Toronto bullpen. Madlock singled too, then Kirk Gibson walked to load the bases. Blue Jays manager Jimy Williams quickly switched to the right-handed Mark Eichhorn to face Alan Trammell.

On Eichhorn’s third pitch, Trammell rifled a groundball through shortstop Manny Lee’s legs into left field. Jim Walewander, pinch running for Whitaker, scored the winning run and for the first time in more than two weeks the Tigers had sole possession of first place in the American League East.

Following the game, Morris, who appeared to be throwing his hardest in the ninth inning, was asked how he got stronger as the game progressed.

“Adrenaline,” Morris told Lowe. “You know it’s the end of the season. There’s no reason to save anything. You reach back and you find a little extra. I didn’t have great stuff early, but I had great concentration from the third inning on. I just wouldn’t give in.”

The Tigers had seized momentum. With a win on Sunday they could cap baseball’s most unlikely comeback in years and seal perhaps the worst collapse in recent memory.

Tomorrow: Tigers Clinch in a Nail-biter

Of all the scenarios facing the Tigers for the final weekend, one was the most cut and dried: sweep the Blue Jays, win the division.

Game one of the decisive series took place on a cold Friday night. A crowd of 45,167 witnessed a rematch of the previous Sunday, Doyle Alexander and Jim Clancy.

The Jays scored first in the top of the second on Manny Lee’s three-run homer to right-center. In the bottom of that same inning the Tigers scored two runs of their own on a Chet Lemon single and a home run by rookie outfielder Scott Lusader.

In the third, Detroit took the lead. Alan Trammell hit his 28th homer of the year. Then Darrell Evans walked, and Matt Nokes singled moving Evans to third. Evans scored when Chet Lemon grounded into a double play. The Tigers led 4-3.

Alexander gave the Tigers yet another strong outing. Despite throwing nearly 30 pitches in the first inning alone, he settled down to yield just three runs on seven hits over seven and two-thirds innings. Five double plays helped Alexander raise his record to 9-0 and Mike Henneman earn his seventh save.

“I struggled like a big dog tonight,” Alexander told the Free Press’s Joe Lapointe. “Mike Henneman is the reason we won the ball game. We wouldn’t be where we are without Mike Henneman.”

A week earlier the Tigers were reeling, watching their title hopes evaporate. Now Detroit was tied for first place with
two games remaining.

“We’re feeling good about ourselves,” Evans said to Lapointe.

Tomorrow: Morris and Flanagan Face Off

• Part 1 – Tigers and Jays Battle for ‘87 Division Title
• Part 2 – Showdown in Toronto, Game 1
• Part 3 – Game 2 Skips Away
• Part 4 – Bullpen Collapses in Game 3

As the Tigers arrived at Exhibition Stadium for the series finale, they knew what was at stake. The chances of coming back from four-and-a-half game deficit in less than a week bordered on the absurd. If ever there were a must-win game, this was it.

The Tigers turned to Doyle Alexander to stop the bleeding. Toronto looked to right-hander Jim Clancy to bury the Tigers’ fading division title hopes.

Nelson Liriano led off the home half of the first with a single to right and promptly stole second. Eventual league MVP George Bell drove in Liriano for Toronto’s first run. Though he baffled the Jays for the next eight innings, Alexander and the Tigers trailed 1-0 heading into the top of the ninth.

As he had in game two, Blue Jays manager Jimy Williams called on Tom Henke to start the ninth and snuff out any chance of a Tigers comeback. Henke’s first assignment was Kirk Gibson. With two strikes, Gibson connected for a monstrous homer to right, knotting the game at one and giving the Tigers a flicker of hope.

Neither team scored in the tenth, but in the eleventh inning Darrell Evans blasted a home run — farther then Gibson’s — to give the Tigers their first lead of the game.

Alexander lasted into the eleventh, pitching his finest game of the season. Over 10.2 innings, he scattered six hits, allowing just four walks and striking out four.

The Tigers’ lead wouldn’t last. In the bottom half of the eleventh, an error by Alan Trammell and an RBI single by Jesse Barfield tied the game at two.

In the Tigers’ thirteenth, rookie Jim Walewander led off with a walk. Lou Whitaker’s sacrifice advanced Walewander to second. After an intentional walk to Evans, Gibson dropped a single into center scoring Walewander with the go-
ahead run.

