Live Blog: Game 4

Jeremy Bonderman vs. Jaret Wright. The Tigers don't want go back to Yankee Stadium to face Wang. The Yankees don't want to go home for the year. This game scares the hell out of me. The match-up seems to favor the Tigers, and that's what bothers me. This takes me back to the last weekend of the season. All they needed was one win, and couldn't get it against Kansas City. But that Tigers team hasn't been the one that's taken the field the first three games this offseason. The entire pitching staff has stepped up, it's now Bonderman's turn.

Pre-Game:
Kevin Kennedy said Kenny Rogers pitched better yesterday than he did during a his perfect game, paging Joe Morgan. Padres look like they're going to stave off elimination with a win in game 3. Is it just me of does Jeanne Zelasko look like she's spilled cookie crumbs down the front of her. Looks like Fox is getting all of the "New York World Series" taped features out of the way...just in case. R.I.P. Buck O'Neil. Maybe now he'll get in to the Hall of Fame, where he always belonged. IT'S GAME TIME!!!!!!
Top 1st:
Tim McCarver and Joe Buck will have to fellate the Yankees somewhere else other than the airwaves of Fox today. A-Rod batting 8th, no HGHiambi. One up one down. And another one goes. The series was just compared to Average Joe's vs. GloboGym...simply awesome, Josh Lewin. 7 pitches, 3 outs for Bonderman.
Bottom 1st:
Rust belt Cinderella, that finished two games back of GloboGym. Cano fields a line drive, two down. Casey ends the inning. 9 pitches for Wright. 0-0 after 1.
Top 2nd:
and the WHIFF! Bonderman K's the unSwedish Shef. Bonderman is on so far. Another 1-2-3 inning.
Bottom 2nd:
Magglio Ordonez is JACKIN IT!!!!! Fear the Mullet, 1-0 Tigers. Pudge works a 0-2 count into a walk. Yes Pudge drew a walk, today could be a good day. C-MOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3-0 Tigers. And there's action in the Yankees bullpen. Shattered bat single for Thames. A-Rod look like he's wearing those sunglasses old people wear over their bi-focals. And Joey Blueskies reference from Levin, I have a new favorite play-by-play guy. A Granderson lineout ends the inning. Another 3 run second for the Tigers at home.
Top 3:
Nice catch Monroe. Yet another first pitch swing by this supposed patient Yankee lineup. 9 up, 9 down. To the bottom of the 3rd.
Bottom 3rd:
Polanco pops out, here comes the Mayor. Same result as Polanco, pop out to Melky. E-Rod, Magglio safe at first. MVP Guillen, bloops one over Cano, Maggs to third. Pudge with a base hit up the middle, nice hustle by Guillen gets him to third. Tigers take advantage of a Yankee error with two out yet again and score a run. Jaret Wright's day is over, Cory Lidle is in. He strikes out C-Mo to end the inning. 4-0 Tigers.
Top 4th:
Wicked, Wicked slider by Bondo get Jeter swinging. 2 down. Abreu hit like 500 home runs at the CoPa during the Home Run Derby two years ago, I don't think he's gotten one out of the infield yet, he pops one out to Guillen to end the inning.
Bottom 4th:
Lidle gets two quick outs. And Granderson ends it with a fly out to Damon. Still 4-0 Tigers.
Top 5th:
And the shadows set in over the plat. Undaunted Sheffield sends one deep, for a long strike, and then promptly whiffs. Another first pitch swing and out, two down. Cleats, Twinkies, and Marlboro's the secret to Leyland's success. Bondo whiffs another one. 39 pitches 7 balls through 5.
Bottom 5th:
Polanco starts it out with an infield hit. Textbook Mayor with a hit through the hole and into right field. Polanco runs his ass off to third. Runners on the corners nobody out. Base hit Maggs, 5-0 Tigers. Guillen doubles, 6-0 with runners at 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Lidle's day is done. They have the Yankees knocked down, time to step on their throats. Fat Boy Bruney is in. Pudge hits it to shallow center, but Damon has a baby arm so it's a sac fly for Pudge, and back to the bullpen for the Yanks down by a touchdown. Proctor is in, where's Lt. Harris? He gets Thames looking, end of the inning, 7-0 Tigers.
Top 6th:
22 minutes sitting in the dugout and bang, first pitch strike for Bondo. And there goes to no-no. Strangely enough Cano, who broke up a no-no bid by Daniel Cabrera late in the year, gets the hit here. Hey A-Rod reached base, good for him. Two near double plays, but the inning's still going. Not anymore, Damon grounds out to end the inning.
Bottom 6th:
2 Down. Polanco is a stone cold pimp, he picks up the 10th hit of the night for the Tigers. Casey follws with the 11th a double down the line that brings in Polanco. Maggs pops out to end the inning. 8-0 tigers.
Top 7th:
Jeter leads it off with a single. Abreu follows that with a single and there's runner on the corners with nobody out. Walker and Rodney, up in the pen. There goes the shutout. Matsui gets on with a fielder's choice and Jeter scores. 8-1 Tigers. Another hit, this should be Bondo's last batter. And he gets Cano to pop out to Granderson to record the third out.
Bottom 7th:
Another hit for Guillen. His 3rd of the day. Is that Steve Lyons or Paul Lukas in the announcer's booth? Thames to A-rod, who throws him out to end the inning. 8-1 Tigers after 7.
Top 8th:
Bondo's still out there, and he gets A-Rod to fly out to Granderson on the warning track in straightaway center. Damon reaches on a walk but Jeter lines out to end the Yankees half of the 8th.
Bottom 8th:
Hey, Brandon Inge, welcome to October. A hit to lead off the 8th. Farnsworth's in, I wonder if any one's going to get tackled. Sheffield shows why he has never played first before. Drops a sure double play ball, and Polanco is up. And out,Casey follows with a groundout. It looks like Bondo's coming back out for the ninth. 8-1 Tigers after 8.
Top 9th:
3 outs away from the ALCS and the A's. Abreu's singles. CRAIG MONROE!!!! Glove save and a beauty. Bondo leaves to a standing O. 2 outs away. Cowboy Walker in to finish it up. Matsui with deep out to center. One out away. Posada delays the inevitable with a two run shot 8-3. Cano. Ground ball. GAME OVER!!!! 8-3 Tigers.
Post Game:
The sight of Leyland carried off the field on the player's shoulders, and the players coming back out to share the celebration with the fans, was one of the best moments in Detroit sports history. Now if you'll excuse me it's very dusty where I write this and my eyes are watering. Off to get drunk and party like it's 1984 sans burning police cars.

