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Detroit Tigers 2006 season thread...

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Dispatch

TIGERS 3 ATHLETICS 0
Tigers embrace chilling victory

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Ben Walker
ASSOCIATED PRESS

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</IMG> Kenny Rogers blanked the A?s on two singles in 7 1 /3 innings and drew a thunderous ovation.
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DETROIT ? Kenny Rogers took off his cap, waved it to the crowd and twirled around for all to see. And that sent a real chill to the fans packing Comerica Park.
Because of him, they can really start dreaming about seeing their Detroit Tigers in the World Series.
Rogers pitched the game of his life for the second straight week and the Tigers backed him with their bats, gloves and legs, beating the Oakland Athletics 3-0 yesterday in frosty conditions to take a 3-0 lead in the American League championship series.
Manager Jim Leyland made another lineup hunch pay off as the wild-card Tigers ? yes, the same team that looked lost in dropping 119 games only three years ago ? posted their sixth straight postseason victory and closed to a victory of their first World Series since 1984.
"That?s our goal. That?s what we play for," Rogers said. "I can?t say enough for the way the guys played behind me."
Putting aside temperatures in the low 40s that forced both teams to put flame-throwing blowers in their dugouts, Rogers shut out the Athletics on two mere singles in 7 1 /3 innings.
He drew a thunderous ovation when he left, and the Detroit bullpen did the rest.
Craig Monroe homered, Placido Polanco delivered two more hits off losing pitcher Rich Harden, and Tigers closer Todd Jones finished for his second save of the series.
The Tigers led 2-0 after the first inning and at this rate, nothing seems able to stop them. Want evidence? Leyland pulled Game 2 star Alexis Gomez, put Omar Infante into his first postseason game and the DH singled and walked.
"I think it?s a matter of having confidence in all your players," Leyland said. "And I think there?s a little luck that goes along with it."
Certainly the Tigers? luck didn?t change yesterday. And, a day after the earliest measured snowfall in the city?s history, the cold was no problem, though it helped the game was switched from nighttime to day.
The A?s get one last chance today in Game 4, with Dan Haren starting against former Oakland draft pick Jeremy Bonderman. Only once in baseball history has a team rallied from an 0-3 deficit in the postseason, with Boston doing it against the New York Yankees in 2004.
"It?s not an impossible task," A?s manager Ken Macha said. "I think the approach has always been one game. We?ve got four good starters lined up."
Frank Thomas remained hitless in the series, yet the Big Hurt wasn?t the lone Oakland hitter to feel the Big Chill against Rogers.
Coming off his first victory in a previously awful playoff career, Rogers, 41, reprised his role as an October ace. He blanked the Yankees for 7 2 /3 innings in the first round and the A?s never did much against him, either.
Rogers was not nearly as animated as he was in the win over the Yankees. He saved his emotion for the end, thanking the 41,669 fans with a wave of the cap, making sure to salute every corner of the park.
"It was no less emotional," Rogers said. "But I just wanted to play my game. We?ve played great all year long. I take nothing for granted."
Fernando Rodney got the last two outs in the eighth and Jones pitched a perfect ninth to complete the combined two-hitter. Rogers? lone jam came in the first after Jason Kendall led off with a single and Thomas was hit by a pitch with two outs. But Rogers retired Jay Payton on a grounder, and went on to strike out six.
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Here's an excellent article on Leyland and his son, Patrick...living the dream:)

BASKING SON
Patrick Leyland enjoys his father's success

OAKLAND - Jim Leyland and the Detroit Tigers scored one for the little guy in their first-round playoff series, slaying the mighty New York Yankees.
The Oakland A's are up next, with Game 1 of the AL championship series set for tonight.
Patrick Leyland, the manager's teenage son who turns 15 tomorrow, is enjoying the ride of his baseball life.

​
Patrick Leyland, 15, has had a ringside seat for what his father, Jim Leyland, has done in turning the Tigers into winners after years of losing. The Pittsburgh-area high school catcher was 6 when his dad led the Marlins to a World Series title.
( ASSOCIATED PRESS )
javascript:NewWindow(600,400,'/apps...ategory=COLUMNIST37&ArtNo=610100354&Ref=V4');Zoom | Photo Reprints
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He was 6 in 1997 and barely remembers his dad leading the Florida Marlins to the World Series championship.

That's why the Tigers' magical season has been so special.
When he's not in school, Patrick shuffles back and forth between Detroit and the family's home in suburban Pittsburgh.
He was a fixture in the Tigers' clubhouse last weekend, and joined in the raucous celebration after they polished off the Yankees in the AL division series.
Patrick saved his biggest hug for his 61-year-old father, who was holding a cigar in one hand and a plastic cup of champagne in the other, while doing a little dance to the salsa music blaring in the background.
ALCS: TIGERS VS. A'S
? Game 1: at Oakland, tonight, 8:19 (TV: 36, 2)
? Game 2: at Oakland, Wed., 8:19
? Game 3: at Detroit, Friday, 8:19
? Game 4: at Detroit, Saturday, TBA
? Game 5: at Detroit, Sunday, TBA*
? Game 6: at Oakland, Tuesday, Oct. 17, TBA*
? Game 7: at Oakland, Wednesday, Oct. 18, TBA*

