It's Go Time

Now that the Tigers are done beating up on the National league for a while, they need to show that they can beat up on the AL Central. With 9 of the last 13 games before the All-Star Game against ALC teams, including 7 against 2nd place Minnesota, we will get to see whether this team can make a run, or just teased us against a group of weak opponents. Leyland needs to get over this 1 run bullshit and let the players play, because the Twins can hit, but are struggling on the bump. Don't help them by giving them easy outs to get one runner over to second, and dont start big innings by bringing the infield in in a 0-0 game in the 3rd inning. Minnesota will make you pay for giving them extra outs.

And for the love of God, do NOT use Todd Jones. Ever. Not even if the team is up 45-2.

Dude. Just...... Dude.

F-U Jim Leyland.


F-U Todd Jones.


Miguel Cabrera, Placido Polanco, Ryan Raburn, Tigers fans thank you.


FIRE.LEYLAND.NOW

Clete Thomas. My New Hero.

Clete showed his impressive power by not taking the bat off his shoulder last night, driving in two runs by walking with the bases loaded, which along with Sheffield's game tying 9th inning home run gave the Tigers a 3-2 win.



Pudge, Mags, and everybody else hopefully saw that it's OK to look at a few pitches. Pudge I have noticed this season hasn't swung at too many first pitches, but after that he'll swing at anything. I dont think Magglio has seen a third pitch in any at bat this century.

Ugh. This is horrible.

When does football start? Pudge running into outs at third, Thames dropping routine pop flies, Leyland managing Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker. I cant take any more.

GO BLUE!

Jim Leyland. Idiot.

Top 6.

Against St. Louis.

2-2 tie.

Runner on third, one out.

AND YOU PULL THE INFIELD IN? SERIOUSLY? TO SAVE 1 FRIGGIN RUN?!?!?!?

An easy ground ball that would have been out #2, ends up being a base hit. Instead of being down 3-2, with 2 out and nobody on, it's now 3-2, with a guy on first and one out, which of course leads to a big inning.

F-U Jim Leyland and you're shitty dead ball era one run plays. Save it for when you have no offense and good pitching, not when you have the second best lineup in all of baseball.

FIRE. HIM. NOW.

EJ, I dont know a lot about bringing up kids, yet....

...but I know enough to have you avoid taking them here:

Just because...

...it's a long way to August 30.

Conspiracy?

Hey, I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin', you know...

There is a rumor floating around that the USGA helped Tiger Woods to his 14th major victory in the playoff at Torrey Pines. It goes something like this: already, the USGA uses an archaic playoff system, where people who drop tons of hard earned scrilla to see the trophy on Sunday, are stripped of the opportunity so the tied players can come back on Monday and play the full 18. All three of the other majors use either sudden death, or a three or four-hole playoff that can be completed that day in front of the fans. Here is where it gets interesting: Every time the US Open has gone to sudden death, after 18 playoff holes still weren't enough to choose the Champion, they have started over at hole 1, and gone from there until they get a winner.

For some reason, they didn't do that this year. They started at hole 7, then the plan was to go to 17 and 18. Why? Why not start back at 1? Out of 5 rounds, Tiger had double-bogeyed #1 3 times. Out of 5 rounds on #7, Rocco Mediate, who naturally plays a draw, put his drive in the left hand bunker of the long dog-leg right 3 times. Tiger, on the other hand, has the best cut-fade of anyone on the tour, and better than anyone in history, a shot that is made for that hole.

There are two major questions: Why did the USGA decide to go with a 7-17-18 rotation for the sudden death, and when was the decision made? If it was made after the playoff participants were known, there are some more questions to be answered. I scoured the websites of the USGA and the US Open for rules pertaining to sudden death playoff hole order, and found nothing.

Now, I hate conspiracy theories, and I'm not going to point at this screaming about how the USGA rigged this playoff for Tiger, but it brings up some interesting questions. Of course, all Rocco Mediate had to do was sink a 12-20 foot makeable putt on any of the last three holes played, and we wouldnt even be talking about this.

Welcome Back, Jason Grilli Fernando Rodney

F Rodney, BS (1) 0.1 3 3 3 1 0 1 81.00

Nice work. Let's see if we can get that ERA down below, oh, let's be realistic. How about we try for below 50.00? That sound ok?

Pitchers duel tonight

Tim Lincecum


Justin Verlander

Verlander vs. Lincecum.

