Flashback to Game 1: A PictoPhoto Tour

ROYAL OAK, Mich. -- Sure we're losing. Sure we look unprepared. Sure we're blowing it. But dammmmmm. We're having fun.

@ the airport.

With the Bro-in-law @ 10a @ the park

Down Brush Street toward RenCen

Pregame Skip

Game time from seat location #2
The town is smiling...smiling for the Magical Season to continue...

Back! Back to the '80s!

The Detroit News (interns, probably) put together a 33-image retrospective on the 1984 World Series. There's surprisingly little action in these photos. And I love the fact that the away game is in black and white.

http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage

Ughh

CHICAGO - Out of respect for what's happening in the D, I've been waiting to comment on the patently bizarre offseason the Chicago baseball clubs have thus far endured.

I don't really have anything to say about this either. Other then, 'sheeeeeit.'

World Series Blockbuster!

If Todd Jones blows a save . . .




. . . we'll know he's been secretly replaced by Morgan Spurlock, taping an episode of "30 Days" in which he finds out what it's like to spend one full baseball postseason hanging out with Fernando Rodney.

A World Series Gift For My Detroit Homies

I hope this resonates for you all on this Game One Day. Only one more week of baseball; enjoy every minute . . .

Manager Watch: In With the Old!

Meet your new hero. But now that Jimmy Ley-best is at the helm, what's the famous starting point for our 1984 6-4-3 doing? Turns out, Tram is throwing out the first pitch tomorrow...USA Today gets the skinny on the guy we all knew shouldn't have taken the job in 2003.

Worst. Game. Ever

I love Rob Neyer's column on ESPN. He's always posting something statistical about baseball that proves "gut feelings" about the grand old sport belong somewhere between hearsay and conjecture in the "admissible evidence" pantheon.

Today's column is about the worst-ever game-seven pitcher. It's Oliver Perez for the Mets.

Perez boasts the fewest number of wins in a season in which he's pitching a game seven, lowest winning percentage in a season, lowest career winning percentage and second-worst career ERA. Guess who's got the worst career ERA for a game-seven starter?

Jeff Suppan. Tonight's starter for the Cards.

Ugh. We're in for a real pitcher's duel tonight.

Eekgads! It's Fernandomania, Jr.!

Check this link from sportsline. Fernando Valenzuela Jr. joins pop in Mexican League.

What's next? The return of Jerry Hairston Sr.?

Breaking News: Jeff Weaver Smiled (Years Ago)

LOS ANGELES -- At some point during his time as a Dodger, Jeff Weaver smiled.

It wasn't on the field, of course, where he exuded a pure, focused sense of self-loathing or hatred for "this sh*t" as he no doubt has said thousands of times in his life. This smile was instead captured during a visit to Children's Hospital -- just south of a particularly famous Los Feliz home.

He didn't even smile when contacted via shout from an old party buddy when pitching for the Dodgers in San Diego. The dumpy looking fellow who contacted him through the fence near the sandbox and Weaver shared mutual smirks of understood camaraderie -- the kind that comes from sharing bushels of illicit drugs while skipping class.

"Is he smiling now?" asked Mike Hudson, a fan from Weaver's early stint with the Detroit Tigers. "He's the hottest pitcher in the National League. But I bet he's still just staring off into space more often than not in his hotel, picking out patterns in the carpet."

Developing...

Breaking News: Detroit Goes Towel-less

DETROIT -- The Detroit Tigers will not hand out rally towels for at least the first two games of the World Series at Comerica Park, team officials said.

The hanky-sized towels are a popular playoff accessory that fans whirl in the air to cheer on their team. Fans attending the opening games in Detroit will get some sort of World Series souvenir, but officials haven't said what it will be.

"The in-park giveaway for the World Series is determined by Major League Baseball," said Joel Scott, a Tigers spokesman. "They (league officials) have items that were going to be distributed no matter where the World Series was at."


Plus...this wiki on Jay Mariotti is funny.

This Is Sharp

Comment from a post about the Tigers on Deadspin:

Wow, that's almost a brilliant way of making the Lions look like a winning franchise. I heard that if the Tigers win the WS, Jon Kitna will be the first thing torched.

A Few Notes on Losing My Mind

It seems like Maggs' shot took minutes to reach the outfield. Mike and I didn't want to lose it until we had empirical evidence that it was a homer. There was jumping and hugging and running around the apartment. The pets scattered to avoid being trampled. I got down on the ground and slapped the floor with my hand. I was shaking and sweating and my voice was wavering. I had three sticks of gum in my mouth -- Gum Time to end all Gum Times! -- and I nearly choked on the chew, not to mention spitting up everywhere. Mike reinjured his heel from jumping up and down. I pulled something in my ribcage from shouting so loudly.

We instantly started calling or got calls from everyone in the Michigan Diaspora -- our dads, Steve Davis, Jon Brunt, Pat Muir, Jake Cooley, Scott W. Baird, Eric Lacey, Brian Shiels, Chris Solari ...

For the rest of the night (as I will for the rest of my life), I replayed the shot in my head and shook my head and laughed.

That feeling, friends, is why we watch.

Tigers Move On To The World Series . . .

. . . and guess what they have . . .

2006: A New Hope

THE TIGERS WIN THE PENNANT!

Tigs/A's 2-0, Mets/Cards ?-?