tiger's weekly

[september 15, 2003]

tiger's weekly

Hickory dickory dock, not much time left on the clock.
The Tigers are headed into the ninth inning of the
baseball season, and unfortunately there is no dime
rule. They now face difficult odds in making it to 43
wins, thus avoiding the 120 loss mark. They are going
to need five wins in their final thirteen games to
avoid infamy. Tonight they begin their last series
against teams that are out of the pennant races
(Toronto) but then they finish with Minnesota and KC.
If we get lucky, KC could be all but out of it by the
next time we see them and we'll get a little bit of
relief. With the Twins, though, it appears that they
are going to go right down to the wire with the Sox.
At least the Tigers have some say in who goes to the
playoffs.

***Campus Comments Announcement***

College football has started and Chas Claus will be
back at it publishing Campus Comments, a weekly
newsletter pertaining to NCAA football.   Campus
Comments is a fantastic read, and it was my
inspiration for Tigers Weekly (I guess I didn't
realize that the six month season would be so long).
Anyways, if you are a fan of college football and are
interested in reading/contributing to a newsletter on
the subject with a strong local flavor, let Chas know
by sending him an e-mail at chas79@hotmail.com.
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Week of 9/9 - 9/15

Record: 1-6 LLLWLLL

Undy Five Hundy: Big wheel keep on turnin...the
Tigers they aren't learnin. The index contiues its
"The Price Is Right's 'Cliff Hanger'" ascent and the
Tigers are almost toppiling off the edge of the
mountain. The index is at 73, but the only number we
need to to worry about now is 5. Just win, baby!

Dunn vs. the Tigers...

Adam Dunn 27 HR's
Tigers     38 Wins

Well the pollsters are calling this one for the Tigers
with 90% certainty. With Dunn sitting on 27 HR's and
the DL, it appears more than unlikely that he'll come
off and post 12 dingers in two weeks. Well, this
means that the ESPN analysts were WRONG about MY BOYS
the Tigers! UH, UH! Never underestimate D-Town.

Up Next for the Tigers...
September 16-18 Toronto
September 19-21 @Minnesota
September 22-24 @Kansas City

News and Notes... This just in: The Tigers are bad.

+++ All Standings as of Tuesday morning. +++

AL Central Standings
MIN 81 69 -
CWS 80 69 0.5
KCR 77 72 3.5
CLE 65 86 16.5
DET 38 111 42.5

AL Division Leaders: New York, Minnesota, Oakland
AL Wild Card Standings... (games back in division)
BOS -    (5.5)
SEA 1.5 (4.5)

NL Division Leaders: Atlanta, Houston, San Francisco
NL Wild Card Standings... (games back if relevant)
FLA -
PHI 1.5
LAD 2.5
CHC 3.5 (1.5)
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Tiger of the Week...
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Tiger of the Week is Mike Maroth. After losing his
20th game in Toronto last week, he bounced back with
six innings of scoreless ball in the Tigers 3-0 win
over Kansas City. You've got to give the guy credit
for continuing to go out there when he knows he's
probably going to lose. He got the run support (which
wasn't sorely needed this time) and the trio of
Anderson, Walker, and Rodney closed out the game for
him. This guy could be a great pitcher in a couple of
years. Right now he's not quite there. True, he
doesn't get the run support, but even Dave Burba,
worst starting pitcher ever, can post a 5.55 ERA.
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Poll Question...
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Which do you find more exciting in September; NFL or
MLB? How about in October?
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Game Linescores...
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September 9: Detroit 2 - New York Yankees 4
Starters: DET: Robertson 6IP - NYY: Contreras 4.2IP
DET 000 020 000 2 8 0
NYY 200 000 02X 4 8 0
W: White (1-0)
L: Rodney (0-3)
S: Rivera (34)

September 10: Detroit 5 - New York Yankees 15
Starters: DET: Knotts 3.1IP - NYY: Pettitte 6IP
DET 004 000 001   5 5 2
NYY 410 500 14X 15 12 2
W: Pettitte (18-8)
L: Knotts   (3-6)

September 11: Detroit 2 - New York Yankees 5
Starters: DET: Cornejo 8IP - NYY: Clemens 6.2IP
DET 001 100 000 2 8 1
NYY 100 300 01X 5 11 0
W: Clemens (14-9)
L: Cornejo (6-15)
S: Rivera (35)

September 12: Kansas City 0 - Detroit 3
Starters: KCR: Abbott 6IP - DET: Maroth 6IP
KCR 000 000 000 0 6 0
DET 100 020 00X 3 9 1
W: Maroth (7-20)
L: Abbott (1-1)
S: Rodney (2)

September 13: Kansas City 7 - Detroit 0
Starters: KCR: Wright 9IP - DET: Mears 4.1IP
KCR 200 020 102 7 12 0
DET 000 000 000 0 7 0
W: Wright (1-1)
L: Mears (0-3)

September 14: Kansas City 7 - Detroit 2
Starters: KCR: Gobble 7IP - DET: Robertson 2.1IP
KCR 115 000 000 7 11 1
DET 000 011 000 2 5 2
W: Gobble    (4-4)
L: Robertson (1-1)

September 15: Kansas City 10 - Detroit 4
Starters: KCR: Anderson 6IP - DET: Knotts 2.2IP
KCR 004 010 104 10 13 0
DET 002 020 000   4 10 0
W: Anderson (12-11)
L: Knotts   (3-7)
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Readers Write In...
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Steve "Sax" Sprague

I think that Ilitch should offer every fan who goes
the choice between their money back for their ticket
to the game they attend, or a voucher for a free
ticket to either a Red Wings game, or a game next
year. In any other business the customer is rewarded
their money back when they receive a sub-par product,
Ilitch should follow this precedent with the Tigers.