Unlike the previous three games, the Detroit bullpen delivered. Mike Henneman, Dickie Noles and Mark Thurmond combined to shut down the Jays for good in the bottom of the thirteenth and allowed the Tigers to escape Toronto just two-and-one-half games back.

In the clubhouse after the game, Gibson summed up the Tigers situation heading into the final week of the season. “Who knows,” he said to the media surrounding his locker. “We might be setting the biggest bear trap of all time.”

Tomorrow: Heading Home with Title Within Reach.

Part 1 – October Surprise: Tigers and Jays Battle for ‘87 Division Title
Part 2 – Showdown in Toronto, Game 1

American League East Standings

September 25, 1987

Tigers left hander Frank Tanana had been in one divisional race in his 14-year career: in 1979 when he helped the California Angels win their first American League West title. In 1987, Tanana approached the twilight of his career but Toronto starter Jimmy Key’s best days were just dawning. Key had won 14 games in each of his first two years as a starter and in 1987 he would finish second in A.L. Cy Young voting, posting a 17-8 record and 2.76 ERA.

For the second straight night, the Tigers produced a two-run lead. In the Tigers’ second, Chet Lemon doubled and Darrell Evans singled him home. Later, in the sixth, Kirk Gibson bunted for a base hit and took second on Key’s wild throw to first. Larry Herndon followed with a single to left scoring Gibson and giving Tanana a two-run cushion.

Tanana pitched one of his best games of the season throwing seven scoreless innings, yielding just five hits and a walk. Key was equally masterful in his 8.1 innings pitched. He scattered nine hits, allowing only one earned run and walking a single hitter. Going into the ninth inning the Tigers maintained a 2-0 lead.

Whitt led of the ninth by flying out to center. The next batter, Jesse Barfield, singled off of reliever Dickie Noles. Anderson promptly lifted Noles for aging left-hander Willie Hernandez to face former-Tiger Rick Leach.

Leach wasted no time ripping a double to put runners on second and third with one out. The next batter, Manny Lee, tripled off Hernandez tying the game at two. Still with one out, Anderson brought in Mike Henneman, Detroit’s rookie closer. Henneman intentionally walked Willie Upshaw and then Liriano to load the bases. With the infield in, Lloyd Moseby hit a sharp grounder to Lou Whitaker. Whitaker passed up a risky second-to-first double play chance and threw home. The ball bounced past Mike Heath and allowed Lee to score the winning run.

“Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tram move to his left,” Whitaker told the Free Press’s John Lowe after the game. “The way we play together, I knew we had a chance to turn two, but we couldn’t take the chance.”

“Maybe I could have backed up and caught the ball with one foot on the back part of the plate,” Heath said to Lowe. “There possibly was time (to reposition himself at the plate), but at that point I just didn’t think about it. It just happened too quick. When I saw it down there, I tried to trap it. . . . and it just ate me up.”

Two games, two blown leads, two losses. Not what the Tigers had in mind. “I would not recommend this as a way to get ahead,” Anderson said to the Free Press’s Charlie Vincent.

Instead of tightening the pennant race, the Tigers were loosening their grip on postseason aspirations. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays had to feel more comfortable on their first-place perch.

Tomorrow: Another Heartbreaker

American League East Standings

September 24, 1987

At the outset of the first series the Tigers sat only a half-game out of first place. The game-one pitching match up featured two of baseball’s best in the 1980s: the Tigers’ Jack Morris and Jays lefty Mike Flanagan.

It didn’t take long for the complexion of the game, the series and perhaps the season to change dramatically. In the top of the third, with Bill Madlock on first, Kirk Gibson hit a routine double-play ball to second baseman Nelson Liriano. Liriano pivoted and threw to shortstop Tony Fernandez for the force at second; Madlock’s slide toppled Fernandez who fell to the artificial surface, breaking his elbow. (Shortly after Fernandez left the game the Blue Jays announced that he would need surgery and would be out for the remainder of the season.) Gibson reached first on the fielder’s choice.

After a Trammell fly out, Larry Herndon singled, moving Gibson to second. The next hitter, centerfielder Chet Lemon, drove in Gibson and advanced Herndon to third. A Flanagan wild pitch scored Herndon and gave Morris a 2-0 lead.

In the bottom half of the third, Toronto scored all the runs they’d need. Catcher Ernie Whitt smacked a two-run single tying the score at two. Jays’ third baseman Rance Mulliniks followed with a double off the top of the left field wall moving Whitt to third. Whitt scored – narrowly – on a wild pitch. The ball ricocheted off the backstop to catcher Mike Heath who tossed it to Morris covering home. Morris arrived ahead of Whitt but over-ran the plate and couldn’t recover in time to apply the tag. Toronto led 4-2.