ALCS preview on Monday.

Three is a magic number.

Kenny Rogers will never have to pay for a meal in Detroit again. His performance in game 3 was simply dominating. The stat line speaks for itself

7 2/3 innings, 5 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts. Yankee batters 0-8 with RISP.

But the way he did it was unreal. 8 K's against Murderers Row version 2.0. In the fifth and seventh inning he gave up lead off doubles to Matsui and Posada respectively. In the 5th he struck out Williams and Cano, and got Damon to ground out to short to end the inning with Matsui stranded at second. Great, but he was even better in the seventh. with Posada on second he got Matsui to ground out, which advanced Posada to third with one out. Rogers stuck out Williams (who was hitting .353 with 2HRs career vs. Rogers) again, and then a Cano ground out to end the inning. He came out in the 8th and was breaking 90 mph while nearing his 100th pitch. He was one Jeter foul tip away from striking out the side, ended up walking him, and was pulled for Zumaya after getting Abreu to go down swinging. No inning was longer than four batters.

The first playoff game at Comerica Park, and the first playoff game in Detroit since 1987, had the crowd raucous. I have never heard a better baseball crowd than the one tonight. The upper deck was rocking, literally. You could feel the vibration of the noise making the floor sway a little bit. The crowd was up and cheering every two strike count after the fifth inning. The only other crowd that I have been to that was loud was game 7 of the Pistons-Magic series in 2003. Detroit jumped out to a 20-8 lead and the roof was torn off. Now the mission is to win game 4 so there can be more playoff experiences at the CoPa.

Come back for the Game 4 live blog tomorrow.

