The wicked awesome blog Fire Joe Morgan, where “Bad Sports Journalism Comes To Die”, is closing its doors. This really does sadden me.  This is one of just a few blogs I read with regularity.  The fellas over there got it done with out the sex and scat and sensational things some of the other guys use (not that I’m not entertained by that too).  All they did was tear apart brutally bad baseball journalism with a quick wit and a Bill Jamesian philosophy.  Their site was one of the reasons I thought it would be cool to do SODS.  I even bought the tshirt. So goodbye FJM, you’ll definetely be missed.

You and I may have given up hope for the 08 season, but the Tigers still have to finish.  They have to keep going to the yard everyday and throw, hit, catch, and run.  Some of the goats from early in the season and down the stretch will be able to pad their stats and salvage their years now that the lights are off.  Others will continue to fail, forcing fans to realize that some of our players just aren’t that good and forcing managment to make tough decisions. 

The great debate as of late has been Nate (ha).  Nate Robertson has been brutal.  His ERA is a point higher than his career average, which wasn’t that great to begin with.  He’s given up the most ER in all of baseball, and he hasn’t won a game since the middle of June.  Apparantly he’s lost his slider.  Nate, an inning eating .500 starting pitcher at best, probably should go hire Baggar Vance to help him find it, since Chuck Hernandez obviously cannot.  At best, he’s hurt and will find himself next season, either as a starter or perhaps as a long reliever.  At worst, he’s a ragarm who had great season in 06, got a contract he didn’t deserve, and is put up with because of his fun personality and gum-time attitude.  Either way, I don’t want to see him continue to throw gas all over the field for the next month.

Edgar Renteria, who has been brutal in the box and on the field pretty much all season, has improved as of late.  Detroit Tigers Weblog offers up an “inning report” every 18 games, exactly 1/9 of the season (1/9 of the season equals one inning, get it?).  In the “7th inning”, Renteria is .322/.385/.508, making him about 4th best on the team.  Good for him, and good for us, maybe his improvement will allow the Tigers some leverage in trading his dumpy behind.  I really gotta believe Ramon Santiago has to be the starting shortstop next year.  His defense has always been good, and his hitting has been surprisingly good in a limited 75 AB.  I think we could all live with historically poor hitting guys Santiago at SS and Brandon Inge at C if the rest of this lineup would live up to expectations.

Fernando Rodney has also played well in the “7th inning”.  Since his initial brutality when taking over the closer role he’s got an ERA of 1.86 and a WHIP of 0.83.  I’m not buying it.  Rodney has been consistently inconsistent his entire career, and now that nothing hangs in the balance he has been playing well.  This only adds to the theory that this guy does not have the mental capacity to handle big games and situations.  To quote Crash Davis, “Let’s see that million dollar arm, ‘cause I’ve got a good idea about that five cent head of yours.” (Mike in Waterford:  And his hat’s crooked, too!!)

In other news, I recieved my 2008 post-season tickets invoice in the mail recently.  Ha.  Anybody willing to give the Tigers $2500 to hold onto for more than two months is a real fee-simple sonofabitch.  Let’s be real nice and underestimate:  $1000 dollars up front per seat x 20,000 seats= 20 million dollars.  I wish someone would give me 20mil to hang onto and make interest, or 10%, or whatever on for two months.  I hated to do it last year but had to.  This year the silver lining of not even coming close to the postseason is that I don’t have to loan Mike Illitch an interest free $2500. 

I don’t think it’s a reach to say this season is pretty much over.  That leaves us to talk about pesonnel.  Who should stay?  Who should go?  Who rules?  Who drools?  (Mike in Waterford:  Fire EVERYBODY, trade Sheff for Kirk Hammett!)

