Misery Loves Company

Dear Tigers Fans,

I know how you feel. Your team is filling the record books for all the wrong reasons. Just a couple of weeks ago you had World Series visions dancing in your head. You were on the cover of Sports Illustrated. You were feeling good.

And then, though it really took place over the course of a month, it felt like everything came crashing down at once. Suddenly another team is celebrating, and you're going home.
I know you don't want to hear this right now...but I know how you feel.

I am a Mets fan.

It's horrible. Sitting pretty at the beginning of September, then watching another team play in October.

(Continue to 200 Miles From the Citi)

A Postseason Without Tigers

I went into last night’s game fully expecting the Tigers to lose. There was no way, I reasoned, that Detroit could go to Minnesota, against a red-hot team and win this one-game playoff; especially with rookie Rick Porcello on the mound.

It was a self-defense mechanism. Emotionally, it was better for me to be pleasantly surprised than terribly disappointed.

But any sports fan can tell you that no matter how low you set your expectations, when the game begins that bar is still as high as the clouds. And after the Tigers took an early 3-0 lead, I was walking on cloud nine, 10 11 and 12.

(Continue to Michigan and Trumbull)

No Surprise in Tigers' Collapse

Today I have a splitting headache and I’m not sure if it’s because I might have swine flu or because the Tigers epically failed to seal the division championship over the weekend.

To be honest, I’d rather have the swine flu.

The Tigers 5-3 win yesterday afternoon, a win that forced a one-game playoff tomorrow evening, only proves the point that no Tigers fan should be surprised about this late season collapse.

Detroit has been the most consistent, inconsistent team in baseball all season long. One day they play like the hapless Tigers of the mid to late 90s and the next day they look good enough to beat the Yankees.

(Continue to Michigan and Trumbull)

Marriage of Tigers and Destiny

Last night, the Tigers did something they’ve struggled to do in the last month of the season: beat an inferior opponent to a pulp. And this three-game winning streak has given me a little extra hop in my step.

Not so much because the Twins’ 2-1/2 game deficit is now insurmountable. But because in the last three games the Tigers’ strengths — the only way they can win down the stretch and (knock on wood) in the playoffs — were showcased in those three wins.

For the Detroit to be successful in the stretch run, they have to follow the standard advice for every wedding planner in America: Something old, something new, Something borrowed, something blue.

(Continue to Michigan and Trumbull)

R.I.P. Tiger Stadium (1912-2009)

Tiger Stadium, which stood watch at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull for nearly a century, will most likely be laid to rest today or tomorrow.

All that remains is a portion of the lower deck wall at the corner of Cochrane and Michigan.

The official age of death will be 97.

The corner of Michigan and Trumbull, known as Bennett Park, became the Tigers’ first home on April 28, 1896 — a 17-2 win over the Columbus Senators.

(Continue to Michigan and Trumbull)

All's Right with Tigers' World, For Now

The Tigers avoided an embarrassing sweep in Minnesota and who, of all people, helped save the bleeding?

Nate Robertson.

Yes, that Nate Robertson, the one who has been battling against injuries and being a good pitcher most of the year. He threw five strong innings, allowed just two runs and struck out six batters in the Tigers’ 6-2 win Sunday afternoon.

(Continue to Michigan and Trumbull)

Tigers Chipping Away Playoff Hope

Words can’t describe how unbelievably perturbed I am with the Tigers’ latest “effort” during the first two games of a pivotal series against the Twins.

Where is the pride? Where is the heart? Where is the pitching?

No one would confuse the Tigers pitchers with other fine staffs in St Louis, New York or San Francisco. But at least the pitchers kept Detroit in the game on most nights. I’ve known all year the offense had lost a lot of its punch, so I clung to the hope that the pitchers could hold together — even if it had to be with duck tape and gum — long enough to get into the playoffs.

(Continue to Michigan and Trumbull)

Say a Prayer for Ernie Harwell

"For, lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of the singing of birds is come,
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land."

Each year, before the Detroit Tigers' first spring training broadcast, Ernie Harwell would quote that passage from the Song of Solomon.

Although this isn't really related to Notre Dame or college football, we have to take a moment here to say a prayer for the great Harwell, the legendary Tigers' announcer who is dying.

(Continue to Bob Birge's Irish Eyes Are Smiling)

Tigers vs. Indians: Now It's a Sprint

This series begins what will be a particularly brutal month for us Tigers fans. Detroit is a pedestrian 27-20 against division opponents, one game worse than Minnesota. Twenty five of the remaining 32 games this season are against divisional foes.

The good news is that the Tigers finish the year with seven games at home against the Twins and White Sox. The bad news is that they must play nine straight roads games before the last week of the season.

(Continue to Michigan and Trumbull)