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The Detroit Tigers picked up another big bat for their lineup in 2007, Gary Sheffield was obviously not very happy in New York and he was traded to the Tigers for three minor league pitcher’s. According to manager Jim Leyland he will be the DH primarily, but he will be put in the outfield occasionally.

It seems that Sheffield will be a good fit with the Tigers and he has a connection to the Tiger manager and the GM Dave Dombrowski; 10 years ago Sheffield played for Leyland when he was the manager of the Florida Marlins and Dombrowski was the GM.

The negative of the deal has to be the fact that we lost three young arms from our farm system, unfortunately that is all too common among GM’s throughout the major leagues. These same people turn around and complain that the pitching isn’t very good. One very good reason for that is that the young pitchers are constantly moving around and it is tough situation for them get better.

Congratulation to the St. Louis Cardinals on winning World Series Game 5 and for becoming the World Champs.

I am very proud of my Detroit Tiger’s for even making it to the World Series and they shouldn’t be that down on themselves. Considering where the ball club was not too long ago. Manager Jim Leyland’s decision not to pitch Kenny Rogers in this all important game will be disected for several days to come.

But Leyland decided to give rookie Justin Verlande a shot at redeeming himself after the less than stellar performance in his first game of the World Series. Unfortunately, just like in his first performance, he did struggle to hold on to the lead the Tiger hitters gave him.

The undoing of the Tiger’s turned out to be the fielding; they committed 8 errors (3 by 3rd baseman Brandon Inge and 5 by the pitchers). Despite the defensive problems, it still lands on the hitters to score runs and the pitching to stop your opponent from scoring runs.

The Tiger’s didn’t score enough runs and the pitchers didn’t get enough of the batters out when it was all said and done and that is the reason the Tiger’s fell a little short. I am still very proud of the team and I look forward to spring and a new season. It is hard to be upset when your team makes it all the way to the World Series, especially after the recent history of the team includes a 43-119 seaon only three years before.

The St Louis Cardinals lead the series 2 games to one and Detroit can’t afford to go down 3 games to one. Even though our pitchers have been struggling a bit against the Cardinal batters, out hitters have been really struggling against the Cardinal pitchers.

Jeremy Bonderman will go tonight and hopefully he can have the same success that Kenny Roger’s did in game 2. I am also hoping the Tiger batters will have success against the Cardinals starting pitcher Jeff Suppan.

Leave it to the sports media to try and create a news story out of nothing at all. Last night in Game 2 of the World Series Tiger starting pitcher Kenny Roger’s was on the mound in the first inning when it was discovered that there was a substance in his pitching hand just below the thumb. It was determined that it was dirt and nothing else was said about it.

This morning I was reading online and I came across a sports news story and in this story the writer was making all kinds of accusations with zero evidence since the plate umpire didn’t see a need to ask for an closer inspection of the player. The Cardinals had ample opportunity to request an inspection of Kenny Roger’s and yet they made no indication that was necessary.

So why does this reporter or any reporter for that matter feel it is necessary to manufacture a story. I thought they were supposed to report the news and yet we still have many in the media that feel that it is their job to create the news.

Had Kenny Roger’s been cheating as he is being accused of then why after he was asked to clean it off he continued to cominate the Cardinals batters just like he did in the first inning before the substance was spotted on his hand.

Major League Baseball has had enough bad press over the past couple of years and they don’t need the media manufacturing a controversy just to make money. All they are doing is tossing out accusations and suspicions with zero evidence of wrong doing and that is irresponsible journalism, but what should I expect, the news media have been doing this for years on the poilitical side.

After a very successful rookie season, Justin Verlander ran into a buzz saw in the form of the St. Louis Cardinal’s last night. I don’t want to lay all the blame for the loss on Verlander only because our defense let us down. They committed 3 crucial errors that lead to at least two runs. At the same time, the Tigers offense didn’t have much success against the Cardinals rookie Anthony Reyes and only managed 2 runs and only 4 hits.

Albert Pujols proved again that he is the most dangerous hitter in baseball, he crushed a home run in the 3rd inning with 2 outs and one man on. In hindsight, the Tiger’s should have intentionally walked Pujols and pitched to the next batter with 1st base open. I would hope in Game 2 the Tiger’s would consider pitching around Pujol’s in a similar situation.

With the Cardinals winning Game 1, 7-2 it will put more pressure on the Tigers in Game 2 with left handed pitcher Kenny Rogers today. The Tigers left handed pitchers will present the Cardinals their biggest challange, since they didn’t fair as well against left handed pitchers in the regular season.

The Tiger’s hitters were paced by Curtis Monroe and Carlos Guillen, both went 2 for 4 and knocked in 1 run. Monroe’s RBI came on a 9th inning homerun and Guillen knocked in a run with a first inning 2 out single. The Tiger’s are going to need much more offense if they are going to have success in the series and win it all. 

Despite this loss I am not going to change my prediction of the Detroit Tiger’s being the World Champions.

