What not to say when your team is on the wrong end of a one-hitter

"I didn't think he was all that sharp. I really didn't. I thought he had some life to his fastball. It looked like we had some pitches to hit, but we just didn't swing it very well. You have to give some credit. I didn't think he was like a one-hit type of performance, but I did think he threw the ball really well."- Cecil Cooper, manager of the Houston Astros after a one hit loss to pitcher Edinson Volquez of the Cincinnati Reds per the Houston Chronicle.

I have always liked Cecil Cooper going back to his playing days but this was not his classiest moment. Highlights on Sports Center show Volquez making the Houston batters look pretty silly.

Come on, Cecil what does he have to do to get more than a grudging hat tip from you?

Will a perfect game do?

Team rivalries

There is an article up in The Sporting News by recently retired Tigers pitcher, Todd Jones which in so many words says that all the "heated rivalry" stuff and hatred among teams is really just a fan thing and the players don't much get involved in that. Yes, Jason Varitek and Arod probably don't like each other but that is the exception as most players are friendly with each other, socialize with each other and frequently have dinner together after the games. Jones indicates that generally players do not dislike one team more than another.

Gulp. I guess I have always known this but................................YA DIDN'T HAVE TO SAY IT!

From pirate-fighter to plaintiff

I see that Richard Hicks who was on the crew of the Alabama that fought off Somali pirates has filed a lawsuit in a Houston Court against the owner of the ship for injuries sustained in the struggle. He claims that the ship-owner knew they were sending employees into "pirate-infested" waters.

Give me a break. Go write a book or something.

Come to think of it, he probably should have filed in a Somali court (if he could find one).

J. D. Drew

Take a look at J. D. Drew during Ellsbury's steal of home. He seems thoroughly disinterested in the play or the result.

When he retires, somehow I do not foresee an emotional, tearful press conference with the usual platitudes that he will miss the game etc.

No tissues needed for that one.

Mo Vaughn once stole home

I was watching Baseball Tonight last night on ESPN and of course, they are still talking about Jacoby Ellsbury's steal of home against the Yankees. They then throw up a graphic showing the last 6 or 7 Red Sox players who have stolen home in a game and I see that they have Mo Vaughn listed who apparently did it against the Athletics in 1996. My first thought is "Oh, come on now. Pictures or it didn't happen." My second thought was that the date is April 27th and this is a little late for an April Fools joke.

After a few more disoriented thoughts, I came to the conclusion that in this age of the internet, ESPN cannot really get away with blatantly lying about something like this so I googled the phrase "Mo Vaughn stealing home" and only came up with articles about how apparently an advisor of his stole money from him. Hmmmmm.

Rather than spend any more time on this, I guess that I am ready to concede that Mo Vaughn actually once stole home in a major league baseball game though it was hard to even type this as I think instinctively my brain knows that this could not possibly be true which probably triggered some type of override response in another part of the brain to get the fingers to actually type out the words.

Now if ESPN starts to report that Mo Vaughn once hit an inside-the-park home run, hit for the cycle or once won that sausage race in Milwaukee, I am back to "Pictures or it didn't happen" mode.

Jacoby Ellsbury steal of home

So I am watching the Yankees-Red Sox game and J. D. Drew is up with the bases loaded when out of nowhere Jacoby Ellsbury steals home on a play that was not even close; a straight steal. My first thought, beyond the initial shock is "How in the heck can something like that happen?"

Looking at replays, this truly looks to be a perfect storm of events leading up to, and during the steal.

1. Even though the bases were loaded, the Yankees for some reason still put a shift on left-handed hitter, J. D. Drew. The Yankee third baseman, Angel Berroa was playing in the next area code nowhere the bag with a speedy runner there. (Girardi and/or the Yankees bench coach, where are you?). An overhead shot has Ellsbury leaving VERY early and arriving at the plate so early that he practically could have been hit by the pitch as he crossed the plate. It is hard to describe just how far away Berroa was from the bag. Twilight zone caliber weird.

2. Pettitte, a lefty with his back to third base, was working from a full wind up and never checked the runner before the pitch.

