Passing of a Legend

In case you haven't already heard, Sparky Anderson the first manager to lead teams from both leagues to victories in the World Series passed away earlier this week.  Anderson managed the Red and Tigers to World Championships.  Incidentally, only one other manager has led teams in both leagues to a World Series Championship - Tony LaRussa, who led the Cardinals and the A's to baseball's version of the Promised Land.  Sparky will truly be missed, after all, with a name like Sparky, you know he has to be awesome.

 Stories of Sparky's generosity abound.  Here he is about to share a piece of gum with Cecil Fielder.

 Sparky cared a great deal about his players.  

Some would say he could only be faulted for caring too much.

 This picture is awesome because pipes make a person 35% more awesome.

Here he is letting God know that they'll be seeing each other soon.

Tigers Opting Not to Go After Top Pitchers

I saw an article on MLB Trade Rumors reporting that the Detroit Tigers have no interest in pursuing Cliff Lee or other top free agent pitchers this offseason.  In a similar vein, the Detroit Tigers have no interest in winning their division for the next several years.

Damon Has Difficult Decision Ahead

Johnny Damon was placed on waivers by the Detroit Tigers, and reports indicate that the Boston Red Sox are the team that have won the claim on the former Royal-A's-Red Sox-Yankee outfielder.  So, now Damon has quite a decision to make: whether or not to veto a trade to the Red Sox

It's understandable that this would be a difficult decision.  Damon played for the Red Sox from 2002-2005, helping them break the "Curse of the Bambino" - or as the rest of the world called it, 86 years of terrible play in the regular-and/or-post season.  Of course, Damon didn't exactly endear himself to Boston fans when he bolted after the 2005 season to join the Yankees, or as they have been called, "The Evil Empire."

This decision really boils down to which mediocre, underachieving team would Damon prefer to finish the season with.  Good luck deciding Johnny because I'm pretty sure the rest of us don't care.

Touche, Matt Garza, Touche

Matt Garza, the first Tampa Bay Rays pitcher to throw a no-hitter, apparently doesn't like that I'm not crazy about mass media calling 2010 the Year of the Pitcher.  He shut down a Tigers line-up that was packed with power names such as: Danny Worth, Don Kelly, and Will Rhymes.

It's about time the Rays were on the giving end of a no-no, though.  They have been no-hit twice this year, with one of those games being Dallas "Get Off My Mound, A-Rod" Braden's perfect game and the other being to Arizona's Edwin "Why Do I Keep Getting Traded" Jackson.  Of course, I guess the next obvious question is: how many times has a team been involved 3 no-hitters in the same season?

And your answer...

• 1917 - St. Louis Browns & Chicago White Sox were both involved in three no-no's.  The White Sox starter Eddie Cicotte no-hit the Browns on April 14th, and the Browns returned the favor... on CONSECUTIVE DAYS (May 5th & 6th) with Ernie Koob & Bob Groom both no-hitting the White Sox.
• 1956 - Brooklyn Dodgers were involved in three with Carl Erskine getting the best of the Giants, and Sal Maglie no-hitting the Phillies.  Then, you guessed it, they were the victim of Don Larsen's perfect game in the World Series.

And just some more fun FYI for you: 1991 & 1990 each saw 7 no-hitters (a perfect game is counted as a no-hitter).  Pre-1900 had one season see 8 no-hitters - 1884, but since nobody cares about the Pittsburgh Alleghenys, Columbus Buckeyes, Detroit Wolverines or Toldeo Blue Stockings, we won't count that as a candidate for Year of the Pitcher.

So, wake up, mass media!  It's not the Year of the Pitcher yet.  We still have two more to go before we can even consider it!

Cruz Too Hungry to Play Ball

The Rangers and Tigers played a mini-marathon on Monday.  In a game that ended nearly 5 hours after the first pitch, saw 13 different pitchers and lasted for 14 innings, the Rangers bested the Tigers 8-6 on Nelson Cruz's 12th home run of the season, a two-run shot off of Enrique Gonzalez.

When asked about his game-winning dinger, Cruz said, "You know, I just got tired of playing.  My stomach was growling, and it was beginning to annoy me.  So, I thought I'd just end it right there."

After touching home, Cruz was disappointed that the rest of the team wasn't there to jump around him.  In his hunger-fatigue, he forgot that it wasn't a walk-off shot because they were the visiting team.

Tigers Girl-fight Their Way to Rout of Braves

On Sunday, the Tigers and Braves met in Atlanta and the Tigers proceeded to girl-fight their way to a 10-4 victory.  The Tigers scratched out (get it?) 16 singles as a part of their 17-hit barrage against starter Tommy Hanson and 3 relievers.  The one blight on the Tigers quest for singles perfection was a home run.  Manager Jim Leyland was ejected for the game for running out on the field after RF Brennan Boesch screwed up the whole thing by hitting a 2 run HR in the 5th inning.

Leyland on the incident: "I was pissed.  We just scored five runs the previous inning by hitting singles, and this jerk has to show up his entire team by putting one in the seats?  We could've had a perfect game!"