Re-introduction

I've never really said much about who I am or how I became a Tigers fan, but was just thinking about it because I saw another blog start an intro post.

So I thought I'd tell you a little about my baseball history, because I feel it's quite romantic.

My Name is Stephanie and I'm on the west side of Michigan. I live near the Grand Rapids area. I never was into sports, although my dad would regularly watch football and sometimes baseball. We're originally from Houston so my dad naturally roots for the Astros and the Cowboys (well, it used to be the Oilers, but they're non-existent). My dad actually made the netting that went behind home plate, to block foul balls. He tells me he'd get free tickets to games sometimes. He's seen some great players in action.

Anyway... whenever there was nothing on TV, I didn't mind watching a little baseball, but I never really knew there was so much to it. Just throwing and hitting, right?

In high school I met a boy. And we were sort of friends. After he graduated (three years ahead of me) we kept in touch. In 2006 we started to hang out, but I had a boyfriend. In 2007 we started to hang out even more and despite being in love with him, I still had the same boyfriend. So he decided to find himself a girlfriend. Yet, we still hung out.

And as this was all happening, he introduced me to the game of baseball. The real game. Not just the hitting and throwing.

Luckily for me, his girlfriend broke up with him. Luckily for him, I decided it was time to move on from my long distance boyfriend and finally give him a chance.

When we hung out, he'd take me out to eat for dinner, or even for dessert. The Tigers would be on (this was the in the second half of the '07 season). He'd take me to play catch, even though I didn't know how and never had tried before (he never once made fun of me). When I came over to his house to visit, I didn't mind sitting there with him while he watched the game. It just meant I got to spend time sitting next to him.

Eventually I had questions and I started to notice things about the game. How did Magglio hit the ball so conveniently? It was going to places were no one was guarding the field. It was going the opposite field for the runner to advance. Was he doing this on purpose?

And how did the pitcher conveniently get a ground-out? Fly-out? Can he really locate a 99mph fastball into 9 divided sections? How do they pitch to get the result that they want?

My friend of course loved to answer these questions. Come on. What male baseball nerd would not jump at the chance to teach a girl who wanted to learn more about baseball?

The answers he gave me intrigued me. Baseball was all about strategy. It was about math and science. Statistics. It was a game for intellectuals.

By August, the Tigers were out of the running for the playoffs, but my friend and I would (finally!) become an item. I was at his house almost every night for every game, even though the Tigers season was coming to an end. I even watched the playoffs and the World Series with him.

I still had so much to learn. So my boyfriend lent me a book: Baseball Between the Numbers. I took it to school with me in the fall. I'd attempt to read it every day. (Attempt... because it's a very dry read). I had people ask me at school what I was reading. To my boyfriend's delight, I would say matter-of-factly, "It's a statistical analysis of baseball." Keep in mind, I attend an art college.

It took me the complete off season to read that book. But I kept at it. I finished it. (I need to go back and reread it, now that I've followed baseball for a little over two years now. Now I "get" things. So it'd be nice to have a refresher on some stats.)

One of my favorite chapters was the one on catchers. I love catchers. The fact that they have to stay crouched like that, probably with achy knees. They can throw from home to any of the bases all from a squat. It's so awesome. I love the whole idea of them giving signs too. They have so much they have to learn. I love it.

During the off season, while I was trudging through the Baseball Prospectus book, my boyfriend gave me the book Moneyball by Michael Lewis. Something a little easier to read, not so fact and number driven. I loved it. It's now one of my favorite books ever. Having read that added a personal element to the game of baseball. Augh! I love this game.

And now I'm in on my boyfriend's inside jokes about Billy Beane and baseball. Now I can make inside jokes!

My boyfriend took me to my first game in September of 2007 in Chicago. The last game of the season for the Tigers, against the White Sox. I don't remember what happens in games much. I can't picture what happened in my head, but I know how I felt. I know I was excited. I know I was happy. However, I got a bad case of sun poisoning and fell really ill on the drive home.