Gary Sheffield had some pretty interesting things to say in a recent Boston Globe article.  Sheffield basically complains that he doesn’t play everyday, despite the fact that he pretty much plays everyday.  He wants to be in the outfield, but I think pretty much everybody but Gary knows that his shoulder can’t take it, and that’s why he’s not out there.  That’s fine, you can’t blame a guy for wanting to play.  Then Sheff drops this:

“The Yankees knew I wanted to go to Boston,” Sheffield said. “They picked up my option so I wouldn’t wind up there. I would have loved it because I love that atmosphere. It means something.

“At this stage of my career, I want to feel that again. That’s what I play for. That’s what gets me revved up.”

I know Detroit ain’t Boston in terms of baseball, but it’s better than a lot of places, and had this team, and Sheff, lived up to some of the expectations for this year, the atmosphere would have a lot more electric at this point in the season.  The fans aren’t sitting on their hands though, the boo-birds have been calling for Gary the last few games.  Enough atmosphere for ya?

Jim Leyland responded by saying he was “caught off gaurd” by Sheff’s remarks in about 65 different ways.  Here’s Beck’s Blog with a transcription and synonym count.  And here’s the lastest from M Live, with Leyland and Sheff sticking to their guns.

Leyland:  You knew the deal, you’re DHing on this team.
Sheff:  I don’t want to DH.
Leyland: /smokes cigarette
Sheff:  /swings and misses violently at curveball, corkscrews self into ground

Maybe Sheff will be traded, his big contract would probably be enough to clear waivers, and the Tigs would probably have to pick up part of the tab on his contract, but if we could move him for anything decent, I don’t think it’s a bad idea.  Maybe I was dreaming, but I thought I heard this morning on WDFN that the Rays were interested in Sheffield.  That makes sense with two of their top hitters, Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria, now on the DL.

Justin Verlander, our ace, the number one, the freaking savior, is having a bad year.  He had another bad outting last night, going just 4.1 and giving up 6 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks.  Jim Leyland blamed it on a dead arm, due to the 130 pitches he threw in his last start.  That’s confusing.  How can Leyland blame a “dead arm” when he is the one responsible for said arm death?  That aside, Justin started the season poorly, improved in June and July, and has now lost his last four starts.  I’m not worried, he has the talent to have a great major league career, and I think this is just a bad year for Justin.  Other guys on the ‘06 squad had career years, never to be repeated, but I believe this year is the aberration for Justin, not ‘06.

After being named AL player of the month in July, Miguel Cabrera has only imporved his average, OBP, and OPS, so needless to say he’s doing allright.  In Saturday night’s game, when the A’s intentionally walked Magglio Ordonez to get to Miggy, who already had one home run, I wondered why the heck they would do that.  When Cabrera promptly sent the first pitch sailing into the left field stands I bet the A’s were thinking the same thing.  After settling in, he’s lived up to my expectations, and I’m looking forward to having talented players like Cabrera, Verlander, and Curtis Granderson as the faces of this franchise for years to come. 

Notes from Section 339

-Marcus Thames will likely be out a few games after an MRI showed inflammation in his right shoulder, so we’ll be seeing some more of Matt Joyce and Ryan Raburn in left.
-Todd Jones is expected to come off of the DL on Friday.
-I’ll be at the game tonight.  Seriously, won’t one of you gentle readers please buy me a super rope?

Fernando Rodney melted down on Sunday, so, to Mike in Waterford’s delight, Joel Zumaya has been named closer.  Zooms slipped right into the role, blowing the save in the fourteenth inning last night, allowing the White Sox to win, 10-8.  But it was worse than that.  The bully blew not one, but two save opportunities.  The other was courtesy of newly acquired Kyle Farnsworth, who is fitting in quite nicely, giving up three homers in three appearances.  Of course, as they faltered, former closer Rodney and his five cent head shined, pitching three hitless innnings with just one walk.  Bobby Seay also pitched one scoreless inninng before giving way to Farnsworth.  Good thing this game went so late, I was fast asleep by the time the bullpen decided to burn US Cellular to the ground. 

In happier news, Miguel Cabrera was named the AL player of the month for July.  Yay!

