A Positive Start...

I'm pleased that the Tigers won their exhibition opener against the Atlanta Braves, but I'm even more pleased by the way they won. Verlander worked efficiently, walking one batter in each of his two innings and allowing only one hit. In the bottom of the first, Granderson singled, then Polanco singled, then Magglio walked. Finally, Cabrera brought in Grandy on a sac fly. Now that's a nice inning. Sure, a grand slam is always fun, but it was refreshing to see that they could manufacture a run.

There was more good news to come-especially from the Tigers' new backstop, Gerald Laird. In the second inning, he tripled before scoring on a wild pitch. In the fourth, he doubled and he came home on a sac fly from new shortstop Adam Everett. As goofy looking as he is, he's certainly looking pretty good on the field. Casper Wells and Ramon Santiago also had RBI's. Even Inge went 2-for-2.

Not so encouraging was the performance by Brandon Lyon, our new closer. Inge made an uncharacteristic throwing error in the top of the fifth. That kept the third out on the base. Ok, fine. That happens. It's what happened after that that concerns me. Lyon allowed two hits and a walk to tie the game. While none of the runs were earned, so Lyon's ERA is technically zero, he should have been able to shut the door. The error didn't even leave the runner in scoring position, and yet he scored, as did two of his buddies. If this had been a regular game, that's a blown save my friend, which is not good. Not good at all. However, I'm trying to reserve judgment at this point. It's only the first ST game, after all. Still, that can't happen when the game matters.

All in all, it was a good game and the Tigers are off to a good start. Let's keep the ball rolling. Just not into left center field.

UPDATE: The Tigers and the Twins were the only two AL Central teams that won their games today. A good omen? I'm trying not to get too excited, because if you're from Detroit, you know that the preseason means nothing.

It's a sweet Sweet Fantasy, baby

It's about to finally happen. I'm gonna become a bonafide crazy fan. Competely off the deep end I've officially started....

Playing Fantasy Baseball.

I wasn't going to. I really wasn't. However, when I saw that the top prize was $10,000, I just couldn't resist. Then I got a little hooked. I've created five teams, the most you can have (I'm playing the MLB's game). I just finished my last draft, and the Oscars go to-Wait, wrong announcement. Well, here they are (the envelope please):

The Detroit Wildcats

C-Mike Napoli(LAA)
C-Miguel Olivo (KC)
1B-Miguel Cabrera (DET)
1B-Billy Butler (KC)
1B, DH-David Ortiz (BOS)
2B-Dustin Pedroia (BOS)
3B-Adrian Beltre (SEA)
SS-Edgar Renteria (SF)
SS-Troy Tulowitzki (COL)
OF-Jose Guillen (KC)
OF-Josh Hamilton (TEX)
OF-Tori Hunter (LAA)
OF-Shane Victorino (PHI)
OF-Hideki Matsui (NYY)
P-Phillies
P-Brewers

The Detroit Screwballs

C-Mike Napoli (LAA)
1B-Prince Fielder (MIL)
1B-Aubrey Huff (BAL)
1B, DH-Jim Thome (CWS)
2B-Mark Ellis (OAK)
3B-David Wright (NYM)
SS-Johnny Peralta (CLE)
OF-Carl Crawford (TB)
OF-Corey Hart (MIL)
OF-Tori Hunter (LAA)

OF-Jason Kubel (MIN)
OF-Chris Lubanski (KC)
P-Boston Red Sox

The Detroit Ribeyes

C-Jorge Posada (NYY)
C-Kurt Suzuki (OAK)
1B-Paul Konerko (CWS)
1B-Conor Jackson (ARI)
2B-Mark Ellis (OAK)
2B-Brandon Phillips (ARI)
3B-Alex Gordon (KC)
3B-Casey Blake (LAD)
SS-Michael Young (TEX)
SS-Jason Bartlett (TB)
OF-Ryan Braun (MIL)
OF-Curtis Granderson (DET)
OF-Carlos Lee (HOU)
OF-Carlos Quentin (CWS)
P-Chicago Cubs
P-San Francisco Giants

The Detroit Knights

C-Mike Napoli (LAA)
C-Ivan Rodriguez
1B-Chirs Davis (TEX)
1B, DH-Jim Thome (CWS)
2B-Chris Getz (CWS)
2B-Asdrubal Cabrera (CLE)
3B-Aramis Ramirez (CHC)
SS-Derek Jeter (NYY)

