Tiger Geist

A few days after Mike Ilitch surprised nobody with his announcement on his intention to buy the Pistons, I still doubt his motive about keeping the Pistons in Detroit.  It comes down to one thing:  strengthening the financial stability of Ilitch Holdings.  In the long run, this probably helps the Tigers; the 2011 / 2012 outlook might be a little more grim.  Let’s discuss.

Here’s what we know:

1. Joe Louis Arena is crumbling, and the Red Wings can move out at any time.
2. Bill Davidson’s widow is unhappy and wants her cash
3. The NBA has a >50% chance for a lockout heading into the 2011 / 2012 season.
4. The music industry in consolidating (Ticketmaster & Live Nation), and live entertainment is now a significant portion of musician’s deals (called 360 deals).

How are these connected?  The Red Wings need a better stadium with better amenities… which generate more revenue.  The Wings aren’t going to pay for a new stadium on their own (no reason to invest in Joe Louis either).  Ilitch buys the Pistons, he gets the Palace.  This is a no-brainer.  But it connects to the rest of the story…

Karen Davidson is extremely unhappy about her deal and not happy about her dead husband’s philanthropic endeavers.  She wants to sell the pistons and do whatever it is rich people do.  However… the Pistons aren’t moving.  They have a strong fan base and a solid stadium; the owners would never approve a new owner who would move the team to, say Vegas.  Is this speculation?  Maybe… but Joe Dumars turned down a job offer from the NJ Nets and their new russian billionaire owner.  If the Pistons were on shaky ground in the Detroit area, Dumars would have bolted.

I’m not positive the Golden State Warrior sale price will be much of a factor in determining the Piston’s value; Larry Ellison isn’t bidding this time.  The league probably won’t approve a move, so there would be limited non-local interest.  From interviews with the new GSW owner, the league owners will vote on the new ownership in September time frame, and they would take over soon after.  (Thoughts:  You’re looking at January 1st, at the earliest, that Ilitch could take control of the Pistons.)  Also from interviews, it sounds as if very few of the old coaching / front office will be fired this year at Golden State.  Why?  The lockout.

Players don’t get paid during the lockout.  But team management does.  If GSW fired Don Nelson and hired, uh, Tom Izzo, they have to pay Izzo.  And the GM.  And the GM’s secretary…. etc.  Golden State had to sell because the clock was ticking; they were losing value the closer they got to the lockout.  Its very very difficult to get financing, and it appears a new owner is staring at a $10-20million loss in your first year due to a lockout.  Karen Davidson has the same problem, but without the interest of a man worth $37 billion.  She has Mike Ilitch.

So Mike Ilitch can swoop in with a low ball offer, and he gets the Pistons and the Palace.  Maybe he can make a small profit at the end of the 2010/2011 basketball season.  The following season there’s no basketball.  But wait!  The Red Wings suddenly move into the Palace and generate even more revenue then previous years.  Part of the lost revenue can be mitigated; other potential owners don’t have this revenue stream.

Mike Ilitch may not even like basketball;  maybe  he turns the team over to his son Chris.  But let’s not forget an increasingly profitable business:  Palace Entertainment.  With the purchase of the Pistons, Ilitch Holdings now controls the south eastern lower michigan entertainment industry.  Big big business.  You want to play the Detroit area?  You have to deal with Olympia Entertainment (oh yes, that’s Ilitch Holdings).

With the purchase, Ilitch Holdings would control the following venues (via Olympia Entertainment and Palace Entertainment):

• The Palace of Auburn Hills
• Pine Knob DTE Energy Music Theater  (they changed the name?  Damn it)
• Meadowbrook
• Comerica Park
• Fox Theater
• Cobo Arena
• Masonic Temple

Bill Graham would be very jealous; that’s quite the lineup.  And quite the income.  Ilitch is the one person who could purchase the Pistons solely for Palace Entertainment, only to spin the team off in 5-10 years.  (Speaking of Bill Graham, the one venue Ilitch wouldn’t control would be where he made his name, the Fillmore auditorium, formerly the State Theater… and we’ll note that Graham’s Fillmore auditorium(s) were in San Francisco and New York).

