Playoff Preview: American League

     Now that we're in the heat of the pennant race I'm going to preview the teams who might be in the playoffs, saying why or why not I think they will make it all the way.
     Let's start with the A.L. East: just so everybody knows, I think that the Red Sox/Yankees race is totally overrated because both teams will make the playoffs, one winning the division and one winning the wild card, so there's not much point in writing about this race.

      Now for the A.L. Central: you may say it's just the Tigers and Indians but actually as of today the White Sox are 6.0 games out of first and the Indians are 6.5 out. Also a few days ago I heard someone say, "The Tigers are up by six games, the Indians will never make it." Wrong again; the Tigers play the Indians six more times in the season, including a season-ending series at Comerica park.
     And finally, the A.L. West: I don't have that much to say about this division except that the next six games will change the division because the Rangers play the Red Sox and the Rays while the Angels play the Twins and Mariners (both fourth-place teams).  Here's my prediction: even with these next six games, the Rangers will win the West by at least three games.
     Stay tuned for my predictions about the National League.

     Thanks for reading, and go Tigers!

The Big Potato

This is a guest post written by my mom, Louise Ducote.  I asked her to guest-write something because I am going on a trip with my school for a few days.  I'll be back soon; thanks for reading and go Tigers!

     Papa Grande.  Now there's a nickname to make a woman's blood run cold.  I don't want to be a "big potato." I want to be a slim flower, an elegant little slip of a thing, a slight and lovely shadow of a girl.  That said, I am behind Jose Valverde, a/k/a Papa Grande, all the way.  He's my favorite closer in baseball, because the closer of my own team (Cubs) is responsible for much of my gray hair.  Here are a few of the things I like about Detroit's treasure:
     1. On August 11th, he broke the Tigers' consecutive-saves record of 32.  August in Texas has been a horrific parade of triple-digit temperatures combined with total absence of rain.  I'm glad August in Detroit has this highlight.  Maybe it rains there, too.
     2. He loves his mama.  Just like Elvis Presley, General MacArthur, Sigmund Freud and President Woodrow Wilson, who invented Mother's Day.  Thank you, thank you, thank you, President Wilson, for creating a day on which I am not required to prepare food or wash dishes.  May you rest in luscious peace.
     3. He's dramatic on the field but quiet off the field.  He dances.  He performs elaborate rituals (three sticks of gum and one handful of sunflower seeds in his back pocket, no more, no less).  But he is a hermit and an angel off the field, playing solitaire on his iPad and dancing for charity.
     4. I saw him once in person, when he was still an Astro, playing against Detroit, and he actually blew the save.  I felt for him. But he left the field with dignity, and that makes me all the happier for the career year he's having this year.
     Brady asked me to keep this short.  So I'd better stop.  Thanks for reading, and go Tigers!

Tigers 4, Indians 1

      Max Scherzer pitched like Verlander. No, he wasn't throwing 101 mph in the eighth inning, or flirting with a no-hitter, but he just had that distinct aura of power around him. It also helped that he had the Indians completely off balance.

Max Scherzer.

     For example, the one run the Indians scored was on a passed ball, a passed ball that was so nasty a change-up that the batter swung at it. So nasty that even All-star catcher Alex Avila couldn't catch it. That's a pretty nasty pitch.     Here's my one crazy prediction of the year : If Max continues to pitch like he did last night, the Tigers will win the World Series.
    In other news.... the Little League World Series has started (go Kentucky!) and the Kentucky/Pennsylvania game Friday drew a Little League World Series record crowd of 42,683 people.
     Thanks for reading and go Tigers!

How to Make History

     If you want to make history, hit 600 home runs. That's exactly what Jim Thome did last night at Comerica park: he made history.

     Thome became just the eighth player in the elite 600 home run club. He joins Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willy Mays, Ken Griffy Jr., Alex Rodriguez and Sammy Sosa as the only players with 600 or more home runs. 

     At forty years, 353 days old, Thome also became the oldest player to hit his 600th homer. Sammy Sosa previously held that record at thirty- eight years, 220 days when he reached the mark in 2007. But although Thome was the oldest player to get to 600 he was also the second-fastest to reach the mark, hitting his 600th in at-bat  No. 8,137 which is second to Babe Ruth's 6,921 at-bats. 

     Thome deserves a lot more respect... I mean, in the weeks before A-rod hit his 600th home run everybody was saying how amazing he was after he hit No. 599 and then thirteen days later when he hit No. 600 everybody acted like he was some sort of hero.  Then Thome comes along and hits numbers 599 and 600 in the same day.  Unlike A-Rod, Bonds and Sosa, Thome has never had the word "steroids" mentioned as a possible cause of his high level of play.  

