Tag: Matt Joyce

Aug. 3, 1984: Royals 9 – Tigers 6

W: Bret Saberhagen (5-8) – L: Milt Wilcox (11-7) – S: Dan Quisenberry (28) | Boxscore

Record: 72-35 — 10.5 games up on Toronto

Highlights

  • Milt gave up six runs on six hits, one of them a Frank White grand slam, in three innings of work — though he pitched to five hitters in the fourth inning. At that point, the Royals handed their starter Bud Black an 8-2 lead.
  • Saberhagen relieved Black and pitched an inning and two-thirds to earn the win. Quisenberry allowed only two hits in his 22/3 innings.

Miscellany

  • Venue: Tiger Stadium
  • Umpires: HP – Bill Kunkel, 1B – Terry Cooney, 2B – Derryl Cousins, 3B – Richard Shulock
  • Time of Game: 2:37
  • Attendance: 39,480

Birthdays

Pat McCoy, Matt Joyce, Wendell Magee, Dan Meyer and the late Jim Hegan and Harry Heilmann, who hit .342 in 15 years with the Tigers. He hit over .390 four times, including .403 in 1923. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1952.

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 489 9/9 — Rarity: 32

See you tomorrow.

Today’s Tiger: Jason Thompson

Jason Thompson

  • Born: July 6, 1954 in Hollywood, Calif.
  • Bats: Left Throws: Left
  • Height: 6′ 4″ Weight: 200 lb.
  • Acquired: Drafted by the Tigers in the fourth round of the 1975 amateur draft.
  • Seasons in Detroit: 5 (1976-80)
  • Uniform Number: 30
  • Stats: .256 avg., 98 HR, 354 RBI, .779 OPS
  • Awards: Three-time All Star (1977, ’78 and ’82)

JasonThompson.jpg
On May 27, 1980, Tigers GM Jim Campbell traded my favorite player, first baseman Jason Thompson, to the California Angels for outfielder Al Cowens.

The Hollywood native joined the Tigers full time in 1976 and played 123 games that year, hitting .218, with 17 home runs and 54 RBI. Two of the homers cleared the rightfield roof at Tiger Stadium. It was in 1977, though, that he made his mark: .270, 31 homers and 105 RBI — and earned an All Star Game selection.

Continue reading “Today’s Tiger: Jason Thompson”

Tuesday Tananas: Fred Lynn, Ted Power and Don Draper

bananas.jpgIs it just me or were there a lot of Aug. 31 trades made back in the day? Back in the late ’80s and early ’90s it seemed that Oakland was always adding a big name at the deadline — Willie McGee, Ruben Sierra, Harold Baines. Just asking.

Wednesday Walewanders

company man.JPGI’m down to my last box of Girl Scout Cookies — Thin Mints, don’t you know — but despite this unfortunate circumstance, I present the Wednesday Walewanders.

  • Rob Neyer yesterday linked to this list of The Worst Contracts in Baseball and, no, the entire Tigers roster does not appear. But there is some significant Detroit representation: five lousy contracts. Take a peek for yourself. What do you think? How bad is it?

  • With the positive reaction to Edwin Jackson‘s Tigers debut last week I thought I’d check in on Matt Joyce‘s Spring Training so far. And based on this, it has not been a good one — at least not yet.

  • Happy Birthday to former Tigers outfielder Hiram Bochachica, perhaps the best name ever. He’s 33 today. On July 25, 2002, the Dodgers traded Bocachica to the Tigers for a player to be named later and minor leaguer Tom Farmer. The Tigers sent Jason Frasor to the Los Angeles Dodgers to complete the trade on Sept. 18 of that year. Frasor’s still hanging around as reliever for the Blue Jays.

  • The no-brainer continues.

  • I’ll admit that I was watching the Manny Ramirez saga more closely than I typically would. Why? Because I was bracing myself for Ken Williams‘ and the White Sox’s stealth swoop-in-and-sign. You know they were thinking about it.

  • Of course I like Marcus Thames. Who doesn’t? I’d just rather see Brent Clevlen make the team this year.

Finally, a public-service message wrapped in a question. Since launching The Daily Fungo in 2006, I’ve been trying to avoid running the ubiquitous Google ads for two reasons:

  1. No one likes them.
  2. No one clicks them.

Now the question: If I were to drop some ads into the site — very few and very unobtrusive — would it bother you as a reader? I’m not sure that I am going go to bring in ads, but I wanted your thoughts. (If I did decide to run ads, don’t be afraid to click them.)

2009 Player Profile: Edwin Jackson

Edwin Jackson #36

  • Height: 6′ 3″ | Weight: 210
  • 2008 Stats: 14-11, 4.42 ERA

EdwinJacksonHead.jpgWhen the Tigers traded Matt Joyce to the Tampa Bay Rays for Jackson, Detroit fans scratched their heads – and not only because Joyce appeared to have a future in the Tigers outfield. Jackson is an unknown quantity outside of the A.L. East and the Tigers have only faced the righthander four times since 2006 for a total of 16 innings (1-0, 3.38 ERA, 12 K). He became expendable in pitching-rich Tampa despite a pedestrian 2008 (14-11, 4.42) due mainly to the emergence of David Price, but from most accounts, the Tigers landed themselves a gem and a durable number-three man in the rotation.

The 25-year-old Jackson features a mid-90s fastball and a devastating slider – and batters hit just above .200 when facing the slider. In 2009, watch for Jackson to stick with his formula for success: working the lower half of the strike zone and the corners of the plate – up and away on lefties, high and tight on righties. And, if he can maintain his low rate of walks per nine innings (2.5), Jackson will pay rapid dividends for the Tigers.

The Top 10 Tigers Stories of 2008: #5 – The Emergence (and Trade) of Matt Joyce

Number 5When I began pulling together this list over the past month or so, it became clear that possibly the only positive story to come out of the Tigers season was the emergence of Matt Joyce. Joyce finished the 2008 season with a .252 average, 12 homers and 33 RBI in 92 games.

At long last, the Tigers appeared to have developed a left-handed power-ish hitter who could take over one of the corner outfield slots perhaps as soon as 2009.

But, when Jim Leyland announced that left field would be Carlos Guillen‘s position next season and when it became more apparent that Magglio Ordonez was going nowhere this offseason, Joyce’s role went from promising to fuzzy — at best.

Nevertheless, Joyce was a sign of progress in the Tigers’ farm system beyond pitching depth and maybe a budding star.

Until he wasn’t…at least in Detroit.

Three weeks ago he was dealt to his hometown of Tampa Bay for pitcher Edwin Jackson. From what we’ve read, the acquisition of Jackson will be a winning one for the Tigers. And in the end maybe it will be.

Still, it would be nice to see a young position player develop into a star — or something close to it — wearing the old English D.