Flanagan blanked the Tigers until the seventh when three straight singles by Lou Whitaker, Trammell and Gibson narrowed the deficit to 4-3. In the ninth, Toronto closer Tom Henke shut the Tigers down to notch his league-leading 34th save and give the Blue Jays an early lead in the series.

“I just didn’t do my job,” Morris told the Free Press’s John Lowe after the game. “My team gave me a two-run lead and I gave it right back. That’s not the way you’re supposed to pitch.”

Sparky Anderson refused to make too much of the loss. “Crucial?”, he said to Tom Gage of the Detroit News. “How the heck do I know if it’s crucial? I’ll let you know in another 10 days.”

With the injury to Fernandez, Toronto lost arguably its most important offensive player. For one night, though, the Jays were able to overcome it.

A game and a half ahead of the Tigers, Toronto had to like how the weekend had started. The Tigers would need to bounce back quickly.

Tomorrow: Game Two

While this plays out, let’s look back at the final two weekends of the 1987 season when the Tigers and Blue Jays squared off for seven heart-pounding, one-run games that would ultimately decide the American League East title.

Today, Part 1.

Entering the 1987 season, little was expected of the Detroit Tigers. Just three seasons removed from a wire-to-wire championship season, the Tigers were considered mere also-rans in a division filled with potent lineups, solid pitching and the defending League Champions, the Red Sox.

Adding to an already challenging divisional landscape, the Tigers faced life without their All Star catcher and cleanup hitter, Lance Parrish. The Big Wheel rejected the Tigers’ two-year, $2.4 million contract offer and instead signed a one-year $800,000 deal with the Philadelphia Phillies.

That’s why in the first weeks of the 1987 season the story in baseball was not the Detroit Tigers. Hardly. The Milwaukee Brewers’ 13-0 start captivated the baseball world. After 13 games the Tigers had a less-imposing 6-7 record. Twenty games into the season Milwaukee had stormed to 18-2, four games ahead of New York, followed by Toronto (12-8), Baltimore (9-11), Detroit (8-12) and Cleveland (6-14).

The Brewers, though, soon came back to earth. On May 1 the club sat atop the A.L. East with a 19-3 record. Fueled by a horrific stretch that saw the team lose 12 straight and 18 out of 20, Tom Trebelhorn’s team limped into June at 24-21 and would eventually finish seven games off the pace.

By the middle of May the Tigers’ record was a lackluster 11-19. But whereas Milwaukee’s season had imploded by Memorial Day, the 24-24 Tigers began showing signs of life.

The Tigers Find Their Groove

In June, things started clicking for the Tigers. The loss of Parrish was buffered unexpectedly by slugging catcher Matt Nokes called up from Triple-A Nashville in May. Detroit found more punch on the waiver wire on June 4, when the team signed four-time National League batting champion Bill Madlock who had been released by the Dodgers. Madlock, a career .306 hitter, brought an experienced and still-dangerous bat to a Detroit lineup lacking in right-handed pop.

After acquiring Madlock, the Tigers rolled to a 73-40 record, a .646 winning percentage. Along with shortstop Alan Trammell, who was crafting an MVP-caliber season, Madlock helped catapult the team into contention in the A.L. East.

By July 1, Detroit posted a 41-32 record and on August 1 they were 58-41, good for third place, just a game and a half behind the second-place Blue Jays and three games behind the Yankees.

Over the final two months of the season it became clear that the Tigers were in a three-team race, though the Yankees would eventually fade. But to compete with the pitching-rich Blue Jays, the team needed a B-12 injection for the rotation.

On August 12, the Tigers acquired veteran right-handed pitcher Doyle Alexander from the Atlanta Braves in a trade for minor league prospect John Smoltz.

In Alexander the Tigers had found a complementary arm to a seasoned rotation of Morris, Frank Tanana and Walt Terrell. Alexander posted a perfect 9-0 record in his 11 starts with Detroit.

Heading into the next-to-last weekend of the season, the Tigers and Blue Jays were cruising. Detroit had taken two of three from Boston at Fenway Park and Toronto had swept three in Baltimore.

Then the baseball world turned its attention toward Toronto and a series that could decide the division champion.