The other Ilitch team

Tonight the Red Wings opened the season with a 3-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks. An less than auspicious start to the post-Yzerman era. But the beginning of this season marked another first, my indifference. I didn't realize that the NHL started Wednesday until I read something Tuesday night. I didn't know who the Red Wings were playing tonight until I turned the game on. It's not like I was turned on to hockey as a fad when the new team moved into town. Detroit is an Original Six town, I was born and raised on hockey. I played it, my Dad played it, uncles and cousins played it, it is in my blood. Growing up it was baseball and my Tigers hat in the summer, when fall came it was my Red Wings jersey and hockey. However, the same thing that happened with my love for baseball as a child is happening to hockey right now. It took a few years after the strike to get back into baseball, and it looks like it will take me a couple years to get back into hockey full time. With Ovechkin, Crosby, Malkin, and Kessel, hockey's future looks bright. Hopefully they'll stop trying to "fix" the game so I can start watching again.
Anyways, here's a little preview of the 2006-07 Red Wings

Farewell to:
- The Captain. Next to Gordie Howe, no one in the 80 year history was the team more than Steve Yzerman.
- Brendan Shanahan. a 37 year old slow winger who doesn't produce in the playoffs. Have fun with that New York
- Manny Legace. Nice guy, good goalie, just made the cardinal sin of not being able to bail out an under performing team in the playoffs and was rode out of town.

Hello, Newman:
- Dominik Hasek. His 3rd tour of duty with the Wings, the over-under on when his groin (and/or brain) explodes, December.
- Danny Markov. He is expected to fill the hard hitting, intimidating defenseman role left open by Jiri Fischer.

Forwards: Henrik Zetterberg was just named an assistant captain along with Kris Draper. This will be Zetterberg's team in a few years and he needs to lead by example. This shouldn't be a problem with Pavel Datsuyk feeding him the puck. Robert Lang and Mikael Sameulsson have to step up to fill the goal scoring void created by the departure of Shanahan. Also prospects Jiri Hudler and Tomas Kopecky need to produce as well. They have been stuck down in the minors for the past few years due to the talent overflow. So they should be ready to contribute right away. Tomas Holmstrom and Johan Franzen are big bodies that should plant themselves in front of the net and cause havoc. Jason Williams, and converted defenseman Brad Norton will complete for the 4th "Grind Line" center position between wingers Dan Cleary and Kirk Maltby

Defensemen: New captain Nicklas Lidstrom is simply one of the best to play the game ever. Chris Chelios was, but he'll be struggling fro playing time as the 6th man on the game roster. The aforementioned Markov and Andreas Lilja are there to provide a physical presence. Kronwall needs to take his development as "Nick, Jr." to the near superstar step. Brett Lebda and Mathieu Schnieder round out the D corps as the offensive specialists.

Goalies: Hasek is back, who knows how long he'll play. If he starts to struggle, look for his "groin" to begin acting up like past seasons. Chris Osgood is to goalies is what Trent Dilfer is to Quarterbacks. A guy better suited to be a back-up yet somehow lead a team to a championship. Joey McDonald is up as the 3rd goalie because they can't send him to the minors with the chance of losing him to another team on waivers. He'll only see time if/when Hasek gets hurt.

Overall: Pretty much the same team that had the best regular season record that got knocked out in the first round of the playoffs, but one year older. While that year added experience to guys like Zetterberg, Datsuyk, Lebda, Kronwall, and Williams; it also made Chelios, Schnieder, Maltby and Draper one year slower. The age will catch up to this team, and Nashville has closed the gap, but the do still play Chicago, Columbus, and St. Louis a lot, so that's good enough for the 4 seed. Plus Ken Holland will be in the market to make a trade if need be. The future looks good as well, the farm system is stocked with players such as Valterri Filppula, Jimmy Howard, and Igor Grigorenko. They might not win this year and lose a few more players to age and the salary cap, but they won't have to rebuild, just reload.

