Well, it's been a while since I've written a new post here, and frankly, I just plain forgot about the blog. I have been doing other blogs, and just plain didn't remember that I had written anything here on Yardbarker.

I created a blog...thebrennanboeschblog, totally forgetting I'd already started my Yardbarker blog

After roaming the web today, I happen to click on a post here, and then I look up, and then there's my name...freehan11, and I'm like, what a goof ball I am, I've got a blog...I just hope it's not anything more than a memory lapse on my part, 50 yrs. old is to young to start forgetting things, right.?

I created The Brennan Boesch Blog in honor the Detroit Tigers rookie outfielder, who i believe will be playing with the Olde English D club for a long time to come.

It is also a blog about the great game of baseball, and the Detroit Tigers, the team of my youth, the team I still love.

So, here I am, on the first Saturday after the All=Star break, and it's not a good start to the wekend for my Detroit Tigers.

Come on, the freaking Indians?

First the Tigers get hammered by the Tribe on Friday night, 8-2, and then today they blow a 3-0 lead behund Justin Verlander, and lose to the Indians 4-3. Phil Coke, who entered the game with a 5-0 record as a Tigers reliever, took the loss, and is now 5-1.

I just don't get the Tigers. They are a terrible road team, a miserable 16-27 away from Motown. They've now lost 3 in a row going back to last Sunday, and now sit 1.5 games behind the ChiSox.

Brennan Boesch finally gets his first Topps baseball card!

Cool Card!

Go Tigers!

A fitting tribute to Ernie as Tigers down Yankees

How do you honor a man who meant so much to so many people. How can anyone give more of themselves than that man gave of himself.? The answer, is, of course, that you can't, all you can do is show your love, your respect.
That's exactly what 35,000 plus fans, friends, and family of long time Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell did on Monday night, they gathered at Comerica Park in downtown Detroit, packing the ballpark and watching as Ernie's Tigers gave their respect to the late play by play man with a 5-4 win over the visiting defending World Series Champion New York Yankees.

A man revered across the country, from his home state of Georgia, to his final resting place in Michigan, would've been proud of these Tigers, from rookie outfielder Brennan Boesch, who drove in three runs, to Johnny Damon, who homered..."and it's long gooone!", against his ex-teammates, to Magglio Ordonez, who made a sliding, game saving catch on a line drive by Derek Jeter to end a Yankee rally in the 8th inning.

This night was for Tigers fans everywhere, from the top of the UP, all the way back to the Motor City. Tigers fans had a special relationship with Ernie. He taught us baseball, he talked to us as if we were the only ones he was talking to...like he was our Dad, or our Uncle. Ernie meant more to the fans in the state of Michigan than can ever be written here, he was just that special, men like Ernie come along once in a generation, if your lucky...and boy were we ever lucky, lucky enough to, even though we may have never meant him,  we could still call Ernie Harwell as our friend.

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Perfection is Rare

How many of us can say that we've accomplished something "perfect" in our lives.?
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That question is probably impossible to answer. In sports, you can bowl a "perfect" game by rolling a 300 game, all strikes, and in big league baseball, perfection can only be achieved on the rare occasion that a pitcher throws a "perfect" game...not one batter reaches base successfully...he didn't allow a batter a hit, he didn't walk any batters, he didn't hit any batters, no batter reached base in any way...in other words, the pitcher was perfect in every way, 27 batters went up to bat, and 27 batters went back to the dugout without success. A perfect game doesn't happen very often, there have only been 21 thrown since 1880, but that is why baseball is special, why you never know what will happen when you go to a big league game.
Yesterday in Oakland a little over 12,000 fans went through the turnstiles to watch the A's play baseball's best team, the Tampa Bay Rays. Little did they know what would happen when A's pitcher, and California native, Dallas Braden took the mound in the first inning yesterday.

Braden grew up in Stockton, California. If you want to call Stockton, the area code is 209...that's the section...209, that was the designated area where Braden's friends and family gathered on Sunday in the Oakland Coliseum to see him pitch, and on Mother's Day, a day that Major League Baseball celebrates moms everywhere by putting pink ribbons on every uniform, and by having players use special pink bats in honor of their mothers. Dallas Braden found another way to honor his mother.