OF-Jason Bay (BOS)
OF-Carlos Gomez (MIN)
OF-Curtis Granderson (DET)
OF-Ryan Ludwick (STL)
OF-Manny Ramirez
P-Florida Marlins
P-Detroit Tigers
P-Chicago White Sox

 

The Detroit Homers

C-Mike Napoli (LAA)
C-Ramon Hernandez (CIN)
1B-Chris Davis (TEX)
1B, DH-Jim Thome (CWS)
2B, SS-Mike Aviles (KC)
2B-Placido Polanco (DET)
3B-Alex Gordon (KC)
3B-Casey Blake (LAD)
SS-Orlando Cabrera
OF, DH-Pat Burrell (TB)
OF-J.D. Drew (ARI)
OF-Jacoby Ellsbury (BOS)
OF-Curtis Granderson (DET)
OF-Cameron Maybin (FLA)
P-Boston Red Sox
P-Tampa Bay Rays



So, what do you think? How did I do? Will it be...a sweet, sweet fantasy baby?

4th Place...

Tonight they aired the Tigers' "30 Clubs in 30 Days" episode. It's a neat show- they go through the previous season, go through any improvements, look at acquisitions and losses, and even check out the farm system. Then they look at some great moments in club history, put together an all-time roster and make predictions for the upcoming season. They also reveal Baseball Prospectus' Predictions for the year.

BP thinks the Tigers are going to finish in third place, with a 78-84 record. One of the analysts on the show thinks they're going to finish first ( I like him), one thinks they're going to finish last and one thinks they're going to finish second and "just miss" the playoffs.

...

-_-


Well, everyone can agree....

The Tigers will not finish in 4th place.

Thanks, guys.

Whining is a universal Language, apparently.

The World Baseball Classic is losing players faster than Obama is losing cabinet members. It seems that everyday I look at MLB.com and see "so and so drops out of Classic" because someone has decided that they're simply too fragile to participate. I'm a big fan of international sports and I'm very excited about the Classic. However, nearly everyone, from fans to players to coaches to owners, seem to view it as a nusance; an unwelcome disruption of the "real" competition of the Major League season (which, let's be clear, hasn't started yet).

This, to me, is just silly. For the players, I can't imagine what would be better to prepare them for the season than actual, real life games. I can understand keeping players who are actively recovering from injury, but in any other case, it's simply unnecessary coddling. The Olympics have removed baseball and softball from the program and even if it's put back in, the Olympics happen in the middle of the season. This tournament is the only chance that many of the Major players have to play for their country.

Apparently it was quite a fight to even get the WBC started. The owners, especially George Steinbrenner, were against sending their precious investments to play in any game that wouldn't bring in mon-I mean, where they could get injured (it's all about the health of the players, of course). The MLBPA was aginst the proposed anti-doping policy (Wonder Why? ). Dear oh Dear, Oh my, have we no national pride?

Can we talk about soccer for a moment? I know, I know, Americans don't actually believe that soccer is a sport, but it is, and it's brutal. Guys (and girls) go out and run for 45 minutes straight, get a break, then go out and do it again. The get kicked and knocked down and the game, often, doesn't even stop. The MLS (Major League Soccer) regular season begins March 19th and goes until October 25th, the playoffs go until the end of November, and training camps start in January, with actual preseason play (against league teams and exhibitions against college teams, international clubs, and national teams) starting in the last week of January or the first week of Febuary. For anyone who's counting, that's almost 11 months of play if your team makes the playoffs. If they don't, what do you do? Go straight to Europe to play some more. Then there's various national teams that demand their time, since the march toward the World Cup...or the Gold Cup...or Euro 2008...or the Confederations Cup...doesn't stop because they're in the middle of their club season. There's also the Champions League, Superliga, the Pan-Pacific tournament, and the US Open...you get the picture. Somehow these guys manage to survive, and it's not because they never get injured.

Before you say it, I know that there are more games in the baseball season and that they play everyday. I understand that accounts for a difference in the general wear and tear of the players, but I just can't imagine that one tournament is going to be that detremental to theplayers. Especially since even the winner of the tourny only plays about 10 games.

