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The St. Louis Cardinals.  The same team that beat us in the 1934 World Series and the same team we beat in 1968.  The same team that has former Tigers Jeff Weaver and Juan Encarnacion.  The same team who’s manager, Tony LaRussa, gave Tigers’ manager Jim Leyland his first big league job.  I know Fox is cringing at this, but we have an all midwest World Series.

Once I see how the starters are going to play out, I’ll do my predictions, most likely tonight.  Game one is tomorrow at 7:30.  I’m putting my bet down on Kenny Rogers as the game one starter.

The Tigers could find out who their opponent is as early as tonight although the Mets aren’t making it easy for the Cardinals.  They’re up 1-0 already on a Jose Reyes homerun.

1967 was a tough season for the Tigers.  They had the players, they just couldn’t pull it out in the end.  I touched on the 1967 season in the introduction to my Mickey Stanley column and to a lot of people, it was the greatest pennant race of all time.  Five bloggers, which will include myself, will do their best to document the 1967 American League Pennant Race in the first collaborative diary.  So over the course of the offseason, I’ll be writing season bios on some of the major players on the 1967 Tigers teams and the other bloggers will be doing the same for their teams.  Then when the season starts, you can follow the action game by game.  I think it will be a lot of fun and nice look back at a pretty famous season.  And then it will all wrap up at Gas House Gang, where Jeff Matthews will do a 1967 Cardinals diary.  So all bases will be covered.

I’ll let you know when I work up the bios but if you want to keep tabs on the other teams, stop by the 1967 American League Pennant Race website every week and you should find something new.

The A’s fired Ken Macha today after the Tigers swept them in the ALCS.  Macha had a pretty solid record in his four years with the A’s (368-280) and he did take the A’s further in the playoffs then any A’s team under Billy Beane although it looka like Macha and Beane never connected.  Lary Dierker would be an interesting choice for the A’s although he hasn’t been on anyone’s radar in a while.

Is it possible to hit a quiet .529?  I don’t know if I mentioned Placido Polanco much in many of write ups for the ALCS, but he definitely hit the ball well.  He was nine for seventeen with two runs and two RBIs and for his troubles, he won the ALCS Most Valuable Player award.  Polanco has only gotten a hit in each of the eight Tigers playoffs games and in six of those he had at least two.  He’s only struck out twice and he’s posting an impressive .514 OBP in the playoffs this year.

The Tigers have made only two errors this entire post season. Jason Grilli made in an error in game one of the ALDS and then Carlos Guillen made one in game one of the ALCS.  That’s some solid defense and just one of the reasons this pitching staff has done so well.

The Detroit Tigers Weblog did a nice job of rounding up all of the Detroit blogs’ thoughts on the ALCS win.  I thought about doing this myself, but he saved me the trouble.  It’s some great reading so be sure to check it out.

Now the Tigers have a week off, so I’m going to be working on my next big thing (at least to me).  I’m pretty excited about this project and it appeared almost too big at times and I went back and forth as to whether I’d even do it.  Fortunately, I have some help so I’ll probably announce it some time this week.  Think greatest pennant race of all time.

For your NLCS highlights, I recommend two Baseball Historians sites.  Both Gas House Gang and the Tom Seaver Fan Club are covering their respective teams.

If you’re a college hockey fan, a friend of mine has been blogging the Northern Michigan Wildcats hockey exploits.  He does a nice job of covering a niche that isn’t often covered and it’s some pretty good reading.

It’s hard to believe that at this time two weeks from now, the season will be over barring some sort of weather delay.  This is my fourth season blogging the Tigers and by far the best but even in the bad years, baseball’s finale always leaves me a little down.  So I’ll definitely be enjoying these last couple of weeks of the season.

On several occasions, I’ve stated the Magglio Ordonez will never be worth the money we paid him.  Like a lot of things this season, I’m rethinking things.  Ordonez did his best Kirk Gibson imitation and hit a solo homerun in the sixth inning to tie the game up at 3-3.  Then he hit a huge three run walk off bomb in the ninth inning to win it.

Jeremy Bonderman got into trouble early and gave up two runs in the first and then he gave up a solo shot to Jay Payton in the fourth.  It looked like it might be an early night for Bonderman but he got through those rough spots and pitched very well in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings (getting two outs) before Jamie Walker came in to relieve him.

