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Houston wrapped things up yesterday, so they now travel to Chicago to square off against the White Sox in game one on Saturday. With these two particular teams, we’ll either have the first World Series win in 88 years for the White Sox, or the first World Series win ever for the Houston Astros.

We should see some low scoring games as two of the best pitching teams in baseball go head to head. Throw in the fact that both teams have mediocre offenses, and it should make for some low scoring and close games.

I’m going to say Astros in six games. I like Clemens/Pettitte/Oswalt/Backe better then Contreras/Garland/Buehrle/Garcia. MVP of the series will be Craig Biggio as he adds another notch to his Hall of Fame career.

So far, I’ve been pretty happy with the playoffs. While the ALCS looks like it might end a little early, the NLCS is shaping up to be as good as it was last year. We’ve really seen some great pitching in both series.

Which got me to thinking about which Tigers could be playing a role in either of the league championship series if they played for any of the four remaining teams. Definitely Ivan Rodriguez and Magglio Ordonez, but other then those two, it’s a little spotty. A healthy Carlos Guillen would be better then David Eckstein. And I could also see a guy like Craig Monroe possibly playing the role of a fourth outfielder. Jeremy Bonderman might be a fourth or fifth starter, and Fernando Rodney and Franklyn German could round out somebody’s pen.

The problem is, most of these guys would be more role players on one of the teams contending for the World Series, while on our team, they’re the best we’ve got. That’s why I think Jim Leyland has his work cut out for him, as Tram did the last three seasons. Throw in the fact that we have a light free agent market this year and it leads me to thinking the Tigers might be a few more years away then I initially hoped.

For now though, I’ll be enjoying the rest of the playoffs. Once things are over with, I have a laundry list of things I want to do on the blog. No diary for the Tigers next year, so I think I’m going to do a combination of season lookbacks like Black Sox Blog is doing, along with some All Decade Teams similar to what Blade over at Reds Cutting Edge has done. One of the things I didn’t get to last off season was a look at Norm Cash’s 1961 season, so I’m also hoping to do something on that. And of course we’ll be following the Tigers through off season along with my weekly Business of Baseball Report over at the Hardball Times.

In the mid to late 1980s, my favorite National League baseball team was the Houston Astros. Not sure why, but my cousin and I spent hours playing a generic baseball dice game. We eventually graduated to Pursue the Pennant (now Dynasty League Baseball) and while I got the Tigers, he always seemed to gravitate to the Astros. So in 1986, with the likes of Mike Scott, Nolan Ryan, and Glenn Davis, I began cheering for the team. And it’s probably why the last two seasons, once the playoffs were set, I’ve picked the Astros to walk away with the World Series.

Now I really find myself cheering for them. With guys like Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio getting one last chance at a championship, along with the likes of seeing the greatest pitcher of our lifetime get out there and not only strike batters out deep into extra innings, but who went to the plate and hacked away like he wants to win the game himself with a walk off homerun.

What a game though. I’ve always been a huge fan of a pitching dual. Since I didn’t tune in until the ninth inning, that’s basically what I got. I thought the fact that Roger Clemens was out there until he wore out and gave up a run made the game even more exciting.

And then it ended. Chris Burke lived the dream by going yard in the bottom of the eighteenth in one of the greatest post season games ever played. It won’t be “as” remembered as if it were a World Series game, but who cares. It was a pleasure getting a chance to watch it.

Screw football. If they kept playing baseball all winter, I’d be switching to the Lions game in between innings, and that’s about it.

1935 World Series – Game 6

October 7, 1935 Tigers 4, Cubs 3 Tigers Win Best of Seven Series 4-2

With Tommy Bridges on the mound, the Tigers were attempting for the second game to lock up their first World Series. The big difference today was that they’d be playing in front of a home crowd. What wasn’t different was they still were without Hank Greenberg.

The Tigers got on the board first. In the bottom of the first, Mickey Cochrane and Charlie Gehringer put up back to back singles with one out. Goose Goslin popped to the shortstop and then Pete Fox came up big with a one run, two out double. Starter Larry French eventually got out of the jam, but the Tigers had a 1-0 lead.

The Cubs wouldn’t take too long to answer. In the top of the third, Tommy Bridges was touched up for three hits and a run.

The Tigers took their second lead of the game in the fourth. Gee Walker and Billy Rogell led off the inning with singles. Marv Owen laid down a bunt, and while he was able to move Walker to third, Rogell was forced out at second base. Tommy Bridges then hit into a fielders choice at second base, but Gee Walker was able to score as the Tigers took a 2-1 lead. Flea Clifton grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the inning. Oddly all three outs in the inning were made on fielder’s choices.