The Tigers fell victim to a three game sweep at the hands of the Rays over the weekend.  The first game starred a lack of hitting by the Tigs.  After running Scott Kazmir out of the game in the fifth, at which point he had thrown 110 pitches, walked 6, yet only allowed 3 hits, the Tigers managed just one more hit throughout the rest of the game against a foursome of Rays’ relievers.  Game two featured Kenny Rogers and his 7 earned runs.  The Roaster threw 109 pitches (!) through 3.1 inninngs.  That’s hard to recover from, especially when you leave ten guys on base.  Those two games were tough, but game 3 was the crown jewel of suckitude.

Before the game, Jim Leyland had some comments.  From DetNews via Detroit Tigers Weblog:

“But we’ve had some performances that have been terrible. I’ve been disgusted the last few nights. The last few weeks, we had situations where we should have dominated a game and we didn’t come close. 

You’ve got to step it up if you want to be in the hunt. If not, go home and come back next spring training. I’ll bring up some kids to play.

If you don’t want to grind it out, then start your vacation early.

We should be embarrassed,” Leyland said, ending his soliloquy. “And I’m not sure enough people are.”

He’s obviously frustrated with his team.  And maybe he asked them to go fetch a switch off the ol’ oak tree.  Or, maybe not.  But they played hard in a game they needed to win yesterday afternoon.  Armando Galarraga continued to pitch well and gave the Tigers a quality start.  When Kyle Farnsworth gave up three runs on two bombs in the eighth they did not give up.  They tied it in the ninth and regained the lead in the tenth.  Bottom of the tenth, up by one, bring in the closer!  (Queue Bad News Bears music).  Fernando Rodney comes in and promptly walks a guy, hits a guy (he’s lucky he didn’t kill him), walks a guy, gives up a hit to tie the game, then walks in the winning run.  Yay!  There’s nothing I love more than a walk-off-walk. 

Rodney has blown more saves in a week and a half than Todd Jones had all year.  I’m not saying make Jones the closer again, he’s on the DL anyway, but something’s got to give.  (Mike in Waterford says make Zumaya the closer!  It couldn’t be any more obvious!  The guy throws a-hundred!  What are you stupid?  He throws a-hundred!).  Well, I guess Mike has a point, it doesn’t seem Rodney can handle it, so we should give someone else a shot.  Joel Zumaya?  I guess.  But he walks too many guys also, plus he’s a little banged up right now (surprise).  How about Bobby Seay?  At least he can hit the plate and he sports the best ERA on the team. 

I think we can safely say this season is beyond hope for a playoff appearance.  Let’s look forward to the September roster expansion and see what we can get out of some of the young additions to the bullpen at that time.  For now let’s just hope they can score 18 runs every game down the stretch.  That should be enough.

The Tigers wrapped up their four game series against the Indians yesterday afternoon at The Jake Globo-brands Fun Park with a 9-4 loss, halving the series with the Erie Warriors.  The games were highlighted by a Paul Byrd shutout on Monday, Pudge being traded before Wednesday night’s marathon win for the Tigs, and wickedly sloppy play by both teams in the last two contests.  Despite the split, the Cats remain 5.5 behind the AL central leading White Sox.  We head into the weekend facing the AL east leading Devil Rays in Tampa.  The matchups look like this:

Fri:  Zach Miner (5-3, 3.65) v Scott Kazmir (8-5, 2.84).
Sat:  Kenny Rogers (8-7, 4.62) v Andy Sonnanstine (10-6, 4.65).
Sun:  Armando Galarraga (9-4, 3.36) v James Shields (9-7, 3.66)

On the heels of the Pudge trade Detroit Tigers Weblog offers a nice post with some love for our former catcher.  We’ll miss you, despite your brutal OBP.  On the flip side, Roar of the Tigers offers a scouting report on Kyle Farnsworth courtesy of MVN Yankees writer Tom Gaffney.  I’m not sure whether that included his hieght, weight, or reach.  (Mike in Waterford says you know Farnsy is a team guy ‘cause he throws down!!).

