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The Tigers are opening a 10-game homestand here tonight against Arizona and judging from the ambient noise in here, everybody in the press box seems to have missed everybody else. A lot of chatter, tonight.
Jim Leyland went off on Jason Beck before the game as Beck, who I think does the best job of covering the Tigers of anybody (he's the beat man for mlb.com) had the temerity, the nerve, to ask about Don Kelly's role with the ballclub now that Brandon Inge is back from the DL and Danny Worth has been sent back down. For the record, it was a perfectly reasonable, baseball-related question to ask a Major League manager. Leyland accused Beck of asking a question designed--and I'm cleaning it up here, a little--to stir up trouble: "Where would you play him? Do you want me to got tell Inge he's not playing?" And so on.
So, since the reporters love it when the manager loses it, that's pretty much all they've been talking about tonight. That and Leyland's comment about Sparky Anderson when yours truly asked him to describe his relationship with Sparky, who is having his number retired here in a ceremony prior to the game Sunday. Leyland said, and I am not making this up, "He was like a fart in a mitten." We were all speechless, pretty much. Somebody had the good sense to ask Leyland to elaborate, and he said, "You know, (I have to tell you, we really didn't) he was always jumping around, always active." All I could think about was how the fart got in the mitten in the first place. Maybe this means I am not a good reporter.
Anyway, between the cursing and the farting, Leyland said what I though was the most amazing thing. He was talking about Al Alburquerque and he said, "He's been a Godsend. You could make a case for him being an All-Star. Without him, we'd be six or seven games worse off than we are." Wow, right?
The other Leyland News today was that he said our new favorite Tiger, Charlie Furbush, the poor rookie relief pitcher who has to carry the gear out the bullpen every night in that cute little pink backpack, might just be better as a starter than a reliever. So, maybe we'll see him in that role later this season.
Kirk Gibson and Alan Trammell are back in town as the Manager and Bench Coach of the D'backs, respectively. So, they'll be here for the Sparky cerimony Sunday. They each held a press conference before the game tonight and we'll talk about what they had to say about Sparky a little later on.
Everybody is wondering why Brennan Boesch isn't in the lineup tonight, but Leyland told us the week before last he wasn't going to answer any more questions about his lineup saying, "I'm not answering any more questions about the lineup! I play the players I think are going to give us the best chance to win!" So, the answer to the question regarding Boesch is that Casper Wells gives the Tigers a better chance to win, tonight. You might have thought Boesch was out because Arizona is starting a lefty and Boesch is a left handed hitter, but if you check the stats, you will see that Boesch is hitting .355 off the lefties this season. So, that can't be the reason.
The Tigers had the two runs in (thanks to a Jhonny Peralta double with the bases loaded), runners on second and third and Alex Avila at the plate when Ron Cameron couldn't help himself. He said "(Arizona Starter) Zach Duke is hitable. And they are hitting him tonight." As soon as I heard that, I turned to the guy sitting next to me and I said, "I'll be you this guy doesn't give up another hit for, like, six and two-thirds." Avila, for the record, took a called third and the Tigers were out in order in the second. I remember back in April Eric Bedard was starting for Seattle and Cameron eyeballed Bedard's numbers, a high ERA couple with a low number of wins, and proclaimed it to be "gaurenteed win night" for the Tigers. I don't recall if Bedard actually shut the Tigers out that night, but I do remember Seattle's victory in the game was decisive, and that's being kind. Bedard broke their bats in half.
But, maybe that won't happen tonight. Casper Wells and Magglio Ordonez (no, I have not forgotten that I had him relegated to the minors in this space a couple of nights ago) each doubled to start the third and it's 3-0 and there is stirring in the D'backs pen.
Here are your game notes for tonight:
Detroit Game Information.
Arizona Diamondbacks 2011 Game Notes.
Jim Leyland went off on Jason Beck before the game as Beck, who I think does the best job of covering the Tigers of anybody (he's the beat man for mlb.com) had the temerity, the nerve, to ask about Don Kelly's role with the ballclub now that Brandon Inge is back from the DL and Danny Worth has been sent back down. For the record, it was a perfectly reasonable, baseball-related question to ask a Major League manager. Leyland accused Beck of asking a question designed--and I'm cleaning it up here, a little--to stir up trouble: "Where would you play him? Do you want me to got tell Inge he's not playing?" And so on.
So, since the reporters love it when the manager loses it, that's pretty much all they've been talking about tonight. That and Leyland's comment about Sparky Anderson when yours truly asked him to describe his relationship with Sparky, who is having his number retired here in a ceremony prior to the game Sunday. Leyland said, and I am not making this up, "He was like a fart in a mitten." We were all speechless, pretty much. Somebody had the good sense to ask Leyland to elaborate, and he said, "You know, (I have to tell you, we really didn't) he was always jumping around, always active." All I could think about was how the fart got in the mitten in the first place. Maybe this means I am not a good reporter.
Anyway, between the cursing and the farting, Leyland said what I though was the most amazing thing. He was talking about Al Alburquerque and he said, "He's been a Godsend. You could make a case for him being an All-Star. Without him, we'd be six or seven games worse off than we are." Wow, right?
The other Leyland News today was that he said our new favorite Tiger, Charlie Furbush, the poor rookie relief pitcher who has to carry the gear out the bullpen every night in that cute little pink backpack, might just be better as a starter than a reliever. So, maybe we'll see him in that role later this season.
Kirk Gibson and Alan Trammell are back in town as the Manager and Bench Coach of the D'backs, respectively. So, they'll be here for the Sparky cerimony Sunday. They each held a press conference before the game tonight and we'll talk about what they had to say about Sparky a little later on.
Everybody is wondering why Brennan Boesch isn't in the lineup tonight, but Leyland told us the week before last he wasn't going to answer any more questions about his lineup saying, "I'm not answering any more questions about the lineup! I play the players I think are going to give us the best chance to win!" So, the answer to the question regarding Boesch is that Casper Wells gives the Tigers a better chance to win, tonight. You might have thought Boesch was out because Arizona is starting a lefty and Boesch is a left handed hitter, but if you check the stats, you will see that Boesch is hitting .355 off the lefties this season. So, that can't be the reason.
The Tigers had the two runs in (thanks to a Jhonny Peralta double with the bases loaded), runners on second and third and Alex Avila at the plate when Ron Cameron couldn't help himself. He said "(Arizona Starter) Zach Duke is hitable. And they are hitting him tonight." As soon as I heard that, I turned to the guy sitting next to me and I said, "I'll be you this guy doesn't give up another hit for, like, six and two-thirds." Avila, for the record, took a called third and the Tigers were out in order in the second. I remember back in April Eric Bedard was starting for Seattle and Cameron eyeballed Bedard's numbers, a high ERA couple with a low number of wins, and proclaimed it to be "gaurenteed win night" for the Tigers. I don't recall if Bedard actually shut the Tigers out that night, but I do remember Seattle's victory in the game was decisive, and that's being kind. Bedard broke their bats in half.
But, maybe that won't happen tonight. Casper Wells and Magglio Ordonez (no, I have not forgotten that I had him relegated to the minors in this space a couple of nights ago) each doubled to start the third and it's 3-0 and there is stirring in the D'backs pen.
Here are your game notes for tonight:
Detroit Game Information.
Arizona Diamondbacks 2011 Game Notes.
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