The other hero of the game was Wil Ledezma.  Jason Grilli got Frank Thomas to ground into a double play in the top of the eighth, but then he proceeded to walk the next three batters (on I think 12 straight balls, I have no way to go back and check.  I need to invest in Tivo).  Ledezma then came in to face Mark Scutaro and he got him to pop up and end the inning.  He then put the A’s down in the ninth and only gave up a single.  He was rewared by being credited with the win.

I was asked who I’d like to see the Tigers play in the World Series and I really don’t care.  The New York Mets are the best team in the National League so it’d be nice to beat the best (and both New York teams no less).  The Tigers and Cardinals do have some history.  They played each other in the 1934 (loss) and 1968 (win) World Series.  Regardless, the NLCS has a long way to go and the Tigers don’t play until next Saturday.  Hopefully Joel Zumaya will be ready and everyone will get some well deserved rest so they can be ready to win it all.

What a shot.  More to come.

What a start by Kenny Rogers.  He did it in game three of the ALDS and he did it here in game three of the ALCS and now the Tigers are one win away from their first World Series appearance since 1984.

I’ll have a full writeup over at the Hardball Times some time tomorrow.

Alright, the Fox announcers made a big deal about this, but the Tigers became the ninth team in league championship history to win their first two games on the road.  The other eight all went on to win their series, so things are definitely looking good for Detroit.

What a game by Alexis Gomez.  I immediately questioned why Leyland would throw him in there, and then of course he started driving in runs.  He hit a two run seeing eye single in the fourth and then a he hit a huge two run homerun in the sixth inning.

The other questionable hitter in the lineup was Neifi Perez.  He was the only Tiger who didn’t reach base last night.  It was a big fat nothing.

Justin Verlander was off his game yesterday but he still picked up the win.  Wil Ledezma looked very good until he gave up a one run bomb to Milton Bradley and Fernando Rodney struck out the side in the eighth.  I’m not sure why Leyland went to Rodney and not to Joel Zumaya.  Maybe it had to do with the three run lead and he didn’t want to waste Zumaya and maybe it was that he wanted to get another player in there who hadn’t had much time in either of the series.

Todd Jones made things interesting in the ninth.  He struck out the first two batters then loaded up the bases on three straight singles.  He got Frank Thomas to fly out to Curtis Granderson though and that wrapped this one up with an 8-5 final.

The two teams have the day off today and tomorrow night it’ll be Rich Harden vs. Kenny Rogers in what’s expected to be some pretty cold conditions.  It’d be nice wrap this one up early and watch the Cardinals and Mets battle it out to see who comes to Comerica Park for game one of the World Series.  I have a feeling the A’s won’t be accomodating though.

God help us.  And true to form, he struck out in his first at bat.

Tigers and A’s are tied 1-1.

Alright, the Tigers pulled this one out.  I wrote it up and it’ll be at the Hardball Times tomorrow so check it out.  I’m very tired, but I’m very happy.

It looks like Jim Leyland isn’t going to mess with what worked in the ALDS.  It’ll be Nate Robertson and Justin Verlander throwing in Oakland and then Kenny Rogers and Jeremy Bonderman will throw games three and four.  If the series goes to seven, the only pitcher who won’t throw twice will be Jeremy Bonderman.

Alright, the ALCS starts up tomorrow and it’s still kind of surreal that the TIGERS ARE STILL IN THE PLAYOFFS.  They’re in the final four.  Rather then rehash what I said about the Tigers in my ALDS preview, I’ll take at look at what the A’s have done this season.  And in case you missed it, these two teams have a small amount of playoff history.  I highlighted that in yesterday’s post.

One of the best places I like to go to analyze a team is the Hardball Times team stats page.  The first thing that sticks out was that the A’s outperformed their projected (pythagorean) win total by eight games.  That was the most in the MLB.  Some of that might be attributable to their solid record in close games (they won 47 games by two runs or less, tops in the majors), which is a testament to their bullpen.  In fact, Texas actually outperformed the A’s as far as projected wins.  They outscored their opponents by 51 runs while the A’s outscored theirs by 44.  The Tigers projected wins were tied with the Yankees at 96 and that was the best in the majors.

The A’s scored only 4.76 runs per game.  That was well below the league average of 4.97 and it wasn’t too far ahead of the Kansas City Royals at 4.67.  Their OBP was right around the league average (.340 vs. .342 in the AL, Beane still likes his walks) but the team’s .412 slugging percentage was just ahead of Royals, who were last in the American League.  Even the worst team in baseball, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, had a higher slugging percentage (.420). 