3. Posada does not stand up to ready himself for a tag and also did not appear to yell to Petitte that Ellsbury was stealing. Though he has a clear line of sight up the third base line because of the left handed batter, Posada seemed to have no concept that Ellsbury was attempting to steal.

4. Pettitte throws an off-speed pitch and Ellsbury easily beats a non-existent tag attempt by Posada who caught the pitch seemingly as he would any other and frankly appears to have not have seen the steal attempt until he had dust in his face.

Great play to watch but "Hello Yankees! How does THAT happen?

I bet that Hank was so not digging on that.

Lions draft day "party"

Computer Boy and I were downtown today and while down there decided to get some lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. As it turned out, one of the local sports radio stations was broadcasting live from there and having a rip-roaring Lions Draft Day Party.

There were not more than 20 people there at the time; only 2 of which were wearing Lions' gear. The rest of the patrons seemed to be eating, watching videos* on the various big screens or admiring the rock & roll paraphernalia on the walls. TANGENT ALERT (By the way, the Hard Rock Cafe is obviously a "for profit" business so why do many of plaques next to the guitars etc on the wall say the stuff was donated. Donated for a fee? Otherwise, why would you "donate" something to somebody who is going to use it to make money?) END OF TANGENT. That is what you get when you finish "goose egg and sixteen". Two people at your party.

*I know that I am about 25 years late on this but that "How Soon is Now" video by The Smiths with the billowing smokestacks and hazy concert/club footage is pretty cool.

Baseball "pontifications"

1. They say that if you watch any baseball game closely, you will almost always see something that you have never seen before. Last night in the Indians-Brewers game, the Indians are at bat and there is a play about to develop at the plate with Tony Graffanino coming home. John Buck is the Royals catcher and is readying himself to receive a throw for a play at the plate. There happens to be a bat straddling the third base line just to the left of Buck's left foot. Buck, perhaps purposely, does not move the bat. Graffanino is beginning his slide into the plate but does not want to slide over the bat (sissy-man) so takes a slightly roundabout way there and is tagged out. Never saw that one before.

2. I know the Rays sent David Price down to the minors so to keep his arbitration clock from running and this is something that many low payroll teams do for future budget considerations and in principle, I have no problem with this. The thing here is that the Rays are a contender and games in April count as much as games in September. They are 6-10 and no I do not think this is because David Price is in AAA but none the less, if I were the Rays in this particular year, I would be fielding my best possible team all year long.

3. Milton Bradley needs to get on the field. This is not fantasy related or anything.

Daniel Murphy

Those gaffes in the outfield by Daniel Murphy are pretty hilarious and the latest one Wednesday is the best yet.

Maybe he should shag more flies in batting practice.

On second thought, these highlights are really really great so you may as well forget the additional (or any) practice. Keep doing what you are doing. We got your back.

Roger Clemens had 12 apartments

According to the soon to be published book "American Icon" by 4 writers from the New York Daily News, Roger Clemens had 12 different apartments on the road so that he could conveniently spend quality time with the Mindy McCreadys in his life.

Hmmm. Now I see why Suzyn Waldman was so ecstatic on the air the day of Roger's return.

It all makes sense now.

Hideki Irabu is making a comeback!

Apparently, Hideki Irabu (George Steinbrenner's fat toad) is working out in LA looking to make a comeback.

Let the bidding begin!

Do I hear one dollar?...................... Anyone?

Hey, where is Dave Dombrowski? He needs to know about this.

Montreal fans boo the American National Anthem

I see that Montreal hockey fans loudly booed the American National Anthem before last night's playoff game between the Canadians and the Boston Bruins. None too classy behavior no doubt but frankly in the absence of George Bush at the helm here, I think this was simply a boorish way of communicating hostility to the Bruins, but regardless why do we need to play national anthems before sporting events anyway? What is the purpose?

These are not team anthems. Neither country "sanctions" the event. Neither head of state is present. Do they play "God Save the Queen" before Arsenal and Manchester United get it on? I honestly don't know but I don't think they do.

Is it subtle national propaganda? If we stop, do the terrorists win?

Baseball "ruminations"

1. I am a day late on this but I do see that Kyle Farnsworth has blown another game giving up a walk-off home run Sunday which is his third loss in less than 2 weeks. He now has an ERA of 18.90. Aren't guaranteed contracts swell? I am going to leave this alone for now as it is like shooting fish in a barrel.