     The Brewers added even more excitement to yesterday's baseball news.  If the Brewers had stopped at a double play in the second inning of Monday's game against the Dodgers, it would have been highlight-worthy enough.  Instead, they turned three and made some history.  Four Brewers defenders combined for the sixth triple play in franchise history, an amazing play that bailed starter Randy Wolf out of a two-on, no-out jam and helped them win 3-0 over the Dodgers at Miller Park.  My thoughts on this play: the way they turned it was really cool because it looked like it was just a double play.  But when Matt Kemp tried to go home, Prince Fielder threw home and–ta da!—a 4-6-3-2 triple play.  

     Thanks for reading, and go Tigers! 

Bye bye, streak.

     Before this season started, if you had asked anyone which MLB player might come close to Joe Dimaggio's fifty-six game hitting streak, no one would have said "Dan Uggla."  A thirty-three game hit streak isn't actually that close, but with about forty-six games left in the season, it's probably the closest anyone is going to get for a while.  
      Let's look at Uggla's stats before the streak: he hit .202 in April, .160 in May, .179 in June and was voted Least Valuable Player by the Austin-American Statesman. During the streak, which began July 5th, he hit .442 and bumped his season average up to .345. Uggla's streak was finally broken yesterday in a 6-5 loss to the Cubs. Congratulations, Mr. Uggla, on a nice run.
      

Tigers 4, Indians 3

Verlander.

     What do you do when you need a win? Turn to your ace. That's exactly what the Tigers did. Jim Leyland gave Verlander the ball and he pitched seven shut-out innings, gave up three hits, struck out eleven and got his major league-leading seventeenth win (100th career.)
     You couldn't ask for more.        
     The Tigers' win last night put them up by 3.0 games in the AL Central. The two teams play each other ten more times this season, including a season-ending series on September 26-29.
      Closer Jose Valverde set a new Tigers record, notching his thirty-third save in thirty-three chances. The previous record was set by Guillermo Hernandez in 1984, the year the Tigers got off to a 35-5 start and beat the Padres in the World Series.
     Thanks for reading and go Tigers!!!

Closer Jose Valverde.

          

Indians 10, Tigers 3

Ubaldo Jimenez, recently traded to the Indians.

     I don't know that much about last night's game because I was watching the Little League World Series.  I'll give you the facts I know, though: 1. Ubaldo Jimenez pitched like an ace in his first start as an Indian, going eight innings and allowing three runs on six hits.  2. The Indians had a season-high six doubles.  And if the Indians win today, they will sweep the Tigers for the second time this year.  They'll have to beat Verlander, although unfortunately for the Tigers, Verlander is 11-11 with a 4.47 ERA in his career against the Indians, with most of those losses happening at Progressive Field in Cleveland.
     After the win last night, the Indians have closed the gap in the AL Central to two games.
     Thanks for reading, and go Tigers!

Tigers need a win from Verlander.

Indians 3, Tigers 2, 14 innings.

  
      Here's the perfect definition of a heartbreaker: after a two-hour rain delay your bullpen goes twelve scoreless innings, then you lose on a hit-by-pitch after you walked the bases loaded. Yep, that sounds a lot like the Tigers game last night.
     Here are the two things I think sunk the Tigers: 1. They left TEN guys on base and 2. They were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.
     Also there was the fact that it was a four hour and forty-three minute game that ended at 1:52 a.m. ET. As Tigers reliever Daniel Schlereth said, "We're going to sleep on this and get rid of this game. We'll be back here ready to win tomorrow--er, I'm sorry, later today."      
      I was planning to give the starting pitchers' stats from the game but since  the bullpens' of both teams pitched twelve innings I'll give the bullpen stats: the Indians used six pitchers, who combined for twelve strikeouts in thirteen innings. The Tigers used eight pitchers in twelve innings, allowing only two hits until the 14th inning when David Pauly walked Asdruble Cabrera, gave up a hit to Travis Halfner, intentionally walked Carlos Santana then--on the 439th pitch of the game--hit Kosuke Fukudome to end the game.
     There you have it, a walk-off hit-by-pitch.
     Thanks for reading and go Tigers!!!

Kosuke Fukudome, now an Indian.

Tigers vs. Indians

     Over the next few days I'm going to be writing about the Tigers/Indians games and saying what I think about each game.
     Here's some of the key points in the series:
          1. The Tigers lead the division by four games so even if the Indians sweep the series they will still be one game out of first.
          2. The Tigers play the Indians again on the 19th, 20th and the 21st of August.
          3. Verlander is pitching the third game of the series. I wonder who will win that game.
     In other news around the big leagues, the Pirates have lost nine of their last ten, dropping them to 9.5 games out of the NL Central. Jim Thome is still at 598 homers and A-rod will meet with Major League Baseball to talk about his alleged involvement in high stakes poker...yawwn...
          Thanks for reading and go Tigers!!!
     P.S. I'll bet anyone a piece of bubble gum that Justin Verlander will throw a no-hitter on Thursday. 