I hate Brett Favre

The trade deadline came and went, the biggest move being a three team deal which inclued Manny Ramirez going to the Packers Dodgers, Jason Bay to the Red Sox, and the Pirates were a part of the deal somehow.  Also, Ken Griffey Jr is headed to the south side to join the White Sox.  Dayn Perry breaks down the winners and losers at Fox Sports.

Oh, yeah, and Todd Jones is now on the DL.

This afternoon your Detroit Tigers traded catcher Ivan Rodriguez to the Yankees for reliever and former cat Kyle Farnsworth.  Excuse my french, but...Kyle freaking Farnsworth!  I don’t mind trading Pudge, Brandon Inge is a fine catcher.  He’s great defensively and has a good enough and powerful enough bat for a catcher.  I don’t really mind bringing in Farnsworth, he’s having a pretty darn good year based on his stats, and if we’re convinced Todd Jones is all the way out as closer, it’s a decent move to bring someone in to close with the young, shaky, injury prone, and givers of walks Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya at the end of our ‘pen.  My problem is that the Tigers should have got more from the consistantly over-paying Yankees.  How ‘bout we mix in a prospect...maybe an infielder...maybe a shortstop for Bill James’ sake?  The Yanks are notorious for paying too much and decimating their farm system.  Why?  Because they can.  They’ve got all the money and arrogance to do it.  My other question is:  What does this say about our beloved baseball team?  Are we buyers, sellers, or what?  Have we given up on the season, or is this the move to shore up the bullpen coming down the stretch?  I can’t make heads or tails of it.  I just wish we’d have got something more in return. 

Todd Jones is out as the closer for your Detroit Tigers.  Fernando Rodney is in.  Last week I had a post about just this situation.  Turns out I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about.  I backed Jones, and didn’t even consider Rodney.  I was wrong.

A few weeks back, probably the ispiration for my afore mentioned post, I had a discussion with SODS senior photography editor TCox.  He said Jones sucks ( I guess he was right), and I said Jones usually got the job done, and in any case, who could possibly take over for him? (Mike in Waterford* says trade Sheffield for Papelbon!!) Either way, it’s a pretty sticky situation.  Roar of the Tigers has a similar opinion. 

What’s done is done.  Jones blew the first game in a critical series with the White Sox over the weekend (Joel Zumaya didn’t help matters either).  He has blown 3 of his last 7 save attempts and had a pretty brutal month of July overall, so I can’t argue against the move.  But I’m pretty sure fans who aren’t already soured on Rodney and his crooked hat (Are there any?) will do so quickly.  The same could happen, heaven forbid, to Mister Triple Digit Zoom-zoom Whoopee!!! Zumaya if he keeps up the way he is pitching.  That said, I’d bet that Jones is back in, at least in a closer-by-committee role, before the season is up.  Any takers?

*I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce Mike in Waterford.  He is not a real dude.  He is a vehicle which allows me to ridicule the clueless fans who call sports talk radio everyday.  Mike’s opinions include:  The Pistons could trade Rip Hamilton for Kobe Bryant, Chris Chelios is good, Kid Rock is a musical genius, Brandon Inge is better than Pudge Rodiguez, and the Lions should have stuck with Joey Harrington (In Mike’s defense, I supported Joey for way too long also).

Today marks the beginning of the greatest sporting contest ever imagined in the history of all times.  The Tigers start a three game series against the White Sox at Comerica Park.  The Tig’s sit 5.5 games behind the Sox for first place in the central, so a series win or, gasp, a sweep, would be great.  Include the fact that the White Sox next series is 4 games against the Twins, and the Tig’s have a great opportunity to make up some ground on both of these rivals.  The Cats come off of a three game sweep of the Royals in which they scored 33 total runs and saw SODS award winner Armando Galarraga carry a perfect game into the seventh inning of the final contest.  I’m pretty sure they’ll never lose again.  The pitching matchups look like this:

Fri:  Nate Robertson (6-8, 5.69) vs Gavin Floyd (10-6, 3.52).
Sat:  Justin Verlander (8-9, 3.95) vs John Danks (7-4, 3.03).
Sun:  Zach Miner (4-3, 3.73) vs Javier Vazquez (7-8, 4.57).