2. I know the Nationals are not very good and it was a Monday night game but the highlights of this game seem to show that it was played in a virtually empty stadium; and a new one at that. Something has to give there. Hand out 10 for 1 vouchers at the Washington Monument or something.

3. The box score shows David Ortiz with a triple. Gotta check the highlights as this would seem to have to involve a cringe-inducing misplay by an outfielder.*

*As it turns out center fielder, Felix Pie made an ill-advised attempt to try and catch the ball at the wall when he had probably no chance and the ball bounced off the wall to no-man's land. Ortiz lumbers to third where he desperately begs the third base coach for oxygen.

Home run story

In follow up to the last post, now is probably a good time for a home run story which occurred about 3-4 years ago.

Computer Boy, who would have been 8 or 9 years old at the time, and I went to Fifth Third Field in Toledo, Ohio to catch a Toledo Mud Hens game. We catch our share of games there and around the 7th inning, Computer Boy likes to stand at the left field fence to try and catch a baseball and also I think just to be closer to the players.

The left field area has an elevated concrete walkway where if you stand at the fence, you can look directly down at the left fielder and typically there is some small talk going on between the Mud Hen left fielder and the fans. Computer Boy and I have caught balls in other areas of that park but not near the left field fence though there are no shortage of balls that are hit out there.

So at this game, as normal, we are standing at the left field fence enjoying the later innings of this game. I should remember the batter but I don't. Anyway, a batter from the opposing team hits a line drive shot HARD and it is coming right for us. This was not a high fly that just might plop over the fence. This was a screaming line drive hit with some authority and maybe the hardest ball I have ever seen hit (sign that guy up). I did not have much time to think about it but for the first time ever, I decided that I was not going to try and catch this one and would just let it go. This was probably a good call as the ball shot by us and hit the back wall (who knows; maybe dented it) of the walkway ramp and then ricocheted far away from us.

I recall a few people saying something like "Wow, did you see that one coming in?" and everybody laughed.

I then looked down at Computer Boy who was next to me and saw that he was crouched down as low to the ground as he could behind the fence.

I said jokingly "Hey, I thought you were going to try to catch a baseball?"

He responded "Not that one."

Saturday with the Lansing Lugnuts

Yesterday, Computer Boy, Skate Kid and I went to see the Lansing Lugnuts, who are the Class A farm team of the Toronto Blue Jays, play the West Michigan Whitecaps. It was a nice sunny day with the temperature in the 70's. As an added bonus, I even saw someone wearing a Mark Fidrych jersey. There were not more than 400-500 people there and this is a symptom of the ailing Michigan economy. The Lugnuts play at Oldsmobile Park and ironically the name itself is a symbol of the problem.

Anyway, somewhere around the second inning, Skate Kid who is 6 years old said that he would like to catch a baseball. We were 5 or 6 rows behind the dugout which is a nice spot for foul balls but obviously this is hit or miss.

I looked out to the hill beyond the left field fence and as usual, there were quite a few people out there as this hill connects to the party deck. The right field hill however only had 4 people sitting near the very top of the hill. I have seen a few batted balls make it to the top of the hill but the great majority of home runs out there land well below the top of the hill. I told Skate Kid that we would go out to the right field hill and see what happens. Computer Boy is quite a bit older than Skate Kid and can watch himself and decided that he would stay at the seats.

We were not out there more than 15 minutes when Skate Kid got his baseball. When we returned to the seat, Computer Boy said "Dad, you did not even try to catch it. You just let the ball bounce over to you." He wanted to see a "catch".

In the 2 rows in front of our seats, there were approximately 15 young ladies having a bachelorette party. I was mostly watching the game of course but did notice that they were playing scratch-off card and bingo-type games and also games with Vegas-style chips. A few were drinking alcohol but most were not. Nice ladies.

One thing I did notice is that these bachelorette parties are MUCH more calm than bachelor parties. No testosterone to mess things up.

Justin Verlander

You gotta wonder whether 2006 and 2007 were the "flukes" and whether 2008 and 2009 are the new normal.

