Guillen named Tiger of the Year - 11/09/06 - The Detroit News Online

DETROIT — Shortstop Carlos Guillen has been named Tiger of the Year by the Detroit chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Guillen, who batted a team-high .320, received 17 of 23 first-place votes. Pitcher Kenny Rogers finished second.

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I really wish St. Louis would have taken care of business in Game 6 to give me a little time to actually look up stuff and write stuff. As it is, I think every baseball writer who isn’t paid as such is probably scrambling and hopefully among the bunch of us, you learn something useful.

The series:

Detroit swept St. Louis in June, 10-6, 7-6, 4-1. Bilfer does a lot better job at this than I do.

Interleague:

Detroit, 15-3. St. Louis, 5-10.

The team:

St. Louis won 83 games. In the National League. Jim Leyland says this doesn’t matter. We would expect him to say as such. If you’re good enough, you make the playoffs. If you’re not, you don’t. That’s the knowledge of Leyland. For St. Louis, 83 wins was enough to keep playing. In the National League. I know, I’ve mentioned that, but still. The Cards beat the Padres. Some would say improbably. I’m apt to agree. Baseball Prospecus’ secret sauce suffered a rare defeat in predicting that series. In seven games, the Cardinals beat the Mets to advance to the World Series. While this sounds like an upset — and probably is — it’s not as big an upset due to a weak Mets’ pitching staff, an increasing tired bullpen, and batters that couldn’t put up runs, reminscent of another New York baseball squad. Oh, and secret sauce was wrong on that series, too. But ask anyone, I actualy called the Cards to win it.

Pitching:

So what do the Cards have? Pitching wise, Game 1 starter is Anthony Reyes (who, by the way, was nearly traded with Dan Haren to Oakland for Mark Mulder). There’s Jeff Weaver, as you probably remember or will hear a million times, floundered for the LA Angels earlier this year while his brother flourished. He stunk up the joint in St. Louis, too. Until the playoffs. And a couple improbable starts later, he’ll be on the mound Sunday. Chris Carpenter needs no introduction. Today, neither does Jeff Suppan. He just won the NLCS MVP for two beautiful starts. Their closer, Adam Wainright, is a rookie. You may have seen him take care of business against the Mets. (I’m thinking Bobby Jenks suddenly).

So it’s not like the Cardinals have a pushover of a pitching staff. As good as Detroit’s? I doubt it. They gave up more runs this season without having to regularly face the Yankees, Indians, White Sox and Blue Jays. They don’t have a lot of strikeouts or a great closer, if you’re keeping track of the secret sauce.. Baseball Prospectus also points out they had 36 strikeouts in seven games of the NLCS.

Defense:

But, oh, that defense is really good. Scott Rolen, Jim Edmonds, they don’t really need any introduction. Good thing there’s no defense against a home run! (Excluding the Mets’ Endy Chavez). But the Tigers also have the top defense (by efficieny rating) in baseball, so I think you have to give that to Detroit, too.

Offense:

The lineup? I wouldn’t really worry. Albert Pujols is obviously the big worry. His hamstring was said to be bothering him, but his OPS is nearly 1.000 anyway and he averaged a run per game but just four RBIs in the NLCS. But he’s good in any league. Other than that, they don’t have the power of the Tigers. They don’t have the speed of the Tigers. (!!!) Yes, the Tigers have NO speed, so that is saying a lot. They don’t particularly like lefties. (Cept maybe Pujols). The meat of their order seems to do fine against righties though. If people want to question who those guys in Detroit’s order, at least 7-8-9 all have 25+ homers. The Cards? Not so much. They are, like Detroit, balanced. Just not as good.

The conclusion:

The Baseball Prospectus simulation gave Detroit the title every 2 of 3 simulations. But we dont’ need a computer to state the obvious. This is a mismatch. This scrappy Cardinals team might be able to do some damage. Or it might not. But really, that’s about its only hope. T

Tigers really should sweep this. You hate to say that though, since no one ever sweeps when you predict them to. So everyone will say Tigers in five. Even if it’s Tigers in six, I find it extremely unlikely that the Cards have any real shot. (Which, as we’ve learned, doesn’t mean much. People have failed at predicting the futurs for St. Louis and Detroit the entire playoffs). Still I’ll say Tigers in 5.