*if necessary



"There's no way [dad] ever dreamed he'd have this much success this season," Patrick said. "This is unbelievable. I think his big goal was that he wanted to be over .500. I think he surprised everyone, maybe even himself.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing for him and me. It's something we can share. I'm just trying to enjoy it as much as I can."
Jim Leyland, a Perrysburg native who spent his first 18 years of professional baseball in the Detroit organization as a catcher, coach and manager, returned after taking a six-year sabbatical from managing to lead the Tigers back to the playoffs for the first time since 1987.
He also put an end to the organization's string of 12 consecutive losing seasons.
The Tigers were the best team in baseball until early August, when they hit a tailspin. Detroit dropped 31 of its final 50 games, including the final five at home. The Tigers blew a chance to clinch the AL Central title on the last day of theregular season and had to settle for the wild card.
But six days later, Leyland and the Tigers - who have an $80 million-plus payroll compared to New York's $200 million - were the toast of the town after beating the heavily favored Yankees.
Detroit needs just two more victories to reach 100 for the season, including playoffs.
That's an amazing turnaround, considering this is the same franchise that averaged 100 losses a year from 2001-2005.
Leyland almost certainly will win his third manager of the year award, his first in the AL.
Since 2000, he had worked as a Pittsburgh-based scout for his good buddy Tony La Russa and the St. Louis Cardinals.
But Patrick knew his dad, who helped coach his AAU team a few years ago, was hungry to return to a big-league dugout, especially after a very unsatisfying season with the Colorado Rockies in 1999.
"He was getting real antsy the past three or four years at home," Patrick said. "It was really eating him up that he wasn't managing."
When Pittsburgh fired Lloyd McClendon at the end of the 2005 season, word was the Pirates were interested in rehiring Leyland.
But Leyland, who guided the Pirates to three NLCS appearances in the early 1990s, wasted little time in signing a three-year contract with the Tigers, who had fired 1984 World Series hero Alan Trammell after three dreadful seasons.
Leyland was reunited with Dave Dombrowski, who also was the general manager when the Marlins won the World Series.
"It would have been nice to have dad at home [in Pittsburgh], but Detroit was the best fit for him," said Patrick, a promising catcher at Canevin High School in Pittsburgh. "I knew he was going to work hard and do the best job he could.
"He was stressed out a couple of times this year, but he's always stressed out."
Leyland's wife, Katie, a former Pirates' promotion assistant, and teenage daughter, Kellie, were in Detroit last weekend for the celebration too.
Patrick has slept on the couch in his dad's office at Comerica Park a few times this season. Jim has since moved to a hotel six blocks away, and his son has walked to work with him on occasion.
"I am his sounding board," Patrick said. "He bounces stuff off of me all of the time."
Patrick is no longer a little guy. He has grown up a lot.
His dad would like nothing better than to deliver another World Series title his son can remember.
 
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Congrats to all you Tiger fans. My 2nd. grade teacher was a Tiger fan so they were the first team I followed before the Reds. Nice to see them win. Good luck in the series. Being a Reds fan requires National league alliance so I'll be rooting for the Cards in the WS. Great season though, Tigers.
 
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Dispatch

TIGERS 6 ATHLETICS 3
Tigers in a sweep
Ordonez?s homer in the ninth inning finishes off A?s

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Ben Walker
ASSOCIATED PRESS

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</IMG> Tigers players greet Magglio Ordonez at home plate after he hit the series-ending, three-run homer.


DETROIT ? Magglio Ordonez lofted a high fly ball to left field, and when it landed, a most amazing thing: the Detroit Tigers in the World Series!
The laughingstock of baseball world only three years ago, the Tigers made it official yesterday: They?re back, and on the prowl.
Ordonez hit his second homer of the game, connecting for a three-run shot with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning that lifted Jim Leyland?s Tigers over the Oakland Athletics 6-3 for a startling four-game sweep of the American League championship series.
"I think early on in spring training we had a lot of good players, (but) we didn?t have a good team," said Leyland, the Tigers? manager. "And today I can make the statement that we?ve got a good team."
With the crowd of 42,967 in Comerica Park in delirium, joined by fans watching from distant downtown buildings and all over Michigan, the Tigers rejoiced after their seventh straight postseason win.
The wild-card Tigers now get to rest and wait for Game 1 of the World Series at home on Saturday against either the New York Mets or St. Louis Cardinals. It will be Detroit?s first Series appearance since winning it all in 1984.
The losingest team in the majors in the past 13 seasons, the Tigers were in despair after dropping an embarrassing 119 games in 2003. But in their first year under Leyland, they projected a winning attitude from the start.
And never has the olde English "D" on the jerseys puffed more proudly than it did after Ordonez homered.
Members of the Tigers? bullpen rushed in from left field and nearly beat Ordonez to the plate as fans twirled white towels.
Down 3-0 early, the Tigers clawed back to tie it against Dan Haren when Ordonez hit a basesempty homer in the sixth.
After Craig Monroe and series MVP Placido Polanco singled with two outs in the ninth off Huston Street, and with the entire ballpark on its feet, Ordonez launched a no-doubt drive over the wall.
Ordonez stood to watch the ball sail while Monroe and Polanco began jumping. It was the eighth homer in history to end a postseason series.
As the Tigers celebrated at the plate, Leyland walked across the field to Oakland?s dugout to congratulate the A?s. He had special words for slugger Frank Thomas, who went 0 for 13 in the series.
Wilfredo Ledezma, who bailed out the Tigers by retiring Marco Scutaro on a foul pop with the bases loaded to end the eighth, got the win.
Detroit posted the first ALCS sweep since Oakland chased Boston in 1990.
"I told the players they can?t let this series diminish what they did this year," Athletics manager Macha said. Polanco, whose separated left shoulder in mid-August had him worried that his season was over, delivered three more hits and went 9 for 17 in the series.
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Dispatch