The A’s pitching was very good though.  Their ERA was a solid 4.21, but their Fielding Independant ERA was only 4.44, not too far from the Tigers mark of 4.36.  The team’s strikeout rate, walk rate and homerun rate were right at the league average and were nearly identical to the Tigers.  And the A’s left on base percentage of 73% was just behind the league leading Tigers of 74%.

As far as fielding, the A’s are pretty average.  Their +/- came in right at zero, where as the Tigers led the AL with a +60.  So while the A’s arms are just as good as the Tigers based on FIP, the Tigers have the defense behind them to help out those pitchers.

So, you should some great pitching in this series.  This should equate to some low scoring games and a lot of excitement, but these things never seem to work out exactly as planned, so we’ll see.  I’ll stand by my earlier prediction and say Tigers in seven although I messed up the games Rogers will win.  It’ll be games three and game seven.

Alright, three division series are in the books, and so far, I’m three for three as far as picking the correct team but none of my picks outside of the Tigers were really that out of line.  Here are a few things I’ve been thinking about the past couple of days.

First, one final thing on the Tigers/Yankees.  This was a really good Yankee team and the Tigers just rolled right through them.  Had it not been for a rough outing by Nate Robertson, it could have been over earlier.  And if you take away that three run shot by Johnny Damon in game two (the only three Yankees runs), you would have a scoreless streak 24 innings over three games.  Still, I’m really surprised how easily the Tigers appeared to take care of a very formbidable Yankee team.

While I enjoyed the celebration after the game, people (including the team) have to keep in mind that this is just the first chapter.  It always bothers me for some reason when a team has a premature celebration, almost like they’re happy just to be there.  Had the Yankees won this series, would they be celebrating the series win?  I’m thinking not.  Then again, I didn’t see how this was handled in the other series that have wrapped so maybe it’s more common then I thought.  Yes, I know it’s the Tigers first playoff series win since 1984, but they still face an uphill climb to win what really matters.

The Mets and the A’s finished both of their series up pretty handily.  The first two games at the Metrodome were pretty close but once it got out to Oakland, the A’s rolled right through them in the clincher.  The Mets held off a comeback in game one but then handled the Dodgers pretty easily in the final two games.  If the Cards don’t win tonight, they’re in trouble because they have their best chance of winning with Carpenter on the mound and at home.

It looks like it’ll be Barry Zito against Nate Roberston is game one.  I would have liked to see Leyland push Robertson back to game three with Justin Verlander and Kenny Rogers throwing the first two in Oakland.  Kenny Rogers is 23-4 with a 3.39 and a 1.36 WHIP in 294 1/3 innings at the Oakland Colliseum.  If he starts in game two, he’d get potentially two starts in Oakland if the series went to six games.

The Tigers have only faced four different American League teams in the playoffs.  Since the inception of a playoff system, the Tigers have only made it in four seasons.  They’ve beaten the Royals (1984) and Yankees (2006) and lost to the Athletics (1972) and Twins (1987).  That best of five series against the A’s was a good one.  You had a shutout on each side and the Tigers came back from a 2-0 deficit to tie it at two games a piece.  Game five was a 2-1 pitchers dual in which that year’s Cy Young winner, Vida Blue, came into the game to throw four innings of shutout ball to close out the game in relief of Blue Moon Odom.  This season was kind of the last hurrah of the 1968 team, as guys like Mickey Lolich, Al Kaline, Norm Cash and Bill Freehan were finishing out their careers.

All of the ALCS games played during the week are at 8 pm, so I’ll get to watch all of the games.  This is a good thing.

RIP Buck O’Neil.  He was definitley one of the ambassadors of the Negro Leagues.

The Tigers are heading to Oakland.  After blowing out the Yankees to lock up their first post season series victory since they won the 1984 World Series, the Tigers now go up against the Oakland A’s in the ALCS.

Once again, I did a write up for this over at the Hardball Times and it should be up tomorrow morning.

This will be nice.  I’ll get to go to bed at a decent time tomorrow night.  And I’ll have a preview up probably Monday night to lead into the next Tigers series.

Alright, this was definitely a nice win.  I wrote it up over at the Hardball Times and it should show up there by tomorrow morning so check it out.   I took a lot of heat for predicting the Tigers to win this series and while I know it’s far from over, a shot at the A’s seems more realistic then it did after that game one loss.

The game’s at 4:30 tomorrow.  Bonderman vs. Jaret Wright.  I like our chances in this one.

This was probably the most important Tiger game in over twenty years and I missed it because I had to be at work.  Oh well, I’d rather they win without me watching then the alternative.