The St. Louis Cardinal’s finished off the New York Met’s last night in the NLCS game #7; 3-1. This sets up a rematch of the 1968 World Series between the Tiger’s and the Cardinals. I am hoping for the same result; Tiger’s victorious.

I will go out on a limb and predict the Tiger’s to win the World Series in less than 6 games, they were the better team by far the whole year and should be the prohibitive favorite. But, they still have to play the games and that will give the Cards a shot at winning.

I haven’t heard the starting rotation as of yet, but I expect Jim Leyland to leave the rotation the same as it has been throughout the playoff’s; Nate Robertson, Justin Verlander, Kenny Roger’s and Jeremy Bonderman. Most managers won’t mess with the pitchers that have got them to where they want to be and I hope Leyland doesn’t buck that trend.

As long as our hitters continue to get the timely hits and produce the runs when we need them, I think we will be able to handle whatever the Cards can dish out. Even with one of the most dangerous hitter in Albert Pujols; the Cards won’t be able to handle our pitcher’s and since more of the games will be played in Comerica Park in Detroit (pitcher’s ballpark) they find it hard to score runs.

Prediction:

Detroit Tiger’s will be the World Champions in 6 games

The Detroit Tiger’s did what so few people thought they could do; make it to the World Series. They are only three years removed from their worst season ever; 43-119 and now they are the AL Champs. The hero of the fourth and decisive game was Magglio Ordonez; he had 2 homers and 4 RBI’s. The Tiger’s completed the four game sweep of the A’s with a 6-3 win.

The Tiger’s pitching was solid and Leyland used his bullpin pretty effectively and they combined for 2 1/3’s of scoreless innings and only surrendered 2 hits. Starting pitcher Jeremy Bonderman pitched 6 1/3 solid innings, but he didn’t pick up the win. Wilfredo Ledezma picked up the win, by pitching the final 1 1/3 innings.

The game was tied 3-3 going into the 9th inning and it looked like the game would go into extra innings, but thanks to a walkoff three run homer by Magglio Ordonez it sealed the win and the AL Championship. Placido Polanco was selected as the ALCS MVP.

The Detroit Tiger’s are on the verge of a spot in the 2006 World Series, something that very few people other than me thought they had a shot at doing. I was listening to our local sports talk radio station and they all wrote the Tiger’s off and gave it to the Yankee’s before the very first pitch. Especially since the Yankee’s payroll is more that a $100 milliond dollars more than the Tiger’s $88 million payroll.

It just goes to show you, all the money can’t always buy a World Series. I guess George Steinbrenner needs to come up with game plan to get to the World Series. The Detroit Tiger’s showed everyone that good pitching a better than average hitting and a bit of luck can get you far these days.

The Tiger’s dispatched with the New York Yankee’s in four games and now they are up 3-0 on the Oakland A’s. One more game and they will be the AL Champions for 2006 and will represent the American League in the World Series for the first time since 1984 when they beat the San Deigo Padres in the World Series.

The Tiger’s have been getting plenty of quality inning’s from all four of our starters and Jeremy Bonderman, who is our fourth starter will have the honor of sealing the deal and putting us back into the World Series.

The Tigers did what no one wanted to give them a chance in Hades of doing; beat the Yankee’s and earn a shot at the AL Penant. I knew with Jeremy Bonderman on the mound we had a better than average shot at winning and that is exactly what the Tiger’s did.

Manager Jim Leyland did a masterful job at convincing the team that they were winners despite being only three years removed from going 43-119 and being the laughing stock of the entire American League. Now they stand on the brink of getting a shot at winning it all. All they have to do is get by the Oakland A’s and they will get a shot at another World Series title.

There were many offensive hero’s in the four games, but I am I am not alone in giving the most credit to our starting pitchers; Nate Robertson (despite the only loss) , Justin Verlander, Kenny Roger’s and Jeremy Bonderman. also have to give props to our bullpin; Jamie Walker, Joel Zumaya and Todd Jones.

The Tiger’s will be making their first appearance in the ALCS since 1987 and hopefully they will have equal success and they move on to the World Series.

No one seemed to want to give my Detroit Tigers a chance to make it past the New York Yankees’s to paly in the ALCS. But, the Tigers are now one win away from proving all of those naysayers wrong. Last night, three Tiger pitchers combined to shutout the powerhouse Yankee lineup.

41 year old starter Kenny Rogers needed a great game to match the quality pitching performance of Justin Verlander in Thursday afternoons game. Roger’s, who played two seasons with the New York Yankee’s was masterful, he pitched 7 and 2/3 innings of shutout baseball. The Tigers bullpin finished up the inning and a 1/3 to preserve the 5 hit shutout and the Tigers are on the verge of sending the Yankee’s home for the winter.

Roger’s who had command of all his pitches (fastball, sinker, curve and changeup) and was able to keep the high powered hitters of New York at bay. It just goes to show you that even with Yankees 190 million dollar lineup, they can be held in check by good quality pitching. The Tigers will be sending Jeremy Bonderman to the mound and hopefullt he will do what he has done all season, strikeout batters and give the Tigers a great shot to win and extend our playoff run.