The Manager Steps Down

Jim Leyland was born in Toledo Ohio on December fifteen in 1944. Growing up with a love for baseball he started his baseball career as a catcher for a minor league baseball team from 1964 to 1969. The team he played for was a chain through the Tigers. In 1970 he started his coaching career in the minor leagues for the Montgomery Rebels and the Rocky Mount Leafs. He broke in to the major leagues from 1982 to 1985 as a coach for the Chicago White Sox. After his breakthrough in to the majors with the White Sox, he got a chance to manage the Pittsburg Pirates. He managed the Pirates for eleven seasons and had some success with three division titles there.  He went on to the Florida Marlins in 1997 and won the World Series. The following year was not so hot, they ended up selling away all there talent, and become the first time to lose over a hundred games after winning the World Series the following year. Cutting ties with the Marlines he moved once again to the Colorado Rockies there after just one season he felt like he couldn’t coach at the major league level and stepped down. Becoming a scout for the St. Louis Cardinals, he spent the next six seasons helping young ball players grow in to the majors.

On October 4, 2005 the Detroit Tigers hired Jim Leyland as the thirty sixth manager. Just one year in the managing the team he led them to a division title and also a World Series appearance that was not suspected at all. Leyland kept the team rolling with wins. He went on to win more division titles and more World Series appearances. Falling short always he never did win a World Series title with the Detroit Tigers. After the tough loss to the Boston Red Sox this year, after the game in the clubhouse Leyland made the announcement that he would not be returning as the manager for the tigers next season. The following week he made a press conference to address the media. The best part of the conference was him saying that he told himself that he wasn’t going to get emotional, and not even half way through he started to get tears in his eyes.

Leyland will probably go down in the hall of fame for the part he played in each team he coached. I feel he made an impact on each team with his coaching skills, but also his attitude and relationships with the players. Jim Leyland is going to be hard to replace, and Tigers fans can only hope for half of a manager that Leyland was 

One Hit Wonder

The Detroit Tigers are on a roll after a tough fought series against the Oakland Athletics that went to game seven, but now they have to take on the Boston Red Sox’s that have been waiting. With the big bats from Boston, and a solid group of closers it is going to be a huge task at hand. The last two series of the post-season playoffs goes seven games rather then five, and with the first two games in Boston, the next three at Detroit, and if it goes that far in to the series the last two would be back at Boston.

            Game one was set to be a good one with the Tigers stud of a pitcher Anibal Sanchez, who had the lowest ERA out of all pitchers on the team was set to throw. Boston brought out Jon Lester their ace of a pitcher, so the game was set to be a low scoring game. Detroit broke the scoreboard in the sixth when a run reached home, however the red sox’s were scoreless still. Anibal Sanchez was throwing a game the other pitchers dream, and when he came out of the game after the sixth he had no hits recorded. Also to add how good he was really throwing, he had a total of twelve strikeouts. Benoit would come in for the save and was also throwing really well. With two more outs to go in the game the Boston Red Sox’s broke the no hitter with a base hit single. Even if they ended up getting a hit it wasn’t enough and the Detroit Tigers got the win. This win was important because it showed that we could win on the road and could roll with the momentum. With game two the following day, and the ace Max Scherzer throwing the odds were on the Tigers winning. Scherzer come out on fire and just like the night before didn’t let the Red Sox’s get a hit until the sixth inning. Going in to the eighth Tigers were up five to one, and with one swing of the bat by big papi cut the Tigers down at the knees with a grand slam. Then in the ninth with a base hit by Boston ended the game. Giving the game away the Tigers traveled back home for game three with their heads down.

            With the home crowd back on our side we hope to get the confidence back. The next three games at Comerica are very important and our must win games. It would be great to go back to Boston with only needing to win one more game to move to the World Series. Lets hope our closer come to pitch and do not give up any runs.    

The Playoff Push!