Game 2 Revisited

It's all tied up coming back to Detroit. The Tigers must have made a call to Dr. Venkman, because the ghosts of Yankee Stadium had no effect on them today. The old adage of great pitching beats great hitting held true today. Verlander pitched like a grizzled vet. He had problems with finding the strike zone at times, but fought his way out of every jam he was in. All the while hitting 100 mph on the radar gun more frequently than any regular season game than I recall. His only mistake was a fastball to Johnny Damon that landed in the upper deck. Verlander came back, stopped the bleeding, and kept another big inning for happening for the Yankees. Then the bullpen shut it down allowing only one hit after Verlander left. While on the offensive side of things Marcus Thames seems to have made this series a personal vendetta against the organization that had him in the minors so many years. I'd be pissed too if I had to spend that much time in Columbus. Guillen is playing like a team MVP should, and Curtis Granderson seems to have snapped out of his post all-star nose dive as well. All in all the Tigers leave New York with 20 hits in the two games against the Yankees best two pitchers. The biggest thing is that they never showed fear. Trailing by two they just kept chipping away and played like the team that was 40 games about .500 at one point this year. Now, instead of being for staving off elimination as previously thought, the home games for the Tigers could help them advance to the second round. But, let's not get ahead of ourselves. This was just one game, putting everything is back to square one. It's now a best of three game series with Detroit having home field advantage. The Tigers have to go out and play just as well here, if not better, than they played in Detroit. It's nerve racking, exhilarating, and sometimes painful to watch. But playoff baseball is something that has been sorely missed, and something that Detroit would love to get accustomed too.

Game 2 Hero: Todd Jones, and the rest of the bullpen. (0 runs, 1 hit, 4 k) A Todd Jones appearance is defined by his ability to throw strikes. After Matsui reached, the next three batter were sent down in order all after falling behind to first pitch strikes. Jones took all the abuse for a few bad games earlier this year. His gets my kudos for slamming the door in a huge game today.

Goat: It would be so easy to single out A-Rod, so why fight the urge. 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts and stranding 3 men on base will not win you any favors in Kansas City, let alone New York.

No live blog for Game 3, I will be there in the flesh. Recap late tomorrow night unless I get sloshed.

Live Blog: Game 2 Electric Boogaloo

So apparently Joe Morgan will be doing the game tonight. The one person that makes me long for Rod Allen. Maybe he'll be winded from the Mets-Dodgers game earlier in the day. Why couldn't they convince Vin Scully to do the double duty?
Pregame: That Travelodge bear creeps me out. Joe Morgan looks like he has wicked glaucoma, that explains sooo much. Yeah you can't stop the Yankees, right Daniel Cabrera? And there's a going to be a weather delay. They show Joe Morgan in his travel from Shea to the Bronx, Joe studying, Joe Morgan's "notes" were written in crayon. Oh good they're nailing down the tarp into the field, that's always a good sign. Well this game isn't starting anytime soon. I'll crank it back up when it does. 10:00 first pitch...this is going to be a long night. Scratch that game cancelled. Rescheduled for tomorrow afternoon. So this is the end of the live blog adventure. I will be trapped in a cubicle for the game tomorrow. so I guess I'll have a post-mortem and a little something about the NHL starting back up.