The Most Exciting Play in Baseball

Troy Tulowitzki turned a triple play in 2010.

     Ever think about the triple play? Or better yet, the unassisted triple play? You might say oh, triple plays are really rare. Well actually, there have been 666 triple plays recorded by Major League Baseball but only thirteen of those have been unassisted (Troy Tulowitzki's being the last.) So when you think about it, the triple play is rare, but the unassisted triple play is almost nonexistent: only thirteen in 135 years of professional baseball.
     Also on the topic of rare baseball plays, the inside-the-park home run. How rare?  Well it has happened 975 times (out of 154,483 home runs from  1951 to 2000), so about one in every 158 home runs is an inside the park homer.  Tony Campana of the Cubs hit the most recent one.
     I say those two plays are two of the most exciting plays in baseball.

     This weekend's battle for first in the AL East ended with the Red Sox on top, up by one game after winning 3-2 in ten innings last night.  To me this race isn't as important as it might be because whichever team doesn't win the division will probably win the wild card by about seven games.  But I still want the Red Sox to win the East, and then I want the Tigers to beat them after winning the Central.  

     Thanks for reading, and go Tigers!

Tony Campana

Weaver Shmeaver

     I'm not sure if any of you heard about the Justin Verlander vs. Jered Weaver matchup last Sunday or not, but if not then I will provide the details. In a supposedly potential Cy Young award winner and runner- up matchup, Verlander pitched well.  In other words, Verlander pitched like Verlander and Weaver pitched like Weaver except for two pitches: one to Magglio Ordoñez and one to Carlos Guillen.  Both were hit for home runs, the big blow being Guillen's homer. Weaver thought Guillen watched it a little too long and then flipped the bat away pretty arrogantly. After the home run it didn't seem like Weaver was too mad, but unfortunately for the next batter (Alex Avila), he was. On the first pitch Weaver (as my brother likes to say) "buzzed him" and was thrown out of the game. Now there's enough excitement for a whole game but meanwhile Verlander had a no-hitter going! Only when it was broken up in the eighth by a Peter Bourjos two-run single did the crowd realize how close Verlander had come to his second no-no of the year.
     Final Score: Tigers 3, Angels 2.  
     After the game, Weaver was suspended for six games by Major League Baseball.
     This weekend promises more interesting baseball as the Yankees and Red Sox battle for first place in the AL East, the first-place Tigers play division rival Cleveland, the Phillies play the Giants in what could be a preview of the NLCS, and the Pirates try to stop their eight game slide, which has them playing under .500 ball.
     On another topic, I would like to wish my brother True the best of luck in his upcoming season, which begins Monday.  Throw strikes, True!!!
     And finally, please write in your opinion on the following question: What is the most exciting play in baseball?  Many say the triple, but I have a different answer, to be revealed a different day.

My brother.

 

The Trade Deadline

Koji Uehara

     
     The trade deadline. 
     A time of winners and losers. A time of hope and despair. A time when some teams' months of sports philosophy get picked apart in three seconds by a twelve year old...which is exactly what I'm about to do.
     Let's start with the Ubaldo Jimenez trade. When I first heard about the trade I immediately saw three bad things: 1. Ubaldo Jimenez has a LOSING record since the 2010 All-Star break. 2. Cleveland traded their top two prospects, Drew Pomeranz and Alex White. 3. The Indians traded five players (five!!!) to the Rockies for one Ubaldo Jimenez. Five players for one. Seriously, Chris Antonetti? What were you thinking? Another loser of the trade deadline is the Cubs but I'm not going to say why because my brother would smack me and cuz' my mom's a Cubs fan. 
     Ed Wade, general manager of the Astros, failed because of the lack of quality he got for Pence and Bourn, players I think should have gotten someone like Heath Bell or Derek Lee.  Way to go Ed Wade, you made a terrible team worse.  Congratulations. 

Hunter Pence.

     Another loser: the Yanks. You might say, "Well, they didn't trade anyone away" but see that's the thing, they needed another arm.  The best starting pitchers they have ( other than CC Sabathia) are Bartolo Colon and Freddie Garcia and those guys are like, ancient. They ought to hope the better hitters in the American league retire or something if they're gonna win the east division. I also think the Angels and the White Sox made the wrong move and didn't get anyone  because they both are good teams, but they both have good teams ahead of them in their separate divisions. I think these teams are one good bat or arm away from winning their division. Now let's move on to the trade I think will make the most difference down the stretch. That trade was the Rangers getting Mike Adams (48.2 IP, 1.13 ERA, and a 1:41 walk to strike out ratio) from the Padres and Koji Uehara (48.0 IP, 1.69 ERA and a superhuman 1:56 walk to strike out ratio) from the Orioles are a major improvement for a Rangers bullpen that has lost 19 games this year.
     Thanks for reading, and go Tigers!