The Cubs answered in the next half inning. French singled with one out and then Bridges struck out Augie Galan for out number two. Billy Herman then hit a huge two run homer that gave the Cubs the lead for the first time in the game.

The Tigers went down quietly in the fifth, but in the bottom of the sixth, they put together a nice two out rally. Billy Rogell doubled, then scored on a Marv Owen single. The game was tied 3-3.

Neither team really threatened in the seventh or eighth innings. Things looked grim for the Tigers in the ninth when Bridges gave up a lead off triple to Stan Hack. Bridges then struck out Billy Jurges, got French to ground out to him for out number two and then Augie Galan flew out to end the inning.

Flea Clifton struck out to lead off the bottom of the ninth. Mickey Cochrane singled and then moved to second on Charlie Gerhinger’s ground out to first base. Goose Goslin then became the hero of the game by driving home Cochrane with a walk off RBI single.

Tommy Bridges gave up twelve hits and three runs, but he struck out seven as he improved to 2-0 in a series. I’d imagine that without a real hitting star in the series, Bridges would have walked away with the World Series MVP.

The Tigers were World Champions for the first time. It might have been a season too late for Tiger fans, but they finally did it.

1935 World Series – Game 5

October 6, 1935 Cubs 3, Tigers 1 Tigers Lead Best of Seven Series 3-2

Still without Hank Greenberg who was nursing an injured wrist, Schoolboy Rowe took the mound for his second start of the series. He was solid in his eight innings of work as he gave up three runs on eight hits with three strikeouts. His only blemishes were a two run homer in the bottom of the third and an RBI double in the bottom of the seventh.

The Tigers once again gave Rowe little run support. They were held to four hits through the first eight innings before finally breaking through in the ninth. Charlie Gehringer, Goose Goslin and Pete Fox led off the inning with consecutive singles as the Tigers finally got on the board. With the tying run at first base, Billy Rogell flew out to center. Mickey Cochrane let Gee Walker pinch hit for Marv Owen and while he grounded out, he was able to move the runners over. Then with the tying run at second base, Flea Clifton fouled out to first to end the game and give the Cubs new life.

1935 World Series – Game 4

October 5, 1935 Tigers 2, Cubs 1 Tigers Lead Best of Seven Series 3-1

General Crowder got the start for the Tigers as they once again took the field without their best hitter, Hank Greenberg. Crowder got into trouble early and he gave up a leadoff solo homerun in the second inning as the Cubs scored first for the third time in four games.

The Tigers answered in the top of the third. Crowder helped out his own cause by leading off with a single. Jo Jo White singled and moved Crowder over to third, but he was gunned down at second trying to stretch it into a double. Mickey Cochrane walked to put me at the corners and then Charlie Gehringer tied up the game with an RBI double. With runners at second and third and only one out, starter Tex Carleton was able to get out of the inning without any further damage.

Crowder really went on a roll and through five innings had only given up two hits. In the top of the sixth and with two outs, Flea Clifton reached on an error by Augie Galan and moved to second base in the process. Crowder then reached on an error by Billy Jurges and Clifton scored to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead.

Crowder continued to throw well but he finally got into a jam in the bottom of the ninth inning. With one out, he gave up back to back singles to put runners at first and second before getting Stan Hack to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to end the game.

The Tigers had won their third World Series game in a row and were only one game away from their first World Championship.

1935 World Series – Game 3

October 4, 1935 Tigers 6 , Cubs 5 (11 innings) Tigers Lead Best of Seven Series 2-1

By far the most exciting game of the series, game three saw the Tigers mount a massive comeback without their best hitter (Hank Greenberg injured his wrist in game two), which gave them a two run lead. They then gave that lead up in the bottom of the ninth and the game went into extra frames only to have the Tigers win it in eleven innings.

The Cubs got on the board first. In the bottom of the second, the Cubs scored two runs on a Frank Demaree solo homer and an RBI groundout by starter Bill Lee off of Elden Auker. The Cubs added another run in the fifth on an RBI single by Augie Galan.

The Tigers finally scored a run in the sixth. With one out, Goose Goslin singled and then scored on Pete Fox’s triple. Fox was then picked off at third by catcher Gabby Hartnett to essentially end the threat.

Auker left the game after six innings of work down 3-1 and was relieved by Chief Hogsett, who walked one and hit a batter in the bottom of the seventh.

