But at least we are still in first pl….

oh, wait. nevermind….

Apologies in advance to Gordon Lightfoot..

Best. Post. Ever.

Friday, Aug. 10: The Tigers’ Wives will serve as celebrity ice cream scoopers at the Ben ‘n’ Jerry’s PartnerShop at 1014 Woodward Avenue from 4-6:30 p.m. This Ben ‘n’ Jerry’s store operates in partnership with Goodwill Industries. The store provides Detroit youngsters (ages 14-21) a four-week training program at the Goodwill’s Detroit Career Center. After the classes have been completed, the youths are hired at this Ben ‘n’ Jerry’s location to apply the skills they learned, while gaining paid work experience. The Tigers’ Wives will serve as celebrity scoopers to draw attention to the special store, which serves at-risk youths in Detroit.

Is anyone else going to the August 10 game? Maybe some of the posters would like to meet at Ben & Jerry’s before the game for this event. My daughter and I went last year and it was a lot of fun.

On or about Memorial Day, a very grand ship with a proud English D on her bow was chugging along at a champion’s pace, until she hit a colossal iceberg in the still of the night. The hull was clearly compromised. Water began seeping into the lower decks — although it wasn’t precisely clear (to some) the extent of the damage, how serious the damage, or if the incoming water would eventually sink the ship before she made it safely to port. This ship was so well equipped, however, some believed she could take the race, incoming water and all. In fact, there was spirited debate on the matter and soon a schism of sorts formed among the ranks. Two camps rallied around opposite solutions to address the situation.

Some said, let’s sail on, mates! Let’s jerry-rig some patches and putty and press forward! We can make it to port with what we’ve got, and we can still win this race!

Others recognized the grave danger and the impending threat to the ship. They insisted on outside help.

Meanwhile, the captain radioed all nearby ships for aid. As far as his allegiance to the camps that had formed on the ship, he sat quietly on the fence and reserved all strategy on how to address the problem, depending on what help was available and at what price. He nonetheless scoured the waters for nearby lifeboats and rafts.

What he found were various other ships in the vicinity – most of which offered a promise to help. Although they could certainly aid the ship in its race to port, none could guarantee the safety of all hands on board or a resolution to the problem for certain. So the captain had a choice to make, whether to accept these nearby offers, and he had until July 31st to make his final decision. After this date all ships would be out of range to help.

Alas, the captain and the crew hemmed and hawed and debated night and day and until the sun came up; they pondered whether nearby help would come at too high a price, whether they could make it port alone, blah, blah, blah. Meanwhile, the water keep pouring ever so steadily into the lower decks, and amid all the blabbering and pontificating, the bow began to dip lower and lower and lower. And the July 31st deadline came and went and the ship was thus left to her own devices…

Given the scene above, this fan’s certainly not jumping the ship. He’s just supremely perturbed the deck is now listing at a 45-degree angle, when the disaster could have been diverted weeks ago. (I see no sense rehashing all the arguments again. I can recite every rebuttal in my sleep). But don’t mistake my annoyance with jumping ship. I’m the guy on the deck, sipping brandy in black tie, listening to the quartet play its dirge amid the mayhem.

in particular some good comments on the Art of Pitching and in particular

so that hitters will be forced to swing

now right there is where I see trouble in our game. when ya get behind in the count hitter can afford to take a chance on the call.

ya gotta keep the ball away from the hitter. but not so much ya get behind in the count and that is what I see happening. and our radio announcers are saying exactly the same thing

and that is why I’ve been saying we gotta look at pitching coaching is the likely trouble spot. we got good arms both startes and in the pen and I say that inspite of some of the comments I read here this morning.

let’s get out there and beat them six tonite

I still think that the Tigers have a good shot at making it.

If you looked at any game this series this was the iffy one.

Sunday should be a win and tomorrow should be too if Bondo is right.

If Podsednick (sp) hadn’t made those 2 great plays and Erstad hadn’t gotten the lucky break to double off Grandy I think this games result would have come out differently.

Kenny Rogers, Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya should be back within a month or so too (Rogers will likely be first to return among the three). Andrew Miller is struggling, but remember that this is his first year in the big leagues. Hopefully for Jim Leyland, Miller will not miss his next start, which is scheduled to be Wednesday.

Every team goes through cold stretches, and luckily for the Tigers, the Indians got cold at the same time as the Tigers (although some fans might see it as a missed opportunity to open some ground in the AL Central).

The Tigers will come roaring back in short order…there’s little doubt of that because everyone knows what this team can do. It’s just a matter of when. There’s just too much talent on this team for them not to. In the meantime, the Tigers have some of the weaker teams in the AL coming up: the White Sox, who somehow give the Tigers trouble, the Devil Rays, whose pitching should get knocked around a bit by the Tiger bats, and Oakland, who have not seen their characteristic late-summer turnaround come together yet.

I emphasize this stretch against those three teams because after that the road becomes extremely difficult; for 13 games the Tigers will see only two teams, the Indians and the surging Yankees. The Indians and Tigers will face off in a key two-game series at Jacobs Field August 14-15, followed by a four-game series for the Tigers at Yankee Stadium. The Tigers will then come home for a three-game set with the Indians and another four-game set with New York.

In all, that presents plenty of opportunity to put some distance between themselves and their opponents in the AL Central and the Wild Card races.

Kenny Rogers, Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya should be back within a month or so too (Rogers will likely be first to return among the three). Andrew Miller is struggling, but remember that this is his first year in the big leagues. Hopefully for Jim Leyland, Miller will not miss his next start, which is scheduled to be Wednesday.

Every team goes through cold stretches, and luckily for the Tigers, the Indians got cold at the same time as the Tigers (although some fans might see it as a missed opportunity to open some ground in the AL Central).

The Tigers will come roaring back in short order…there’s little doubt of that because everyone knows what this team can do. It’s just a matter of when. There’s just too much talent on this team for them not to. In the meantime, the Tigers have some of the weaker teams in the AL coming up: the White Sox, who somehow give the Tigers trouble, the Devil Rays, whose pitching should get knocked around a bit by the Tiger bats, and Oakland, who have not seen their characteristic late-summer turnaround come together yet.

I emphasize this stretch against those three teams because after that the road becomes extremely difficult; for 13 games the Tigers will see only two teams, the Indians and the surging Yankees. The Indians and Tigers will face off in a key two-game series at Jacobs Field August 14-15, followed by a four-game series for the Tigers at Yankee Stadium. The Tigers will then come home for a three-game set with the Indians and another four-game set with New York.