Live Blog: Game 1

Pregame: No one outside of Detroit, even inside of Detroit, is giving the Tigers much of a chance. so I'll leave it at that, and hope I'm not pulling a T.O. by the 3rd inning
Pre-Game: Audioslave song to open things up...well it beats Rob Thomas. And the series you'll end up hating before one episode even airs is..."Justice". I have the T.V. on mute but I think butJoe Buck is saying, "Hello, I'm Joe Buck and I think my own farts smell delicious. Tim McCarver is down in the Yankee dugout sucking Jeter's "intangibles". I don't know I'm not good at lipreading. IT'S GAME TIME!
Top of the 1st: Well at least Granderson didn't strike out. Polanco grounds out, I sense a recurring theme. Wang gets Casey to ground out to end the inning. I'm not impressed anyone can get Casey to ground out.
Bottom 1st: Unfrozen Caveman Outfielder with the groundout. Jeter with a little single over Guillen's head. Let the fellatio of Jeter begin. Big League Nate jams Abreu, Jeter out at 2nd. It's deep, It's out. End of 1, 0-0.
Top 2nd: Yes Tommy, October is the time to root against the Yankees. Maggs with a deep leadoff double. Fear the Mullet. 3-0 to Guillen. Full count. Walked him 2 on no one out. Hit and Run without the hit, Maggs is dead at 3rd. Pudge with a K, Monroe with a groundout, inning over.
Bottom 2nd: Take THAT juicer. A-rod up. Hey Pat Ewing's here, what better good luck charm than a guy who's won nothing. NICE SNAG of a line drive by Polanco. Matsui pops out, 2 down. Posada goes through the middle two on. Thank God Giambi's fat ass won't be able to score on a base hit...in theory. Nice pitch by Nate, Cano is jammed and the Tigers are out of the inning. End of 2, 0-0.
Top 3rd: former Yankee farmhand Marcus Thames with the second leadoff double for the Tigers. Time for some smallball? Inge hits a dribbler to A-rod, Thames stuck at 2nd. Base hit Granderson, runner at the corners with 1 out, and Polanco coming to the plate. Double play, poop. Another wasted opportunity.
Bottom 3rd: UCO simulates one of his throws from the outfield with an "infield single" McCarver said something about guys that squat for a living. I'll be putting it back on mute shortly. Crap, Jeter doubles, and runners on 2nd an 3rd with no outs. Abreu double, 2-0 Yankees. 3-0 with Sheffield bringing in Abreu with a single, please stop the bleeding Nate. Juiceambi goes yard 5-0. I have now soiled myself. A-Rod with a hit, anyone not get a hit yet? Grilli up in the pen. Finally, Matsui makes the first out 2 hours into this inning. Nice catch Maggs. Robs a double from Posada. Cano pops out to Monroe, inning of hell over. 5-0 Yankees.
Top 4th: Tigers need at least a run or two simply to keep myself motivated to keep doing this blog tonight. Casey does not hit a leadoff double. Maggs out on the first pitch. Super. Double for Guillen. Leyland might need one of those other tirades to light a fire under the Tiger's asses right now. Yet another gratuitous celebrity shot, who are they going to show in Detroit? Tim Allen, Jeff Daniels? Pudge swinging for the fences, strikes out. Another runner in scoring position stranded.
Bottom 4th: Way to miss the beginning of the inning Fox, UCO flies out to right. Yet another hit just over the head of an infielder. Next year all 7 footers. Mr Intangible caught in a rundown, 2 out. Inning over, no further damage. Still the Yankees 5-0.
Top 5th: Solo shot by Monroe...baby steps 5-1. Another groundout. Base hit Inge. Now would be a great time to put some hits together. Nope, pop out from Granderson. Polanco brings in Inge with a double 5-2. Casey with a double, 5-3, now we got ourselves a ballgame. Action in the Yankee Bullpen, some fat guy, didn't catch the name. Bruney? Maggs strikes out. Good inning nonetheless. A quick bottom of the 5th would be delightful.
Bottom 5th: Pop up from Sheffield, good start. Doink! Juicer gets plunked again. Delayed called strike 3, sit down A-Rod, good middle. Matsui out, good ending, I get my wish. End of 5, 5-3 Yankees.
Top 6th: Proctor up in the bullpen. Wang likes pasta, what is this the little league world series? I don't give a shit what Wang listens to. 3 groundball outs.
Bottom 6th: What a play by Inge to bail out Robertson's sorry fielding ass, 2 out. Damon sticks out his bat and gets a hit, everything's coming up Milhouse for the Yankees tonight. Grilli and Walker up in the Pen. Jeter's 4for 4 with a double, Damon to 3rd. Crap. Ground ball Polanco can't get it...and he's still down, 2 runs score. 7-3. Not good. Robertson's night is over. Grilli in, pick off thrown away, Abreu to 2nd. Sheffield grounds out to end the inning. 7-3 Yankees and the Tigers need to score some runs in the next inning or it's over.
from Inge. Wang is pulled (Top 7th: Made in TaiwanG that is so gay. But he did just get Thames to whiff, and a groundouthee hee hee), Mike Myers is in, I pray he doesn't pitch on Halloween, Buck and McCarver would force mass suicides with that one. Now's the time to get those runs, before Rivera gets in. Ask and you shall receive Granderson takes it deep. 7-4. New pitcher coming up for the Yankees. Proctor is in, and promptly gives up a hit to an apparently non-injured Polanco. Another hit, runners at the corners for Maggs, make them pay you Venezuelan piece of shit. Sorry channeled Ozzie Guillen there. Pop fly out, though I had flashbacks to a couple years ago with Damon barreling in like that. Need to shut them down in the bottom of the inning and attack the Yankee bullpen before it's too late.
7th inning stretch.
Bottom 7th: Now Walker's in let's hope he doesn't repeat his performance from Friday. If you were going to walk Giambi why not just plunk him again? A-rod lines out, and 0 for 3 Matsui's up, why do I smell a hit? Nope a fielder's choice but nice hustle by Matsui. No wonder the U.S. auto companies are in trouble look at that Japanese work ethic. And he's at 3rd now, after a Posada single. Finally the Yankees leave some runners on the bases. Now the Tigers have Guillen, Pudge and Monroe up. Pretty much a last chance, I don't see the bottom of the order (or any of the order) doing much against Rivera.
Top 8th: Farnsworth's in. It's like Fox is ordering the Yankees to make it closer so people will watch. 4 pitch walk. Keep taking it he throws a strike, then take him deep. 7 pitches later his first strike. Pudge needs to get back on the juice. One out. Damn you Tim McClelland and your late strike calls. Two down. We get it there are people in the stands, I can hear them,
STOP SHOWING THEM AND MISSING ACTION ON THE FIELD!!!!! Fuck me, a pop up and the half of the inning(and more than likely the game) is over.
Bottom 8th: If there was any lingering doubt in my mind about the outcome of this game, Jeter caps his 5 for 5 night with a home run. 8-4.
Top 9th: Last stand. Consider the Tigers lucky if they get one person on base. There's your one, Granderson loops a broken bat single into left. Double play, game blouses. Yankees win 8-4, up in the series 1-0.
Postgame: The Tigers only had two hits less than the Yankees, but 4 less runs. Not to sound like Roy Williams, but the Tigers left at least 4 runs out on the field. The Yankees didn't, they won. The positives I'm taking away from this game, is that if somehow the Tigers get to the starters, they can win. But that, along with actually stopping the Yankees bats is a huge if. Verlander must pitch his ass off tomorrow.
Hero: Jeter did go 5-5 but it was Abreu who brought him in twice. It was his 2 out 2 RBI single in the 6th that put the Yankees back up by 3 and back in the driver's seat in the game.
Goat: Pudge. The one guy on the Tigers that been there before puts up an 0fer. Stop swinging for the fences and start getting base hits, that's what is going to win games.
Another live blog for game 2 tomorrow.