Braden's Mom passed away when he was a senior in high school, in 2001, but his beloved grandmother, Peggy Lindsay was there, and she gave her grandson a big hug as she came on the field after Braden threw just the 19th perfect game in Major League Baseball history, beating the Tampa Rays, 4-0. It came 40 years and one day since the last A's perfect game, pitched by the late Jim "Catfish" Hunter on May 8, 1968 against the Minnesota Twins.

The rarity that is the perfect game is that in only 1 in 11,000 big league games does it occur, and no pitcher has ever thrown more than one. Only 12 big league clubs have had pitchers throw a perfect game, and just 13 teams had had a perfect game throw against them.

The perfect game is celebrated by the winning team, and it's fans, but what about the team that had the gem thrown against them...they were "imperfect." Dallas Braden confounded the Tampa Bay Rays yesterday, just as the Chicago White Sox Mark Buehrle did against the Rays last July. The Rays have some pretty good hitters...B.J. Upton, Carl Crawford, Evan Longoria, Carlos Pena, Ben Zobrist, Pat Burrell...but in the span of less that ten months, the Rays have been as bad as it gets, twice failing to get a batter to first base.
The Rays are the only team in big league baseball history to have a perfect game thrown against them in back to back years, and only the second team have a perfect game thrown against them before someone threw one against another team. The Los Angeles Dodgers had a perfect gem thrown against them by the Reds Tom Browning on September 16th, 1988, and then again on July 28th, 1991 by the Expos Dennis Martinez...there were no perfect games thrown by any other team in between those two games.

Ah, Perfection...Cy Young threw the first modern day perfecto, against the Philadelphia A's on May 5, 1904, one of his Major League record 511 wins...the months of May and September have had the most perfect games pitched, six apiece...the New York Yankees have had the most perfect games pitched by a team, three, by Don Larsen, who pitched the only post season perfect game, against the Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 6 of the 1956 World Series, by David Wells, who defeated the Minnesota Twins on May 17, 1998, and by David Cone, who's perfect game against the Montreal Expos is the only Inter-League perfect game, or no-hitter, and Cone's perfect game was also on Yogi Berra Day, and Don Larsen, Mr. World Series Perfection, threw out the first pitch to Berra, the catcher who caught his perfect game....the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers have had the most perfect games thrown against them, three times. The Larsen WS game, and against Browning and Martinez...the Twins and Rays are the only other clubs to have more than one perfect game against them...and then there's the case of big league short stop Alfredo Griffin. He has the distinction of playing, and batting without reaching base, in a perfect game for the losing team three times, in 1981 as a Blue Jay against the Indians Len Barker, and on the two Dodger teams, 1988 against Browning, and in 1991 against Martinez.
When a pitcher tosses a perfect game he also throws a no-hitter in the process, and that will oncee again get the A's Braden thrown into the spotlight his next start, as he attempts to do something that only one pitcher in big league history has ever done...throw back to back no-hitters...the Cincinnati Reds Johnny Van Der Meer, who blanked the Boston Bees 3-0 on June 11th, and then no-hitting the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field, 6-0 just four days later.

Braden, and the Colorado Rockies Ubaldo Jimenez, who no-hit the Atlanta Braves on April 17th, will be looking to join Vandermeer, the Yankees Allie Reynolds in 1951, the Detroit Tigers Virgil Trucks in 1952, and Nolan Ryan of the California Angels in 1973, as the only pitchers to throw two no-hitters in the same big league season.

The Tigers earned their 17th victory on Saturday, beating the Indians, as a trio of Detroit hurlers stuck out 17 Cleveland hitters, including 9 by starter, and winner, Justin Verlander, who improved to 2-2 .

The Tigers starting staff has not pitched well of late, including Jeremy Bonderman's rain posstponed 4th inning last night, when the right hander allowed five runs to the Tribe before a 2 1/2 hour rainstorm washed out the game.

After Verlander routinely hit 95+ mph on his fastballs today, Joel Zumaya entered the game in relief in the 7th, blistering the radar on his fastballs between 97-101 mph, striking out 5 of the 6 batters he faced. Closer Jose Valverde then came on in the ninth, setting the Indians down 1-2-3, erning his 8th save of the season.

