Like many Tiger fans, I feel a combination of anger, disappointment, and hope. I’m angry obviously because of how the season turned out, of all the runners left in scoring position this year….of seeing the offense explode, only to see it go back into its hole. I’m disappointed because of how the season turned out…and lack of a killer instinct in September, especially that final week when they could have left the Twins in the dust. I’m hopeful because of players like Rick Porcello….who at age 20 was amazing. His start in game #163 was incredable…his poise, his calm, his stuff. At age 20….I spent a lot of week ends hunched over someone’s toilet bowl…or skipping Friday classes.
As for Miguel Cabrera…..it looks like a bit of too much, too soon. At age 26 with more money than even he could have imagined, after living in poverty. He has skills that could put him into the Hall of Fame someday…but this most recent incident shows he lacks maturity and quite possibly a problem with alcohol. The Tigers should forget for one minute that he is a player with enormous potential and do something for the boy/man who needs some help.
As a Tiger Fan for the past 45 years or so, as long as I can remember, I thought I had experienced enough disappointment and frustration to last a lifetime. But the 2009 Tigers have to go down as the MOST disappointing, aggravating Tigers team I can ever remember. Now, they have to live with the dubious distinction of being the first team to blow a three game lead with four games left to play. And don’t forget, they had a seven game lead over the Twins in early September. They have no one to blame but themselves, as they just plain blew it. Did they choke under pressure? Maybe? Were they just not that good? Possibly. But the bottom line is they just didn’t want it as a badly as the Twins. The tie breaker game was a perfect example of what went wrong the entire season. Guys on first and third. Nobody out. No runs scored. Bases loaded in the 12th. No runs scored. It was an exciting finish with a nail biter of a game. But that hardly matters that they played the Twins tough. It should never have come down to this. Good teams don’t lose six out of seven to the Kansas City Royals, and two out of three to the Chicago White Sox in the final weekend of the season.
I hate those annoying Twins and their stupid homer hanky waving fans. And I wish I never had to see Michael Cudyer and Joe Mauer come up to bat against the Tigers again. Bitter? You bet. Jealous. Yeah. Now, I’ll be pulling for the Yankees to sweep them three straight and hope to never see baseball played in that Metrodome again.
Enjoy the World Series, and see you in the Spring. Just wait till next year!
So it all comes down to one game, number 163, as the Tigers and Twins meet in a play-in game Tuesday at the Metrodome to decide who will win the American League Central and face the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs. Of course, it never should have come down to this. The Tigers have been in first place since May, and had plenty of chances to clinch it. Just one more win somewhere during the season would have given the Tigers the title. If only they could have beaten the Sox twice this weekend, or gotten at least one more win over those irritating Kansas City Royals. But they didn’t. And now their entire season rests on the pitching arm of young Rick Porcello, who is still not even old enough to buy a drink legally, although I imagine his teammates might be willing to give him a sip of champagne if he can beat the Twins. This is undoubtedly the biggest game of Porcello’s short career, but I think he’s up to it. He’s had an excellent rookie year, and except for Justin Verlander, he’s THE guy you want out there right now to give the Tigers their best shot. Now. let’s hope the bats can come alive..
What a performance by Justin Verlander on Sunday. He had to shut down the Sox, and he did, winning for the 19th time this year. He won’t get much time to rest before the Playoffs start on Wednesday or Thursday, and we’ll need him and Jackson and Porcello to be at their best to shut down that intimidating Yankee offense
No matter what happens Tuesday, you can’t say this season has been boring! Let’s hope all those days in first place won’t go for nothing.
Tigers were out in front by 7 games on September 3rd….and it looked like they were about to runway with the division. And now its all come down to just one game….#163….a one and done playoff with the Twins. Just in case you’re wondering…..the stats from this game WILL be included in the regular season. At first blush, considering how hot the Twins have been, and how poorly the Tigers have played at them Metrodome..you have to think Detroit have little or no chance to move on. But we have seen first hand just how “safe” certain assumptions can be..so I wouldn’t write them off. In either case, the winner of this game will likely start the divisional series the next day (Wed) against the Yankees. So there will be no rest for the weary.