Tomorrow: The First Showdown — the Tigers and Jays in Toronto

The Tigers were a half-game out of first place on Sept. 23, 1987, for the finale of a three-game series against Boston. Alexander, who blanked the Red Sox a week earlier, 3-0 at Tiger Stadium, faced off with lefty Bruce Hurst and was untouchable. He allowed singles to the first two batters he faced – Ellis Burks and Marty Barrett – and a two-out walk to Spike Owen in the second and that was it.

Alexander got two runs in the second and one each in the fifth and sixth. Tom Brookens drove in a pair and Alan Trammell knocked home one in the win. (The fourth run was scored on an error.) The Tigers moved on to Toronto for a grueling four-game series for ages against the Blue Jays.

You’ve got to love Baseball-Reference.com; I know I sure do.

Doesn’t do much for you? Me either.

So instead of cursing the Tigers bullpen, let’s travel back 30 years to July 12, 1979 and revisit Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park, courtesy of Joe LaPointe’s article in yesterday’s New York Times.

Unlike the commonplace pyrotechnics of Zumaya/Rodney, this doubleheader included the on-field destruction of disco albums between games. Then things got, well, unruly. As Alan Trammell sums it up:

“The outfielders were definitely a little scared and Ronnie (LeFlore) wasn’t usually afraid of anything.”

The thing I remember most about that game was watching Sox owner Bill Veeck limp out on the field with his wooden leg — I had no idea he lost an appendage — to beg the rock-and-rollers to get off the field (and keep their rainchecks!). And I can still hear George Kell trying to describe the action without falling into a “kids-these-days” rant. (Or did he? Does anyone else remember?)

Even Dave Dombrowski, then a 22-year-old gopher for White Sox GM Roland Hemond, had a role in keeping the peace.

Oh, as for the games, the Tigers swept the double-dip 4-1 in the opener and then won the nightcap in a 9-0 forfeit. The victories brought the Tigers within 14 games of the division lead.

What are your memories of Disco Demolition Night?

Today’s also the birthday of two former Tigers pitchers:

• Bill Slayback, a member of the 1972 A.L. East Division champs, turns 61. A seventh-round pick in the 1968 draft, he pitched three years in Detroit posting a 6-9 record and 3.84 ERA in 42 appearances. In his rookie year of ‘72, Slayback (who wore number 44) appeared in 23 games (13 starts, three complete games) and notched a 5-6 record.

• Jack Billingham turns 65 today. He won 25 games for the Tigers from 1978-80 and he did so wearing number 41. Did you know that Billingham is a cousin of Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson? For a funny Billingham vs. Kirk Gibson nugget, revisit this post from last year.

• Morris Left Out Again: Our most recent poll question, Does Jack Morris deserve to be in the Hall of Fame?, pulled in 57 responses, 61 percent (35 votes) said yes; 39 percent (22 votes) said nay. Early on, the results were dead even but as the month progressed — and the Hall of Fame voting drew nearer — Morris gained steam among the Fungo Faithful.

  Alas, another year has passed and Jack the Cat will not be inducted in Cooperstown. Yes, his vote total reached 44 percent this year, but it seems that Morris may end up a Veterans’ Committee selection down the road. You know how I feel about that.

• Speaking of the Hall of Fame, Alan Trammell garners a meager 17.4 percent? That’s embarrassing.

  

• On this date in 1996 the Tigers acquired OF Duane Singleton from the Brewers for LHP Henry Santos.

• And here’s one we missed from yesterday: on Jan. 22, 1992, the Tigers traded LHP Paul Gibson to the Mets for OF Mark Carreon and LHP Tony Castillo.

• Happy 58th Birthday to former Tiger

  Charlie Spikes who played in 10 games for the 1978 Tigers (.250, 0 HR, 2 RBI). He was acquired on Dec. 9, 1977, from the Indians for shortstop Tom Veryzer.

  

• So Brandon Lyon looks like the Tigers closer for 2009. We’ll see if he can shake off whatever ailed him last season in Arizona and actually close some games. If he does sign with the Tigers he will be the second Brandon on the team and – how’s this for minutiae? – both Brandons have last names consisting of four letters. Yeah, it’s a slow news week.

Have a great weekend.

My first thoughts were that his body language and tone of voice didn’t align with someone who just signed up for four-plus years in The D. Rather, he looked more like a guy who was thinking “After all I’ve accomplished in my career, this is what I get?” Thankfully, his attitude improved modestly over the seasons that followed (somewhat less, of course, near the end of the Alan Trammell Era).