WORLD SERIES
Leyland serious about keeping Tigers focused
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Jon Paul Morosi
DETROIT FREE PRESS
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</IMG> ERIC SEALS DETROIT FREE PRESS Manager Jim Leyland has had lots of time to discuss his plans for the World Series as the Tigers await their opponent for Game 1 on Saturday.
20061019-Pc-B4-0500.jpg
</IMG> PAUL SANCYA ASSOCIATED PRESS Carlos Guillen, right, talking with Tigers catcher Ivan Rodriguez, has been bothered by a back problem.


DETROIT ? Fans are anxious. Manager Jim Leyland understands why, and he has moved swiftly into action.
The Tigers won the American League pennant this past Saturday. Their next game ? Game 1 of the World Series in Comerica Park ? is not until Saturday night.
The layoff is a veritable October eternity, long enough that many in Michigan are concerned that momentum from a seven-game playoff winning streak could stall before the World Series begins.
"It?s a real dangerous time for us, I can tell you that," Leyland said, minutes before he planned to speak with the team. "Everybody?s happy, everybody?s in good spirits.
"You know, somebody?s going to get over to Ford Field (home of the NFL?s Detroit Lions) ? one of these nuts I?ve got ? and they?re going to want to throw a 60-yard pass. I?ve got to worry about the turf, spraining an ankle, doing something silly. Or the pitchers, down there, swinging out of their (butts) in the cage.
"I?m going to step on that right off the bat. No fooling around. No monkey business, celebrating, and all that, ?Oh, we?re loose as a goose.? No. We?ll be tight here in another 20 minutes."
With that message, Leyland planned to refocus the Tigers, after their four-game sweep of Oakland in the AL championship series.
Leyland granted players two days off. The team also set up a temporary infield in Ford Field to work on bunt defense, which could be vital during the three Series games played under National League rules without the designated hitter.
The Tigers worked out yesterday and might take today off, before the formal World Series hoopla begins Friday. By then, they should know their opponent ? the New York Mets or St. Louis Cardinals.
Until the NL pennant is decided, Leyland and his staff must plan for two contingencies. Leyland refused to announce his World Series rotation, explaining that it could change, based on the opponent.
If the Mets win, Leyland might want to maintain a left-right-leftright arrangement, as he did in the first two rounds. The Mets hit .254 against left-handed pitching ? second worst in baseball ? so Leyland probably would want the Mets to face four left-handed starters in a seven-game series. He?d also have the option of starting Kenny Rogers (Game 1) and Jeremy Bonderman (Game 2) in Comerica Park, where the Tigers are 4-0 this postseason in games started by them.
Leyland said the undetermined opponent was "the only disadvantage" to a long layoff. The extended rest makes it more likely that reliever Joel Zumaya (right wrist and forearm inflammation) and first baseman Sean Casey (small tear of the fascia muscle in his left calf) will be ready Saturday.
"The advantages, I think, outweigh the disadvantages," Leyland said. "We can get our guys healthy. Zumaya?s going to be fine. Casey?s got a good shot at being fine."
Leyland also said the rest would benefit shortstop/first baseman Carlos Guillen, who hit .188 against the Athletics after batting .571 against the Yankees. Guillen?s back, Leyland said, has "been bothering him more than he?ll let on."
Even center fielder Curtis Granderson, perhaps the club?s bestconditioned, most energetic player, needed a break.
"I was fatigued," Granderson said. "I had a bunch of family here, and we went to eat. After it was all said and done, I ended up sleeping and had to get back to the phone calls. I?m still getting back to them now."
Now, preparations are being made for the next series. Leyland has worked on filling ticket requests and contemplated how he?ll manage in the NL city. Meanwhile, the Comerica Park grounds crew tended to the field and pulled the tarp back after the afternoon rain stopped. Along either baseline, the championship series logos have faded. Their replacements?sure to be bigger and brighter for the World Series ? are on the way, as the baseball world will fix its eyes on Detroit.
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Motherfucker. How can pitchers pitch but not be able to throw the fucking ball to first base/third base. 4 errors by the pitchers this series? Not good. Would be surprised with the way they are playing if we get to go back to Detroit for game 6. Fuck.
 
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