During Christmas, I was given (one of) the first Miguel Cabrera jersey(s). No joke. I wanted a Maybin jersey, because he was new to MLB and so was I. I wanted to follow my own player through his own MLB journey. I felt connected. My boyfriend had my jersey ordered and was waiting for it to made when the trade rumors began. He had a feeling the trade for Miguel Cabrera was for real, so he called up the jersey place and had it changed. Sure enough, the trade happened. On Christmas day I opened up a box to see my very own Tigers jersey.

The next season would include me purchasing a subscription to MLB Audio and listening to all spring training games on my laptop with head phones, while at the same time, balancing a paint palette on my lap and multiple paint brushes in my hand. I read a lot of sports books. We'd go to 9 games out of the season, including on-field photo day for our anniversary. We'd witness some horrible losses. It was a bad season for the Tigers. And to be honest and fair, I wasn't the most pleasant person to be with on some of the trips to Detroit. The 3 hour drive out usually lead to conversations where my feelings would get hurt and I'd make it known. But I appreciated every game that I was taken to. I liked that he wanted to be there with me.

Now it's the new season. I know so much now. I know the significance of OBP, OPS, WHIP, etc... I can form my own opinions about baseball and they are actually fairly intelligent. We've already been to about 4 games. Next we're going to see the Tigers in Houston! Playing the Astros! We've already been to one on-field photo day this season, his third and my second. We've been to the World Baseball Classic in Toronto. We went to opening day in Toronto!! I was given a ball by Fernando Rodney. Got to have my picture taken with one of the nicest men in baseball: Andy Van Slyke (last season's pictures included signs, and the players went along with it politely). I got Josh Hamilton's autograph.

We have the whole summer and part of the fall yet to go. I have a good feeling about this season. But that's all I'll say. Because if anything, baseball has made me more superstitious... about sports anyway.

I am completely happy. With my boyfriend. With my new hobby. This is probably the greatest thing anyone has done for me: teach me about something new. Introduce me to something I could dedicate my time and effort to. It's because of him I have something to base my school projects on! I am inspired again. By both him and baseball.


Something my boyfriend has said recently is, "If you fail 70% of the time, you are a GOOD baseball player!" Now, I'm not sure if he took that quote from somewhere or not, but either way, isn't it the most beautiful thing? FAILURE is a success! (It's a little like finding the right person: you have to have a lot of ex's before meeting the love of your life.)

Only in baseball.

Dontrelle

Another day, another horrible day out for Dontrelle Willis.

3.2 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 8 BB, 1 K.
88 pitches, 43 strikes.

We listened on the radio. I'm glad we didn't see it.
It's about time to pull him out of the rotation. Actually, it was time, a long time ago.
I've heard arguments that the reason we have to keep him is because of the money we owe him. However, even if we decided to eat his contract, there really is no other options to take his place. Especially now that Jeremy Bonderman is a post-rehab bust and has recently landed himself a spot back on the DL.

There's always Zach Miner, who I'm rather fond of, but even he has proved to be very hittable. However, we're in a bind, and I think Zach would be a better option right now than anyone else. What else can we do? Bring Nate back out of the bullpen? Hardly.

And no one has really popped up in the farm system.

The only option then is to find someone before the trade deadline. However, that is out of the reach of my knowledge, so I can't really expand upon that.

Willis seems like a nice guy, a funny guy... he's very likable. But right now, what he isn't, is a major league pitcher.



And don't even get my started and Jim "I want to eff up our lineup" Leyland. Josh Anderson leading off? Seriously?

But Josh Anderson batting THIRD?! What the...?

Has the man quit smoking? Is he having hallucinating withdrawals? Because he's gone crazy. The recent (and constant) line up changes prove it.

D-Train graphic

Hello kiddies, just for fun. Even though he exploded yesterday.

Rick Knapp....

Fixes things.

Dontrelle Willis tonight:
6.1 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 5 K, 0 ER

Very nice.


Now to figure out Armando :-/


Working in PS again, just messing around with pattern/colors. Will post a final when I get it all worked out how I want it.

Fun with photoshop

I was a little bored tonight.





Wish I knew how to fix lighting. But I'm way to tired to get that in depth.