I really thought that when Curtis Granderson was stranded at third in the seventh, it would come back to haunt us.  Both he and Marcus Thames had really good games and they led the way on offense.

Wow, that was great relief pitching.  I’m sure everyone got nervous when Hidecki Matsui singled off of Todd Jones in the ninth but between Jones, Jamie Walker and Joel Zumaya, we got about as good of reliefing pitching at you can ask.  Justin Verlander wasn’t chopped liver either.  He did get into some jams and he did give up the three run shot to Johnny Damon, but he held up, gave the Tigers five plus solid innings and didn’t lose it for us.

Tomorrow will have an ailing Randy Johnson going up against Kenny Rogers.  Big, big swing game.  It’s an 8 pm start so I’ll get to watch this one.

The Tigers/Yankees game was rained out and while it was nice to get some sleep, I wasn’t happy when I noticed today’s game is at 1 pm.  Unfortunately I’ll be stuck at work with only Yahoo updates to keep me informed as to what’s happening.

Sometime later this morning I’m going to get my 100,000 visitor to Tigerblog.  I know sitemeter isn’t entirely accurate and there have been times where the tracker has been down, but this is all I really have to go by.  I also know while this isn’t a huge deal in the grand scheme of things (100,000 is a good week for the Hardball TImes), it’s pretty cool to me.  I appreciate everyone who stops by.

The Tigers got doubled up last night and it wasn’t pretty.  The Yankees did most of their damage in a five run third inning that made it 5-0 and while the Tigers made it close at one point (5-3), they never fully recovered.

I’m not sure what Leyland was trying to do in the second inning when he tried a hit and run with Ordonez on second and Guillen on first with nobody out.  Yeah, Pudge is a .300 hitter but when neither team has scored, you’d think Leyland would play the percentages and try for an early lead by standing pat.  Instead, Ordonez gets gunned down at third and the Tigers get nothing out of the inning.  Placido Polanco’s double play in the third also cost them a potential run.  Now I’m not saying the Tigers win if they convert in either or both of those innings, but things might have played out differently had the Tigers taken an early lead.

Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu chewed us up.  Abreu drove in four runs and Jeter had five hits and he scored three times.  If those two guys are clicking in the two and three spot in the lineup, this is going to be a very tough team to beat.  Then again, we all knew that anyway.

Game two is tonight and it’ll be Justin Verlander going up against Mike Mussina.  This is pretty much a must win game tonight so hopefully the Tigers can get the job done.

I’ll be watching the game while doing a few things tonight so I’ll be popping in on The Score Boards game thread now and then and commenting on what’s going on.  Stop by and say hello.

Man, I love the playoffs.  Each game seems to be a nail biter and with the Tigers making the post season this year, it’s that much sweeter.  Who’s coming out on top in the 2006 World Series?  I’m not sure but I definitely have my opinion.

ALDS

Tigers vs. Yankees – Tigers in Five – You can check out both my series preview over at the Hardball Times and my comments in the AL Series Previews over at Baseball Anaylsts.

Twins vs. A’s – A’s in Four -  The Twins win game one with Johan on the mound but lose the next three to face the Tigers in the ALCS.

NLDS

Mets vs. Dodgers – Mets in Four – The Mets have been comfortably in first place for most of the season while the Dodgers have been fighting for their playoff lives for the stretch run.  Even without Pedro, I think the Mets offense will get things going and take this one in four games.

Padres vs. Cardinals – Padres in Three – I think the Padres pitching will carry them in this one.  Jake Peavy will have the best start of any pitcher in the division series and help carry the Padres to the only sweep of the playoffs.

ALCS

Tigers vs. A’s – Tigers in Seven – Kenny Rogers wins games two and seven to help carry the Tigers to their first World Series since 1984.

NLCS

Mets vs. Padres – Mets in Six – The Mets pitching costs them a couple of games but they do just enough to win some ugly games to pull this one out.  Carlos Delgado leads the way on offense and he walks away with the NLCS MVP.

World Series

Tigers vs. Mets – At the beginning of the year, I predicted the Yankees and the Mets would square off in the World Series and I’m half right.  The Tigers and Mets play a back and forth series comporable to 1986 but this time, the Mets don’t have Billy Buckner to bail them out.  Tigers in seven.

Wishful thinking?  Let’s hope not.  Let the playoffs begin.  I’ll have a playoff chat thread up later and I’ll actually be here for the game so I’ll be able to talk about the game.

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