Baseball Prospectus says:

BP posted its analysis late Friday/early Saturday. They agree, Tigers have been offense, defense, starting pitching and bullpen. But they, too are cautious.

The Tigers are pretty clearly the superior team, with no one area of particular dominance but small edges across the board, with the mostly trivial exception of the bench. My hunch, however, is that this will be a competitive series, with the Cardinals getting a good performance out of Reyes in Game One and winning Carpenter’s start in St. Louis. We�ll take the Tigers in six, but if the series goes the distance, setting up a probable Carpenter/Robertson pitching matchup that represents the least favorable permutation for the Tigers, we could see an upset.

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1934. 1968. And now 2006. The St. Louis Cardinals took a 3-1 lead on a two-run, ninth-inning home run by catcher Yadier Molina. New York made it interesting — very interesting. Two batters at the bottom of the lineup singled, Paul Lo Duca worked a two-out walk to load the bases, but Carlos Beltran watched rookie closer Adam Wainwright’s strike three throw go by. They’ll now meet the Tigers in the World Series for the third time in the history of the organizations. (An interesting historical note, the cities met a fourth time when the Detroit Wolverines played the St. Louis Browns in 1887.)

Both teams’ starters pitched phenemenol games — Jeff Suppan allowed two hits in the first inning and not another in seven innings of work — but it came down to relief. St. Louis had the better relief and pulled out the 4-3 series victory at Shea Stadium.

Game 1 of the World Series is Saturday night in Detroit. The Tigers will be seen (rightfully so) as the heavy favorites. Being favorites doesn’t necessarily mean anything, though. Just ask the Mets. And the Padres. And the Yankees. (And depending who you asked, the A’s). I’ll try to break down as much as I can tomorrow.

In the meantime, prepare to hear about Jim Leyland’s love of Tony La Russa and the Cardinals organization, Leyland and La Russa’s friendship, Jeff Weaver’s former time in Detroit, Detroit’s sweep of St. Louis earlier this year, the battle of two underdogs, and probably that the teams have met before. (Likely the media will say something silly as if ‘68 has anything to do with ‘06.) Freep’s John Lowe points out no matter who wins, something historic occurs: Either Leyland or La Russa will join Sparky Anderson as the only other manager to win World Series titles in both leagues. In other words, plenty of storylines. Stale ones regionally, but storylines none-the-less. This matchup is good for Midwest baseball, bad for ratings.

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Chris Carpenter gave up two runs, but his team trailed 2-0 when he left the game after six innings. St. Louis did make those runs up in the ninth inning, but it was a case of too little, too late. The Mets forced Game 7 with a 4-2 victory at Shea Stadium. The difference maker came in the seventh inning. After Cards reliever Braden Looper got the first two batters out, he gave up three straight singles, capped by Mets catcher Paul Lo Duca’s two-run single.

The thing I’ve noticed about the Mets is they have a nicely constructed, I would almost say ideal in the top half, lineup. Jose Reyes is a nice leadoff batter with some pop and great speed. He’s been a fun one to watch all year. Lo Duca is a nice contact hitter at the No. 2 slot. He can be dangerous with runners on. And Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and David Wright give them some nice pop in the heart of the order. About the only criticism you can lay on them is they’re less successful against left-handed pitching, but not greatly so. They still get on base, but their power is mostly muzzled. They’re no Yankees, but it’s a nice top of the lineup.