With the game winding down, the Tigers came up huge in the eighth inning. Jo Jo White led off the inning with a walk. Mickey Cochrane popped out for the first out and then Charlie Gerhinger doubled to put two men in scoring position. Goose Goslin then tied the game with a two run single. Lon Warneke replaced Bill Lee on the mound, but the pen couldn’t stop the Tigers bats. Pete Fox singled and this was followed up by a Billy Rogell single that scored Goslin. Rogell was caught stealing second for the second out of the inning, but Pete Fox scored on the double steal to make it 5-3. Marv Owen then lined out to end the inning.

Schoolboy Rowe came in to pitch a perfect eighth inning but ran into trouble in the ninth. He gave up three consecutive singles as the lead was to a single run, then Augie Galan hit a fly ball to center deep enough to score the tying run. The game was tied and we were headed to extra innings.

Both teams threatened in the tenth by getting doubles, but both times the teams’ respective pitchers (Rowe and French) got out of the inning. In the top of the eleventh, Billy Rogell singled. Marv Owen then failed to move Rogell over with a bunt and hit into what was effectiely a fielder’s choice. Flea Clifton then reached on an error by thirdbasemen Freddie Lindstrom. Schoolboy Rowe struck out to make it two outs and then Jo Jo White came up with a huge one run single to give the Tigers lead. Mickey Cochrane popped out and stranded two runners in scoring position, but the Tigers had the lead.

Rowe had an easy time in the bottom half of the eleventh to secure the victory. He got Stan Hack to ground out and then he struck out the final two batters to walk away with the win.

Looks like the official press conference is this afternoon. Man, this was quick. One knock on Leyland is, when he didn’t have the talent, he didn’t have a great team. Now I guess you can say that about any manager, but based on the Tigers current talent level, I don’t see Leyland coming in as a major coup.

It’s that time of year. Prior to the start of the season, I predicted a San Francisco Giants/New York Yankees World Series. Barry Bonds didn’t make it back in time to rally the Giants, so only one of those teams even made the playoffs. Let’s take a look at the matchups.

American League Division Series

New York Yankees vs. LA Angels of Anaheim – This won’t be a repeat of 2002 as this time the Angels have home field, but can’t get the job done. Vladimir Guerrero is an exceptional player, but the Yankees offense is just too much for the Angels pitching staff. The Angels take game 2, and that’s it. Yankees win series 3-1.

Boston Red Sox vs. Chicago White Sox – It’s the first ever playoff meeting for these two teams. Anytime Boston is involved, home field is important, but it’s not enough to stop last year’s champions. I thought all season that the White Sox overachieved, and their mediocre second half kind of proves that. The series will be close, but the Red Sox will take it. Red Sox win series 3-2.

American League Championship Series

New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox – This will be the third season in a row these two teams have gone head to head in the ALCS. The bitter rivalry will continue, and each team will take one road game. But the Yankees offense is a little bit better in my mind then the Red Sox, and having Randy Johnson in a seven game series really helps the Yankees out. Yankees win series 4-3.

National League Division Series

Atlanta Braves vs. Houston Astros – This is a tough one to call because while I’d like to see the Braves win another one just because they’ve been there so often, I’d also like to see Roger Clemens in the World Series one more time. I think the Pettite/Clemens/Oswalt triumvirate is just a little too much for the Braves to handle, so I think the Astros come out on top. Astros win series 3-2.

St. Louis Cardinals vs. San Diego Padres – We have the best team in the majors against a team that probably doesn’t even deserve to be in the playoffs. Cardinals win easily with a sweep. Cardinals win series 3-0.

National League Championship Series

St. Louis Cardinals vs. Houston Astros – I didn’t intend for this to happen, but I have a repeat in the NLCS as well as in the ALCS. Both teams deserve to be there, so I don’t really care. Again, the Astros pitching comes through and carries them over the Cardinals. Pujols and company make the series close. Astros win series 4-3.

World Series

New York Yankees vs. Houston Astros – It’s the Astros first World Series, and the Yankees 40th. Roger Clemens goes against his former team, and if things work out right, he goes head to head with Randy Johnson. Seeing two of the best pitchers in my lifetime in the World Series would be a real treat. The Astros hitting is just enough to get them by with their awesome staff. Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell rise to the occasion (as does Roger Clemens) as they all know this could be their last chance. Astros win series 4-3.

I know I picked a lot of seven game series, but I think a lot of the teams are pretty evenly matched. Plus I like the drama and I want to see as many games as I can before the season closes out.

The writing was on the wall, and it became official today. Alan Trammell was offered a job with the organization as Special Assistant to the GM, but he’ll no longer be the skipper of the Tigers.

