Skip's Tigers Blog

In the year 2008, many happily enjoy hoagies well into the next arena; 

The storm brews in the west. Hurtling white missles will leave many from the east in tears;

The past victors of eighty-eight dodge laboriously past the awakened, formidable bear;

While the new ones fall; triumphant are them who stand tall in the windy city! 

 The above Skipstradamus quatrain was recently found in a cave in a small Spanish town. It’s authenticity has not yet been verified, but the predictions contained within were too important to be witheld from the baseball public!

As you can see by looking at yesterday’s post, my mad skills at predicting game outcomes leave much to be desired! 

Here’s how we’re shaping up…

OCTOBER 1, 2008

• Phillies beat the Brewers 3 – 1   PHI leads series   1 – 0
• Dodgers over Cubbies  7 – 2      LAD leads series   1 – 0
• Boston beat LAA 4 – 1              BOS leads series  1 – 0              

With the exception of the Boston victory, I’m on track!  I did say that LAA would sweep the BoSox… OK, so that won’t happen, but I still see a Los Angeles 2nd Round!

I know the Boston fans think I’m a crackpot! Maybe!

As of this writing, two games have already been played today. I won’t add those in just yet as the third game, LAD/CHC is just getting underway.

~Skipstradamus

The White Sox and the Twins have a one game playoff tonight to determine who’ll take the Central.

The pitching match-up is Nick Blackburn (11 – 10  4.14 ERA  1.37 WHIP) for the Twins and John Danks (11 – 9  3.47 ERA  1.25 WHIP) for Chicago.

Look for a Chicago White Sox win tonight! The ChiSox have a bit of an edge coming off of the victory yesterday. Minnesota will be tired from the flight. Chicago is once again picking up steam!

They are fired up!

HONORS AND EXTENSIONS

Miguel Cabrera picked up the AL home run title. He’s the first Tiger since Cecil Fielder in 1990 to lead the league in home runs! He had 37!

Congrats to Cliff Lee and Brad Lidge. Both players received Comeback Player of the Year honors! Lee was Cleveland’s first 20-game winner since Gaylord Perry in 1974. Lidge was a perfect 41-for-41 in save opportunities as the NL East champion Philadelphia Phillies closer.

Lou Pinella’s option for 2010 was picked up by the Cubs.

And finally, Brian Cashman and the Yankees have agreed to a contract that’ll keep the GM with New York through 2011.

~Skip

Well, the season is fast coming to a close! Last night I got to the ballpark at 5. I wanted to see BP and soak up as much as I could before the end of the night! When I got to the park, I bought my scorecard. It’s fan appreciation weekend and there were a lot of opportunities to buy some player used items, like game used jerseys, bats, autographed balls, etc. The only things I grabbed were two programs for 5 bucks! One was the Inaugral Day at Comerica Park… April 11, 2000. The other was the 2005 All Star Game program. That game, of course, was held at Comerica Park. Afterwards, I bought a few 50/50 tickets to help out The Detroit Tigers Foundation. Then, I was off for a “Walk-Thru…”

First stop… the visiting Tampa Bay Rays dugout to watch The Rays on the field. Inside the dugout Joe Maddon was being interviewd by a televison reporter.

The Rays were hoping to win in order to clinch the AL East. The Tiger’s had different plans for them though. 
 

 From there I wandered over to the Detroit dugout…

The fans were few. Usually, it’s jam packed with folks trying to get a glimpse of their favorite Tiger.

From there it was time to get a beer and a dog and go to my seat to fill out the starting line-up.

The seats were in the Tiger’s Terrace along the third base side. These seats are cushioned and give you lots of room for your legs and feet. My buddy Rob got the tickets and graciously gave me one. Thanks Rob! 

Here’s Rob helping out a guy who had gone to the bathroom and wanted to know what he had missed!

It was a perfect night for a ballgame. Gary Sheffield hit home runs 498 and 499. Justin Verlander pitched well. 5IP 4H 2ER 3BB 8SO and… the Tigers went on to win the game 6 – 4!

I got a call from Rob today. He was able to get a hold of two tickets to Sunday’s season finale. So… the last game of 2008 will be my last game as well! 

~Skip

And, that he did a number of times!

Todd Jones announced today that he plans to retire at the end of this season. After sixteen season’s in the big’s, he’s calling it quits. He made the announcement in a column he writes for The Sporting News.

Here’s a part of what he wrote…

“If you’re a Tigers fan, I’ll never stress you out again. If you’re not a Tigers fan, you’ll never have me as your ace in the hole, convinced I’ll blow a lead against your team.”

I kind of feel bad for him.

There’s no doubt that “Roller Coaster Jones” gave us some rather stressful ninth innings. He always seemed to be able to get the first two outs with ease and then after that, well, we never knew exactly how it would end.

There’s no doubt in my mind that when he came out of the bullpen –  after throwing that water bottle to the wayside – he was convinced he could do the job!  Many times he did! He saved 37 games in 2006 and 38 in 2007. He’s the Tigers career leader in saves with 235.

I was at Comerica Park on the night of August 15. We played the Orioles that night and lost 11-2. Jones came in to replace Casey Fossum. It was nothing short of a disaster. Although, it wasn’t entirely his fault. A Cabrera error and a Polanco error didn’t do us any favors. Jonesy barely made it through 2/3 of the inning, though. He lowered his head as he walked off the field. Halfway to the dugout, the boo-birds let him have it.

I felt as if it was the last time I’d see him in a ballgame.

As it turns out, I was right.

DODGERS

Well, as of right now the Tigers are losing to the Royals in the middle of the seventh, 9-0.

I can’t watch this anymore.

Sooo, the Dodgers are playing tonight at 10:10ET.

They play the Padres.

Joe Torre is sending Clayton Kershaw out to face Shawn Estes.

The Dodgers magic number is down to 3 in the NL West. 

I’ll watch that! 

~Skip  

Detroit Tiger’s first baseman, Miguel Cabrera, has been nominated for Major League Baseball’s Hank Aaron Award. Miggy has certainly come around since first coming over to the Tigers this season. Currently, he has a .294 batting average, 36 home runs and he’s driven in 125 runs!

Congratulations on the nomination. I’ve made my vote for you!

The Tigers are hoping to bring a stop to the current 5 game skid. It’s game 2 at Comerica Park tonight against The Royals. Freddy Garcia gets his second nod for the Tigers this season.

Hopefully, it will be as impressive as his first.

KC will be sending Zach Greinke to the hill.

This was to be the last game of the season for me, but I sold my tickets to a friend who’s originally from Kansas City. She hadn’t seen her Royals play yet this year. So, I was glad to be able to spread some good ol’ baseball cheer!

NOW my final game of the season will be Friday night to see the Rays.

~Skip