Baseball "assertions"

1. The Tigers have announced that there will be no memorial patch or uniform tribute to honor Mark Fidrych. Apparently, the Tigers have only worn uniform memorials twice in their long history; black crepe for former Detroit Free Press sports editor Bo Needham in 1901 and a black armband for former manager Charlie Dressen in 1966. Considering the history, I am ok with this. As the Tigers have the best home uniform in baseball, the less alterations, the better I guess. I wouldn't have howled though if they added a discreet sleeve patch this year to honor The Bird.

2. Kudos to Jerry Manuel of the Mets who broke with tradition and brought in his closer K-Rod to pitch the ninth even though they were down a run. I would think that this situation is a bit more critical to have your best reliever pitching than saving him to protect a 4 run lead in the ninth in some other game. Double kudos to Manuel who also has the excellent J. J. Putz as his set up man and could easily have just followed the script here.

3. The new Yankee Stadium debut: Indians 10 Yankees 2. Grady Sizemore with a grand slam.
The House That Sizemore Built?

4. Barry Zito hammered again. In other news, the sun rose in the East this morning. (Hat tip and inspiration from Craig Calcaterra on this one)

Kyle Farnsworth

The Royals are not exactly getting a great return on their 2 year and $9.25 million investment in Kyle Farnsworth. He blew another one last night and already has 2 losses and has given up 6 runs in 3 1/3 innings.

Anybody surprised?

(crickets)

Anybody?

Pitch counts

I was listening to sports talk radio yesterday. Look, I know that this is a Jerry Springer-like time waster but I was in the car and I am a bit sick of some of the tunes that I got going right now so it beats silence (which come to think of it with 2 young boys is not really a bad thing).

Anyway, the host was discussing Mark Fidrych's arm problems and why this came about so suddenly in his career. Every caller seemed to "know" the reason. Nobody speculated. They "knew". One guy said (and I have heard this one many times) that he injured himself stepping on a sprinkler head while shagging fly balls before a game. One guy said he hurt himself while climbing a fence (?!) while exiting the bullpen. (As an aside, I don't recall any fences near the bullpens at Tiger Stadium but cannot speak to the opponent's ball parks. I can see Fidrych climbing a fence but I don't know that there would have been one around to give him the opportunity). One guy said he got in a bar fight.

I see that Fidrych pitched 250 innings in his rookie year and did not even pitch his first game until May 15th. He pitched 24 complete games some of which went into extra innings. While nobody kept track of pitch counts back then, through box scores and partial game clips, some have estimated that there were several games where he threw between 150 and 175 pitches. It is also noted that, unlike today, there was no thought of shutting him down late in the year when the Tigers were out of contention.

I think I know why he got hurt. The next time you hear an old codger complain that modern day pitchers are babied with pitch counts, think of Mark Fidrych's shredded arm.

Random baseball thoughts

1. Due to yesterday's rainout, it was announced that Jim Leyland will use this opportunity to skip Rick Porcello's turn in the rotation so it appears that he will try and actively limit Porcello's innings this year. Obviously, the right call but with Leyland you just never know.

2. Yankee "reliever" Nick Swisher strikes out as many guys Monday (1) as did their starter. That said, I see that the Rays threw at Swisher yesterday so a little less hamming it up on the mound after striking somebody out when you are down 10 runs might be in order. Of course, then Burnett "had" to knock down Longoria in response. Long live the baseball code of honor!

3. The Kansas City Royals are in sole possession of first place in the AL Central. I got nothing further on this. Just passing along information. Look it up.

Mark Fidrych

As I was driving home from work today, I was listening to the radio and heard the news of the passing of the Phillies Hall of Fame announcer, Harry Kalas. I am familiar with his voice and do understand and appreciate his historical significance but not being a Phillies fan, I really have no emotional connection to Mr. Kalas.

As I entered the house, Computer Boy was watching ESPN and they referred to the two deaths in major league baseball today and I thought "Who now?". When they announced the death of Mark Fidrych at the age of 54 due to an apparent accident on his farm, my heart sunk. It is hard to explain how beloved Mark Fidrych was in Detroit some 30 years ago and still somewhat today. My wife was in the kitchen and heard the report and came in the room and said "What?!" as in "you gotta be kidding" kind of "what?!". My wife is not a sports fan but she is a lifelong Detroiter so she knows about Mark Fidrych.