One factor that I won’t rule out in this investment:  Talent acquisition.

Tech Writer Robert Cringely has written previously about why Microsoft needed to acquire Yahoo (a deal which ultimately fell through):  MS needed Yahoo’s talent base, talent it didn’t have internally.  Bill Davidson built a winner in both basketball and hockey; he was the first to build the modern NBA arena.  Mike Ilitch has already hired Tom Wilson; what other talent from either the Pistons or Palace Entertainment could benefit Ilitch Holdings?  Again, Dumars stuck around.  There has to be a solid support system in Auburn Hills.

And back to the Tigers blog.. how does all of this affect the Tigers?

There is a lot of question as to how Detroit can be a mid-market team with a big-market payroll.  The assumption is that Mike Ilitch (or Ilitch Holdings) is pitching in some extra cash;  of course this can’t be verified because no one is talking.  But if sports financing is indeed harder to obtain, and if Ilitch buys the Pistons with the understanding they’re going to have to lose money immediately due to a strike year, the 2011 and 2012 Tiger payrolls may ultimately suffer.

Based on what the Pistons and Palace Entertainment has to offer, Mike Ilitch would be crazy not to jump on it.  But it is an acquisition that would only improve Ilitch Holdings, not the city of Detroit, the Pistons, nor the Tigers.

You may have noticed that my “good” posting about a Mike Ilitch / Pistons ownership didn’t sound that rosy.  Probably because i personally believe that, over a 10-20 year period, this is a bad move.

First, I think its a great idea for a shared stadium between the Pistons and the Red Wings.  The problem is they already have one; its in Auburn Hills.  Someone explain to me why its a good idea to continue to build stadiums where no one lives?  Without getting into the “green” movement, you’re building a stadium 15 miles from the nearest fans and without public transportation.  If Mike Ilitch is paying for it, he can build the stadium wherever he wants.  As a business man who would ‘own’ the Palace with the purchase of the Pistons, I’d be quite surprised if he paid for a new stadium himself, and essentially abandon the Palace.

Second, Mr Ilitch is 81 years old.  He could easily not live to see a new stadium built.  How comfortable are we as fans with his son Chris, or the Ilitch Holding company?  They can deliver a hockey championship, but the rest is unknown.  Let’s remember that Mike Ilitch bought the Tigers in 1992.  1992, not 2006.  Those super shitty Tiger teams were on Ilitch.  Here is what the Ilitch empire is founded on:

• Shitty Pizza
• Casinos
• Sports Franchises

Are those rock solid?  Maybe, maybe not.  Why do I bring this up?

As a San Francisco resident, I am constantly reminded of the great SF 49er teams… and the great demise of the franchise once Eddie Debartolo had to walk away.  His family partially lost their fortune in a real estate downturn (1987), and Eddie had some poor (IE illegal) choices that caused him to hand the franchise to his sister.  The franchise hasn’t recovered.

The Ilitch’s have seven children.  What if there is a divorce (Los Angeles Dodgers)?  What if one or more children want to diversify their shares?  What if Chris Ilitch wants to prove himself and step out from his father’s shadow, only to make poor choices?

The family issue is more important to fans then you might realize.  Who in Detroit has the ability to purchase one of the three franchises?  What if Ilitch Holdings had to diversify one or more of the teams to survive? If Ilitch Holdings needed to sell all three franchises in 15 years, what are the chances the owners of all three are local, and don’t want to pull a Seattle Supersonics / Oklahoma Thunder move?  Would the combination of three pro sports teams be a short term guarantee to the location of the franchises, but in reality a long term risk?

I feel the city of Detroit cannot support four pro sports franchises downtown.  Ilitch moving the Pistons downtown may threaten fan support, and in the long run threaten the support of all three franchises*.  While this may be a shrewd business deal if Ilitch Holdings can get a tax break or free money to build a stadium, Mike Ilitch has no experience running a basketball team.  And the Pistons don’t need a solid management style; Joe Dumars built a winner less then 10 years ago.  In fact, Bill Davidson won an NHL championship in 2004.