That leads me to this point that has popped up all over the news today. 2006 first-round drafte pick Andrew Miller is in Detroit, preparing for the World Series. Will he make the roster or is this a smoke screen by Jim Leyland? Hard to say. But Miller is a lefty who pitches lefties really well, and would probably take the place of Zach Miner, who hasn’t seen work in the postseason, or possibly Jason Grilli, who walked the bases loaded on 12 pitches in the fourth game of the ALCS. Danny Knobler says Miner, I’m apt to agree. If Miller can find the strike zone, he can really be a dangerous pitcher for short amounts of time. Otherwise I’d expect Wil Ledezma will fill that role nicely. His stuff isn’t as good, but he’s consistent in the relief role. It would be exciting to see Miller make the World Series roster, but only if he can actually throw strikes. The articles say his mechanics were being worked on in Florida since the regular season ended. I don’t think this is a terribly risky endeavor.

If the Cards win, the speculation is probably all for naught. But I think most observers would have to say Game 6, with Carpenter on the mound against NY’s John Maine, was the best chance for St. Louis to advance to the World Series. Of course, observers would probably admit things never work like you’d expect, so for all we know, St. Louis is a Game 7 lock. Game 3 winner Jeff Suppan — who also homered — takes the mound for St. Louis. The game is is set for 8 p.m. tonight and should be well worth the viewing. Truly, either team could win this one. No matter who comes out on top, conventional wisdom (and past results) shows that the NLCS going to seven games is a nice advantage for the well rested (and hopefully not rusty) Tigers.

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Since “Go Get ‘em, Tigers” from 1968 has been adopted as the theme — and if St. Louis starter Chris Carpenter takes care of business, the World Series opponent will be the same, too — I thought I’d provide a listen to the song. (Hat tip Gorilla-vs.-Bear). Feel free to download it, but don’t link to it, upload it elsewhere! Thanks!

Go Get em Tigers MP3 — right click to save.

Then there’s an article about Curtis Granderson worth checking out, written by USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. While we are big Grandy fans, our center fielder is still a bit of an unknown.

It’s absolutely mind-boggling, Granderson tells himself. A couple of winters ago, he was working as a host at a restaurant in Tinley Park, Ill. Now, he might get more money from his World Series share than his annual $335,000 salary.

“The restaurant just called the other day,” Granderson, 25, says, “wondering if I want my job back.”

Finally, I’m pretty sure every Tigers fan has enjoyed this video. In case you haven’t, you gotta check it out. (Hat-tip about 20 different places!)

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Well, since there’s nothing doing in the AL, here’s a little NL report. The Cardinals took advantage of (former) Tigers pitching to cruise to a 4-2 victory over the Mets and a 3-2 series lead.

Jeff Weaver gave up two runs and six hits in six innings of work, outdueling Tom Glavine. I don’t know if I speak for all Detroit fans, but I continued following his career after he was traded (for Jeremy Bonderman, basically) and continued rooting for him the entire time.

Both pitchers had their full complement of rest following a rained-out game Monday, but The Great Pujols seems to have recovered a bit from his achey hamstring and homered off Glavine.

The series returns to New York today. If necessary, Game 7 is set for Thursday. Hopefully I’ll get to watch more of Game 6. Like Brandon Inge said, a little scouting is a good thing. Personally, I don’t care who comes out of the NL from a Tigers’ opponent standpoint. But just a general rooting interest, I usually root for the Cards in the postseason, so I’m continuing to do so.

Meanwhile in Tigertown, the team worked out at Ford Field. The Lions were gracious hosts, but I couldn’t help but laugh at the headline at the Free Press blog: Finally: Ford Field gets a winner.

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Honest, sitting there at work listening to the radio broadcast, all I could do is stand up and look toward the TV. What do you think when your team is going to the World Series but “HOLY CRAP! AWESOME!” When the media kept asking the players on the team what they thought when Magglio Ordonez hit the game-ending home run, most couldn’t come up with a very good answer, and I don’t blame them. Hours later, all I can think is “HOLY CRAP! AWESOME!” Actually, crap isn’t the word in my head right now. THE WORLD SERIES!! AWESOME! The Tigers won the 10th pennant in the history of the franchise… and the second in my lifetime… and the first one I’ll actually remember!