We’ve read all about the Baseball Renaissance that Pudge fueled in 2004, and it’s all true. I was a huge Pudge fan and marveled at the effect he had on the Tigers. (And his performance during the 2005 Home Run Derby at Comerica Park was remarkable.) Despite the good times, I knew Pudge would leave Detroit and it wouldn’t be a entirely pleasant.

Nevertheless, I was stunned when, on July 30, he was traded to the Yankees — the Yankees! — for Kyle Farnsworth. Talk about déjà vu.

At the same time, I was relieved that a decision had been made on the future of Detroit’s catching spot, specifically that it would not be Rodriguez’s in 2009. Still, it seemed asymmetrical that a future Hall of Famer would arrive with much fanfare and depart at the trade deadline in what amounted to a lose-lose trade for both teams.

Gary Sutherland.

Don’t feel bad if you don’t remember Morris Madden’s mini-career with the Tigers. He pitched just twice for Detroit during the 1987 season and one look at his stats tells you why.

On June 11 versus Milwaukee at Tiger Stadium, he came in during the sixth inning to relieve Eric King (who had relieved starter Jeff Robinson) with the bases loaded and promptly walked Brewers second baseman Jim Gantner. In his one inning of work, he allowed two earned runs and three walks. The Tigers lost the game 8-5.

Robinson’s next start, five days later at Toronto’s Exhibition Stadium, the lefty Madden came in to start the fifth inning. The first hitter he faced, Fred McGriff doubled to center, then Garth Iorg grounded out to Alan Trammell, advancing McGriff to third. Tony Fernandez singled, Lloyd Moseby flied out to center, then Jesse Barfield got an infield single. And that was the end of Morris Madden’s Tigers career.

Less than a month later, on Aug. 12, 1987, Madden was sent by the Tigers to the Pirates to complete the Aug. 7, 1987 trade of Darnell Coles for Jim Morrison.

If you’re wondering how he fared with Jim Leyland’s Pirates, well it depends on the year. In 1988, he appeared in five games, allowed five hits and seven walks in five innings (!) but didn’t allow a run. In ‘89, Madden pitched 14 innings across nine games — including three starts — he allowed a stunning 13 walks, 17 hits, 14 runs, 11 earned. Final ERA: 7.07.

On Nov. 21, 1989, he was released by the Pirates and his career was over. But today we celebrate his 48th birthday. Three cheers for Morris Madden.

Here we are, approaching the third weekend of August, and the Tigers are mired in third place, nine-and-a-half games out of first place. And, as I’m always reminding myself, only five games out of last place. This was supposed to be like 1984, 1968 or even 1945. It was not supposed to be like – gulp – 2005.

The Tigers record coming into this weekend series against the Orioles is 59-62. Entering play on Aug. 14, 2005, the Tigers were 53-61, 21-and-a-half-games out of first.

While the 2005 club was further back in the standings mathematically on Aug. 14, the current team feels about that far behind the White Sox and Twins. Doesn’t it?

Three years ago, Tigers fans seemed more interested in whether or not Alan Trammell would return as manager, who they’d acquire in the offseason, and what on God’s green earth to do with Carlos Pena?

Today, well, the team has probably more questions than the 2005 team did. One thing we can be assured of is Jim Leyland returning as manager. And that’s a good thing. Of course, some may disagree with that, but I believe there are very few buttons he could’ve pushed this year that would make up almost 10 games in the standings.

Here are 17 questions about the 2009 season rattling around in my head:

1. Who’s the closer in 2009?
2. Does Chuck Hernandez return as pitching coach?
3. Is Nate Robertson a Tiger next season?
4. Can Dontrelle Willis bounce back?
5. Can the Tigers deal Carlos Guillen?
6. If the Tigers can get a catcher, do they — and do they move Brandon Inge back to third?
7. Does Vance Wilson return at long last?
8. Who’s the shortstop?
9. Would they deal Magglio Ordonez as some suggest?
10. How does Jeremy Bonderman recover?
11. Is Clete Thomas on the big club to stay?
12. Who is 2009’s Matt Joyce?
13. Are the Tigers counting on Freddy Garcia?
14. Will Brent Clevlen finally break through?
15. What can the Tigers expect out of Joel Zumaya?
16. Do they sign Placido Polanco to an extension before the season?
17. What’s Gary Sheffield’s role — if any?

Ultimately, the 2005 Tigers finished 20 games under .500. Will this year’s team finish that far off the pace? Some days (i.e., against Tampa Bay) it certainly feels as if they could, but I doubt it.