The Tigers?  As noted previously, all teams should be operated separately, similarly to how I imagine the Tigers are being run currently.  However, I’m extremely nervous about how successful four professional sports teams can be in a town where none of the fans actually live, especially when the pistons fan base has been in a northern suburb for the last 30 years.  A possibly unsuccessful franchise, coupled with any potential family strife / pizza sales issues, could threaten the Tigers stability.  Again, it should be noted:  the late Bill Davidson won a championship in both hockey and basketball; Mike Ilitch has not had a successful run as the Tiger’s owner.  How will diversifying his interest into another sports franchise help the Tigers?

I hate to be Debbie Downer on this issue, but I’m not sure I see how, long term, this is a smart move for fans or the city.

*NOTE:  I leave the Lions out of this because, as I’ve said before, I think Detroit is a football town and the Lions, if successful, can write their own ticket.

Here’s the good news about a possible deal with Mike Ilitch purchasing the Pistons.

First, a possible new dual-purpose stadium near Fox Town, Comerica Park, and Ford Field.  The Pistons move back downtown; the Red Wings are rescued from Joe Louis Arena.  What does this give us?

365 Days / years.  10 Football home games (8 regular season, 2 pre-season, god help us for the playoffs).  Possible Big 10 championship game in the future.  Bowl Game….

Baseball?  81 games.  Basketball?  41 games plus playoffs.  Hockey?  41 games plus playoffs.

Worst case, you have 174 nights of sports games.  174 nights of fans heading downtown to the same area.

Speaking of area, ever been to Philly?  All the teams sports stadiums are next to each other.  Public transportation?  Check.  Everything next to each other.  Detroit could mimic the Broad Street Sports Complex.  Minus the public transportation of course, because that will NEVER happen in Detroit.

What’s a big draw?  The Red Wings.  So why not sign a deal with Ford Field for a few games?  Build a new stadium downtown, and get a deal with the Lions.  Chicago coming to town for a big game in January?  Play it at Ford Field in front of 60,000 fans.  Why not?  Be flexible.

Speaking of the new dual-purpose stadium, the Ilitch’s wouldn’t have to rush it.  The Red Wings could easily upgrade to the Palace for 2 – 5 years as the new stadium is sorted out.  Fans win.  Pistons are unaffected.

Second, it guarantees the Pistons will be a local team with solid ownership.  This would be a great thing, but again I’m not convinced the Pistons would move with any new owner.  And while Mike Ilitch knows how to build a hockey winner, the jury is still out on his baseball skills.

How does this affect the Tigers?  It doesn’t.  All good businesses are operated separately.  The Tiger’s payroll shouldn’t be affected by how the Motor City Casino is doing.  Of course, this isn’t always the case, which I’ll discuss in “The Bad”.

Is there a big win with a possible Detroit sports television network?  I’m undecided.  There are a few things that, as a current non-resident to the state, that I find to be true:  1) Fox Sports Detroit overpaid for the rights to the Tigers, and 2) Detroit and the state of Michigan is a football hotbed;  A successful Lions team could overshadow the rest of the major sports.

#1 is a gigantic revenue source for the Tigers; can it be replicated with a local network?  I’m not sure.  Outside of Michigan, you have Chicago and Cleveland, both of which have baseball and basketball teams.

#2 has certain factors:  NFL controls its own contracts, and the Big 10 network controls the University of Michigan and Michigan State.

With those noted exceptions, the YES network is a huge money maker for the Yankees, and the Atlanta Braves have been on the forefront of TV and the related money revenue for years.  I’ll give Ilitch the benefit of the doubt that owning three local professional sports teams could be a financial windfall for TV revenue.  And I’ll be honest that the Lions may suck until I die, which makes the other three pro sports teams better draws.

Quick Tangent:  A three part post.  The Truth, the Good, the Bad.  No ugly. 

Mike Ilitch, the Pistons, and Detroit:  The Truth

Here’s what we know:  Mike Ilitch has indicated an interest in the Pistons (via the Detroit News):

“Marian and I grew up here, we raised our family here, and we built our businesses here. Detroit is our home. When I read in the paper there was the chance that this great sports town could lose one of its professional sports franchises, I just didn’t see how we could let that happen. The Pistons, just like the Red Wings, Tigers and the Lions, have a rich and storied tradition in this community, and they’ve brought pride to fans and our community. You all know I love sports — all sports, from amateur sports to the various pro sports we’ve had the privilege to be involved with, and like a lot of others I’m sure, I really want to see the Pistons remain the Detroit Pistons.