Media and baseball

A win's a win and I'm not going to complain, because I'll take it no matter how we get it.


But I don't like this new media spin on Armando.

And by media, I mean the MLB Network. Now, they're already grinding my nerves, mostly because for some reason they think Harold Reynolds is best they can get for a game broadcaster. I think it's a general consensus that Reynolds is probably the most annoying person on the planet and is pretty much the Tyra Banks of broadcasting, in the sense that he can make everything about himself.

Last night I was watching Quick Pitch which recaps the day's games. They came to the Royals/Tigers game. They showed amazing clips of Armando's 7 strikeouts. And I'm sure people are watching going, "DAMN! 7 Strikeouts? Shit! That's pretty good!" Then they pull up pictures of the pitchers and show the stats:

6.0 IP, 1 R, 7 SO, 1.85 ERA.

And right now, all the casual Tigers fans are thinking: Here is our new ace. Armando is god. He should pitch all the time. Why oh why didn't ol' Jim-Marlboro-Reds-Leyland keep him in?

Well you see kiddies, MLB-N left out two very important details.

Pitch count and walks.

Armando was already well into the 100 pitches by the time he was pulled. Why so many? Ohhh, maybe because he walked 5, yes that's right: F-I-V-E batters! Oh, and let's not forget the 2 HBPs. Out of 107 pitches, 64 were for strikes.

But the baseball news would have you believe that Armando is our ace. Why? Because every team needs an ace. And there's this other story brewing... the one about a FORMER ace.... one who's not doing so hot. Think about it. How someone would pitch this: Big drama... Ace Justin Verlander has lost it! But amid this crisis arises a new one... the answer... Armando Galarraga!

The Tigers haven't been in the news a lot lately. Not in the big media stations. (Especially MSNBC. They seems to think an Astros come from behind win is news worthy, but not the Tigers, who were projected to be terrible). I don't like that the news is omitting important information. In the end, they're deciding what you'll think, and who you'll think it about. I don't like that at all.

But the media has the control. Do you think casual fans will look up the numbers themselves? Casual fans usually turn to ESPN or the like for their information. And we all know, you numbers reading, stat churning, analysis guys (because you're all males) are just nerds in your mothers' basements. Right?

It's just all really stupid.

So please correct anyone who calls Armando "our new ace." I think we have decently performing pitchers, who all have their ups and downs. But I don't think we have anyone of ace material.

Armando had a lucky night. Yes. Luck. Luck plays a big factor in baseball (see: BABIP) and I think last night was pure luck. And it sure was nice and helpful for our defense to finally show up.


Ok. I think I'm done now. /rant.

April 12th, 2009

Photos from the second day after the home opener.



Our second game this season against the Texas Rangers. We were in sectoin 123 which was totally awesome. Apparently they're catered seats. We didn't take advantage of that however because of the 12% service fee. Great view though, so we're thinking of getting tickets in the section regularly.

When we got there people were trying to get autographs from the Rangers during BP. Josh Hamilton came up and signed A LOT of autographs for fans. It was pretty nice. I waited patiently and was listening to him banter with a fan. I started laughing and he noticed me and came over and signed my ticket. Woo hoo! I told Kevin on our way there that I WAS GOING TO GET JOSH HAMILTON'S AUTOGRAPH!.... And I did :)



The pitching match up was Edwin Jackson versus Kevin Millwood. I was excited because we saw a lot of Justin Verlander last season, so I was glad to see a different pitcher. We were getting pretty down because it looked like we were getting shut out and Jackson had given up 4 runs. I was getting annoyed at the crowds lack of enthusiasm. I know it sucks to sit and watch a losing game, but no one cheered or anything the entire time. There wasn't really a lot of people there. Maybe it was a mix of being Easter day, maybe because it was a Sunday, or people just didn't care because the home opener was over with.

However, thanks to Brandon Inge's rallying HR in the late innings, the crowd finally got into it. I did my best to start chants and cheers. There were little kids behind us really getting into it.

It was a great come from behind win. It was a good way to start our first visit to Detroit for the season.



Too bad when we got home we had a car fire.... but hey, a Tiger's win!