Like all season long…..the Tigers failed to capitalize with runners on base, and the Twins spoiled the party Thursday afternoon. Jim Leyland has said all along the race will go all the way to Sunday, before it’s decided. Here’s hoping he’s wrong. The Twins now go home for 3 against the Royals..and to say good bye to the “Edsel” of the baseball world. I’m convinced Minnesota can do what they set their minds to do….so we can’t depend on the Royals. If ever the Tigers needed a sweep, this is it. The “X” factor is the weather. It will be cool and wet…so there is a chance of another doubleheader….I think that’s the last thing the Tigers would want. My heart tells me the Bengals will win the division….but my head says….it’s the White Sox they will be playing….not the Indians, and based on past history it will be a struggle.
Remember the motto the Pistons adopted a few seasons back: “If it ain’t rough, it ain’t right,” given the team’s habit of getting far behind and losing to inferior teams before they finally turned things around and made it to the postseason. That seems to be the philosophy the Tigers have this year, as they have made things tough on themselves by failing to take advantage of so many opportunities to win the American League Central Division and put the Twins away. All those losses to the Kansas City Royals really loom large now, since the Tigers would have already won the title if they had at least split with the Royals, instead of losing six games. I still think the Tigers will win it, because I refuse to believe they are going to lose all three games to the White Sox this weekend while the Twins win all their games against the Royals. ..Thursday’s game was another lost opportunity, as the Tigers seem to be inspired after back to back wins against the Twins and needed just one more victory against Minnesota to clinch it. The Twins did everything they could to give the game to the Tigers, giving up an uncharacteristic six walks and committing four errors. But the Tigers couldn’t get the key hit, and the bullpen couldn’t keep the Twins off the board.
So, that means the Tigers will have to get it done this weekend against the Sox. They can win it with two wins over Chicago, without having to worry about Minnesota. And let’s hope they do it Friday and Saturday so they don’t have to pitch Justin Verlander on Sunday. That would leave him nice and rested to open the playoffs against the Yankees.
The Tigers haven’t won the World Series since 1984, and it was nice to see so many of the old players come back to be honored at Comerica Park this week on the 25th anniversary of that magical season. Where has the time gone!? I talked to Dave Bergman from the 84 team, and I had to agree with his opinion that it seems like “yesterday” when the Tigers took the baseball world by storm and opened the season 35 and 5…. I got the chance to emcee a question and answer session at Comerica Park with 24 of the players and coaches from the team. I was like a kid in a candy store, getting a chance to meet the guys and host the event. And a huge crowd jammed into the brushfire grill area to see Sparky Anderson, Jack Morris, Alan Trammel, Lance Parish, Guillermo Hernandez, Kirk Gibson and others, despite a heavy rain that wound up cancelling the game. Despite the lousy weather, fans loved every minute of it. Maybe these 2009 Tigers can make some memories that fans will still be talking about in 2034?! It’s a nice thought.
It was 1987…when the Tigers and the Toronto Blue Jays slugged it out at Tiger Stadium for the division title. The Tigers won the series and the title, and now 22 years later, the 2009 edition of the Bengals are being called on to do the samething. The Twins lost one of their best players about 2 weeks ago, Justin Morneau. He and Joe Mauer combine to make one of the most potent combinations in all of baseball. You would think a loss of that magnitude might have spelled doom for Minnesota. It has not, in fact, since Morneau was shelved…the team has only gone 11 and 2. This team will not rattle easily, so the Tigers will have to come up with their best baseball of the season. Detroit is 48 and 26 at Comerica Park this year…so they will have that going for them. Oddly enough, the weather is supposed to be cool and windy….something that could help the Bengals as well. Remember, the Twins play in a Dome and for at least 81 games, and likely more….so playing in less than nice conditions could be a problem for them. As manager Jim Leyland is so fond of saying ….momentum goes only as far as the next day’s pitcher. Remember, the only way the Twins can still control their own destiny is if they take at least 3 out of the 4 games. Anything less than that…they would have to depend on the White Sox to help them out in the final 3 games of the season.