I can't help but think that if the US had won the WBC in '06, the attitudes here about the tournament would be vastly different. That's just the way American fans are, they hate anything that we don't win. But let's be very clear, the WBC is a "real" competition and obviously not a very easy one since the USA was eliminated so early. See that? To your right there? Yep, right there. That's a trophy. A real trophy. And I, for one, would love to see it come home.


Where it belongs.   

The Time of the singing of birds is come...

After a week of news that ranged from utterly depressing to downright infuriating, it is with a pointedly American brand of optimism that I turn my attention to Lakeland, Florida, where Spring Training officially started for the Tigers today.

It is not only the eternal optimism of a sports fan; the conviction that this year will be successful, even if last season, or even a century's worth of seasons, was a disappointment. That this year, your team will stay healthy and achieve at the level they're capable of. No, it's not just that. Not this year.

This year, the words that Ernie Harwell recited at each of his over forty opening Spring Training games seem a little more poignant:

For, lo, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the dove is heard on our land. (Song of Solomon 2:11-12)

Mr. Harwell was referring to a season without baseball, but I'm hoping that this year the winter that passes is not about improving weather, but about restoring integrity. Hopefully, the latest developments in the various steroid scandals will teach young players that if you cheat, you will get caught. Perhaps the management of the league and the teams will realize that they can no longer turn a blind eye in the interest of profit. Maybe we will be able say, happily, that an era has come to an end. That excellence will be bred from talent and skill. That players will once again be role models to our children; they'll understand that they have a responsibility.

My hope is that we can enjoy baseball this season without squinting suspiciously at every player that excels. Yes, we should be optimistic that our game can recover. We should believe that people can be great and honest at the same time. We should cheer, sing, jump, laugh and cry. We should act like idiots in ecstasy. We should not forget that our game, like our country , can change, grow, heal, and flourish again. We should never lose hope.

So, as A-Rod prepares to attempt to win back the trust of his fans and Barry Bonds prepares for trial, we prepare for the 2009 Major League Baseball season. We prepare to look to the future.

Because that, my friends, is what we do.

Innocent Until Bud Says So...

Now I know why they pay him so much. Apparently 18.5 million dollars a year makes you judge, jury and executioner. Bud Selig mentioned this afternoon that he was contemplating disciplinary action against A-Rod (I will not say A-roid, I will not say A-roid), given that, though MLB had not actually made it against the rules to use steroids yet (hey, give them a break, it only took them 10 or 15 years to acknowledge the problem) it was against the law. Never mind that Rodriguez's name was leaked off a list that was supposed to be confidential. Never mind that the tests were to determine how many players were using in order to determine whether there should be a punishment at all. He apparently doesn't care about any of that. He needs to do something to make it seem like he actually cares about the health of the players or the integrity of the game, so why not discipline A-Rod for something he did 6 years ago when it wasn't against the rules? Oh, and in this same article, Ole Buddy also mentioned casually that he was thinking of reinstating Hank Aaron as the all-time Home Run leader.

What?

Last time I checked, Bonds had not been convicted of any crime. He had also not admitted to

using performance enhancing drugs. Don't get me wrong. I believe whole-heartedly that Barry Bonds used steroids and frankly, I don't think he would've surpassed Hammerin' Hank without them, but there's no way to prove that. He hasn't been proven guilty in a court of law and last time I checked, in America one is innocent until proven guilty. Not only would erasing Bonds' records probably cause rioting in San Francisco, it could very well lead to a Players' strike. The MLBPA is already crying collusion since a man who broke the most coveted record in the game couldn't get a job the very next season and I hate to think what would happen if they started striking records from the books.

That would be wonderful for the game, right, Buddy?

And what about Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa? After all, their fight over the single season home run record practically saved baseball after the 1994 strike. They were most likely juiced out of their minds, but it hasn't been proven. But who needs proof? Does that mean that 61 is the number to beat?

This sounds an awful lot like Selig trying desperately to cover his own ***. The use of Steroids in baseball has been a problem for a very long time; there were half-arsed measures to curtail the problem in '91 and '97. You know, to curtail the problem that they didn't know about until the testing took place in 2003. Right. Meanwhile, Goodyear blimps were playing the game and breaking records left and right. Fact is, Selig has grown fat off of the use of steroids in baseball and the only reason that he's so "shocked" and "saddened" now is because his bluff has been called, perhaps even more than A-Rod's. Now he's trying to use a knee jerk over correction which will only continue the damage he's already done to the game.