I’m tending to believe that Doug’s right — 81 and 81 for this year’s club. But the fate of the 2009 team lies in how they address the pressing issues hovering over the organization.

Mike McClary: Heading into the 1984 season, was it a long off-season? It would seem like you would be chomping at the bit to get back on the field shortly after a little break. Was everyone coming into spring training raring to go?

Johnny Grubb: Yeah, I think so. I remember us getting Dave Bergman and Willie [Hernandez]. So they came over, and they fit right in with the team, too. I mean, we just had a good group of guys that got along, and Dave Bergman is a heck of a guy and so was Willie. So it worked out great.

MMc: Let’s talk about the ’84 season in general. Obviously, you got off to a great start, 9-0, and in the middle of that, Jack Morris throws a no-hitter. As you were getting older and becoming the seasoned veteran, were you really just enjoying about every moment of that season?

JG: Oh, gosh, yeah. It was fun to watch those guys play and every once in a while to jump in and do something myself. But it was a lot of fun watching Gibby and Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker and Darrell [Evans] — and Lance did a great job. And Howard Johnson had the great season for us. I thought he did a great job. And Larry Herndon and all those guys really did well in the pitching.

So really what I remember most about it is that I never really felt like we were out of any ballgame. Any lead a team could get, we felt like we could have a big inning and jump right back in the game. And we had real good pitching, so if we had the lead, we had Willie and [Aurelio] Lopez coming in to shut the door on them. The pitchers did their job, and the hitters did their job. And we just felt like we could win any game.

That 35-5 start really helped a lot, too. But I think that pretty much was an indicator of how strong we were because that’s pretty phenomenal when you think about a 35-5 start in the major leagues. That’s pretty good.

MMc: Even today when you see teams get off to a good start, and then you look at the record and you think, That’s a good start, but that’s not 35-5.

JG: Yeah, that was awesome.

MMc: One moment of the ’84 season in particular I want to ask you about is the second game of the playoffs in Kansas City. Eleventh inning and you got the hit that drove in the go-ahead runs. That came off Dan Quisenberry. What do you remember about that at-bat? What were you looking for from him, and what did you get? Because you drove that ball deep.

JG: Actually, he got two strikes on me and (Royals catcher) John Wathan went out to the mound to talk to the pitcher. I guess he wanted to make sure that they were going to be on the same page.

We didn’t get the bunt down to get the runners over to second and third, so there were runners on first and second and one out. And he got two strikes on me, and I kind of was watching them when they were out there talking. I thought I could read their lips and I thought I saw them saying fastball.

And I said, well, I can’t trust that, but I’m going to be ready for it. And he threw a fastball, and I’m sure Willie Wilson was cheating in a little bit on me with two strikes on me. But I happened to get a hold of one and drove it over his head. So I’m glad I came through to help out. That was my turn I guess to do something to help the team.

MMc: Would you say that’s one of the biggest — if not the biggest — hit of your career?

JG: Yeah, I’d say that was the biggest hit for me helping the ball club and everything. It came at a great time because he was a tough relief pitcher, and he’d gotten it to the eleventh inning. And being at their ballpark, sometimes it favors the home team when it starts going extra innings. But things worked out.

MMc: Did you have success against Quisenberry throughout your career?

JG: You’d have to check my record on him because I felt really good against him because he was a sinker ball pitcher, and I’m a good low ball hitter. And I felt like I hit the ball hard on him, but I don’t know how many hits. I can remember a lot of times coming back across the diamond going into the dugout thinking you lucky son-of-a-gun. It was like I hit the ball hard, but it’d be at the second baseman or right at the centerfielder.

So I don’t know if my batting average was that high against him. But it’s one of those pitchers where maybe my batting average wasn’t – I’m not sure. I don’t know what my batting average was against him. But I felt good facing him. I felt good hitting against him.

[Note: According to Baseball-Reference.com, Grubb had a .200 career batting average (3 for 15) against Quisenberry, with just one RBI. Before facing him in the A.L.C.S., Grubb had one plate appearance against the Royals' submariner in 1984: a flyout to left on Aug. 3.]

MMc: After sweeping the Royals in the A.L.C.S., what was the confidence level heading into the World Series? It looked like it was going to be against the Cubs until the Padres came back to win the N.L. Pennant.