I remember the summer of 1976 distinctly. Not because of the Bicentennial but because of Mark "The Bird" Fidrych. I, of course, was a huge Tiger fan and watched every game on television though this was usually limited to a Saturday or Sunday afternoon game. One Saturday or Sunday, the Tigers were on television and playing the Cleveland Indians. The Tigers were starting a rookie pitcher I had never heard of. I still remember watching the game. This rookie pitcher with the long curly hair was of course Mark Fidrych; a quite hyperactive fellow who had a habit of hopping around the mound, talking to the baseball, grooming the mound on his hands and knees and throwing back baseballs to the umpire that had too many "hits" in them. I had never seen anything like this. Nobody had. I remember that he no-hit the Indians for 7 innings that day. The combination of this near no-hitter and eventual complete game win along with his antics on the mound had me hooked. Mark Fidrych was then and there my favorite player on the Tigers. After the game, I recall walking to my friend, Alan's house and asking him if he saw the game and he said that he hadn't. I tried to explain, probably not very well, what had just happened but it just did not register with Alan. I remember thinking that this was ok because if nobody else saw this then Fidrych could be MY favorite player and only mine. I remember thinking this at age 14.

Well, after a few more starts, the cat was out of the bag and Fidrych was no longer just mine as EVERYBODY became turned on to The Bird. The summer of 1976 in Detroit was the summer of Mark Fidrych. Forget the Bicentennial. That would come along again in 200 years. We had The Bird.

The Bird is all that the kids talked about in school. He was a God. Girls literally stalked him and chased him across town. I knew of this because the mania was all-consuming in the area but also because I had a Detroit News paper route. My routine was to load my papers in a large bag and drape the bag around my shoulders and then walk to the next subdivision where my customers were and deliver the papers to their doorsteps. The route was a couple mile circular walk which took me about an hour and a half to complete. While walking my route, I would read the paper from front to back starting with the sports section. What a sight this must have been to passing motorists who would have had to avoid me as I would not see them with my face buried in the paper. Anyway, being a daily reader of the sports section, I devoured every known fact about The Bird and if there was such a thing as a Mark Fidrych historian, that would have been me.

Tickets for games that Fidrych was pitching were obviously very hard to come by as he consistently pitched to sellout crowds at Tiger Stadium. My parents did somehow manage to get us tickets to a game against the Brewers that Fidrych was pitching. I do remember that it was cold and that Fidrych got hit hard and he did not last very long before being pulled. I remember being a little surprised but still happy to have seen The Bird. I just checked Retrosheet and see that it was September 3rd and he gave up 9 runs (7 earned) in 3 2/3 innings. I also see that it was his worst outing that year. That is ok. I saw Fidrych.

Over the years, Mark Fidrych would return periodically to Detroit for charity events or card shows. By all accounts he was very nice, very humble with no regrets as to how his career fizzled out rather quickly due to injuries. Sometimes afterwards, someone or another would say to me "Hey, did you see that Fidrych was in town?" and I would say something like "Yeah, I saw him on the news and he looks great."

I always thought that I should go check out the Bird at one of these events but I just never got around to it. Oh man, I should have.

Goodbye my friend, Mark Fidrych.

Random baseball thoughts

1. So far, so good with Fernando Rodney but we all know what could be on the horizon.

2. I note that when Edwin Jackson misses with a pitch, that he often misses badly giving the hitter no opportunity to swing at a ball just out of the strike zone (even Vlad Guerrero wouldn't). I don't know if this is overthrowing or problems duplicating his delivery but I guess this is (yet another) project for Rick Knapp. On the other hand, in looking at his minor league stats, I see that his k/walk ratio has always been shaky so this might just be a "take it or leave it" situation with him. Frankly, his other minor league stats are not all that impressive which makes you wonder why he was such a uber-prospect years ago while in the Dodgers system.

3. Is there anybody in mlb with a stiffer swing than Jeff Larish? If the pitch is not right in his wheelhouse, he does not appear to have much of a chance with it.