“We talked about it internally, and when you take our 33 years of experience in professional sports, our commitment to this community, our passion for winning and pursuing championships, and you couple that with the opportunity to have a local, engaged owner for the Pistons, we decided to take a run at it. We believe we could bring a lot to the table that could be tremendously positive for the Pistons franchise, the NBA, and the fans of this community. So, today, we formally notified the Detroit Pistons that we have interest in purchasing the team. This is a required first-step and we look forward to the opportunity to move forward in the process.”

The way this is worded, it sounds like Mr & Mrs Ilitch woke up last week and decided the Pistons would be something they’d like to own.

No.

This has been in the works for a while now.  The Red Wings need a stadium to play in.  The Pistons need a new owner.  No local Detroiter can afford the Pistons (sans Ilitch), and Bill Davidson’s widow needs to sell.  Someone has been buying up land locally.  Tom Wilson is employed by Mike Ilitch.  I’ve been talking about this with friends since Mr. Davidson’s death; this is a slam dunk for Ilitch.  They didn’t think of this last week; this is a business move.  The final straw?  The Golden State Warriors sale.

The Warriors went for ~$450 million.  For the team only.  A team stuck in Oakland for 8 – 10 more years.  The pistons will draw less than that in their sale, even with a stadium to go with it.  Why?  Larry Ellison isn’t bidding on the Pistons.  And contrary to any belief, the Pistons aren’t going to Las Vegas;  if there is a team moving to Vegas, it’ll be the Kings.  So what happened?  Mike Ilitch waited for the Warriors to be sold to get a value on the franchise, but more importantly, who was bidding.  Two different teams, different potential owners.  The Pistons are Ilitch’s to lose.

The possibilities are exciting for the state as well as fans:  the Red Wings could move to the Palace while a new stadium is built; the Pistons are guaranteed to stay in the area.

But the reality is this:  The Pistons aren’t going anywhere.  Too many NBA teams have financial issues and little fan support (New Orleans, Charlotte); the Pistons aren’t going to be sold and moved.  I applaud Mike Ilitch’s thoughts and statement on possible ownership, but he doesn’t need to save the Pistons from a diabolical owner looking to move the team to Hong Kong.

The Truth:  This was a strategic financial decision, not something that was made to appease the Detroit sports fans.  And its been in the works for months.

For little risk, Detroit traded for Jhonny Peralta today. For two weeks, Peralta is the Tiger’s average to below average third baseman. Upon Brandon Inge’s return, Peralta becomes Detroit’s below average shortstop or DH.

Based on his age, Peralta could turn it around. But you assume that, going into a major contract year at age 28, Jhonny would have enough motivation to have a career year. Right.

My biggest problem with the trade? Earlier this year I thought to myself, “I feel bad for the Cleveland fans who have to convince themselves that Jhonny Peralta is a good player”. Now I’m trying to convince myself.

On one side, Detroit removes one rookie bat from the lineup. On the other side, Jeff Larish is probably going to hit .250 on his own. No reason to grab Perslta to do the same.

This pretentious ponderous collection of religious rock psalms is enough to prompt the question, ‘What day did the Lord create Spinal Tap, and couldn’t he have rested on that day too?’

–Marty DiBergi, reading a review of Spinal Tap’s previous album… from This is Spinal Tap

As Tiger fans we have to wonder, why Friday night’s game was rained out, yet Saturday night’s game was played?  Ugh.  Couple of points to cover:  the injuries, the replacements, and what’s next.

Injuries

Magglio Ordonez has been lost for 6-8 weeks sliding into home… where he was thrown out.  Carlos Guillen was lost due to a sore calf.  Both were placed on the 15 day disabled list; Guillen presumably will return in August.  Guillen’s always playing on borrowed time, but Magglio’s injury is pretty devastating for both himself and the team.  This probably puts a halt on any major acquisitions on the trade front, and Ordonez’s contract won’t vest.  More on this later.

