response 1 of 71:

Aug 17 19:27 UTC 2006

Well, we'll see how they respond with Polanco out.  (I haven't heard how long
he'll be on the DL.)  I'm hoping that they win at least 100 games.  I
personally would like to see them win 105+ games, to overtake the 1984 team.
But I have doubts now that they can accomplish that.

response 3 of 71:

Aug 17 22:22 UTC 2006

Polanco is the best contact hitter on the team, but he's hardly
unreplaceable.  Omar Infante is a very good young player.  He has more
power than Polanco, and in many ways is a better hitter.  I am looking
forward to seeing him get some more innings.  

All year, this team has responded well to their moments of adversity,
few though those have been.  I think they will do so again.  When Maroth
went down, Zach Miner stepped right in.  When Dmitri Young was on the DL
for several months, Chris Shelton started out with a superstar season. 
By the time he faded hopelesly, Young came back and has been strong. 
*And* Sean Casey has done well, too.  The Tigers got him for a not very
promising Double-A player.  

response 5 of 71:

Aug 18 02:41 UTC 2006

I was talking to someone from KC not too long ago and we reminisced about 
the 84 Tigers. Back then KC was about the only team that played the Tigers 
tough every game. Not like this year.

response 7 of 71:

Aug 18 18:22 UTC 2006

I've heard he'll be out 8 weeks probably, which would put him past the end
of the season, but I suppose he could return for the World Series. =)

response 9 of 71:

Aug 19 00:19 UTC 2006

Caught a bit of the Thursday game on WXYT and the broadcaster was saying
that Zumaya's fastballs were measuring over 100 mph, which the broadcaster
was claiming was nearly impossible for anyone to hit.

response 11 of 71:

Aug 19 01:41 UTC 2006

Tigers wasted a good pitching performance tonight by failing to hit.  They
also wasted a leadoff triple in the 9th by Craig Monroe but couldn't score
him.  Young, Ordonez, and Guillen *ALL* grounded out. :(

2-1 Texas

Good outing by Miner.. he went 6 strong, gave up 2 runs, then the bullpen came
in and kept the rangers off the bases for the remaining 3 innings.

response 13 of 71:

Aug 19 13:35 UTC 2006

I don't agree with you at all.  3/4 of major league hitters CANNOT hit a 100
mph fastball consistently, even if they know it's coming.

*MOST* of Verlander's fastballs run in the mid 90s.

I remember Matt Anderson, who was all hype but *NEVER* did anything really
worthwhile in the majors.  With the exception of 2001, his strikeouts to walks
ratio was never great, and batters pretty close to one hit per inning off him.
Zumaya is having a better year this year than Matt Anderson *EVER* did.

Anderson was also a reliever for his entire minor league career.  HE was
fragile to start with.  Zumaya is much more durable, and was a starter for
all but one game in his minor league career, starting 77 of 78 appearances.

Zumaya's fastball has more LIFE than Anderson's fastball, and Zumaya has at
least some confidence in his curve ball.  But he knows where his bread and
butter is.

You say 3/4 of major league hitters can hit a fastball - that's true.  But
3/4 of them can't hit a 100mph fastball with life consistently - or even some
of the time.  "occassionally" maybe.  The other 1/4 can't hit him at all.

Zumaya threw that 2-0 pitch and everyone in the ballpark - including the
batter - knew it was gonna be a fastball.  They just can't get the wood on
it.

There's a reason batters are only hitting .165 against him.

response 15 of 71:

Aug 20 15:58 UTC 2006

He has other pitches which he only used 6 out of 26 times the other night as
you said :)

I'll concede that 3/4 of major league hitters can get their bat on a 100mph
fastball - even if they know it's coming.

I'm just arguing that MOST of the time when facing Zumaya, those bat-on-ball
scenarios are simply *NOT* hits.

--
Tigers lost a tough one last night, in which an error by Infante led to two
unearned runs, giving Texas the 3-1 win 

Texas scored 3 runs on only 2 hits.  That's right, Robertson allows only 2
hits through 8 innings, and that's all the hits they got.  Painful.

They'd better win today.  Chicago won yesterday and is back to 5.5 games
behind.  Detroit is only 3-7 in their last 10.

response 17 of 71:

Aug 21 12:35 UTC 2006

I looked up the word "fading" in the dictionary today and saw that it's
actually a synonym for "Boston Red Sox"

The Red Sox are on the verge of being swept in a 5 game series, and could fall
to 7 games back in the loss column if they lose again Today, or move up to
5 games back in the loss column if they win.  Either way the prospects aren't
good for the Red Sox.

They're also 4 games behind Chicago and games behind Minnesota in the wild
card race.

response 19 of 71:

Aug 21 21:02 UTC 2006

The Yankees completed a 5 game sweep of Boston today, beating the Red
Sox 2-1.

The Yankees are now the #2 team in the American League; 3.5 games in
back of Detroit.  

response 21 of 71:

Aug 22 14:22 UTC 2006

It hasn't been mentioned yet but the Tigers acquired Neifi Perez from the Cubs
in exchange for Lakeland catcher Chris Robinson, whom the Cubs GM referred
to as an "oustanding defensive catcher".
--
Andrew Miller made his professional debut at Class A Lakeland the other day.
He pitched one inning, gave up no hits, no walks, struck out two, and hit a
batter.

response 23 of 71:

Aug 22 18:38 UTC 2006

The Tigers won't beat the White Sox the last 6 games of their head to head.
If they can play the even at this point, that would be satisfactory for me.
This 4-game series at home, if they come out of it 2-2, that would be
satisfactory.  3-1 would be better, of course, and 4-0 would be delightful
but highly unlikely.

With a record of 80-45 at this point, all the Tigers need to do to reach 100
wins is go 20-17, which is just a bit over .500, and entirely achieveable.