4. About that bomb that Pujols hit Saturday, do you think he found that pitch to his liking? When you are sitting in Row 82 in left field, you usually have no expectation of catching a ball.

5. Reed Johnson's over-the-wall catch to rob Prince (I have no father) Fielder of a grand slam was mighty sweet. Computer Boy had just gone to bed 10 minutes before and I was thinking about waking him up to watch the replay but I thought better of it. I am glad I didn't as I would have missed Bernie Brewer dropping to his knees and sobbing on the front porch of his house in the left field stands which you just don't see every day.

Nick Adenhart

I thought it was quite touching to hear Nick Adenhart's parents' heartfelt thanks to the Angels organization for watching over their son while he worked his way up through their minor league system. This seems all the more poignant now that we learn that Nick was an only child.

Incredibly sad.

Jon & Kate plus 8

My kids watch this show. I don't make a point to watch it but I do slow down sometimes when I see them watching the show similar to a gawker at the scene of a serious car wreck.

The kids on the show are mildly entertaining I guess but what really draws my attention is Kate's monstrous behavior towards her husband who frankly seems to be a very good father and husband.

In the last few weeks, I have mentioned to a few people that I had just recently been exposed to this show and both responded something to the effect of "Isn't she horrible?" before I said anything further. Yes, I have to agree that she is horrible. Watching it is really a bit stomach-turning at times and you do feel a deep sense of sympathy and even pity for Jon's plight.

I guess I should summarize the premise of this reality show but frankly it might take too long but suffice it to say that this couple has 8 kids which include 6, 4 year olds (at the time of the last season anyway) and Kate is deeply unappreciative of her husband's family contributions or fathering skills and not shy about caustically letting him (and by extension a national audience) know about it. It is really quite hard to understand this considering that Jon, while a little laid back, seems to be a wonderful father and husband who's only fault that I can see is that he made a poor choice of a spouse. It is a bit hard to describe the dynamic frankly because it is just so weird and I know that I am not doing this much justice with my brief explanation. The show is on The Learning Channel (TLC). You have to check it out.

I do wonder if Kate, either consciously or subconsciously, knows that Jon is stuck here because he just can't divorce her as he can't possibly pay child support for 8 kids on his salary so with that knowledge, Kate knows that she is free and safe in keeping up the near constant barrage against him. I mean if they only had the 2 older children, I have to believe that Jon would have had her in his rear-view mirror quite some time ago with no feelings of guilt.

There is no greater point here other than I think the moral of the story is to be careful who you procreate with. Also if you think you may be in a rough situation in your relationship with your wife or significant other, just think of Jon.

Nick Adenhart 1986 - 2009

I stopped home at lunch today. The kids are off school this week for spring break (though no spring really in sight).

The first thing Computer Boy said to me as I entered the door was "A baseball player has died." Computer Boy goes to his share of baseball games and has met quite a few players through games and various functions. Baseball players are very real to him. I idolized ballpayers when I was a kid and looked up to them as gods. I think he does too.

Nick Adenhart's line last night: 6 IP, 0 runs, 7 hits, 5 ks, 0.00 season ERA.

Nick, you went out on top.

Brandon Lyon

Though this was strongly hinted at in Spring Training, it now looks like the Tigers "officially" are back to having closer issues. Sigh.

Even a month or two of a little stability at that position would be nice.

Not asking for Rivera or Lidge. Just someone who doesn't know where the gas can is.

No Kyle Farnsworth though. Thanks. No.

Shots fired at Tom Brady's wedding

What I don't get is why he would invite Plaxico.

Pitcher performance regressions for no apparent reason

Well it is dangerous to place too much emphasis on Opening Day results as it is only one game after all but Justin Verlander's performance obviously was disappointing. His line of 3.2 innings pitched, 8 hits, 8 earned runs, 2 walks and 4 ks is unfortunately all too reminiscent of many of his starts last year. One thing lost in all of the spring training speculation as to who would be the 4th and 5th starters is that for the Tigers to have any chance this year, Justin Verlander needs to pitch like Justin Verlander again and he did not quell any doubts yesterday. Verlander's struggles last year were quite mysterious and while there was plenty of speculation as to the cause(s), I don't think anybody within the organization was ever able to pinpoint a specific problem so I think most people just chalked it up to a fluke year. Of course, if this continues much longer, we will have to exit the realm of "just a fluke" and enter the land of "what the hell is going on?"