The matchups look to favor the Sox a bit, but now that the bats are hotter than Traylor Howard covered in Dave’s Insanity Sauce, never to cool down again, what do we have to worry about?  The series is also important because, with the trade deadline six days away, the outcome should certainly affect the desicion to buy, sell, or stand pat.  For a breakdown of some of the Tiger’s possibilities, check out this post on Detroit Tigers Weblog.

Notes from Section 339

--Freddy Dolsi looks to be able to pitch in this series after sitting out two games with shoulder fatigue.
--Fernando Rodney recently received a haircut from amateur barber Dolsi, shrinking his hat size from 7 3/4 to 7 3/8.  “No mas long hair”, said Rodney.  Barry Bonds hat size recently shrank also, because he stopped using anabolic steriods.
--Here’s a funny little bit from The Onion

Todd Jones is not your prototypical closer.  He does not throw in the high nineties.  He does not get a lot of strike outs.  He does not come running out of the bullpen to Enter Sandman or some such intimidating song.  But much more often than not, he gets the job done. 

I think most of us can agree that Joel Zumaya is the heir apparant to the Tig’s closer position (although I have heard here and there that becoming a starter is not totally out of the question either), but I’m not in a big hurry to send Jones packing just yet.

I like the guy, so sue me.

I think the stats bear that he’s having a fine year, and better than Zoom-zoom.  Jones has got him beat on WHIP and OBA, and has a enormously better walks/innning ratio.  Yes, Jones sports a high ERA, but that can be a very overrated stat, especially for a relief pitcher.  I know it’s a lot more exciting to watch Zumaya come charging from the bullpen, Voodoo Child reverberating around the CoPa, in anticipation of triple digit fastballs and mighty whiffs from the poor mutts who have to face him than it is to see Jones run from the bullpen, christian rock blaring, in anticipation of another rollercoaster outing.  But, so what?  He gets the job done.  This is baseball, not WWE.

On the heels of Jim Leyland’s comments a few weeks ago about lowering Jones’ workload and Zumaya’s blown save over the weekend, it’ll be an interesting ride to the end of the season.  Dare I say a rollercoaster ride?  (sting!)

Notes from Section 339

--The Tig’s split with the O’s over the weekend with a great outing from Verlander and a poor outing from Robertson.
--Jeff Larish is going back down to T-Town to make room for Zach Miner, who had a real nice start last night.  Speaking of which…
--The Tig’s put an absolute beatdown on the Royals 19-4.  Props to Miguel “Sexy Mike” Cabrera and Matt Joyce for putting up 6 and 5 RBI respectively.  (Seriously, how good has Joyce been?  Trade him for Kobe immediatley!!)
--I’ll be at the game Saturday, I bet you can guess where, come say hi and buy me a super rope.

The Tigers are absolutley on fire as they start the second half.  Oh, ok, fine.  But they’re one game over .500 after beating the O’s in Baltimore last night 6-5.  They got enough pitching all around, including another save for the hated Todd Jones.  On the offensive side, the Tigers brought the power, Ice Cube brought the chronic, the Lakers beat the Supersonics.  Brandon Inge, Gary Sheffield, and Marcus Thames all contributed with a long ball and two RBI a piece.  Also, it was nice to see the Cats show some patience and earn 6 walks throughout the game. 