On a happier note, the Cubs are currently tied with
the Astros for first place. I'd have to give the
advantage to the Cubs though as the Astros have the
tougher schedule the rest of the way, playing six
games against St Louis, and three against San
Francisco. The Cubs finish up with a bunch of games
against Montreal, the Mets, Pitt and Cinci.

I'm out, better luck next year Tigs.

Steve Sprague
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Nick "Phony ID" Ciofani

For fan appreciation night they could give everyone in
the stands $10 in chips at the MGM Grand Casino!
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Matt "the Sham" Schramm

Tool,

Hey... I wanted to give you some props for sticking
with the weekly in what have become the usual dark
days of September for the Tigers fan. I went with my
buddy Eric up to Yankee stadium last Tuesday, the 9th,
to see our boys (almost) hand it to the Bronx Bombers.
They did, however, manage to not shoot themselves in
the foot until about the 8th inning,
so it was kind of a moral victory. Joe Torre ignored
my chanting pleas for him to bring in Jeff Weaver to
face the Tigers. Unfortunately, Torre didn't, so our
boys didn't have the chance to further embarrass the
bum. I never thought the trade for Pena would be a
good deal... Now, I hate the Yankees as much as
anyone, but the right field bleachers are an
experience. At the start of the game, the fans chant
the name of each Yankee starter, who turns to the
bleachers and acknowledges them with a wave of the
glove. That was, of course, followed with a chorus of
"Box Seats Suck," which I thought was even cooler.
Note: If you ever go to Yankee Stadium, know that if
you go cheap and buy bleacher seats, you are not
allowed in any other part of the stadium. Separate
entrances and everything. And the 4 Train, which is
above ground at that point, rumbles behind your seats.
A nice touch, if you ask me. Anyway, I did wear my
Tigers hat and manage not to be attacked, but I
suspect it would have gotten ugly had the Yankees not
pulled it out.

That's about it from Jersey, Matt. Would you do me a
favor and make sure Chas has me on his campus comments
list? I tried to email him, but I haven't gotten
anything. Peace,
schramm
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Toolie's Trashtalk...

Well I hope that you hadn't given up on me (those of
you that are actually reading this). I may be two
days late, but the job is getting done. Thanks to Nic
"Bowling Shoe" Gilbert for bugging me that the Weekly
was late.

The Tigers continue to flounder and now it looks
pretty likely that they'll make the 120 loss mark.
They are going to need a fantastic surge against two
Central teams that have owned them all season, and are
in a dogfight for the division. KC is kind of falling
off the pace right now, but you know that Pena won't
let them quit until they are mathematically out of
it...and even then he may want to take out his
agressions on the Tigs.

I've been looking for the movie classic, "Tiger Town"
at the local Family Video, but it's not there. How
can a Michigan video store afford NOT to have this
film? My only explanation is that it was in such high
demand that customers were getting into fights over
the last copy. Hopefully some day that movie will
come back into my life...or the Tigers can get good
again. I wonder which will happen first.

The Tigers spent September 11 in New York City,
dropping a game to the Yankees. Of course, I didn't
get to see the game, but it must have been cool to be
in New York on that day. Funny, I knew that it was
September 11 when the day was going on, but there
wasn't anything special happening around the town to
remind me. Had I been less with it, I probably would
have missed the whole thing. Looks like the effects
are wearing off, even after just two years. Sad.

In the category of "quality over quantity," I have to
give some praise to fellow 2002 Hillsdale grad,
Jonathan Nikkila, who had an article published in the
Detroit Free Press. He was journalism guy, so I
guess he actually knows something about writing a
story. It was a fun read.

http://www.freep.com/sports/tigers/mets16_20030916.htm

Nice to hear from Schramm. I still say you got the
best of that English lady on Weakest Link. She has a
hard time holding her own when someone with some
intelligence gets up there. Lucky for her, that's not
very often. One thing that I am very weak on, in the
baseball department, is stadium experience. I have
only been to Wrigley, Comerica, and Tiger Stadium. I
was supposed to go to see the Tigers at Yankee Stadium
when I was ten, but the game didn't happen. So
instead I got to meet Mickey Mantle. I guess I'm
happy with that, since I can always go to Yankee
Stadium, but the Mick...well, time's up for him. I
heard the thing about the bleacher chanting a couple
of years in the playoffs and being jealous that it was
Yankee fans doing that and not Tiger fans. I bet it
is a tremendous experience. But not everyone enjoys
their trips to Yankee stadium (ask Grandma
Bottinelli).

Ciofani wins the contest for best fan appreciation
idea. Oh yeah, I discussed the Soaring Eagle, Vegas,
and gambling stories with my students today. It was
awesome.

Well that does it for me. Two issues to go and I can
say that I made it! Thanks to all of you who have
stuck it out with me. Right now I'm feeling like I
wont' do this next year, but I'm sure by the time
pitchers and catchers are reporting, I'll be
brainstorming for the first week.

Like the Astros in the playoffs, I'm out.

Toolie
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