I’ll be off to Camden Yards for Thursday’s game against the Orioles. With Southwest flights for $98 roundtrip from Detroit it was just too good an opportunity to pass up.
With that, here’s some reading material:
- Deadspin’s Will Leitch went Pete Rose and is apologizing to Tiger fans for jinxing them in August. (hat tip Mack Avenue Tigers)
- Kurt notes that while there are many applicable comparisons of the 2006 Tigers to the 2005 White Sox, the 2002 A’s may be a better match.
- Big Al makes the case for Kenny Rogers to get some AL MVP love. Al’s realistic about Kenny’s chances, but does make an argument that he should at least receive some consideration.
- Peter Gammons is back. The trade deadline wasn’t the same without him, but he’ll be a part of the post season. I’ve been a long time Gammons fan and it is great to see him back. He’s been very supportive of bloggers and the Tigers. How could I not like him?
- USA Today takes a look at some high impact rookies and has a poll for ROY. Verlander is by far in the lead with just over half the vote. (Thanks to Joel)
- ESPN.com Page 2’s Eric Neel breaks down the race in the least scientific way possible, but he likes the Tigers mojo and uni’s. (I’m pretty sure somebody left this link in the comments a couple days back but I can’t find it now. But thank you)
- And the Tigers look like they’ll be closing out next season in Chicago. The White Sox announced their tentative schedule which concludes with them hosting the Tigers for 3 games.
Two thoughts tonight (I’m trying to post something original, rather than just say how awesome tonight’s win was):
1. With Monday’s win, the Tigers have now won six consecutive series openers. What this team has needed for a long time is a one-game series. Win the opener, then get back on the plane. Hopefully that’s what will happen tomorrow. Making us play three games in three different cities in three days is cruel. Would it have killed them to schedule a day game today in Chicago? The guys are going to be worn out by the weekend, if they’re not already. Then again, these guys don’t exactly travel like you and me (Spirit coach…).
2. As for winning the division, I just can’t bring myself to care about that. When I was twelve years old (I was born in 1976) I could name the four division winners from each of the last five seasons. Now there are six divisions, plus two wild cards, and nobody can keep track of who wins what. I’m pretty sure at least three wild card teams have won the World Series (Angels, Marlins, and Red Sox), and at least a couple others (Mets, Giants) have made the world series. The point is that nobody cares and nobody remembers who got in the playoffs as a wild card and who won their divisions. I’d like to see the Tigers finish strong, get to 98 or 99 wins (100 is probably out of reach), and of course make the playoffs. If the Twins stay hot and sneak by us for the division, so be it. Yes, I would much rather play Oakland in the first round than New York, but at the end of the day, I don’t think this Tigers team is going to win a world championshp, and if it does, it will almost certainly have to beat the Yankees at some point.
Have fun in B’more, Billfer.
Ditto, Bilfer. Have fun.
Mike and Mike on ESPN radio were reporting this morning that Santana is scheduled to pitch the last game of the regular season right now. So if the Tigers and Twins are deadlocked (or close to it), the Twins will face a dilemma as to whether to start him or not. If I were in that situation, I wouldn’t start Santana. Figure even if you lose, you get to pitch Santana in games 1 and 5 at Yankee Stadium plus the two games at home–you just need three of those.
That scenario could be ideal for the Tigers. We’d face Oakland in the first round and, if we advance, potentially avoid the Yankees.
Boy, it’s fun to be talking about this sort of stuff.