While it is always dangerous to place any emphasis on what is said on sports talk radio, I cannot resist this little tidbit that I heard last year. The host was discussing Verlander's problems and one guy called in and in all seriousness said "I know his problem" at which point the host said "Tell us". The caller then said "Have you seen his woman?" (She is a nice looking lady). The host said "Yes, but so what?" and the caller said "There ya go" I guess implying that Verlander's attention is being diverted away from pitching to his girlfriend and this caller had this all figured out. Ok, next caller.

In other Opening Day, developments, I note that Cliff Lee of the Indians who last year came out of nowhere to dominate the league and win the Cy Young award got hammered to the tune of 5 innings pitched, 10 hits, 7 earned runs, 1 walk and 5 ks. This was after getting hit very hard this spring.

How do you figure this stuff?

Passed ball/strikeout story

With the major league baseball season starting tonight, this is as good a time as any to relay my passed ball/strikeout story from last year at Comerica Park. I will confess a guilty pleasure in telling this story as it has a good guy/bad guy theme with the good guy coming out on top. Well I think so anyway.

I share in a Tiger season ticket package with some friends at work. We are in the section behind home plate about 25 rows up. Nice seats.

Now with the exception of the 2006 Playoffs, the section is never more than 2/3 full. I think many of the seats are corporate owned and at many times, the corporate people are not entertaining clients so the tickets go unused. A shame, really. Also some Tiger wives sit in the section and they are not always there so those seats go empty. What this means is that from about the 4th inning on, we get a steady stream of people coming down from the cheap (relative term) seats and sitting in the vacant seats. I think the ushers are supposed to check ticket stubs for people coming down and sometimes I see them do this but for whatever reason, by the 5th or 6th inning on, the section fills up with people who seats are elsewhere in the park. I really don't care as it does not really affect me and I also did my share of this type of seat improvement in my younger days.

Anyway, Computer Boy and I are at a game last year and around the 4th inning, a raggedy-looking couple (sorry but it was true) in their 30's claimed two empty seats in front of us. They were drinking and I don't know if this had any affect on what happened or not but they were drinking and the guy seemed just a little bit off. For the time being, I had no problem with that. Go Tigers!

The Tigers load the bases and Brandon Inge comes up. He gets 2 strikes on him and then swings through strike three. The catcher however does not catch the ball and it rolls to the backstop and Inge advances to first and all runners advance with one scoring. Actually this is pretty typical of light-hitting Inge and it was no surprise that he was swinging at a pitch that even the catcher can't catch.

I used this opportunity to tell Computer Boy that Inge would still get a strikeout for this and would not get an rbi on the play. Actually, he said he knew this. The (new) guy in front of us turns around and angrily said, "That was a hit!"

I said that Inge actually struck out and it would be scored a K but a run scored on the play and that was a good thing but Inge did not get a hit.

He responded that "You just do not like Inge. That was a hit!" Again, he is angry.

I did not want to escalate this thing but I just couldn't leave it like that so I tried logic and said "Actually, I like all of the Tigers but you can't get a hit without hitting the ball. You just can't."

The guy shook his head angrily and then stood up and faced the field and began clapping and yelled very loudly "Great hit, Brandon! Great hit!" and then he turned around and looked at me.

I would have let this go but he did turn around and look at me so I guess a response is needed.

I said to him "The next time Inge bats, take a look at the scoreboard and the scoring for his last at bat will come up and it will show a K. Let's leave it at that."

He said "You don't like Inge" and that was the end of it (for then anyway).

The game continues on and frankly I forgot about the whole thing until I see Brandon Inge step into the on-deck circle. The other guy must have too because he then says to his date ( I did not get the sense that they were married but who cares) "Let's go." She says "Are you sure? You want to leave now?" and he says "Yeah, let's go" and they leave.

I said to Computer Boy "Do you think you know why they left?"

He thought about it for a while and said "No".

I said to him "Look who is on deck."

"Oh yeah!"

Score one for the good guys.