Replacements

Jeff Larish and Will Rhymes have been called up.  Detroit loses an outfielder and an infielder, and call up two infielders.  You know the deal with both players… Larish is an average fielder who has flashes of power but hasn’t proven to be more then a AAAA player.  Rhymes is a scrappy player who was looked as a possible replacement for Placido Polanco a few years ago, until Scott Sizemore passed him as a prospect.  Nothing has been announced yet for the 40 man roster.  My guess is Billy Buckner will be dropped; by my count Detroit only has 39 players on the 40 man roster, so it should be that simple.

What’s next?

I imagine Ryan Raburn and his dogshit .209 batting average head back to the outfield full time.  Larish will get regular at-bats at DH and third base.  Brennan Boesch will move immediately to right field and left will be some combo of Damon and Raburn.  Miguel Cabrera will play first base, and probably hit more home runs and RBI’s then the rest of the infield, which will be nearly interchangeable.  And, we should not forget, somehow Don Kelly is still in the major leagues.

On the trade front, I wouldn’t be surprised if Detroit made a move towards the future — the Tigers still don’t have a long term answer at third or short, and just freed up major resources in Magglio’s $15mil 2011 contract.  I wouldn’t expect Detroit to dump Damon for no reason — they’re still short an outfielder.  There is also a strategy in bringing up more young talent before they’re ready — Ryan Strieby is still a hot prospect who could be moved in the off-season;  he can only diminish his value by hitting .200 in September for a third place team.

For Magglio and his contract, I would still expect Detroit to offer Magglio a one year deal in the off-season worth $8mil (copying Johnny Damon’s 2010 contract).  It was a costly slide, but Magglio should get rewarded by the Tigers with a one year deal.

Disappointing news tonight, when  Brandon Inge was lost for 4-6 weeks with a broken bone in his left hand.  In a couple of different areas, this is a difficult injury for Detroit.

First, Detroit has no replacements that are true third basemen.  Jeff Larish ? Carlos Guillen?  Brent Dlugach?  Danny Worth?  Some can hit, some can field.  None are naturals.

Second, the Tigers’ offensive upgrades that were most likely being targeted in the trade market (for 2010 and beyond) were at short stop.  Now the need to find a serious offensive short stop to offset third base may be heightened.

Last, Detroit has no third baseman ready to play in 2011 under contract.  The Tigers (apparently) have not entered contract extension talks with Inge, whose deal runs out after this season.  As mentioned above, there are no real replacements in the system.  Any extension for Inge would have been done with a better understanding of his health after two knee surgeries before the season; it becomes difficult to see where Brandon is offensively if he doesn’t return until September.  In the same respect, any replacement won’t have enough time to showcase their skills for a full time 2011 gig.

On the other hand, Detroit may already have 2011 under consideration.  (Hat tip to Billfer for first mentioning this, though i’ll go one step further)…. maybe Detroit was willing to let Inge walk in 2011 and turn third base over to Carlos Guillen, leaving second for Scott Sizemore.  Inge will not sniff his current salary of $6million next year, and Guillen is already under contract.  This may just be accelerating the process… though Guillen just isn’t much of a fielder anymore.

For the first time this season, Detroit will have to start looking at itself and figuring out where it wants to go.  If Johnny Damon is only going to DH, I can easily see him being moved.  Don Kelly and Ryan Raburn aren’t hitting well enough on a team that is struggling with pitching;  will some of Toledo’s power hitters get a call soon?  It is becoming increasingly clear.. any move Detroit makes must be a move that improves the 2011 team.

(Vacation + visiting family = no time to post.  Many research posts upcoming; stay tuned!)

Last night’s devastating injury to Joel Zumaya required Detroit to call-up Casey Fien today.  Detroit now holds a 1/2 game lead in the Central division, yet Joel Zumaya is the THIRD pitcher who was expected to have a prominant role on the 2010 Tigers to be lost for the season due to injury: neither Bobby Seay nor Zach Miner made it out of spring training.  Seay has a severe shoulder injury, while Minor elected to have Tommy John surgery.