October is heating up with all of this exciting Major League Baseball playoff matches and the Detroit Tigers are right in the middle of it. With the Tigers bats falling short when the pitching is hot, and the pitching falling short when the bats are hot made it tough to beat there first round opponents the Oakland Athletics. The Athletics only needed to win one more game to eliminate the Detroit Tigers, but with the home crowd on our side, and our ace pitcher Max Scherzer coming out of the bullpen it was going to be tough to lose.

            Detroit would end up winning that game four,three to two and that forced a game five back at the Oakland A’s place. With the ace pitcher Max Scherzer out from pitching the previous game we turned to one of the best pitchers ever to play the game Justin Verlander. Justin always says that he loves when the crowd is at they’re loudest and fuels off of the pressure so it was a perfect atmosphere for Verlander to throw one hell of a game. Oakland A’s decided to throw their young gun pitcher Sunny Gray, and after the first you knew it was going to be a low scoring game due to the pitching battle on the mound. It took all the way up to the fourth inning to see the first hit of the game. With Torii Hunter on first, and Miguel Cabrera walking up to the plate there was a tense moment at the plate. With one swing of his bat he sent the ball up and over the outfield wall for a two run homer. Justin Verlander finally got some run support from his team, and he did not slow down on the mound throwing a no hitter all the way up until the sixth inning. Even after he let up one hit he didn’t change a thing. After getting pulled in the eighth inning he only let up one run. The Tigers bats were on and off but the did score another run. In the ninth inning Oakland came out of nowhere and scored two runs. However it wasn’t enough and the Tigers got the win and moved on to the next round to play the Boston Red Sox’s.

            After the game five win I think the Tigers got back on the right path and our playing as one team again. If the bats and pitching fall on the same page there is no team that can beat the Tigers when this happens. Let’s hope the keep it going and become the champs once again. 

Game Day

The day was Friday October fourth. I was done with the long school week, and didn’t have to work until Monday afternoon. You could say at the very least I was ready to enjoy my free Friday. Waking up in the early afternoon I crawled out of bed, took a shower, and walked to my closet to get dressed. Already knowing my outfit for the day I grabbed my Prince Fielder jersey and put it on. Almost every game I watch on the weekends I make sure to wear my jersey to support the team, and not to mention that the game Friday was extra important with it being the first post game for the Tigers. Last season the Tigers played the Oakland Athletics in the first round and it was a battle every game, but however the Tigers won the battle in the end and advanced. With the same turn out like last year the Tigers flew to Oakland to battle them once again to start the road to the World Series.

            The Oakland Athletics I feel are always a sleeper team with not many big name players, but they always have a solid line up. With the playoffs being the best out of five to advance both teams were throwing the ace pitchers to start the game. For the Tigers was Max Scherzer, by far the most dominant pitcher in Major League baseball in the 2013 season and for the Athletics was Bartolo Colon, the pitcher that’s name was on the biogenesis list but never received any punishment. Colon had trouble right from the start with the Tigers bats becoming hot right from the start. Austin Jackson, the lead off man doubled to right field, Torii Hunter was hit by a pitch, and then Miguel Cabrera knocked a single to center scoring Jackson. The Tigers ended the first inning with three runs on the scoreboard. Scherzer ended up throwing seven innings and had 11 strikeouts; the Athletics though scored two runs the seventh making it a close game towards the end of the game. Joaquin Benoit being Tigers number one closer stepped in the game to help Scherzer seal the victory. With Oakland’s bats tamed by the two pitchers, the Detroit Tigers clinched the first game of the series. With it being the first game and the Tigers being on the road made it a really important win, and it sent a message to Oakland telling them that they shouldn’t take Detroit lightly.

             The Tigers are looking like a team that can make another playoff push if they stay focused. The following night they lost some of that focus and dropped a game to the Athletics in extra innings. With a day off to regroup and to travel back to Comerica park in Detroit, hopefully they come out with heavy bats and fast pitches Monday night.