Long live the bird and other thoughts...

I apologize for the delays in postings. Life got busy and sadly the blog is the first thing I drop when things get busy. I have had many thoughts from the first few weeks of the season and I will try to summarize here as best I can.

1. Mark Fidrych passed away earlier this month. Fidrych had two great seasons for the Tigers in the late 70s. Often I have been asked which player in history would I have most liked to have seen from the past. There are many great answers the Babe, Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, would all be acceptable answers. However, my answer has always been Mark Fidrych in 1976. He went 19-9 for a terrible Tigers team. His starts became rock concerts. He would sell out the stadium and deliver a fantastic performance.

2. Speaking of the Tigers - so far so good. No one is going to run away with the AL Central, and for the first month the Tigers have risen to the top of the mediocrity. Brandon Inge is hitting, and finally getting noticed for playing unreal defense at third. Seriously, every-time watch baseball tonight he has a Web Gem. The guy has a cannon and great great hands - which makes for a great third baseman.

3. Of all the teams that are playing above their heads KC, Toronto, Pittsburgh, and Sand Diego, I believe that Toronto has the best chance to sustain this level of play. The rest of the division is worse than everyone thought and we are just now learning how great of a manager Cito Gaston really is.

4. Enjoy the games this week. Game of the week: Saturday 3:55 pm Tigers vs Indians on Fox. Cumberland's finest, Aaron Laffey, faces the Tigers in Mo-town.

Look for more posts coming soon.

0-2... eight straight times.

The first Saturday baseball game on Fox was fantastic. Red Sox just beat the Angels 5-4. The last out of the game was a classic. With bases loaded and two outs Papelbon and Howie Kendrick embarked on a classic battle. Any base hit would win the game for the Angels, any out and the game would go to the Sox. Papelbon started Kendrick with two consecutive sliders which put Kendrick in a quick 0-2 hole. Kendrick then proceeded to foul off the next seven 0-2 offerings. That's right seven. This was great drama for a game in April.

I have put some thought into this from Papelbon's side, and I think I like it. (Kendrick did all he could fouling of seven tough pitches before stroking a ball right to end the game).

I know you never want to give the hitter anything to hit when you have them 0-2. Especially with the bases load. Especially with 2-outs in the ninth with a one run lead. However, I like the mentality from a closer - here is comes - bet you can't hit it. Ok, you fouled it off, here it comes again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. Game over.

Other thoughts as we wrap up the first week of the season:

- The Blue Jays may be a bit better than people have given them credit for. Also, the Indians may be a bit worse.

- I was talking to my friend, who is a Braves fan. We were discussing the Braves giving up 8 seventh inning runs turning a 10-3 lead into an 11-10 deficit and eventual 12-11 loss. I think he had the right mentality: Every bullpen is going to blow some games. You might as well get all of the kinks out in one night. Think of the Seinfeld episode when George wants to get fired from the Yankees. He not only wants to get fired, He wants to go out with a bang, with people proclaiming, "Wow, now that guy got canned." Same mentality from Philly earlier this week, "Wow that bullpen blew a lead!" Anything worth doing is worth doing right.

- Currently, I watching Kawakami's first major league start for Atlanta. He is down 1-0 going into the bottom of the second. The game should be 0-0. Jeff Francoeur had Ryan Zimmerman thrown out at the plate, but Brian McCann moved too far in front of the plate to receive the throw. There should be a stat for this. The other stat I want: Hitters batting 8th in the order in the NL. The situation - they come to bat with two-out and nobody on base. If they reach base they allow the pitcher to bat and turn the order over for the next inning. This is quietly a big deal through the season. Willie Harris just did this for the Nationals, who will now have the top of their order up in the third, instead of Lannan leading off. Its always the little things.

Time to make a wish...

As my wife will attest, I am not the best at remembering dates, times, things to do, to eat, etc. Sometimes these things slip my mind. However, if you ever need to know that Willie Hernandez was the 1984 AL Cy Young and MVP - I have that information at the tip of my finger, never mind that I was only 2 when that happened.

So where am I going with this?

norunsupport turned one year old on the 5th of April. Although a few days late I thought I would mark the occasion. If anyone out there has been reading this, I thank you. As always any comments/suggestions are welcome. Its been a lot of fun trying to put my random thoughts about baseball into words. I have learned many things, but most of all - this is much much harder than it looks. I have much more respect for the people who write columns and blogs that I frequent (which are all list to the right)

Short post today, because you really don't want me to talk about last night... about the three run lead in the 8th inning. About the game tying home run by Inge in the 9th, and then Lyon blew the game again in the bottom of the inning.

Mr Groundball, Zach Miner, looks to right the 09' Tigers ship tonight.

This feels vaguely familiar

I had been anxiously awaiting Opening Day since the end of last season. The season that saw the Tigers get picked by SI to win the American League and then promptly finish in last place, behind the Royals. Well, that's not entirely true, it wasn't prompt at all. It was an agonizing year as a Tigers fan. Not to worry though, a new season was here. All the experts have picked the Indians, Twins, White Sox, and even Royals (thank you Bill Simmons) to win the AL Central. Everyone has forgotten about the Tigers. This is exactly what 2006 felt like, right before the Tigers put together a World Series run. Perhaps 09 was the 06. At least that had been what I was telling myself all winter long.

Fast forward to opening day.

Thanks to a 7:15 first pitch and a free preview from extra innings on cable, I got to watch the season opener yesterday. I set myself down on the couch with beer and meat (ok so it was hummus and a diet pepsi) to watch the 09 season get underway. And then before I had finished my first swig of Diet Pepsi, before I had the chance to imagine what it would be like for this team to win it all, before I had even seen Miguel Cabrera has his first 09' at-bat... 4-0 Blue Jays.

You may recall last year I was unwavering in my confidence of Detroit in the early going, despite the 0-7 start. My confidence is not as high this year. Bonderman is hurt, Zumaya is hurt, Willis and Robertson pitched so poorly we gave a starting rotation spot to a 20 year old kid. I really was hoping to see a bit more out of our ace yesterday. I am still optimistic, just cautiously so.

161 games to go. Thankfully, the lineup is not facing Roy Halladay today.