I'm sure this is exactly the way Jim Leyland foresaw his team winning games...get the starters to pitch 6 quality innings, then hand over to the bullpen. The first four starters, however,  have ERA's of 7.50( Rick Porcello), 6.47(Max Scherzer), 5.74(Bonderman), and 4.50(Verlander), and that's not going to get it done. When Dontrelle Willis has the best ERA among starters(3.99), something isn't right.

Miguel Cabrera continues to be the best hitter in the A.L., collecting his league leading 32nd RBI on Saturday...oh, if only Cabrera's stats from Friday night would've counted...this guy is on a monster MVP pace.

How long will rookie Austin Jackson keep it going...2 more hits on Saturday...that's a streak of 9 straight games with at least one base knock...and he's hitting .370. Johnny Damon has told several people that Jackson had the talent to play in the big leagues two years ago, but there were to many guys, including Damon himself, clogging up the Yankees outfield.

Speaking of rookies, the three Tigers in the lineup today, Jackson, Brennan Boesch, and Scott Sizemore were a combined 5-13, with 3 runs scored, and 5 RBI's...3 of those hits were doubles, one for each of the rookies.

The Tigers are now 17-13...but are 15-9 against teams not named the Twins.

How about this for a big time pitching match-up...C.C. Sabathia against Justin Verlander, next Thursday @ Comerica.

 

 

 

Growing up in Michigan in the 1960's and '70's, following the Detroit Tigers was very limited. Either you followed the team in the newspaper, on tv during the 11 o'clock news, on a Saturday afternoon during a Tigers homestand, the only time you got to see a game on tv, or by listening to Ernie Harwell describe the games on the radio.

Ernie and the Tigers were how i ended every night, with my trusty transistor radio under my pillow, rooting on my hero, Bill Freehan, and hoping the Tigers would win.

Ernie died on Tuesday, at age 93, survived by his wife Lulu, the first time they've been apart in 68 years. Tiger baseball was special with Ernie behind the mike, and he will never be forgotten.

Here's as look at my tribute to Ernie, as well as a look back at the Phillies Hall of Fame pitcher Robin Roberts, who passed away yesterday, at age 83, as well as  a Happy 79th Birthday to The Say Hey Kid, Willie Mays.

The articles below are from my blog, www.johnsbigleaguebaseballblog.blogspot.com.

 

 

This Blog Linked From Here The Web This Blog         Linked From Here       The Web         Friday, May 7, 2010 We remember Robin Roberts,Mr. Phillie Robin Roberts, the hard throwing right handed pitcher for the 1950 National League Champion Whiz Kid Philadelphia Phillies passed away on Thursday at the age of 83.

A graduate of Michigan State University, were he was a star basketball player for the Spartans, Roberts was simply the best hurler in the National League between 1950, and 1955. He led the N.L. in wins in 1952-53-54-55, led the N.L. in innings pitched in 1951-52-53-54-55, and in complete games in 1952-53-54-55-56, once throwing 28 complete games between the '52-'53 seasons. Roberts won 286 big league games, struck put 2,357 batters, and finished with an ERA of 3.41. The strong right hander threw 305 complete games, 5 more than the total of every Phillies pitcher from  1985 to the present day.
. Roberts one problem during his big league career was the long ball...he gave up a record 505 HR's, a record that may be broken by current Phillies left hander Jamie Moyer, who has served up 498 gopher balls.



Roberts continued to follow the Phillies closely after his retirement, and the team will wear a special patch on their jerseys the rest of the season in honor of Roberts.


Roberts had his #36 retired by the Phillies in 1962, and in 1976 he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Posted by jaxtigerfan at 11:07 AM 0 comments // // Thursday, May 6, 2010 Say Hey, Happy 79th Birthday to Willie Mays Growing up as a young baseball fan, they were the numbers everyone knew...755, 714, and 660.

We all knew the numbers, those majestic home run totals of baseball lore, 755 home runs,...Hank Aaron, 714 home runs, Babe Ruth, and 660 home runs...the Say Hey Kid, Willie Mays.

660, The Say Hey Kid, Willie Mays, arguably the best all around player in the history of big league's celebrates his 79th birthday today, and so here's a look at the career of the man who made the basket catch a household name.



Willie Mays was born in Westfield, Alabama on May 6, 1931.

Willie began his professional career in 1947 with the Chattanooga Choo Choo's, and in 1948 began playing in the Negro National League with the Birmingham Black Barons.

