Month: December 2006

It’s time to close the books on 2006. With any luck, I’ll be awake tonight at the witching hour to welcome 2007.

In the meantime, I thought I’d look back on a memorable season for Detroit Tigers fans. After much deliberation and flip-flopping of the order, here are my top-five Tigers moments of the year:

5. The Detroit Tigers: 2006 American League Champions. How is this number five? I don’t have a rock-solid argument for this one but considering that the 2006 season was one big domino effect — the hot start, Justin Verlander and Joel Zumaya making immediate impact, Jim Leyland’s season-long magic touch, etc. — this one falls to fifth. American League Champs. Whoda thunk it?

4. The Development of Bonderman, Verlander and Zumaya. How often in baseball can you see the future unfold before your eyes and enjoy immediate success? Detroit Tigers fans got exactly that this year as the young arms made serious noise at the top of the rotation and in the bullpen. Bondo, Verlander and Zumaya got most of the ink but let’s not forget the contributions of Zach Miner and Wil Ledezma.

3. Kenny Rogers’ Performance in ALDS Game 3. It was the worst possible mixture of circumstances: Kenny Rogers, the New York Yankees, the postseason. Even those who had full faith in Jim Leyland‘s decisions questioned this one. A recipe for disaster was being cooked up before our very eyes. The only positive was that the game wasn’t in the Bronx. Even with all that as a backdrop, the Tigers still showed to play that chilly October night. Let’s look again at Rogers’ line from that game: Seven and two-thirds scoreless innings pitched, five hits, two walks, eight strikeouts. Talk about slaying the dragon.

2. Maggs Sends the Tigers to the World Series. My heart wanted to slot this one as the top story of the year and it very well could/should be #1a, but as you’ll soon read, without number one, this moment never happens. I was in Comerica Park for Game 4 of the American League Championship Series and it was the best sports moment I’ve ever seen in person. Magglio Ordonez, like Kenny Rogers the week before, takes his rightful place in Detroit sports lore.

1. The Tigers Eliminate the Yankees. For me, this was the pinnacle of the season. Yes, even more so than the World Series appearance. Very few people expected the Tigers to compete against the Yankees in the American League Division Series much less win the dang thing. Coming off a demoralizing final weekend of the regular season and a flat Game 1 of the ALDS, it looked like three and out for the Tigers against New York. Then the magic started kicking in starting with Kenny Rogers’ performance for the ages in Game 3 and Jeremy Bonderman following suit in Game 4. The on-field celebration will live on as one of the finest fan moments in Detroit sports history, I think. Just talk to anyone who was there.

Other storylines worthy of consideration: the Tigers getting off to a torrid start, Kenny Rogers’ discovering the fountain of youth, the Tigers’ abysmal performance in the World Series, Placido Polanco’s injury, losing the division on the last day of the season.

What stories would make your Top 5?

You’ve gotta love Google News.

Once in a while I’ll search for Tigers news on Google just to see if there’s a random article of interest out there.

Man, did I find one this afternoon. In the Dec. 26 edition, The New York Times‘ baseball deity Murray Chass takes aim at Tigers owner Mike Ilitch, and to a lesser degree Marian Ilitch, about the blob of a grey area surrounding Ilitch Holdings, the Tigers and Motor City Casino.

In the piece, Chass writes that the issue of whether or not the Tigers and the casino are part of the same organization has been raised because of some similar circumstances back East:

The subject of baseball and casinos has arisen because Steve Swindal, a managing general partner of the Yankees, is a partner in a group that may operate three racetracks in New York State and have slot machines at one of them. Bob Nutting, chairman and plurality owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates, had also wanted to install slot machines at a Pennsylvania ski resort he owns.

Nutting abandoned his plan because he did not think he would be able to find a way around baseball’s rules.

Swindal’s and Nutting’s efforts prompted another look at the Ilitch operation. Technically and legally it may be free of any casino smell, but signs remain that a link exists, including the listing of Marian Ilitch as second in command of Ilitch Holdings.

The follow up question, of course, is:

If she is vice chairwoman of the company, and the Tigers are part of the company, how is she not part of the Tigers ownership or at least their executive group?

It’s a dandy of an article if you can get past Chass’s angry tone.

At the end of the article, Chass rips on Bud Selig for giving the Tigers free passes on the Phil Garner and Jim Leyland interview processes.

Read it for yourself and let me know what you think.

Technorati Tags: Detroit Tigers, Jim Leyland, Marian Ilitch, Mike Ilitch

December is chock-full of birthdays for the Detroit Tigers, all of which passed without so much as a mention here.

So, here’s a belated list of notable birthdays (some guys that were on the 40-man roster at the start of the 2006 season but have since vanished aren’t listed):

Omar Infante – Dec. 26
Gene Lamont – Dec. 25
Andy Van Slyke – Dec. 21
Kyle Sleeth – Dec. 20
Jim Leyland – Dec. 15

The next birthday of note?

Lloyd McClendon, Jan. 11.

Technorati Tags: Andy Van Slyke, Detroit Tigers, Gene Lamont, Jim Leyland, Kyle Sleeth, Omar Infante

This morning I started to read a fascinating book about Google and Internet search, titled The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture. Does that make me a geek? Sure it does. But it’s more of a business book than a technology book. If you’re wondering about a Detroit Tigers connection, stick with me.

Nevertheless, I’d never heard of Google Zeitgeist until today. If, as I was, you’re unfamiliar with Zeitgeist, it’s a place within Googledom that displays the top 10 searches in a few categories (What’s Hot, Current Events, Milestones, Entertainment, and Sports) over the course of a week. This week Google is showing us what the top 10 searches were in these categories for 2006.

In the Entertainment category, the numbers eight and nine searches of 2006 were:

#8 Tiger tickets
#9 Tigers tickets

And in another nod to Detroit, Bob Seger tickets came in at number four.

The skeptics among you may say that those searches could have been for Louisiana State football tickets or some other team.

I, of course, take the completely biased view that these searches represent Detroit Tigers fans, desperate to find a ticket.

Technorati Tags: Detroit Tigers, Google

The Georgia Peach would’ve been 120 today.

Near the end of his life he looked darn close to it.

Technorati Tags: Detroit Tigers

Poor Alexis Gomez. The guy is good enough to start — and perform well — in the ALCS but yet again is squeezed off the Tigers 40-man roster. This time for a pitcher.

How many times can a guy get released before he takes his game elsewhere?

Methinks in the case of Gomez, he realizes it’s a sweet gig to be in the Tigers organization these days and that’s why he puts up with the Detroit-to-Toledo-to-Purgatory yo-yo thing.

Technorati Tags: Alexis Gomez, Detroit Tigers