As American as Apple Pie and Baseball

By notapoet - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in Sports & Leisure

Sunday, August 31, 2008

College football 2008 arrived on Thursday

…and it was none too soon as far as this beleaguered Detroit Tiger fan was concerned. Mercifully, the Tigers had a much needed day off after being swept by Cleveland at Comerica, capping a four-game losing streak to teams that had been at the bottom of the AL Central. As a result of the sweep by the... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, August 25, 2008

110 Olympic Medals

That’s a pretty good haul by any measuring stick. It’s 10 medals more than host country China managed to amass, and 38 more then third place Russia. But did the United States really win the Olympics? Not really. Sort of. Maybe. It depends on the spin you give to the medal count and the relative... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

No Diamond Gold for the USA

The USA baseball team came back from a disappointing 10-2 loss to Cuba in the semifinals to salvage a small piece of glory with an 8-4 win against Japan in the bronze medal game early this morning. It was small comfort that the only two teams to beat the USA in pool play, Cuba and surprising South... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Olympic diamond update

Early this morning, stateside time, the USA women’s softball team will play Japan for a third time in this Olympics. This time it’s for the gold. Friday morning the baseball team faces defending champ Cuba in a must win ballgame. The softball team beat Japan 7-0 in pool play en route to a perfect... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Last "Hurraw" for Olympic Baseball?

Today baseball in the Olympics begins what may be its swan song in the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee, in its infinite wisdom (Hah!) decided in 2005 that baseball and women's softball with both be dropped from the roster of team sports after the 2008 games. The unpopular decision was... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

The football season snuck up on me.

I've been so wrapped up in the fortunes (mostly misfortune) of my beloved Detroit Tigers, that I almost missed the beginning of the NFL exhibition season. The headline grabbing antics of Bret Favre and the Green Bay Packers finally caught my attention. Who, in his or her right mind, could have come... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Favre to the Jets for a draft pick? Are they effen crazy, part 2...

Yeah, no matter what the situation in Green Bay, or whose side you line up on in this whole stinkin' mess, Bret Favre for a single draft pick is about as even a swap as Pudge Rodriguez for Kyle "another one over the fence" Farnsworth. When future Hall of Famer players in baseball and football,... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Are they effen crazy? And good googamooga!

Kyle Farnsworth for Pudge Rodriguez, you gotta be kiddin'. As one appalled fan commented, "It's like swapping Jessica Alba in her prime for Bea Arthur." The analogy may not be precise, Farnsworth is actually four years younger than Pudge, but any heterosexual male immediately understands the... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Heading for the home stretch

The Major League Baseball regular season, six full months long, can be neatly divided into thirds. The first third, through May 31, doesn't matter all that much because all teams have more than 100 games left, more than enough for steep mountain climbing if off to a slow start. The second third,... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

The All Star Break is like Christmas in July

...for underachieving franchises like my beloved Detroit Tigers. Since fighting off a terrible 0-7 start that almost buried Detroit before they could get started good, the Tigers slowly moved to a respectable 42-40 record with a 5-4 win over the Minnesota Twins on June 30. Since then it's been a... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, July 7, 2008

What a game!

Anyone who doesn't think baseball is an exciting, drama-filled game must have missed yesterday's game between the Tigers and the Mariners. Detroit took advantage of the unique situation of Seattle running out of able bodied relief pitchers, forcing the use of backup catcher Jamie Burke on the mound... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, July 4, 2008

Club them into submission...

has been the Detroit Tigers' formula for success so far during a season that would not have been out of place in Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The Tigers have an awesome 39-4 record when they score five or more runs. The other side of that coin is a pitiful... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

You know you're hot when...

you visit a team that had won 13 of its previous fifteen games, you commit three errors, you get out hit, the umpires gift the home team with a run on a bad call, you use a pair of relievers with a combined ERA of 10.80 to pitch the last three innings, and you still come from behind to beat the... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Can you say .506?

How about five in a row, 13 of 18 in interleague play, 17-4 in the last 21 games, six straight series wins, or 25-15 for a.625 winning percentage in their last 40 games. Everything I've said so far describes a team that sam444 calls "scary good." I find it hard to disagree with her. A little over a... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Tigers gunning for .500

It's just about game time and the Detroit Tigers, the biggest disappointment in the AL prior to the start of this year's interleague madness, have a chance to pull up to.500 for the first time this season. A win tonight would give the Tigers a record of 40-40 and a shot at finishing the first half... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, June 20, 2008

The Celtics finally won it all again!

And by finally, I mean June 17 is way too late to still be playing NBA games. But it is kind of neat that the Celts finally won another one. Red Auerbach can stop spinning in his grave because of last season's miserable finish. I wonder if they let him light up a victory cigar in heaven? I probably... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Hottest team in baseball

Who would've thunk it. The Detroit Tigers are suddenly the hottest team in Major League Baseball. They have the longest active winning streak in the game at six in a row, and have won eight of their last ten games. Stranger yet, even if they lose the first game of a three game set at San Francisco... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Tigers win fourth straight

Eternal optimist that I am, I hope my beloved Tigers have finally turned the corner and are on the way to a decent season and a possible postseason birth. The signs are encouraging. Detroit has also won six of their last seven games, posted their first complete game by a started (Justin Verlander on... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Tigers Poised to Move Up

A 9-4 shellacking by Minnesota yesterday ended Detroit's three-game winning streak. But as I type I'm keeping an eye on the USA Today running box score of tonight's game. As I write the Tigers are up 2-0 heading into the bottom of the second courtesy of a two-run shot by Magglio Ordonez. Starter... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

More Tigers & Tarheels

North Carolina heads into the ACC Tournament as the consensus #1 collegiate baseball team in America. Beating former consensus top team Miami two out of three on the road put them there. It didn't hurt that they also won series against then-ranked Virginia on the road and Florida State at home. A... Sign in to see full entry.

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