Willie made his Major League debut with the New York Giants on May 25th, 1951, started his career 0-12, then hit a HR in his 13th at bat of future Hall of Fame pitcher Warren Spahn.

Willie was the Giants on deck hitter when teammate Bobby Thompson hit his famous "Shot Heard 'Round the World" as the Giants defeated the Dodgers in the 1951 N.L. three game playoffs, 2 games to one.

Who can ever forget the Say Hey Kid's most famous play, "The Catch", off the bat of the Cleveland Indians Vic Wertz in 1954...



Willie Mays...
1951 N.L. Rookie of the Year
Member of the 1951 World Series Champion New York Giants
N.L. MVP, in 1954, and 1965.
1963, 1968 All Star Game MVP
24 Time All-Star Selection
12 Time Gold Glove award Winner
The First Player in the 30/30 Club, with 38 Home Runs, and 40 Stolen Bases in 1956.



Willie Mays had a .302 lifetime batting average, drove in 3,283 runs, and, of course, hit 660 HR's during his 23 years in the big leagues.
Willie Mays was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, in 1979.






                       Posted by jaxtigerfan at 11:15 AM 0 comments Wednesday, May 5, 2010 Jax Suns Duo win SL Honors Suns fans, the Suns continued their great start to the 2010 season as two Suns players collected SL honors this week. Get to the park before these guys are playing in the big leagues.


JACKSONVILLE, FL - Two Suns players earned Southern League Player of the Week honors for the week of April 26-May 2. Mike Stanton was Hitter of the Week, while Alex Sanabia was named Pitcher of the Week. With 13 home runs and 29 RBI, Mike Stanton is having a phenomenal season at the plate. He leads the league not only in home runs and RBI, but he also has the highest slugging percentage at .884 as well as the most runs and the highest on base percentage, at 26 and .504, respectively. During the week of April 26-May 2, Stanton slugged six home runs and batted in 13 runs against Carolina and Mississippi combined, including a three-homer, seven RBI day on April 26 to back up his two-homer game on April 25. On the week, Stanton batted .476 with an incredible 1.476 slugging percentage. The Sunland, CA, native was selected to play in the 2009 Futures Game and is the Marlins #1 prospect. During his two starts this past week, Alex Sanabia struck out 14 batters over 13 innings, allowing only eight hits and two walks to go 1-0 with a 1.38 ERA. Sanabia has recorded 30 strikeouts across the 31 innings he's pitched in 2010, and for the season, Sanabia is currently third in the league with a 1.15 ERA. The right-hander was born in San Diego, California and was drafted by the Marlins organization in 2006. This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs. Posted by jaxtigerfan at 12:32 PM 0 comments Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Goodbye Ernie

A long time ago, back in the days when people actually listened to baseball games on the radio, the Detroit Tigers were playing against, well, someone, the A's, or the Angels, when a pitch was fouled off into the crowd at Tiger Stadium. The Tigers announcer described the foul ball like this..."and a fine catch by a young man from Battle Creek." I was a young baseball fan, a Tigers fan, and I was perplexed. "How does Ernie know the one who caught the foul ball..", I asked my Uncle.  My Uncle looked at me, and simply said "Son, Ernie knows everyone.",

That kid from Battle Creek, just like the kid from Port Huron, the one from Ishpeming, the one from Saginaw, the kid from Warren, and even myself, a kid from Kalamazoo, we all lost a part of us today, part of that kid still inside us. Today we lost Ernie Harwell.

Ernie Harwell, the legendary voice of the Detroit Tigers for 42 years, died today, succumbing to bile duct cancer at the age of 92.

What do you say about a man like Ernie Harwell, a man who lived his life to the fullest, who lived his boyhood dream of covering big league baseball. Even though he wanted to be a sports writer, Ernie never went a day without thanking God that he became a radio man, a job that kept him in the game of baseball for 55 years.
55 years. 55 years of covering Hall of Fame players like Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Willie Mays of the New York Giants, Brooks Robinson of the Baltimore Orioles, and Al Kaline of the Detroit Tigers.
55 years of painting the pictures of green outfield grass, towering grandstands, blazing fastballs, 5-4-3 double plays, and a batter looking at a called strike three.."and he stood there like a house by the side of the road."