I'm really, really glad this guy isn't the President. He makes George W. Bush look capable.

18

That's the number of interleague games there are for each team this season. Three home series; three away. Really? Do we really need that many? I'll admit, I actually like interleague play. Does it water down the standings? Yes, but it's fun. In Detroit, we play St. Louis most years- a rematch of several World Series. In cities with two teams, they play each other and everyone has a lot of fun. But it's not fun enough to take a month out of the regular season. Here's what I think they should do. It may sound crazy; I'm sure that my limited expertise makes it impossible for me to understand why this just can't happen, but I think they should cut it down to 6 games. One home and one away series for each team. What to do with the exta 12 games? Throw them out. Cut the regular season to 150 games.

I know, I know.

Believe me, I don't want to see this ridiculously long seeming offseason any longer, but cutting the regular season by two weeks would make up for the fact that the postseason is three weeks long. Back in the old days, the postseason was a week long. The season was over in the first week of October. This coming season will go until November. Not only is it FREEZING by then, but it's in the throes of a football season that these days is 7 days a week, if you count College and the NFL. Wonder why the ratings of the World Series keep getting lower? Well, besides the ridiculously late start times.

I know this might be a crazy pipe dream like the making the All-Star Game just for fun again and basing the Wolrd Series home field advantage on the regular season record, but I think it would work out quite well. Of course, given that the current format is making Bud Selig 18.5 million dollars a year, I doubt we'll see any changes any time soon.

Are they really that many cardinals in Arizona?

Well, they've done it. The Pittsburgh Steelers have won their sixth Superbowl, which is a record. It was a really exciting game; this is coming from someone who usually thinks football is boring (I know, I know). I wasn't sure that my girlfriend and her parents, who are card carrying members of "Steelers Nation", were going to make it through the game at some points. Either they were all going to have heart attacks or I was going to kill them, whichever came first. :-P Luckily, we all made it out alive. After the game, her father (a Pittsburgh native) informed me that I was now also part of Steelers nation and though I thought I was from Detroit, I'm actually from Pittsburgh.

No, I'm really from Detroit.

Not that I blame him. He meant no harm or insult and I'm not going to hold it against him. First of all, his ego was inflated by a Superbowl win and mass consumption of alcohol. Second of all, it's not uncommon for people to assume that if you're from Detroit, you want to disassociate yourself from it as much as possible. Not that we don't contribute to that attitude. It's one of the only cities I can think of where people try to explain which suburb they're from on vacation to avoid being associated with the city. If you ask someone who was raised in Lake Forest, Illinois where they're from, I'll bet you they'll say Chicago. Ask someone raised in Sterling Heights, Michigan; they'll say Sterling Heights, despite having to explain exactly where that is. While they explain it, of course, they'll emphasize the distance away from Detroit.

Not me. I say Detroit.

I was born at St. John's Hospital, which is actually in the Detroit city limits. My parents both grew up here. My grandfather worked downtown in the Comerica building for 30 years; that's where my mother and father met. His family goes back several generations here. This is my city. It may not be pretty. It may have a habit of tearing itself apart and burning itself down. It may be marred by decades of bad government from divisive, corrupt politicians. It may have a really. bad. football team. But it's still my city.

And I love it.

I suppose I am part of Steelers Nation, by proxy. I want them to do well because it makes my friends happy. I'll root for them the whole season. But when the Steel Curtain rolls into the Motor City next season I'll be wearing blue and silver, no matter how much teasing it causes from my friends or how much of their Steelers regalia they have on. Why? Why root for the obviously inferior team?

Because they're in my town.

It's not about football. I really don't even like football. It's not about historic numbers of championships or historic numbers of losses. It's not about dynasties built on dominance or built on futility. It's about my city and I refuse to represent a different one when I have the chance to represent my own. I would no sooner walk into Ford Field wearing anything but Honolulu blue than I would walk into Comerica Park wearing Yankee pinstripes.

And maybe, just maybe, we'll win that game. Perhaps the Lions will beat the World Champions. Maybe they'll even win a couple of other games, too. Maybe the Lions will give the people of Detroit something they desperately need-something to be proud of.  Most likely they won't, but even if they don't, I'll be there in my Honolulu blue with the mantra in my heart that rings true for both the Lions and the city of Detroit more than ever these days:

We have nowhere to go but up.