San Fran is not a good baseball team right now, but their one shining bright spot is on the mound. 8-1 with an ERA less just under 2, Tim Lincecum is the ace in just his second year. He has given up some hits, but they stay in the yard, and he doesnt walk many guys. Verlander has looked tough in 5 of his last 6 starts, including a complete game in only 101 pitches his last time out. What should make it even more interesting is that according to Baseball Reference, only Aaron Rowand has faced Verlander. He walked, doubled and struck out in his one game. No Tigers have faced Lincecum.

Too bad its on at 10:15. Maybe I'll Tivo it tonight. This could be a great game.

Why I hate ESPN, Reasons 314-316

I turn to SportsCenter, and they are doing a piece on the Celtics owner. Who cares?

I turn back in about 5 minutes, and they are doing a Fathers Day thing- Gordie Howe playing with his sons in Houston; Griffeys Sr. and Jr. going yard back to back in Seattle; Earnhardt Sr. and Jr. racing with Jr. winning and getting congrats from Sr.; Tiger hugging his Dad after a win? What? Why not show Mickelson winning and hugging his daughters? Same thing.

I turn to Baseball Tonight and they are playing videos? MTV doesnt even play videos!!!

Nice to know you still can't find highights on tWWL.

Idiots.

Looks like the Tigers drafted for the next Randy Johnson. A lot.

From Baseball Prospectus

Detroit Tigers
Draft Philosophy: As usual, take a big guy who throws hard with the first pick. After that, take more big guys who throw hard, and find someone to catch them.
First Pick: Ryan Perry, RHP, Arizona (21st overall)
How High He Could Have Gone: Before Texas thought one of the big names would get to them at 11, they were looking at a number of college closers, including Perry. The Cardinals at 13, Dodgers at 15, Cubs at 19, and Mariners at 20 also had him more realistically in their mix.
Path To The Big Leagues: It depends on what role Detroit chooses for him. He often throws three innings a game as a long set-up man, but he’s maintained his velocity deep into outings and also throws a plus slider and decent changeup, leaving many to believe his best value would be as a starter. If Detroit keeps him in the bullpen, his triple-digit velocity will get him out of the minors quickly, no matter how straight it is.
Rest of the First Day:
2. Cody Satterwhite, RHP, Mississippi: Guess what? He’s big , and he throws hard.
3. Scott Green, RHP, Kentucky: He's even bigger (6'8"), and throws hard.
4. Brett Jacobsen, RHP, Vanderbilt: Six-foot-six, has velocity, see a trend yet?
5. Alex Avila, C, Alabama: A decent college catcher with solid tools across the board.
6. Tyler Stohr, RHP, North Florida: I guess once they got to the sixth round, 6'2" with a good fastball seemed like enough.
Best Second-Day Selections:
8. Andrew Dirks, OF, Wichita State: Big-time makeup pick, a grinder type who should be a fourth outfielder at the very least.
11. Brandon Douglass, ss, Northern Iowa: Pretty much Dirks, but with infield skills.
13. Jared Gayhart, RHP, Rice: Mostly an outfielder in college, but in a few relief outings he threw hard... and he’s pretty big.

It's not surprising they went this way. They way DD has been trading away the Tigers farm for the last three years, they have no pitching in the system. And very little up with the big club. Bonderman is done for the year, Jones is, well, he's Jones, and Zumaya and Rodney are not pitchers you can hang your hat on any more. We'll see if Galarraga can keep up his current pitching, although history is not on his side. Robertson has been dreadful, Rogers has been a has been, Valenzuela Willis's best days are behind him, and Verlander has been spotty.

For all its struggles, the offense has been OK. The Tigers are scoring runs. They need pitching help, and they need it now. it's nice to see them backfill the farm, but I want to see if DD can get some help to Detroit before the All-Star break, or they will be selling on August 31st.

Walk it Off, Big Boy

A sweep of the ChiSux, and the Tiger are now 8 games behind Chicago 2 games behind Cleveland. These are the games the Tigers need to win to get back into the season. Great pitching performance by the Gambler, solid defense for the third straight game, and a home sweep to gain three games.

Baby Steps

Justin Verlander threw a complete-game four-hitter last night. It is the first Tigers complete game since Verlander's no-hitter last June 12 (kinda eery). I'm not ready to put the Tigers back in the World Series yet, but it shows a nice step back to respectability. Tigers bats got enough to keep it an uninteresting game, the defense played well (and got a bit of luck on a ninth inning play at second base), with one really nice catch from Clevlen, and they are showing the signs of becoming a pretty good team once again.