Baseball has gone through many changes over the last few decades, things like five man rotations, the use of the Designated Hitter, the prominence of the closer, astro turf...both coming, and going, the Steroid Era. But the one change that I really miss is the love affair with baseball and the radio. Yes, I know you can still pick up a game on the internet, but today's game has lost that special relationship that we had as kids, when the only way to find out how the Tigers were doing was to get the old transistor radio, and tune in Paul Carey, Ray Lane, and Ernie Harwell.
They made baseball special. They made a kid listening to the radio think that he was talking directly to him or her, that he was talking to just you, and you alone. Men like Ernie Harwell made a young boy like me a fan for life, of not just the players on the field, but of the men in the booth. They were part of our family.

Today we mourn the loss of a beloved man, but we also celebrate his life, and the lives of every young boy and girl that caught all those foul balls in Tiger Stadium.

Thanks Ernie.

Hello Tiger fans, and welcome to my blog about the boys from the Motor City.

My Uncle started taking me to see the Tigers in the late 1960's, and I have loved them ever since. My boyhood hero was Bill Freehan, the great Tiger catcher, who won five straight Gold Gloves from 1965-69, and who, when he retired in 1976, held the record for the highest fielding percentage, ever, for a catcher, and Freehan still holds that record for all American League catchers.

The history of the Detroit Tigers is filled with great teams, great players, a legendary ball park, a legendary announcer, and tremendous fans. It is us, the fans, that sustain the Tigers, who keep them going, and give them the passion to play for one of the founding teams in the American League. Since 1901, 109 years, and counting, there has been a Tiger team playing A.L. baseball, winning Division Titles, Pennants, and World Championships.

From "Wahoo" Sam Craford, "The Georgia Peach" Ty Cobb, Hughie "Eh Yah" Jennings, George Mullins, Hooks Dauss, Bobby Veach, Harry Heilmann, Schoolboy Rowe, Charlie Gehringer, Mickey Cochrane, Hank Greenberg, Goose Goselin, Tommy Bridges, Hal Newhowser, Bobo Newsome, George Kell, Virgil Trucks, Dizzy Trout, Al Kaline, Gus Triandos, Billy Bruton, Harvey Kueen, Rocky Colovito, Bill Freehan, Norm Cash, Dick McAuliffe, Tommy Matchik, Mickey Loloick, Denny McLain, Joe Sparma, Jim Price, Mayo Smith, , Jim Northrup, Eddie Brinkman, Aurelio Rodriquez, Tom Timmerman, Bill Slayback, Joe Coleman, Billy Martin, John Hiller, Milt May, Jason Thompson, Steve Kemp, Rust Staub, Ron LeFlore, Tom Veryzer, Mark "The Bird" Fidrych, Jack Morris, Lance Parrish, Tom Brookens, Sparky Anderson, Kirk Gibson, Ben Ogilvie, Allan Trammell, Lou Whittaker, Barbaro Garbey, Aurelio Lopez, Chet Lemon, Darrel Evans, Larry Herndon, Walt Terrell, Dan Petry, Howard Johnson, Matt Nokes, Mike Heath, Frank Tannana, Mike Henneman, Bill Gullickson, Travis Fryna, Fred Lynn, Cecil Fielder, Mickey Tettleton, Rob Deer, Mike Moore, Mike Laga, Larry Parish, Buddy Bell, Juan Encarnacion, Justin Thompson, Brain Moeller, Gabe Kapler, Brandon Inge, Juan Gonzalez, Carlos Pena, Jason Johnson, Luis Gonzalez, Brad Ausmus, Eric Munson, Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez, Placido Polanco, Ugeth Urbina, Todd Jones, Omar Infante, Ramon Santiago, Marcus Thames, Rondell White, Justin Verlander, Jeremy Bonderman, Curtis Granderson, Magglio Ordonez, Andrew Miller, Rick Porcello, Miguel Cabrera, and Austin Jackson, our beloved Detroit Tigers have stood the test of time, thru two World Wars, the Depression, through Korea, Vietnam, the first Gulf War, 911, the War in Iraq and Pakistan, through the eruption of the 1960's, the assasination of one President, John F. Kennedy, and the impeachment of another, Richard Nixon. Through turbulent times, through times of splendor, the Detroit Tigers have been there with us the whole way.

 

As the late Ernie Harwell once said, the Tigers weren't just Detroit's team, they were Michigan's team.

 

Go Tigers.!