Tiger Geist

Not the nostalgic type, I’m not heartbroken by the loss of Tiger Stadium.  Sad?  Eh.  People are crazy so i’m not surprised that people are crying about the stadium.  And while I understand the idea of saving the field and creating a memorial field… actually no, i don’t understand that either.  And for $12 to $15 million?  MILLION?  Ouch.  Good luck with that.

Listen, I’ve had good times at the Stadium.  I’ve also had good times at Mandalay Bay Casino, and i won’t be shedding any tears when they implode that beast.  Actually I’ve had better time at Mandalay.  But thats another story.

I’ve re-written this post 4 times already.  I think it comes down to this:  After arguing with plenty of family and friends over the last 10 years, I’ve come to the conclusion that the city of Detroit is a few different things… what it is, and what people want it to be.  Many people confuse “What it is” with “What they want it to be”.  The exact same principle can be applied with Tiger Stadium.  “what they want it to be” is a historic landmark where people have a lot of memories, that will provide a place for people to come and visit, maybe have baseball leagues.  “What it is” is a historic landmark that has a lot of memories that happens to be in the middle of nowhere in a city that has an increasing amount of middle of nowheres.

Where I see a tiger stadium memorial field ‘going’?  A field in a blah part of town in a city that doesn’t have money to support it (or support for the roads in and out of it), that will depend on people driving great distances to use it… people that have better facilities closer to home.  That’s my reality.. the lager house crowd isn’t playing American Legion baseball.  But its your right to donate to the fund that needs $12 to $15million… especially if you think the best use of $12 to $15million in Detroit would be to a baseball field in corktown.

UPDATE:  I just read the plan.. located at http://www.savetigerstadium.org/the_plan.htm.  I had listened to the detroit tigers podcast interview a few months ago on this… and after reading the plan… wow.  Its worse then i thought.  Yes, corktown has grown significantly since 1999.  That’s impressive?  How has it grown?  By a few sports memorabilia shops, a sports bar, and a restaurant (one that i’m proud to say I puked in the afternoon after my 30th birthday) that had revenue higher then expectations?  Because they’re building condos that won’t sell? (Note to the group:  Its a bad time to mention real estate).  Alright, you got me.  Due to the success of one year of slow’s BBQ, this obviously is a great idea.  Man this is worse then I ever feared.

A re-imagined and redeveloped Tiger Stadium will go a
long way toward filling the housing, retail and recreational needs of this growing and vibrant
population.

Woo-Hoo!  $10 that the person writing that lives in Oakland County (yes I’m from there).  Know what would also help?  Jobs.  Roads.  Public transportation.  Grocery Stores.  Security.  A technologically advanced automaker.  A non-corrupt Mayor.  A decent school sytem.  OH.. OH.. and a redeveloped Tiger Stadium.

Good Times.

As pissy as Jimmy Leyland seems to be over the all star schedule, apparently no one mentioned to Detroit that the series against the Indians was over, and in fact the Minnesota Twins were their opponent yesterday afternoon.  It was a bizarre 1pm EST game (which I love, since i can listen to it at work), and that would help explain the bullpen’s lackadaisical approach to closing out the game, or the offense taking the second half of the game off.

Hard to fault the youngsters for failing to produce (rough ninth inning for Matt Joyce, tough batting for Joyce and Larish late in the game) but they played as well as you can expect rookies to play.  The closer needs to close out the game, and letting the first two men you face reach base, especially the number EIGHT AND NINE HITTERS, is inexcusable.  But thats what we get with Todd Jones.

Thoughts:

• Bobby Seay really seems to be hot or cold.  Ninth inning, brought in to face a left hander, and he walks him on four straight pitches?
• Morneau is a machine.  He was followed by Mike Lamb, and apologies to Mike Lamb, but someone i’ve never heard of.  One out, their best hitter at the plate… maybe you walk Morneau (either intentionally or just don’t give him anything to hit) and take your chances with the guy hitting .224.  Hindsight obviously, but who else in Minny’s lineup would you think was going to hit a game winning home run?
• Haven’t read anything about it, but anyone else a little suprised that Rayburns gets an at-bat at the DH position in the bottom of the 11th?  Isn’t there another right handed batter that makes $13million somewhere on the bench?  Name starts with ‘G’… ends with ‘ary Sheffield’?  You’ve already lost Rayburn as a fielding replacement, what were you holding back for Sheffield?