Oh and they have beaten the White Sucks twice in a row.

WOO HOO!

Leafs continue tradition of early playoff exits

The Leafs hired perennial early round playoff exit great Doug Wilson.

There are a lot of guys out there they could have put behind the bench. They chose the guy with the team with the second most talent the league, who failed to make even the conference finals?

The AHL has about 12 head coaches who I would consider a better pick than Wilson. Nice work, Leafs. Cub-dome, here you come!

My new desktop background

I believe I have reached uber-nerd status...

Karma is my bee-otch!

First off, let's give a big ovation to Pittsburgh and their fans. Classy bunch (except maybe the coach), great fans, and the beginnings of a great team. They will be back, more than once.

That said,

2007-08 STANLEY CUP CHAMPION DETROIT RED WINGS






Ozzie was great. Very deserving of the three-time (two as a starter) Cup Champion.

Mexican Standoff

DB is staring karma in the eyes, and slapping it in the face with his glove. "I demand satisfaction!" says DB with his six-shooter holstered on his belt. Karma looks up from pummeling some nameless Red Wings fan, and with a sly grin, brushes the dust off his assless (of course they are, they ALL are) chaps, and says with the quiet confidence of Frank Sinatra wooing some dame back in his hey-day, "OK. When and where?"

DB replies, "Tonight. 8 O'clock, at the Igloo."

DB guarantees a Red Wing victory tonight, 5-1. Datsyuk scores 3.

Karma, you must now suck my balls.

That is all.

I'm tired

The best part of last night. 12am, in the second OT, and The Joe is still selling beer.



6:30 came early this morning...

Michel(le) Therrien < Claude Lemieux

From NHL.com

Michel(le) Therrien:

"We took two penalties tonight on the goalie. We never take penalty to the goalie in the playoff. I'll tell you something, I reviewed those plays. He's a good actor. He goes to players, and he's diving. Took away our power play. Got to get focused. I know our players are frustrated right now. It's tough to play the game. But Osgood did the same thing against Dallas under Ribeiro.

Our team never go to goalie. We never did it. And we don't target the goalie. But this is, want to talk about experience, he goes to players, and he knows what to do, I guess."

Oh, no. This is completely legal to skate two feet into the paint and hit the goalie. Dont worry Michel(le), next time we won't call it. You can run your NHL '94 play where Malone skates through the crease and hits the goalie and then maybe your Barbie Dolls superstars can score.

Therrien:

"It's really tough to generate offense against that team. They're good on obstruction. It's going to be tough to generate any type of offense, if the rules remain the same. So it's the first time we're facing a team that the obstruction is there, and we're having a hard time skating to take away ice."

Wrong, douche. The Red Wings are a TEAM. They play position. It is more than just two players skaiting around making plays and outscoring teams 5-4, it's a committment to defense by everyone, including the stars. It's puck support, player A takes the body, player B takes the puck. It's "The Rock" all over again -- know your role, Jabroni! With the puck, make plays, without the puck play your position. You want to cry about the refs? How about the Wings centers getting thrown out of 50% of the faceoffs? How about the crybabies stars on your team going two feet offsides and no whistle? How about Hockey Creep Jesus grabbing every stick around when he's got the puck? You want bad no-calls? Every time porn-stache Crosby gets in a one-on-one situation, he grabs the defenders stick, and when he still loses the puck, he tucks it under his arm and falls down, taking the defender with him. How many goals have been taken off the Penguins side of the scoreboard? I cant hear you, what? Zero? None? Yeah, the Wings have outscored your lilly asses 8 7-0 in two games, and they have taken a goal off the Wings side.

And then you send your defensemen to go after Zetterberg, Datsyuk, and Osgood. You stay classy Michel(le). Go back to Quebec. Oh wait, Montreal kicked your sorry French ass out years ago. One word- retreat! Retreat! They're better than us! Run away! Run away!

And the best part:

Q. Is there anything you can do to give Malkin more space out there?

COACH MICHEL THERRIEN: I thought his intention was there tonight. We've got to keep supporting him, and eventually, players like this, usually they find way.

Good coaching there Michel(le). "Hey guys, we're getting beat. Look at Malkin and Crosby, and they'll show you how to beat them. I'll be in the bathroom. Where's my kleenex?"

Douche.

But this deserves to shown over and over and over and over. And over.

