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.