JG: Well, I remember watching the [N.L.C.S.] because we wanted to see who we were going to be playing. And you’re right, I thought it looked like it was going to be the Cubs, and then all of a sudden it turned out to be San Diego. And I don’t remember knowing that much about either team.

I knew more probably about the Cubs than we did about San Diego. But I think most of the guys, the way that team was with Detroit, I think we just felt like we’re going to play them, we’re going to take care of business with them. I don’t think it would have made any difference. I think we were destined to have a good year wherever we played it. We planned on going out there and taking care of business.

MMc: What was that like for you going back to San Diego where you started your career?

JG: It was real neat to go back. When they did the introductions, I remember they gave me a nice ovation. I wasn’t sure really what they might do. You’re not sure if fans are going to turn on you or not. But they were really, really nice. And I remember Ruppert Jones was with us, and they gave him a nice round of applause, too. So it was neat. And, of course, we had friends that still lived back there, and just going back where I started my career was a neat feeling being in that stadium.

MMc: Talk about the whole World Series experience for you as a player at that point in your career.

JG: Well, it was all new to me. I’d gone to College World Series, Junior College World Series, watched them on television. And I guess as a kid you put yourself in that position where you could just imagine and dream about being in the World Series. So it wasn’t like I was intimidated or I don’t think any player at that level are going to be intimidated. The big crowds and all the media and all that were a little different.

But as players you get focused on what you’ve got to get done. And you still just make it this same game. It’s still the same ball and the same bat and gloves, and you don’t try to make it any different than that and make the plays.

And all the hype and all the media and all that, that I guess can get to some players. But Sparky had pretty much told us not to talk too much to the media and just get focused on the game. He said, “Let me speak to the media” and that let us go out and do the work on the field. So I think that was good advice.

MMc: It seemed like it was a very focused group, but everyone assumed it was going to be a quick World Series with the Tigers coming out on top. Did the team self-police each other in terms of getting overconfident or did Sparky have to do that — or was that even an issue?

JG: I don’t think it was an issue. We had guys on the team like Gibby and Chet [Lemon] and, of course, you’ve got a veteran player like Darrell. And Lance was kind of quiet, so he didn’t do a lot of rah-rah stuff. But we just had a group of guys that all of us, we weren’t going to be intimidated, and we didn’t take anybody lightly.

We understood what it would take to win ballgames, and went out there and played hard every pitch. And we respected Sparky’s decisions. I know we had Marty Castillo starting at third base, and I’m sure, myself included, when we saw him starting at third, it was like, wow, I wonder why Howard is not starting at third? But that’s who he’s going to play. We’ll just go out there and take care of it with Marty at third, too, because he’s a good ballplayer as well. And darn it if he didn’t hit a home run (in Game 3). It was like Sparky made all the right calls.

MMc: I want to talk to you about your final season which was also, from a team perspective, a good one, the 1987 season. Heading into that season, did you have a sense it was your last year, or were you just going to kind of see how it played out?

JG: Well, I was close to 40, so I knew it was getting right down to the end. And I knew Sparky probably saw me as not going to have a whole lot of playing time, a guy off the bench. And he’d pretty much shown to some of the veteran players that he was starting to move a little bit more towards younger players (like) Scott Lusader. So I knew it was a good chance it might be my last year, but I wouldn’t allow myself to think that way. And I just had a poor season, but ended up having a good playoff for us. But I wish I’d have had a better season for us. I just didn’t do that well that year.

I know I was hoping that the team would do it again, and I’ve got two boys, so my little extra motivation was that I would have liked to have had two World Series rings so I could pass one down to each child. So it would have been nice.

But that was a heck of a ball club. We had a good team, and we had some new players that I believe Mike Heath was the catcher that year. And, of course, we had Frank Tanana and Walt Terrell, and it was a number of new faces, but real good ballplayers.

So we had a good team. We caught Minnesota when they were hot, and we had come off a real tough series against Toronto. So it just was one of those situations that you catch a team hot and maybe you’re not as hot as you’d like to be, and anything can happen. They won the whole thing that year, so I guess they were destined to win, too.

MMc: Were you surprised that you only got one World Series out of that collection of talent?

JG: Well, see, ’87 was my last year, so I don’t know how they did the following year. But that Eastern Division at that time was a tough division. And just to win the American League East, that in itself was saying a whole lot because Toronto, Baltimore, Yankees, Boston, there’s some good ball clubs, and just to win the American League East is tough. So it’s a shame we didn’t beat Minnesota, but they played better. They came with their fans with those whistles.