Embarrassing

I have never been so embarrassed to be an NHL fan. You have exactly what you want for the Finals, and this is the product you put on the ice? Both referees and both linesmen should never be able to call another game. Ever. The referees were obvious in their ball handling of Crosby. And by ball handling I mean nuts in mouth. The linesmen were far from subtle in throwing every Wing center out of every face-off and missing obvious offsides against Hockey Jesus Crosby.

Turc-Owned

Turco tried everything, even the Lord of the Dance move...



Hank juked him out of his jock on a shorty...



Wings win Cup 4-1 over Pittsburgh. No problem. They have two skaters, and two skaters only. The Wings top line is good enough defensively to handle them and put the puck in the net from time to time as well.

Bring Stanley Home!

Imagine that...Lions don't care about season ticket holders

From the Oakland Press

Furlong owned season tickets for three years. He had two in the club level the first year. The second year, he received two more in the lower level stands after being on a waiting list — so he had four. The third season, they reduced the size of the club level, including a portion where his seats were located, which were on the aisle.

He said he wanted to keep those two seats, add two club-level seats and asked that two seats he had in the stands be combined with his seats from the club level that were moved to the stands. The Lions agreed. It gave him six season tickets.

But when he went to sit in his old seats, somebody else was sitting in them. He asked them to leave, but when he looked at his tickets, he noticed his seats had been moved.

"It was an embarrassing and awkward moment," Furlong said. "I was stunned."

When he contacted the Lions, he was told nothing could be done about it during the 2007 season, but he was promised aisle seats for 2008.

Yet, when Furlong received his season ticket invoice for 2008, it was for the same seats he had in 2007.

It was then that Furlong canceled his season tickets in an e-mail to Schul. Powser then e-mailed Furlong with an offer for more desirable seats, but Furlong said it was a matter of principle — and he wouldn't accept the offer.

Then Furlong received the inadvertent e-mail from Schul.

The entire e-mail reads, "Lance...he is not talking about you here. Mark was asked to speak to these people and he said no. F... 'em until next year."

"Mark" is Lions ticket director Mark Graham.

Once he heard of the e-mail, Lewand called Furlong and invited him to a game.

"I did so before I heard from any media on this," he said.

Lewand offered no excuses for the incident, but absolved Graham from blame, although the e-mail in question indicates Graham refused to discuss the issue with season ticketholders such as Furlong, who had their seats unexpectedly moved for the 2007 season.

"It was an inaccurate characterization of a conversation held in 2007, not this year,'' Lewand said of Schul's e-mail.

Lewand said he was, "deeply disappointed with the e-mail and light it portrayed, and I have addressed it."

"There are a number of different levels this could have been avoided and we realize that," Lewand said. "One, with the invoice we sent out for this year. If it had been correct, none of this would have happened. We never condone our fans being discussed in that manner, whether it be in an e-mail or any type of discussion among members of our organization."

The Lions really dont have any PR capital to spend here to make this OK. They suck, everybody knows they suck, everybody knows the management is horrible, and this just adds to it. If the Fords had any hair whatsoever, they would fire everybody involved. But they'll probably just give everybody raises and extensions.

Idiots.

Sickening.

Swept for the second time in just over a month by the Royals.



At least in 2003 they were fun to watch. These guys just make baseball painful.

Who needs a poncho?

NHL referee's = teh suck

In the crease, no goal:



Not in the crease, goal:



Wait, what?

From the Detroit News:

His explanation, according to Wings captain Nick Lidstrom, was that while Holmstrom's skates weren't in the blue-painted crease, his hindquarters had broken the plane of the crease and interfered with Turco, who insisted afterward that he "couldn't move freely to make that save on the shot."

Replays clearly showed otherwise, however.

"He wasn't in the blue, his (butt) wasn't near the cylinder, he didn't touch the goalie," said Wings general manager Ken Holland, who hadn't yet spoken to series supervisor Mike Murphy, the NHL's senior vice president of hockey operations.

"What do you want me to say? The guy's not in the paint?" Babcock said. "The guy's out of the paint. That's a reputation call totally. It's disappointing. Sometimes a guy gets tripped and you miss it. Some things go wrong and you miss it. Just don't make stuff up, that's all."

Just don't make stuff up. if you don't see it, don't call. Missed calls are a part of the game. Taking points off the board based on things that didn't happen, and thus could not possibly have been seen, based solely on a guy's reputation is inexcusable and warrants punishment.