As we begin the second half, I’m sure that you, gentle reader, are desperate for my thoughts on the Tiger’s chances.  Fine.  My prediction: Pain.  No playoffs, they’ll finish over .500.  If you wish to quench your thirst for more second half musings, consider Daily Fungo’s podcast, or for a more national perspective try Tracy Ringolsby’s column at Fox Sports.

Notes from Section 339

--Carlos Guillen had a double in Tuesday night’s All Star Game.
--Zach Miner will get the start Monday against the Royals in lieu of Eddie Bonine.
--Did I mention that ‘Los had a double in the Mid-Summer Classic?

Last night’s MLB All Star Game ended at 1:37 a.m.  That’s a little too late for this...uh...blogger.  But I know, gentle reader, that the first thing you do every morning is log on to Spirit of Detroit Sports for the latest news, etc.  So, I found out what the score was.  The AL (now with 30% Yankees and Red Sox!!) defeated the NL 4-3 on Michael Young’s sac fly which allowed Justin Morneau to score.  Also, the game was at Yankee Stadium for the last time (the ghosts are swirling!). 

The game starting at nearly nine and ending at nearly two was not just a joke played on all of us in EST, but really it was karmic payback from the baseball gods to Joe Buck.  Recently Fox’s top baseball announcer was a guest on the Colin Cowherd show and pretty much admitted to hating baseball, as reported by Awful Announcing.

“As far as sitting down and watching a sporting event, that’s just not part of my day, it’s not part of my night. I’ll be honest with you, watching ‘The Bachelorette’ is.’’

So his punishment is having to sit through five hours of it, until two in the morning.

I didn’t watch it either.

The launching of this site comes at a perfect time for the Tigers’ end of this blog: the All Star break.  It gives me a great opportunity to be totally unoriginal and cliche by handing out some mid-season accolades. 

Pitcher who came out of nowhere and allowed the Tigs to win some games in the first two months award:

Armando Galarraga.  He went 4-2 in 8 starts through the month of May.  The two games in which he garnered the ND, the Tigers won.  While guys like Verlander and Rogers were scuffling struggling with high ERAs and poor run support, ‘Mando managed to deliver solid outings when the bats decided to wake up.  He reaches the break 7-3 with an ERA of 3.27 and an ERA+ of 127.  He wins: a Comerica Park daquari (aka the fruity nightmare)

Designated Hitter who provides a new definition of “Designated Hitter” award:

Gary Sheffield.  His chilly .217/.323/.338 is worse than every other regular with the exception of Renteria.  But at least Renteria carries a glove to the yard everyday.  On a team full of DHs, it’s getting very difficult to excuse Ole Sheff.  He wins: nothing.

Player who provided exactly what I expected award:

Tie between Brandon Inge and Nate Robertson.  Despite the big bad media’s attempt to make something out of nothing in the spring and paint Brandon as a bad “team guy”...or something, he’s been exactly what he’s always been: a slightly below average hitter with some power, a great defender, and a solid backup catcher, which has come in handy with Vance Wilson’s seemingly never ending injury.  And then there’s Nate.  Our inning-eating lefty who almost always gives the Tigs a chance to win, which should be more often than not given our murder’s row of a lineup, has been a horse as usual.  He’s also sporting an ERA that’s been declining since opening day (save for a miniscule increase following his last start).  Their prize:  $25 gift card to Applebee’s.

Tigers humanitarian feline-itarian award:

Matt Jocye.  As a cat lover myself (you know what I’m sayin?!), it was heart warming to see Joyce save a kitten from the clutches of the evil batting cage.  Also, dude can mash.  He wins: a bag of cat nip.

Best Magglio impression award:

Todd Jones, hands down.  He wins: an Amy Grant CD.  (Sorry about the video, but MLB took away the good ones.)

Honorable mentions:

Justin Verlander—For fighting through a rough start to the season and looking in top shape at the break.
All those kids from the minors— For providing more than adequate service when the regs are beat up.
Joel Zumaya— For coming back from that wicked dirt biking box moving injury, dropping 20 pounds, and looking like he’s still got it.