Outside of the injury issues, Detroit has dealt with slumps that required minor-league stints (Max Scherzer, Ryan Perry, Rick Porcello), a roster crunch (Nate Robertson), and general ineffectiveness (Dontrelle Willis)

How has Detroit competed?  You can’t discount Miguel Cabrera, Magglio Ordonez and Brennan Boesch.  But the pitching staff and pitching depth in the minors have been a substantial benefit.  Remember the 2008 bullpen, that included such stellar components as “San” Francisco Cruceta?  Dombrowski seems to have guaranteed that 2008 would not happen again.  How?

The Draft

Starting in 2007, Detroit picked up hot-shot talent Rick Porcello, and followed up with left-handed Casey Crosby.  The 2008 draft nabbed fast-rising relievers Cody Satterwhite, Robbie Weinhardt, and of course Ryan Perry.  In the 2009 draft Detroit jumped on high-schooler Jacob Turner in the first round, but came back with Andrew Oliver in the second.  Oliver, recently joining the starting rotation for an un-determined amount of time,  has quickly leap-frogged Crosby as the most polished (and healthy) left handed prospect.  Today’s call-up, Casey Fien, was drafted in 2006.  Last month, Dombrowski nabbed another reliever who is expected to be ready for the majors quickly in Chance Ruffin.

The draft has given Detroit both valuable assets and major-league ready players on the cheap.  While a few of the hot-rising stars have hit recent injury issues, Oliver has given Detroit a hand (at least for one start) to help Porcello tweak his delivery in Toledo.  Due to injuries (and possibly Jay Sborz’s awful professional stint), Fien has replaced Joel Zumaya.

The Trades

The Curtis Granderson / Edwin Jackson trade netted a Jackson replacement (Scherzer), a left-handed specialist (a Bobby Seay replacement, with starting potential in Coke), and another left-hander with ‘closer’ potential (Schlereth).  Scherzer has recently flashed his potential, and Coke has been outstanding in the bullpen.  Schlereth is working out his control problems in Toledo, and may be in Detroit soon if Fu-Te Ni continues to be ineffective.

The Free Agents

When Brad Thomas was signed, most of us laughed at the stockpile of left handers.  Yet Thomas seems to have taken Zach Miner’s spot, giving Detroit spot-starts this season and currently sitting with a 4-0 record.  Enrique Gonzalez was a late pick-up, and has allowed a run in 7 innings of work since his call-up.  Of course, there is Jose Valverde.  A fantastic (yet expensive) pickup, costing Detroit a lot of money and a draft pick.  Valverde proved Dombrowski’s thinking, that Ryan Perry wasn’t ready to close, and Joel Zumaya had too many red flags.  Valverde has allowed 3 runs (2 earned) in 34 innings, with 18 saves.

The System

Detroit felt Eddie Bonine was a more capable reliever then Nate Robertson, and inexplicably thought Dontelle Willis was a better rotation candidate then Robertson.  Armando Galarraga didn’t have a great 2009 and did not start the season with Detroit; he has responded from his Toledo re-call with a perfect game that, with Scherzer tweaking his mechanics sufficiently in Toledo, allowed Detroit to dump Dontrelle.

The round-up

What was expected to be an above-average staff before injuries has been excellent, dealing with slumps and ineffectiveness.  Justin Verlander and Jeremy Bonderman have made every start.  Phil Coke replaced Bobby Seay.  Eddie Bonine replaced Nate Robertson’s corpse contract.  Brad Thomas replaced Zach Miner.  Armando Galarraga replaced Max Scherzer, who replaced Dontrelle Willis.  Enrique Gonzalez replaced Ryan Perry; Casey Fien replaced Joel Zumaya.  Andy Oliver is holding a spot for Rick Porcello; Perry should return in July.  And most importantly, Jose Valverde has replaced Fernando Rodney.

Dave Dombrowski’s draft strategy of major-league ready pitching talent and the 2009/2010 off-season acquisitions of veteran arms must be applauded.  Having an owner willing to pay for Dombrowski’s poor decisions in extensions for Robertson and Willis doesn’t hurt either.  Even with three season-ending injuries and the trading of two veteran starters (who may be shitty, but good enough to stick on an NL rotation), Detroit has a viable pitching staff that will compete in 2010 and beyond, and should be rather cost-effective going forward.