Screw Gum, It's beard time.

Back in 1997, as a lark I tried something to help the Red Wings win the Stanley Cup, that in my previous 17 years could not do. I grew a playoff beard, well the scraggly-ass 17 year old version of one. The day after the regular season ended I stopped shaving, and a after a sweep of Philly in the Finals (clinched on the day I graduated from High School no less) I had a scatter-shot pattern of facial hair, but the Wings were victorious. The next year, I tried the same thing, beard grew in a little better, and got the Red Wings the same result. I decided to test fate in 1999 and the answer was a semifinal loss to the Avalanche. In 2000 I felt it was unfair to use my beard against Ray Bourque even though he did play for Colorado, so I stayed clean shaven and Bourque and the Avs won the cup. Brought it back in 2001, another Red Wing championship. In 2002 I decided so see if the beard's power worked on other sporting teams. So for the Piston playoff run I was as hairy as a lumberjack, and everything was more that OK, an ass-whupping of the Lakers and an NBA title for the Pistons. I decided to retire the beard to save up it's magical powers for the teams that needed it the most...the Tigers and Lions. I swore the next time the beard cam out it would be for one of those teams. Well the razor has been stored away in the medicine cabinet. It's beard time and may God have mercy on the Yankees for they do not know what wrath I have brought down upon them.