I know I’ve taken some heat for defending Trammell. While I know at times his decision making has been questionable, I never thought he was given the support and tools to win. Which is why I was calling for management to give him one more year at the helm.

Now the search for a new manager begins, with Jim Leyland being the odds on favorite. Although he’ll be courted by Pittsburgh as well, so we’ll see what happens. I wouldn’t mind Bruce Fields getting another shot as well.

1935 World Series – Game 2

October 3, 1935 Tigers 8, Cubs 3 Best of Seven Series Tied 1-1

The Tigers had just as many hits and four more runs in the first inning then they had the entire first game of the series. Jo Jo White led off the game with a single and scored on Mickey Cochrane’s double. Charlie Gehringer then drove in Cochrane with a single. Hank Greenberg then capped off the offensive onslaught with a two run homerun. Cubs starter Charlie Root left the game with four runs on the board and nobody out in the game. Reliever Roy Henshaw walked Goose Goslin to make five consecutive Tigers reaching base, but he got out of the inning when Pete Fox lined into a double play followed with a Billy Rogell ground out.

The Tigers added three more runs in the fourth inning to open the game up to a 7-0 score. All three runs were scored with two outs. Pete Fox popped out to third and Billy Rogell struck out before Marv Owen was hit by Henshaw. Tommy Bridges singled and Jo Jo White walked to load up the bases. Then Henshaw threw a wild pitch that scored Owen and moved the runners to second and third. Mickey Cochrane walked to load up the bases again before Charlie Gerhinger came through with a two run single. Henshaw left the game with two men on, but reliever Fabian Kowalik was able to get Hank Greenberg out to end the inning.

The Cubs finally put a run on the board in the fifth and added two runs in the seventh but they came nowhere close to mounting an effective comeback. Pete Fox drove in Charlie Gehringer with a single in the seventh to add another run that ended up not being needed.

Tommy Bridges held the Cubs in check, holding them to three runs (two earned) on six hits and four walks. He struck out two. Hank Greenberg struggled in the field and made two errors, bringing his series total to three.

The Tigers may have won the game, but they may have lost their best hitter. Hank Greenberg injured his wrist trying to score and it was uncertain what his status would be for the rest of the series.

Sigh, another Tiger’s season is in the books. With 71 wins, they finished a game worse then they did last year. Moving backwards is a bad thing, no matter how you look at it.

Dave Dombrowski has some tough decisions to make in the offseason. I think the starting pitching is the first place we need to start. Once again, we finished with an ERA that was worse then the league average (and in what’s considered a pitcher’s park). The Tigers also gave up an inordinate amount of homeruns for a team that once again, is supposed to play in a park where homeruns don’t happen as often. And the Tigers finished second to last (thank you KC) in strikeouts. All of that means a lot of balls are put into play, which is never a good thing when you’re defense is middle of the road.

I’ll throw out some playoff predictions tomorrow. Should be a fun October with most of the usual suspects (Yankees, Red Sox, Braves, Angels and Cardinals) along with some fresh faces.

1935 World Series – Game 1

October 2, 1935 Cubs 3, Tigers 0 Cubs Lead Best of Seven Series 1-0

The Tigers league leading offense came out flat as Cubs starter Lon Warneke held the Tigers to a mere four hits. Schoolboy Rowe threw a nice game but walked away with the loss. He gave up only three runs (two earned) on seven hits while striking out eight.

Pete Fox had two of the Tigers’ four hits. Of particular concern was the Tigers made three errors and one of those, a throwing error by Rowe was a key to the Cubs jumping out in front 2-0 in the top of the first inning.

The Tigers limped out of their final homestand against the White Sox with a split. Curtis Granderson’s walk off homer on Monday was probably the funnest part of the series, but the Tigers’ bats seemed to go south in the last two games. Now the Tigers head to Minnesota for a three game series that will wrap up their season. If the Tigers win two of three, they’ll exceed (barely) their win total from last season.

Billfer touched on this, but the Tigers topped 2 million in attendance for the first time since opening Comerica Park. ESPN’s numbers don’t appear to take into account yesterday’s 13,000 people, so if you add those, it puts us around 2,037,000 people, which is good for 21st in MLB. Attendance throughout the league set an all time record, so I’ll be taking a look at how this stacks up to the rest of the teams.

Local author Tom Stanton, who’s written some great books like “Road to Cooperstown” and “The Final Season” is going to be making appearances at local libraries to talk about his upcoming work “The Detroit Tigers Reader.” You can see where he’ll be by clicking here.

