Baseball Awards

Indeed. Lincey is bleeding votes. And he hurt my fantasy team to boot. :smilewinkgrin:

 

If they make it (gotta get past that major hurdle first), I agree with you. The 2006 team was much, much better - better hitting and better pitching too (considering the 2006 league was more offensively-oriented). In 2009, Edwin Jackson started off great, but he has reverted back to a no. 4 or 5 starter like he was in Tampa. Porcello has been great for a 20-year old, but he'll reach a plateau in IP and likely won't be a big factor in the playoffs. Jarrod Washed-up-burn is useless - the anti-Rogers.

So when the '06 Tigers upset the Yankees, it was a mild upset, but if the '09 Tigers were to beat the Yankees, I think it would be one of the biggest upsets in MLB playoff history. Period. The '09 Tigers (or the '09 Twins, if you will) will be one of the worst teams to make the playoffs in MLB history. If the '09 AL Central race were a 'horse race,' the spectators should have shot these broken horses long ago to put them out of their misery.

 

To be honest, I haven't read much about their new stadium. Aren't they going to have a retractable roof for it? That's almost a necessity up there.

 

You can come off the ledge, Andy. With tonight's Tiger win over the Twins, your boys are now up 3 with 4 to play. A win tomorrow and the Tigers clinch. Even a Tiger loss tomorrow makes the Twinkies have to make up 2 games in three days. Just don't see it happening. That rain out was a Godsend for you guys. But I can't remember a DH that was more exciting than yesterday's. Granderson decided to make it even more so in the 9th of the night game

 

No, still not off the ledge until the magic no. is 0. I could easily see the Twins winning today and then sweeping the Royals (even against Greinke) at the Worst Stadium In The World, while the Tigers lose 2 of 3 to the Sox, forcing a 1-game playoff at that Unspeakable Place. And there is no way we win that 1-game playoff. No way whatsoever.

 

I couldn't agree more about Happ. Not only has it been a pleasure to watch him at CB Park this year, he's also a real class act off the field.

It's nice to see such a good guy get a little recognition once in a while, especially after the embarrassment of having Michael Vick in our town.

By the way, there's no award for it, but I thought is was a really classy thing for Charlie to call Brad Lidge in for the final out last night. Also when the team went out to the Harry Kalas sign in left-center to celebrate.

 

Yep, this nightmare scenario is before us. Today's game was disappointing, but the real mess up was game 1 - they blew that one. If that stupid House of Horrors hands the Twins another divisional title, I will personally go blow it up myself. And anyone who wants to see the Yankees lose, better be rooting for the Tigers, because we have the pitching to do it - the Twins will get hammered and swept by the Yanks.

 

The Humphreybag won't hand the Twins the title - Leyland will. 6-12 against the Twins this year. This race was over Labor Day. No way this race should be down to the final weekend. No way. The Twins have played remarkably well given that their second best player (Mauer is now the man, IMHO) is on the shelf.

I still believe this race is over, but now I'll crawdad a bit and say you're right - your scenario is certainly possible, but only slightly. CWS have a 7-8 record against DET and just 5 above .483 away from home while DET is 50-27 at home. I still think champagne will be cleaned off the locker room floor at Comerica this weekend.

And by the way, the Tigers lost 5 of 6 to the Yankees this year. I don't see the Tigers being the Yankee killers you see. They lost 6 out of 7 to the BoSox. The Tigers could go three and out in the playoffs I'm afraid, friend.

 

The Royals have made two trips to the Humphreybag this year. They won both series. Granted, that's before the Twinkies started playing like the 1927 Yankees.

 

I'm not saying the Tigers would beat the Yankees - it would be an upset for sure (even bigger than our '06 upset). But we would definitely fare better than the Twins. We were 1-5 against the Yankees, but two of those losses were by 2 runs and two losses were by 1 run. The last series we played in July, the Yankess only scored 9 runs in 3 games off our pitching. And that's the key - the Twins pitching will get absolutely shelled by the Yanks, while ours will kepp us in the games.

 

I agree with this (although we actually went 7-11 against the Twins). Leyland is overrated as a manager and should be fired if they blow this. He's basically been a choker everywhere he's gone (remember all those great Pirates teams that lost 3 straight NLCS's). His team choked in '06 against the Cardinals. And he's about to choke this year, too.

 

I stand corrected. 7-11 it is.

I don't disagree about Leyland. I can't blame the team for the beating it took from the vaunted Reds in '90 though

He did have an awful lot of talent in PIT that got wasted in the playoffs. The '92 loss against ATL still has to haunt him. ATL was no slouch that year, but still, Drabek losing three times in that series? Stan Belinda giving up runs at the worst times. Ironically, had he won that series, he would've played against your beloved Twins in the WS.

 

Rodney has only blown 1 save all year, but he can be a rollercoaster. When he is on, I think he has some of the best pure stuff of any pitcher in baseball. His changeup is incredible.

Well, they were in first place wire to wire, but the '84 Tigers did that, too. I think the '98 Yankees, as well.

 

But this is what he's looking for, I think: The Reds were wire-to wire in first AND swept their World Series. The '84 Tigers did not do this.

Lou wanted the Reds to go undefeated in the playoffs completely. And Leyland tried to help. Started RP Ted Power in game 6, I think, to try to get a tactical advantage. Must have worked: the Reds only won by one run Bob Walk was their "ace" in the series and lost twice and Drabek went 1-1.

I think the '98 yankees went wire to wire and swept their WS too, did they not?

 

I just checked - the '98 Yankees started out 0-3, so they did not go wire to wire.

However, I think the '84 Tigers have the '90 Reds beat - not only in overall dominance and talent, but also in this - both teams went wire to wire, yes. (Note that the Tigers had many, many, many more wins at 104 compared to a pedestrian 91 by the Reds.) But, the Tigers were never behind in either the ALCS or the World Series. They swept the Royals, 3-0. They won game 1 of the W.S., and the Padres won game 2 (and the Tigers went on to win, 4-1), so the Tigers were always at least tied or in the lead throughout the regular season and all of the post-season. The pedestrian Reds lost game 1 of the NLCS, so they did not match that incredible feat.

 

In a changing world, one thing never changes - Andy will go to whatever logical leaps he must to prove the superiority of the Tigers and the inferiority of the Twins :tongue3:

Were I doing what you're doing, I'd point out that the Pyth W-L means the Tigers were "luckier." Or if I really went off the board, I'd say the Reds got to prove they were clutch whereas the Tigers could not. But since I'm not doing that........:tongue3:

In all seriousness, that would've been a good series...the 84 Tigers vs. the '90 Reds. Certainly much more competitive than the two they had on their own. But who cares? The good guys won....well, at least in 1990 :smilewinkgrin: