Blake, I am sorry.

When I came on board, I was excited. Blake and I exchanged emails about topics and we had some great ideas. There were, however, a few topics that we said we hated talking about. Blake is going to be putting together a piece on why he is boycotting the NFL (I had mentioned there was no way I was posting on that and giving Vick the satisfaction). I am looking forward to that piece.

Which brings me to my apology. I am sorry that I am about to post about Barry Bonds. I know the media has covered to the point of vomiting, but I want to hear what people around us say. Sure, we hear a lot reporters towing the company line. I want some opinions.

So, here's mine.

Where to begin? I was inspired by a CNN.com list of the "Greatest non-drug related Scandals ever". It covered Pete Rose (gambling), The Chicago Black Socks, current NBA situation, etc. It seems that people are not able to draw a line between different types of cheating. There was recently a "town hall" discussion hosted by ESPN in San Fran (of all the places!). There was this huge debate about types of cheating. Some of the guests were arguing that all cheating is the same! They were honestly putting scuffing a ball and using Vaseline on the same level as juicing.

Am I missing something here?

To me, it is different. When Kenny Rogers has a little somethin' on his hand...fine. If Niekro gets away with having that emery board, so be it. I am willing to draw the line and say, "If somebody does this and doesn't get caught, that's life." However, when one crosses the line of gambling and drugs, it has gone to far. It is self destructive behavior and is hurting the game.

The next attitude that I can't stand that stems from not being able to differentiate between levels of cheating is from Buster Olney, a columnist for ESPN.com. His point was that we are in the steroids era and Bonds has hit those home runs against guys who could very well be juicing. Since there is no way to tell who is and who isn't using the cream and the clear, he is either voting for nobody or everybody. He isn't going to deny someone his vote because of alleged steroid use.

This is pathetic. Grow a back bone and using your judgement skills. That is why you have a Hall of Fame vote. As a person that has a vote for the most prestigious club in sports, you need to be able to look at each case and identify if they should be allowed that honor. Buster, when you read this, take a look at the picture below. That is the guy that is going to have one of the greatest records in sports history. He thanks you for your vote.

More trading...

A few things on trades upcoming or not upcoming:

1. I can't believe there is not more action with relief pitching. It is amazing to me that there are teams like the Tigers, the Yankees, and every other team that honestly thinks they can sit back and be ok with what they have. There are so many holes in middle relief out there that it could turn the playoffs into a crap shot and have a team like St. Louis win again.

2. To add to Blake's post, Bondo wasn't looking exactly stellar the other night, allowing 12 ER in less than 3 innings of work. That is rough. The really rough part for Det is that they are behind Clevland in the season series (4-6). You guys are going to want to clean that up. They have 8 games left against the Indians and 8 games against the Yanks. All they need to do is to dominate the season series against one of those teams and that will solidfy their spot in their division or the Wild Card.

3. Celtics and TWolves are rehashing Garnett trades. Could be fun.

I Hate to Say it...

...but, Nate Robertson is the new Mike Maroth. Every time this guy throws I feel as though there's a good chance the other team will score 6 or more runs. Not a great feeling and he's pitching terribly in a pretty big game against the Angels right now. Tigers went up 2-0 in the first then Nate coughs up 7 in the next 1 2/3. Yuck.

MLB Deadline

As most of you know the MLB trading deadline is July 31st, just around the corner. This is a lot like all other trade deadlines, lots of build up and little follow through. For the next four days there will all kinds of talk about what big name is on the move and who may be interested in their services. Here's the quick run down of what's being talked about around baseball:

1. The biggest name out there is that of Mark Teixeira of the Texas Rangers. Teixeira is a big left handed power bat, what team wouldn't want that? He is only 27 years old and in 2005 he hit 43 HR and and had over 140 RBI, not a bad year at all. His power numbers have dropped since then but he's still a good bet for 30 HR and 100 RBI a year. He's a guy who has been on the block all year and has obviously gone nowhere so far. So you're probably thinking, 'if he's so good then why is he being shopped and why hasn't he been traded yet?' I won't lie, those are all good questions and here's why those things are happening. The main reason is, as always, money. After the 2008 season he will be a free agent and his agent is super jerk Scott Boras. Boras is known around the sports world for getting the most money for his players. So in order to get Teixeira in the first place a team would have to give up some really good young players and then run the risk of having him leave town for more money in the winter of 2008. That's a gamble. Word right now is that the Rangers are lowering their expectations for what they'll get in return. So Teixeira may actually be traded.

2. A bunch of crap, that's what is left. All teams need relief pitching, too bad that adds up to no one giving up what they have. The only real exception there is in Houston where the Astros are playing awful ball but have some great relief pitchers. Lidge, Wheeler, and Qualls could all be traded in the next couple days should the Astros admit that their season is over (it is). Should that happen every contending team will be on the phone with the Astros. They could really restock their minor league system with a couple of nice trades.

3. White Sox players. Another rumor floating around is that the White Sox are pretty much shopping their whole roster as they have been a big disappointment this year. They have an old team of slow stars. Dye, Thome, and Konerko aren't getting any younger and the Sox aren't getting any closer to another World Series. They may decide it's time to start over. I'd be okay with that after they just took 3 of 5 from the Tigers.

4. The key thing to remember is that most of this and the rumors all over the news are speculation. Almost nothing will happen. However, it's possible that this could be the year we see a bunch of big names go. That's what keeps me paying attention.

Gambling and the NBA

As you've no doubt heard by now, the NBA is in "oh crap" mode after it came to light that one of their referee's gambled on games that he officiated. Not a good thing. Tim Donaghy is under an intense investigation for gambling on football and on NBA games that he officiated. This is obviously an absolute nightmare for the NBA.

I am just old enough to remember when Pete Rose was busted for gambling on baseball. It was huge. Pete Rose was on the lead story on the national news. Sure, Tim Donaghy is no Pete Rose but Pete Rose could only control what happened with his own team. Donaghy held the fate of every NBA team at one time or another. There is no telling how much damage he did to the NBA, not yet anyway. I am believer in the livelihood of sports. If a team is on a role in a game, say it's an NBA game, and the Hawks are leading the Spurs by 11. Suddenly the officials call 4 consecutive fouls on the Hawks that they believe are unfair. All of the sudden the tide has shifted and it has nothing to do with what the Hawks have done, it's all on the refs. Now the Hawks are down in the dumps and they are upset. They go on to lose the game by 11 points. Sure, those four fouls in no way make up a 22 point swing, but they sure helped set the whole thing in motion. There is no telling how often that scenario played out because of Tim Donaghy manipulating the game.

The next big moment will come when/if Donaghy names names. If he names no one the NBA will suffer for the next few years. If he names a couple of Refs and/or players the league may be through. I don't think that is an exaggeration either, I really think that if there is this huge ring of gambling within the NBA that the league will be done. Professional basketball will have to start from scratch.

One final troubling note is that there is word now the NBA knew that there was a chance Donaghy was gambling. They heard he was gambling on NFL games. If it comes out, that they FOR SURE knew he was gambling on the NFL and they knew in January/February and still let him officiate games after that, they are really in a whole. I imagine it could cost David Stern his job.

The fact for now is that we just don't know enough yet. This story should get juicier and juicier as the summer moves along.

Easy Boots

Here it is, the long awaited post about Carlos Guillen errors correlating with Tiger wins and losses. I looked around and couldn't find a website that included errors in game logs so I'm going to have to go look at every Tiger box score so far this season to find Guillen's 18 errors. Just to put this in perspective real quick, Guillen has 18 errors in 81 games this season and had 17 in 135 games in 2004, his range his getting worse not better. There has even been talk of him being the Tigers next first baseman. What is strange about Guillen and people who have watched at least 40 Tiger games this season will tell you the same thing, he makes the difficult plays and blows the easy ones. So here we go, off to the box scores...

#1: In an April 7th win over the Royals.
1-0 in error games.
#2: In an April 21st loss to the White Sox. Error leads to a 10th inning run.
1-1 in error games.
#3: In an April 22nd win over the White Sox.
2-1 in error games.
#4: In an April 23rd win over the Angels. Three games in a row with an error.
3-1 in error games.
#5 and 6: In an April 24th loss to the Angels. Two errors in one innings led to 3 runs.
3-2 in error games.
#7: In a May 9th loss to the Mariners.
3-3 in error games.
#8: In a May 17th loss to the Red Sox. Error was the difference in the game.
3-4 in error games.
#9: In a May 19th victory over the Cardinals.
4-4 in error games.
#10: In a May 20th win over the Cardinals.
5-4 in error games.
#11: In a June 10th win over the Mets.
6-4 in error games.
#12: In a June 18th win over the Nationals.
7-4 in error games.
#13: In a June 30th loss to the Twins.
7-5 in error games.
#14: In a July 5 win over the Indians.
8-5 in error games.
#15: In a July 7th win over the Red Sox.
9-5 in error games.
#16: In a July 8th victory over the Red Sox.
10-5 in error games.
#17: In a July 12th loss to the Mariners. The error was the difference in the game. Although, I watched this game and it was an awful call more than an error. Tough break, Carlos.
10-6 in error games.
#18: In a July 15th win over the Mariners.
11-6 in error games.

Okay, that was fun. A few conclusions can be drawn:

1. His errors aren't nearly as costly in real life as they are in my mind. Although, just looking at this now, his errors did have a pretty huge factor in at least five Tiger losses.

2. The Tigers/Guillen have been very lucky that the errors, for the most part, have come at opportune times.

3. The Tigers winning percentage this season is, .604, in Guillen error games it is, .647. So, a moron could argue that it is to the Tigers benefit to boot a few in the field every now and again.

Things to Come...

Hello all, I'm back and connected to the internet, it feels good. Anyway, this really isn't a formal post, just a preview of things to come:

1. Report of Carlos Guillen errors and what those errors mean to the Tigers.

2. NBA Free Agent movement (Rashard Lewis to Orlando, Darko to Memphis, etc.)

3. MLB trade deadline and what happens (or doesn't happen).

4. Why I am boycotting the NFL for a season.

There will be much much more and I will try to update this with much more regularity.

Happy Halfway, AL Style

Alright, so I haven't been posting. I haven't be active on the blog. I am in the doldrums of the sports season. The lack of exciting sports has lead me to start watching the "Who's Now" series on Sportscenter. Essentially, ESPN added Keyshawn Johnson and lost Dan Patrick. That is like the Bulls calling up the Blazers after the Bulls had double three-peated and said, "Hey we feel bad about that whole Sam Bowie thing, let's trade, take Jordan." I can't even handle Keyshawn. Combine that with the only major sports news being Mr. Steroids going for the all time home run record, which we will now be able to call the all time "who can take the most steroids" record until Arod breaks it.

What we can do, however, is review the first half of both the AL and the NL. Apparently, there has been too much talk about the Yanks on this blog. You know what I say? There has been too much Tiger talk.

In looking at the AL, there are 4 teams that have a pretty solid grasp on the playoffs. They make the first of three tiers of teams vying for the postseason. That is how we will break this thing down:

TIER ONE:
Red Sox, Tigers, Indians, and Angels.

BOSTON:
They are the team to beat. They have a good bullpen and good defense. There only problem seems to be a lead off guy with an OBP of .270. They could drop Juilo Lugo, call up there best prospect and probably upgrade big time. I know I have heard they are shopping around for Gagne (Along with the Twins and the Tigers) but I don't buy that. Papelbon, Okajima, and once Pineiro is healthy their rotation is fine. As long as Beckett and Schilling don't have to go up against the Yankees (who have owned them this year), they will be fine. Like I said, they are the team to beat.

Tigers: Blake, you can handle this one. I will say that they are close to the BoSox in record, but I give the Red Sox the clear edge over them. Refute this. It will be fun.

Indians: They have been duking it out with the Tigers through out the season for the first place in their division. If I am the Indians, I feel pretty good. They just signed Hafner to a 4 year deal for under 60 million, which seems dirt cheap for a guy that was sniffing at the AL MVP at one point. Sabaithia is lights out and Borowski (their closer) is only 2 off the lead league in saves. The one thing that sets them apart from the Tigers and Soxs is that they don't have as deep of a starting pitching rotation. Carmona is a great no. 2, but after that it gets weak. I'd say they need to make a move if they want to win the division. Otherwise, they are going to get bogged down in the Wild Card race which is going to heat up.

Angels: The Angles are one step ahead of the Indians with Lackey and Escobar in the starting pitch situation. But what happened to Ervin Santana? Are you kidding me? He has a Carl Pavano-espue 5.97 Era and a record of 5-10. If he comes around in the second half, they will pull away from Seattle, who might be the most intriguing team in the AL right now.



TIER TWO:
Twinkies and Mariners

SEATTLE: 2.5 games out of their division lead, 3 games off the wild card. They are 7-3 in their last 10 and will be the team that will be in the most contention for the Wild Card. They don't rely heavily on one single starter in their rotation. No one has more than 8 wins, but 8 pitchers with at least 30 strike outs. Ichiro is about as much a guarantee as death and taxes. If Weaver comes around and they get consistent in their pitching, the Angels could be in trouble.

MINNESOTA: The have Johann Santana, every game he pitches is a chance to win. I don't really want to talk about them any more because they are going to get knock around by Detroit and Cleveland.

TIER THREE:
A's, Jays, Yankees

The Yankees: Seattle and Minn have a chance at the WC. All three of these teams are 8 or more games out of the WC. Thus, I will only speak on the Yanks because for all intensive purposes, these teams are in PANICMODE. However, of these three teams, the Yankees have the best chance to run the tables (every time someone uses that phrase, I sense hope is lost). When they are healthy, their rotation is unreal, Clemens, Pettitte, Mussina, Wang, Hughes. Hughes will be back in a could of weeks. Clemens has been the picture of stamina, 4 QS in 6 starts, which is good for 4th best on the team right now. The second part is sad, but let's move on. Karstens will be back and be good in relief. With ath start rotation working, 8.5 games doesn't really seem like that much. ESPECIALLY because they start the second half with Tampa, Tor, Tampa, KC, and Balt, CWS, KC again, and Tor again...a nice little 28 game stretch(14 hm, 14 aw) against teams that are ALL .500 or worse. If they don't rip off some major win streaks during that time, they are out. I'd say they need to be 20-8 after those games to keep themselves in it. I will check in on this Aug. 8th, when it is over.

That's what I got for now.

Break

I am on a brief break from this blog because I don't have internet at my new place yet. I will have it up and going by Tuesday. As for Rob, I'm not even sure he's still alive.

What to do?

It seems like it wasn't that long ago on here I was talking about the Tigers bullpen problems and what they should do and shouldn't do. Since then they've made a bunch of trades. Mike Maroth is gone, Wil Ledezma is gone, Chad Durbin is in the pen, so is Macay McBride, and so is Jose Capellan. Quite a shake up over the past month.

Sadly, all these changes have added up to more of the same. I'm guessing the Tigers will continue to keep an eye on Zumaya. If it looks like he's gonna be back for most of August-October, I bet they stand pat with what they have now. If not, they'll continue to be active in the trade market. I don't see them picking up scraps, they won't pick up guys who have been waived, no point in doing that. As of right now the Texas Rangers have been asking for Cameron Maybin in every trade offer with the Tigers, that's not going to happen (I hope).

Keep an eye on the Tigers over the next two weeks, the success or lack there of in their bullpen over that time period will say a lot about what direction they will head in. Right now the bullpen is killing them. Jason Grilli (left) has looked awful and so have many others, I won't go into all of that, it's too depressing. Relief pitching is really all the team is lacking.