It looks like the Red Sox and Yankees will give us a bit of excitement this weekend and the series affects both the AL East and the wildcard. The only other playoff race not decided is the NL wildcard, but the Astros have a two game lead. The Indians and White Sox are tied, so whoever comes out of that Yankees/Red Sox series has to make sure they at least take a game, or they’ll be out of the race.

September 29, 1935 White Sox 3, Tigers 2 (93-57)

General Crowder pitched eight solid innings before Mickey Cochrane went to the bullpen in the ninth. Chief Hogsett then gave a bottom of the ninth run as he took the loss.

Pete Fox, Charlie Gehringer and Ray Hayworth all had two hits in the loss. Gee Walker tripled.

September 29, 1935 White Sox 14, Tigers 2 (93-58)

While it was nice to see Elden Auker back on the mound after being hit by a line drive last week, it wasn’t nice to see him get shelled. By the bottom of the second, the White Sox had eight runs and Joe Sullivan was in relief of Auker. Sullivan couldn’t stem the tide as he was tagged for six more runs and by the bottom of the third inning, the Tigers were down 14-2.

Jo Jo White and Mickey Cochrane drove in the two Tiger’s runs, and the game was called after five and a half innings so the Tigers could catch their train.

September 28, 1935 White Sox 6, Tigers 3 (92-56)

Tommy Bridges was cruising along with a shutout through five innings, but the White Sox tagged him for two runs in the sixth, then four in the eighth as the White Sox beat the Tigers in the front end of their doubleheader. Bridges struck out three and gave up only seven hits, but the White Sox made them count.

Charlie Gehringer, Pete Fox and Marv Owen all had two hits in the game. The Tigers had three errors in the game, but were actually outpaced in that department by the White Sox, who had four.

September 25, 1935 Tigers 8, White Sox 3 (93-56)

Schoolboy Rowe threw a nice game and the Tigers’ bats ran up the score in the second game of the doubleheader. Prior to the first game, manager Mickey Cochrane said that whoever threw better between Bridges and Rowe in the doubleheader would get the nod in game one of the World Series.

The Tigers ran up the score and by the top of the fourth inning, they had a 6-0 lead. Charlie Gehringer had a huge day, going three for five with a homerun, two runs and three RBIs. Pete Fox also hit the ball as he went two for four with a homer, three runs and an RBI.

While 15 runs in two games is hardly an offensive onslaught, it was good enough for the Tigers to blowout the just as bad Seattle Mariners this weekend. We dropped the first game on Friday, but bounced back to win our last two games.

Jason Grilli made his first career start on Saturday and really shined. I know the Mariners aren’t great, but anytime you can hold a major league team to two hits through seven innings, you have to be impressed. Jason Grilli won the third and final game for the Mud Hens as they won the Governors Cup (International League World Series).

The Tigers would have to take all four against the White Sox to finish the season above .500 at home. They need one home win to match last years total of 38.

The Tigers signed their first round draft pick Cameron Maybin. Definitely good news, and it’s expected that he’ll play A ball next year. He got a nice chunk of change as his signing bonus was $2.65 million.

The Tigers have a chance to make an impact on the playoff picture this week when they square off against the White Sox. Heck, I guess no matter what happens, win or lose, it will have some kind of impact. The Tigers haven’t had much luck against the White Sox this season, so it’d be nice to see them turn it around now. Better late then never.

September 25, 1935 Indians 3, Tigers 2 (92-55)

Chief Hogsett did all he could to win the game in relief of Elden Auker. Auker was hit on the wrist by a come backer in the first inning. While no bones were broken, the World Series was coming up and the Tigers needed all their good arms ready to play the Chicago Cubs.

Hogsett homered to drive in one of the Tigers’ runs and Billy Rogell drove in the other with an RBI single in the second inning.

September 24, 1935 Indians 14, Tigers 7 (92-54)

Mickey Cochrane was absent from the Tigers bench in this game because he went to New York to watch the Joe Louis/Max Baer title bout. The game was actually close through six innings, but General Crowder, and then Roxie Lawson fell apart to give up a total of eight runs in the seventh and eighth innings.

In Cochrane’s abscence, backup catcher Ray Hayworth went two for four with three RBIs. Hank Greenberg was two for three with two runs and both Pete Fox and Billy Rogell scored twice.

September 22, 1935 Browns 1, Tigers 0 (92-53)

Normally, a one run, four hit performance by Schoolboy Rowe would garner a win. Unfortunately, St. Louis Browns starter Earl Caldwell held the Tigers to three hits and zero runs.

Hank Greenberg doubled. That’s the extent of the hitting highlights.

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