A lot will be said about what happened tonight.  Its hard to comprehend.
But let’s say this:  There have been 20 perfect games in the history of baseball.  Don Larson’s is still the King.

However, Armando Galarraga’s game may never be topped.  Its almost a better story… the perfect game that wasn’t.  But really was.  28 outs of perfection.

Of course, the curse of TigerGeist hits again… I’m flying to Detroit tonight with tickets to the day game vs Cleveland Thursday.  Should have known Armando was going to toss a gem.  Friends of TigerGeist Sac and Jason were there, and I felt sick for them… neither knew how close the last call really was (no replay at the stadium of course) until later notified.

I’d have Armando throw out tomorrow’s first pitch, but I do feel bad for Jim Joyce, who (at present) is scheduled to be behind the plate tomorrow.  Maybe they should wait until the next home stand.

I’ve had this series circled since spring training;  I’ve never been to Dodger Stadium, one of the most historic fields in baseball.  Detroit rarely plays at Dodger Stadium, so I made the trek down to Los Angeles for a short weekend.  It appears that I picked the best game of the series to witness.  I’ll split this post up to the Stadium experience, the LA experience, and the Game experience.

The Stadium

I’ve never been to a lot of baseball games at different stadiums, but I’m starting to try to knock some off of my list.  Dodger Stadium is the third oldest in baseball, and was a perfect candidate to check out in 2010.

Dodger Stadium is located near downtown Los Angeles, in Chavez Ravine.  As with many stadiums (and most of the LA area), driving is the best option to get there.  This made us seem like real Dodger fans, as we missed the first pitch.

We had been warned about the Dodger faithful by some Astros fans at our hotel bar; and we’re well aware of the bad blood between Giants and Dodger fans.  Sure enough, a group of Dodger fans said it might be hostile, but “at least we weren’t Giants fans”. Duly noted.  The above picture was taken right after walking into the Stadium from right field; Detroit’s bullpen can be seen here.

Dodger Stadium is quite a site.  The architecture looks like every 50’s and 60’s movie that takes place in Los Angeles, and even hints towards the old TWA Flight Center at JFK.  They’ve done a pretty good job of keeping the retro feel while updating the stadium, but you still have this giant jumbotron which cuts into the beautiful view.

More on that Jumbotron later.  Reading up on the Stadium, you can see the Dodgers kept the outfield seats ‘open’; they’re currently sporting 56k seats, but could roll up to 85k if they enclosed the stadium.  As ballparks are getting smaller, I’m sure they’ll keep the view.

Our seats turned out to be fantastic, fifteen rows behind the dugout.

Remember Casey Blake, the Tiger killer?  He’s also a Dodger fan killer.  He had a shot right over our heads that nailed a 12 year old girl in the elbow five rows behind us.  Paramedics rushed over but she seemed to tough out the rest of the game.

Once we were in our seats, I didn’t get a chance to move around too much.  The concourse appeared to move pretty well.  Sight lines for most seats seemed fantastic; I will also say the seats (at least in the MVP box area) were very wide and comfortable.

Getting out turned into a nightmare; there are many freeways in the area, but getting to them isn’t easy.  I got just a tad bit nervous about my 6:45pm LAX flight after the 1pm game.

Paid attendance was 46,053.  As you can see from the pictures, it never felt like the stadium was 82% full.  I imagine the Laker game later that night (though it was in Phoenix) may have had an effect.

The LA Experience

Dodger Stadium is still in LA.  I’ll admit to being just a little bit biased due to the standard Norcal / Socal feuds.  But many times it doesn’t feel like you’re at a sporting event.  Remember that jumbotron?  It spent about 10% of the time showing replays, and 90% advertising stupid things.  Between the first inning, it spent 5 minutes talking about being friendly to your neighbor and respecting other team’s fans (notice a trend here?).  Next inning it gave out phone numbers to call if someone was hurting your enjoyment of the game.  Third inning?  It started the “this is my town / Dodgertown” ads.  In these ads, they paste celebrities and… somewhat famous people with the words “this is my town” on it.  LeAnn Rimes.  Kim Kardashian (example here, though this is just a billboard).  I will say the Kardashian spot started some interesting conversation between us and Dodger fans… namely, there are people in this world who don’t think Kim is the best looking Kardashian.  I couldn’t comprehend the conversation, but we were in the sun all day.