Ok, maybe it’s just me. But it seems to me in past races to win a division title..there was a whole lot more public interest. TV stations went to sports bars to do “live shots”….sportscasts would have the magic number to a title, yadda, yadda yadda. But everyone seems more interested in the 0-19 Lions, or the 3-0 Michigan Wolverines. I like football too…but come on..how about a little love for the Bengals??? Maybe its because the team has been hard to love, hot one minute, cold the next, and somehow able to stay in first place but far from being dominating. Whatever, I’m sure the frontrunners and band wagoners will become “fans” if they get to the postseason.
Justin Verlander has crossed the line from being a good prospect, to being one of the top pitchers in baseball. As I’ve said before, he’s developed that killer instinct and attacks hitters, daring them to hit his fastball. When the Tigers need a win…he’s the guy I would turn to everytime. Having said that, Edwin Jackson is still a concern for me. Yes, in his last outing he didn’t allow a run, but hitters were getting good swings, and hitting the ball on the nose. They were luckily at somebody
It looks like Bobby Seay might miss awhile because of a sore shoulder. He’s been hit hard in his last few outings…and I was suspecting something was different. That will leave Fu-Te Ni as the left handed specialist out of the bullpen. He has very quietly had a very effective season…but no one seems to notice.
The Tigers absolutely, positively had to win Sunday’s game in Minnesota…and they did. Yes, the Bengals came in leading by 4 games, and now its 3 games, but it could have been ohhh so much worse. Thank goodness that was the final game Detroit will ever play in the Metrodome. I hope they leave it up as long as Tiger Stadium was left to rot, call it a memorial to man’s inhumanity to the game of baseball.
Saturday’s loss I blame Jim Leyland for. The Tigers were close, and you could see Justin Verlander throwing his guts out. Then came that easy fly ball to left that Don Kelly lost in the dome…creating a strange double and opened the floodgates. Instead of being the second out of the inning. The reason I blame Leyland is that first of all, Kelly had never played at the Metrodome in his career…its tough for veterans to pick up fly balls in that place, Second, it was a big game in the pennant race, and you put an inexperienced player out there and throw him to the wolves??? It was more than a little frustrating to watch.
This has been a lost year for Nate Robertson, who was such an important part of the Tigers’ 2006 run to the World Series. First, at the start of the season, Manager Jim Leyland said Robertson would not be a starter, but would have to pitch out of the bullpen, where he was not very effective. Then Robertson was hurt, and missed much of the year. But after Gallaraga went down and Washburn was awful and then hurt, Leyland turned to Robertson to pitch a game the Tigers had to win. And Robertson responded beautifully in what may have been the biggest game of his career. He held the Twins to just two runs in five innings to allow the TIgers to avoid a sweep and salvage one game of their series with the Twins. A sweep would not have mathematically eliminated the Tigers from the race, but it would have been a terrible blow, allowing the Twins to come to within one game of the Tigers, who held a seven game lead in the Central Division just two weeks ago. The race isn’t over yet, but that win gives the Tigers a little breathing room as they wrap up the season playing only Cleveland, Chicago, and Minnesota four more times! And we can PLEASE stop giving Michael Cuddyer anything close to the plate. He kills the Tigers every time. …I still think the Tigers are going to win, although it’s not going to be easy. But the Tigers rotation of Verlander, Jackson, and Porcello is better than the Twins. And fortunately, those last four games are at Comerica Park, not at that awful Metrodome. And also, the Tigers don’t have to play the Royals again this year!
This has been a tough year to be a Tiger fan…The team has played fairly well, and has been in first place since May….But there have been some losses that are much bigger than any on the field. First, we lost Hall of Famer George Kell this year; then the shocking death of Mark “The Bird” Fidrych. Tiger Stadium was finally torn down and is now just a pile of rubble. And finally, worst of all, news that Ernie Harwell is suffering from inoperable cancer. Of course, only Ernie would think he needs to thank us for listening, rather than us thanking HIM for all those years of being a part of our lives. It’s all been said before, but I’ll say it again. Ernie, you are the best. To borrow a phrase from Ernie, “Thanks for coming with us to that cabin up north, to the beach, the picnic, the car, and for being that voice under the pillow as we sneaked our transistor radio to bed. Thanks for the memories Ernie, that will last a lifetime.