Who’d have thought an American League championship could be this cool? Every time the Tigers have a party, it feels like they’re setting an awfully high bar for themselves. That was a nice playoff-clinching party. It was a bit small, it turns out, compared to some other teams. Then after beating the Yankees last weekend, now that was a party, spraying champagne on fans, and wow. That was awesome. Man, I don’t remember baseball feelings so cool as that. Now, they’ve went and topped themselves with the American League championship. And holy crap, it was quite a way to end the game, too. I’m glad I had the radio call.

Reading the stories, sounds like they’re having a heck of a party in Detroit. I wish I was there for it. For awhile, I started wondering if it was just a hollow saying to say “Detroit is a baseball town” or “Michigan is a baseball state.” Wishful thinking more than anything, a yearning for the past maybe. Turns it, it was true all along.

All those years of listening to the Tigers on the radio, wearing a Tigers cap, playing baseball, yearning for a winning team, and I kinda wondered if there weren’t many people like me. Turns out, there were people like me all over the state nation(!) just waiting for a chance to erupt. And we keep getting chance after chance to make up for all those empty years.

Detroit. Back on the baseball map.

Oh, my prediction? It was Tigers in five games. So they passed my expectations even. There’s lots of good stories and interesting points to explore, but it looks like we have a week off from baseball to explore them. For now, just take in the feeling.

AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONS!!!

That needed repeating because I still don’t believe it.

What do we do for an encore? Who knows! But if the Tigers keep winning for us like they have been, it’s going to be one hell of a good time.

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Although you could make an argument for Magglio Ordonez if you so desired, Placido Polanco won the most valuable player trophy for the ALCS. He’s one of many key Tigers.

(AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

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(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

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For most of August and September, I think we were all thinking the same thing: Could we just get one more of those winning streaks like we used to get? The answer then? No. The answer now? Yes. Kenny Rogers pitched another gem, the Tigers won 3-0, Detroit won a sixth straight game in October, and we are one win away from hoisting an American League pennant.

How cool is that? This roller coaster wide is worth the price of admission.

Before I get too far, let me reverse from earlier this week and just say Mark Kotsay can hold his own with any center fielder in baseball. His throw earlier in the series was a bit off line, but the arm is there. His two catches today in center field were both awesome to watch, even if he was making them against Tigers. I hope gold glove voters paid a little attention to what he was able to do rather than just give their votes to the usual suspects.

Okay, now back to Tigers baseball. Rich Harden helped matters with his lack of command, but these Tigers actually did change their stripes in the playoffs. I saw mention of this. They saw how patient the Yankees were and thought they’d give it a shot, Jim Leyland said. Strange time to give it a shot, hey? But it worked. Tigers batters drew a lot of walks, took some close pitches and looked a lot more like the A’s (OBP team) than the hackers they were earlier this year. The Tigers drew seven walks — Curtis Granderson had three. Granderson really is growing as a player before our eyes, I think. I’m glad he’s going to be around for awhile.

The Tigers are doing the small things. That shouldnt’ surprise people too much. They’ve been doing these things for much of the year when needed, but never really made a religion out of it. Detroit wasn’t winning all those one-run games earlier by accident. It didn’t always work, of course, and at times, the guys failed miserably. But the experience paid off in October. That’s Leyland at work, I think. Maybe. Right now I’d elect him president, of course.

Now, I think we can say this series is over. I don’t really want to for fear of karma or hubris pissing off the baseball gods or something. But it’s close enough that Jeremy Bonderman can taste the chance to eject his former organization from the playoffs, no matter what he says. Eric Chavez seemed to be waving the white flag, a bit prematurely I’d say. And yes, the Boston Red Sox came back from an 0-3 deficit. But the Red Sox weren’t making that comeback on the road. They lost the first two games of the series at Yankee Stadium. So that’s really not the same situation. Detroit gets two chances to close it out at home first, and I think we’ve seen that having better pitching, defense and batting — and the execution to go along with it, and that’s been one of the most important factors — is too much.

Kenny Rogers dealt us one game closer to a World Series and a little tangible evidence of what a great season it’s been. Let’s get this closed out and enjoy the rest of the cold, snowy weekend.

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