MMc: Yeah, their Homer Hankies.

JG: The Homer Hankies and all that. But they had a heck of a ball club, so you’ve got to give them credit. They were scrappers and they played hard. So they got the job done.

MMc: I understand that you’re involved with Tiger Fantasy Camps. Is that something you do every year?

JG: Yeah, I enjoy going there. That way, I get to see my old teammates and, of course, the people that do the fantasy camps are real nice people, and I’ve gotten to know a lot of them over the years. So it’s a great experience and look forward to going every year. Jim Price is one of the guys that helps along with Jerry Lewis. And, of course, the Tigers I think operate it and everything. It’s a fun time.

MMc: And do you stay in touch with a lot of your old teammates and follow the Tigers in general?

JG: I still follow the Tigers and get Christmas cards and stuff from the teammates. And I don’t talk to them as much as I’d like to, but I usually catch up with them at Tiger Fantasy Camp or some reunion that we might have. But it’s every time you see them, just like I saw Darrell Evans recently at the Tigers camp, Milt Wilcox, and those guys, it just seems like it was just yesterday that we were playing. So it’s great seeing them.

There are, of course, two former Tigers on the ballot that have a legitimate shot at the Hall of Fame: Jack Morris and Alan Trammell.

The debate over whether these two Tigers are of Hall of Fame stock continues to rage on across the Internet. Well, rage might be a skosh too strong. Simmer is more like it.

This morning the Detroit News’s Lynn Henning revealed that Trammell reappears on his ballot in 2008. But what about the peeps? What do they have to say about who’s in, who’s out for this year and who’s out for good.

You can check out the current results here (the ballot is open as of this writing), but in the meantime take a look at how Morris and Trammell fare in the mock voting.

Bottom Line: 85 percent of the voters think Morris is a Hall of Famer, and 58 percent think the same of Tram.

By most accounts, neither Tram nor Morris will be voted in this time around. (Nor will anyone else for that matter.) In time, though, Tigers fans can expect to see at least one of them enshrined.

The only remaining questions are: Who goes first, and is he elected by the writers or the Veterans Committee?

Today Rob raised a terrific Tigers-related question in his column titled: Trammell being unfairly judged? (Insider only).

Actually, he first points to an article on BaseballProspectus.com in which Joe Sheehan shares his mock ballot. Guess who ain’t on it? Tram.

Once again, Trammell’s candidacy is the most difficult one to evaluate. He was one of the best players in baseball at his peak, and was part of the bridge from shortstops as singles hitters to the better players we see out there today. On the other hand, he had a fairly short peak and a short career. I’m wary of the defensive numbers on him, as his home park was notorious for its high infield grass. With so much of Trammell’s statistical case built on very good defensive stats at his peak, the twinge of doubt I feel about their validity makes me nervous. My bigger objection, though, is to the way his career ended. Trammell was done as a full-time player at 32, which is awfully early for a 20th-century position player being pushed for Cooperstown. Like Rice, Trammell would have been a Hall of Famer with a more typical decline phase. Instead, he had 10.2 WARP, total, after 32. I’m leaving him off, again.

Whoa. The grass at Tiger Stadium is being held against Trammell? Who the —? What the —?

It appears Mr. Neyer isn’t sure what to make of it either.

[W]hile it’s true that a typical decline phase would make Trammell’s career stats look a lot better, I don’t think Trammell’s (apparently) atypical decline is a reason to leave him out of the Hall of Fame

(snip)

I am not saying that Trammell’s 2,365 career hits constitute, by themselves, a great case for the Hall of Fame. I’m saying we shouldn’t hold Trammell’s decline phase against him, because his career accomplishments are right in line with plenty of Hall of Fame shortstops.

Two, while I’m intrigued by the notion that Trammell’s solid defensive credentials — he won four Gold Gloves, and Bill James has him as a Grade B-minus shortstop over his entire career — are partly the result of the high grass in the Tiger Stadium infield, I’d sure like to see somebody do some actual work on this one. Yes, sinkerballer Walt Terrell’s home/road splits were massive when he pitched for the Tigers, particularly from 1985 through ‘87.

Ah, Walt Terrell. Oh, and Sheehan isn’t voting for Jack Morris either.

As I said at the outset. If you’re an ESPN Insider, check out the comments on Rob’s post. Some people need to lighten up.

P.S. Happy 59th Birthday to short-time Tiger pitcher Ike Brookens, cousin of long-timer Tom.