That said, the loss I think actually helps the Wings. They no longer have the franchise record winning streak hanging over them, they no longer have consecutive sweeps heading into the Finals hanging over them, and they can concentrate on teh issue at hand: one more win against Dallas, and then the four for the Cup.

Just go beat down the Stars in game 5, get ready for Pittsburgh, and bring Stanley home.

One more to the Finals

The Wings are outskating, outhitting, outchancing, and outgoaltending the Stars.



Turco doesn't know what hit him. Last night, he didnt face a ton of shots, but the ones he faced were high quality shots from good spots on the ice. These are the shots that Giguere made last year, and Kiprusoff the year before. These are the shots the goaltender HAS to make to give his team a chance against the Wings. The Stars MO is to get ahead and shut things down, not constantly play from behind.



That said, here is what the Stars must do better to get back into the series:
1- Turco must stand on his head. To win 4 straight against the Red Wings, Marty has to play unbelievable hockey. Not just making great saves, but he has to eliminate the mistakes playing the puck, taking himself out of position.

2- Get the puck deep. How many times did the Wings stand the Stars up at the blue line and start back on an odd man rush the other way? Here is the problem. Usually the guy carrying the puck for the Stars is not the lead guy. Usually, he is not even second. So instead of driving the puck in, keeping the guys in front of him skating hard, he tries to carry it in, losing the puck at the blue line, everybody is standing still, and the Wings have a rush back the other way. Drive the puck into the zone, keep those big wingers moving, put pressure on the defenseman to move the puck quickly, if they can even get it first, and set up in the zone. This leads to the Wings one weakness, which Dallas exploited on a couple of occasions last night.

3- Spread out in offensive zone, and move the puck around the perimeter. The Wings do not have a solid "half-court" defense, to borrow a phrase from basketball. Once you get in the zone, with control, you can do almost anything you want with it, within reason. The Red Wings do not like playing without the puck, and especially in the defensive zone, and are prone to panic. Both Dallas goals last night were products of great offensive zone puck control, based on passing around the perimiter. Just be patient, pass it around, one of the Wings will get out of position, and set up for a shot. Then...

4- Drive for rebounds. Osgood has been special this postseason, but last night gave up a couple juicy rebounds. Chelios, Lidstrom, and Rafalski were the first to the puck to sweep it away on most occasions. The Stars wingers need to drive the net looking for the easy poke for the cheap goal. They all count as 1, no matter how pretty.

5- Put the puck on net. After seeing the Wings failures over the last couple years, this is the one that sticks deepest. How many times has Dallas had one of those rebounds, only to hear Mike Emrick exclaim "just wide!" or "off the side of the net!" If a couple or even one of those finds the twine, this may be a completely different series.

Not that I'm a Dallas fan, but I like them. They play hard, they play clean (I'm looking at you Ribeiro), and are likeable guys. Modano is probably my favorite non Red Wing in the league, and Marty is our old Michigan boy. Even if they manage to do everything on this list, they still may not beat the Wings, but it would make it more exciting to say the least.

Go Wings. I want to see handshakes Wednesday night.

F'n Leyland

I may be boycotting my Tigers hat and jersey until Jim Leyland is let go or retires, but this is a hell of a game winning hit...



Let's see- the Tigers have the best lineup in baseball, maybe second only to, oh, I dont know, maybe the Sawx, and YOU ARE BUNTING IN THE FIFTH INNING WITH THE LEAD!!!



Yeah, you know all those extra runs the Tigers have no chance of scoring because you are giving up outs for the sake of 1 run? Yeah, don't worry. We won't need them. Oh wait...



Oh yeah Jim, don't worry. A two run lead in the 6th inning is PLENTY against this team. They can't hit.

If there was such a thing as a moral victory, I would put this in the category of a moral defeat. The bunt in the 9th, OK. That made sense. This goes along with the going for two argument in football. You only bunt for single runs when you NEED IT! Leyland got lucky when the Tigers' bats behind the bunt kept hitting and they actually scored 3. How many could they have scored without the bunt?

You will not see me with my Tigers gear on until the smoking man is gone. This lineup is too talented to play small ball. The defense doesn't look like they know where they should be. The pitching is predictable (Yook with 3 HR's, Lowell with 2 this series!!! Are you kidding?).

OK, I'm done venting I think. Even if the Tigers win tonight, I still may wear the BoSox gear out of spite.