Tigers roster moves

Well the rotation shakes out to be Verlander, Jackson, Galarraga, Miner and Porcello. In the end, this was really a no-brainer as Robertson pitched himself off the rotation with a misrable 2008 and no improvement this spring and Dontrelle Willis is not in any rational discussion on this subject anymore. To keep Porcello's tender arm under 150-160 innings, obviously they are going to have to skip his turn in the rotation every now and then. I do think that a few of the pitchers at Erie and Toledo not presently on the radar will need to assert themselves and be ready when the inevitable injury bug hits any of the above group of 5. As far as Jeremy Bonderman, who knows but if he comes back and is able to throw effectively for any portion of the season, I think I would chalk that up to an unexpected and welcome surprise.

So the Tigers signed Brandon Lyon to be their closer but he could not win the job in spring training so the Tigers go with a "closer by committee" with Fernando Rodney first off the bench. I note that Lyon was good in the first half of 2008, terrible in the second half and terrible this spring. I am hoping that this is not yet another player that the Tigers have signed to multi-year contract at precisely the wrong time. In Dombrowski's defense, of Willis, Robertson and Sheffield, only the Willis 3 year extension was indefensible. Apparently one condition of the Cabrera trade was that the Tigers had to take Willis off Florida's hands so I cannot blame Dombrowski for bringing him in as you could not pass on Cabrera but signing Willis to a 3 year extension before he pitched an inning for the Tigers was nutty considering that he was terrible his last year at Florida and on a downward projectory the year before. Anyway, the closer situation will be interesting to watch this year.

It is also noted that Jeff Larish won the 25th man on the squad competion. Normally, the 25th man is not someone to get to worked up about but I think it is different with the Tigers as Jim Leyland is an unrepentent tinkerer who's deep bench players always seem to get more than their share of playing time usually at the expense of uninjured starters. Larish can play 3b, 1b and obviously could dh or pinch hit which is going to quite appealing for Leyland when he wants to get all managerial and play hunches which is practically all the time (maybe just a little exaggeration but not much). Larish appears to me to have the longest swing I have seen this side of Eric Davis and I don't think pitchers will have any hesitation coming right at him. If Larish is productive, obviously this is great but oh that swing......

My .02.

David Ortiz

Has anybody ever seen David Ortiz and Esther Rolle from Good Times in the same room together?

Something is going on there.

Amazing Race tidbit

I think I may have mentioned before that Computer Boy watches the television show, The Amazing Race regularly.

I am a little late on this (busy person syndrome) but we were watching this last Sunday and there was a task where the contestants had to find a zoo somewhere in Thailand and get their picture taken with a (live, unstuffed) tiger among other things. They get to the zoo and find the tiger and this tiger is snarling, baring his teeth etc. and I note that the tiger handler only has a rickety looking stick/pole to poke the tiger's head this way or that way. This did not look to be a state of the art tiger-handling technique to me but this is not my field of expertise so I would naturally defer to any non-maimed tiger handlers on this subject.

Anyway, the contestants were expected to sit next to the tiger, touch it, get comfy and smile for the camera. Most appeared genuinely nervous as I suspect that they were probably fearing being part of an "Animals Gone Wild" or "Faces of Death" video but in the end, all contestants left the zoo intact.

My attention must have been drawn to the tiger because I did not see until the very end of the scene that the makeshift tiger trainer only had.......................one arm.

Priceless.

Overheard on a plane

6 or 7 year old kid: Dad, how fast does this plane go?

Dad: Fast.

Kid: How fast is fast?

Smart kid.

Come on dad, take him up to the pilot for a little clarification.

Henning "shocked" by Sheffield waiver

I note that Detroit News, Tigers beat writer Lynn Henning says that "just about everyone" was shocked by the waiver of Gary Sheffield. This is on the heels of his colleague, Tom Gage who found the move "stunning".

Who are these guys talking to?

I talked to probably about half of dozen people yesterday and none were surprised by the waiver and one of them told me last week that Sheffield should be released.

Why are two guys who follow the team for a living blindsided by a story when seemingly nobody else was? I find it ironic that two of the guys closest to the team happen to the most surprised by the move.

I think they are too close.