We sat down in between the top of the first and bottom of the first (we watched Cabrera’s blast from the concourse).  We noticed the flags were at half staff and didn’t know why; I picked up some twitter feeds to learn about Jose Lima’s death.  And the Dodgers were nice enough to show a video montage after the sixth inning for Lima.  But here’s the kicker:  it FOLLOWED a Sex and the City II movie ad.  Yes, the sixth inning ended.  The jumbotron went into Sex and the City mode… and THEN Jose Lima tribute.  That is Dodgertown.

There are a lot of little video boards all around the outfield and foul territory; they’ll show the pitch count, flash the batter’s previous at-bats, etc.  One of the coolest ‘experience’ aspects was when Manny Ramirez came up to pinch hit against Porcello with the bases loaded.  Since the Dodger’s pitcher was scheduled to be up and the bases were loaded, the crowd started to do a “Manny!” chant… and suddenly Manny emerges from the dugout.  The crowd EXPLODES and all of these little video boards around the stadium start flashing “MANNYTIME!”.  I’ll have to admit, that was pretty cool.

The Experience apparently isn’t cheap, and Dodger Stadium had $11 beers, worst prices I’ve ever seen.  As a Tiger fans and Giants fans, we just weren’t going to donate that kind of money to the Dodger system.  So Bret snuck in some Crown Royal.

That’s myself, Bret and Dan after the victory… with Bret sporting the empty CR.

The Game

You’ve probably read about the game already, but here’s my take from the (pretty good) seats.  Danny Worth played an outstanding defensive game.  Johnny Damon played a pretty solid center field, and the Dodgers seemed downright nervous to test Magglio’s arm from right… or maybe LA is a poor base-running team.

I’ve never seen anything like Porcello getting hit (or nearly hit — he caught one) three times on the mound.  It still feels like one of his best starts of the year, given the adversity of the crowd, the physical trauma, and the great pitch to Manny with the bases loaded.  He surrendered 9 hits, but all singles.

But this game was a gem by Leyland.  He seemed in complete control the entire time.  Late in the game, he walked out to the home plate umpire for a quick chat, and when we walked back to the dugout, Rick Knapp walked out to Porcello.  I assume Leyland was verifying that Knapp could go out without having to take Porcello out (there was a lot of trainer visits to the mound due to the hits off of Porcello’s body).  These are little things, but it makes you feel like Leyland is always in command of what’s going on.  I didn’t get the same vibe from Joe Torre.

This is where I’m not sure if its actively tracked.. but when is the last time a manager made a pitching change when another pitcher was pinch-hitting?  Seriously, Joe Torre was that worried about Dontrelle Willis?  I thought at the time (and Jason Beck confirmed it with Leyland) that Dontrelle would have swung away.  But Torre played right into Leyland’s hands.  Torre gave Leyland a lefty / righty matchup, and Leyland has his best bunter up to bat.  We assumed a sacrifice was on to move over the runner with Johnny Damon coming up, but Everett swung away on the first pitch.  No one saw the squeeze coming on the FOURTH pitch, but it worked and it was perfect.  Advantage:  Leyland.  I’m not buying the “Dontrelle Willis is still a feared hitter” argument; Torre over-thought this move and gave Leyland a better matchup.  Seriously, if you’re Joe Torre, would you rather have a bad matchup with Willis or Everett?  Or maybe Adam Everett really has very little respect around the league…

I’m a little surprised Don Kelly went into the game in left, instead of sliding Damon over and having Kelly take over center field.

Back to Danny Worth.  Carlos Guillen is moving to second base, and Ramon Santiago is getting quite a bit of playing time at short.  Could Worth give Leyland a better bat and more versatility then keeping Adam Everett?  Or does Everett’s experience at small-ball skills that were showcased today given the Tigers another situational weapon?  Did I really just suggest that Adam Everett can be considered a weapon?