Baseball, MLB, Sports

Tigers in Kansas City

Tonight’s game was worrisome. Kansas City put up a good fight. The Royals were  seemingly determined to wreck the Tigers’ winning streak. The Royals got ahead in the bottom of the 8th, but Miggie saved the Tigers in the top of the 9th when he hit a good one and brought home two.

The Royals didn’t score in the bottom of the 9th. The final score: Tigers 7 – Royals 6.

I kept pulling for Kid Jones. He’d made quite an impression since being called up from Triple A and I really want the Tigers to keep him around. I think he’s a valuable player and I wonder what other surprises he has in the bag. But tonight wasn’t a good night for him. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

I love baseball and I love the Tigers.

Football, NFL, Sports

Hi, my name is Rob and I’m addicted to sports

Since getting cable TV on Monday, my sport watching addiction has come back with vengeance. I need a game a day to keep the doctor away. In the last couple years, I’d watch games on ESPN3.com or at my mom and dad’s house. But mostly all I could get was the Lions. The Tigers and the Wolverines, and even the Red Wings and Pistons, were a rare find on mom and dad’s TV, as well as ESPN3.com. Often I’d just watch different teams, but it’s always better to watch my own.

I know it’s an addiction when I realize none of my teams are playing today and I start to go cold turkey. But wait, that’s not quite right. The NFL preseason started a few weeks ago and isn’t today Thursday?

I went to the official Detroit Lions website and checked their schedule. Thank the Heavens, there is a game on today. It’s just a preseason game, but it’s a game, a game that at least helps us predict the outcome of the regular season… or so we tell ourselves.

What a game it was. Several players made impressive plays. The Lions successfully kept the Bills out of the End Zone. The final score is, Lions 31 and Bills 0.

That was the last game of the preseason. The regular season starts September 11, when the Lions face the Colts. I’ll probably watch that at my mom and dad’s house. It’s what we’ve been doing for the last several years.

So, out of the four preseason games, the Lions won two and lost two. If the preseason could accurately predict the regular season, by the preseason results, I guess that would mean the Lions will win half their regular games and lose the other half.

But in reality, regardless of how the preseason went, the regular season is always iffy. The Lions might fail miserably or this might be the year they break the terrible curse. I say that every year, so we’ll just have to see.

I was pleased to see that the Lions have Jake Rudock. He was Michigan’s starting quarterback last year. I thought he did very well with the Wolverines and he seems to be doing well with the Lions.

Matthew Stafford is still with the Lions too, so I’m not sure who the starting quarterback will be. But maybe they’ll both get playing time during the regular season.

Baseball, MLB, Sports

Socks are Worn in Detroit

Yep, the Tigers swept the White Sox, winning all three games of this series. Justin Verlander pitched today and lasted seven innings. He’s still got the arm.

The score was tied up in the eighth inning, 2-2. The Sox did not break the tie in the top of the 9th.

JaCoby Jones just might find himself dubbed Rookie of the Year. Last night was his first time in the show and he’s determined to stay. He was the hero last night and he was the hero today.

In the bottom of the 9th, the score was still tied. Jones was on third base when the ball was hit to centerfield. Jones made a mad dash and slid into homeplate.

Tigers: 3 – White Sox: 2

MLB

Will the Tigers Sweep the White Sox?

The answer to the big question will be revealed tomorrow.

Tonight’s game went sour early when the White Sox got in three runs in the second inning, while the Tigers remained scoreless. It sure looked like trouble for the Tigers and I thought I’d be writing a bummer tonight.

The score was still 0-3 in the bottom of the fourth when J.D. Martinez scared the shit out of me. He hit himself in the leg with the bat and was hopping around for a bit. A medic went out on the field to check him out. I thought they would take J.D. out of the game, and then what were we going to do? But J.D. swallowed his pain and returned to the plate.

J.D. didn’t get a square hit that inning, but eventually walked to first base. Justin Upton came up next and he packed a hard hit, sending the ball far and high over centerfield, but unfortunately the ball dropped before it was over the wall and was caught.

The fourth inning ended with the 0-3 score remaining.

It was the bottom of the fifth when Ian Kinsler turned it all around with his home run, bringing the score to 2-3. The Tigers were still behind, but there was hope.

Bottom of the sixth, J.D. hit one deep into left field and hauled ass to second base.  Upton was up next and he wasn’t playing around. He sent the ball rocketing through centerfield and brought J.D. home.

While Upton was hanging out on second base, JaCoby Jones came up to bat. As I understand it, tonight was Jones’ first time in the Show. I believe he was called up to replace the guy who was injured yesterday.

The kid is good and he had family there to see. In the previous inning, Jones’ folks were interviewed as they sat watching the game. Man, they looked so proud when he hit the ball deep into right field, bringing Upton home.

The Tigers were ahead then, 4-3. But the sixth inning wasn’t over yet. Kinsler came up and brought in two more runs.

The Sox pushed back in the top of the seventh, but only managed to get in one run. J.D. was first at bat in the bottom of the seventh. He smashed the ball over the wall and brought the score to 7-4.

JaCoby Jones wasn’t done yet and swatted a hard roller down centerfield bringing in another run before the seventh inning ended. No one scored in the eighth or the ninth.

Tigers: 8 – White Sox: 4

A side note: The White Sox must have a fashion expert in their locker room. I really like the jerseys they wore tonight. I oughta get me one of those. Maybe one with Avila’s name on it.

MLB

My First Night Back and the Tigers Win It

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I’ve been without cable TV for a couple years, which meant my sport watching was reduced to the dire minimum. I don’t know how I survived. For the most part, I’d just keep an eye on the box scores and the standings, but it wasn’t the same as watching live games.

Well, I just got cable TV back today, in time for the Tigers-White Sox game. There’s some new faces on the team, but some of the old ones are still there too.

I was surprised and disappointed to see Alex Avila is no longer with the Tigers and is now playing for the White Sox. I found myself rooting for him whenever he stepped up to bat and I wasn’t the only one. Near the end of the game, the camera caught a kid wearing an Avila Tiger jersey. Yeah, we remember you, dude.

It looks like Ausmus still has the top three sluggers in the same order. First Miquel Cabrera bats, followed by Victor Martinez, followed by J.D. Martinez. I have seen that order function very well in the past and I reckon it still functions well.

The Tigers are currently in second place. In order to catch up to Cleveland, the Tigers need to win more games than they lose, and hope Cleveland doesn’t win too many more. Cleveland is leading by four. It looks like a hard, unlikely feat, but just maybe the Tigers can do it.

Tonight’s game was a little tense. The White Sox were ahead for most of the game. but in the bottom of the eighth, Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a home run, scoring two runs for the Tigers. That put the Tigers ahead of the White Sox, finally.

The White Sox did not score in the ninth and the Tigers won, 4-3.

Thank you, Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

NFL

Goodbye Megatron

Well, wow. Wasn’t expecting this. Calvin Johnson is retiring from NFL. Johnson, man, he ruled. Season after season, I watched the Lions, missing very few games. Johnson was one of the players who gave us hope for a winning season. I think Johnson was the best thing to happen to the Lions since Barry Sanders.

But I understand why Johnson is retiring. He’d gotten pretty banged up in the course of his career and he’d dealt with several injuries in his last few seasons. Thirty years old seems pretty young to be retiring, but not when you’ve spent years getting smashed into by really big guys .

We’ll miss you, Calvin. Good luck in whatever you do next.

Basketball, High School, Sports

Jefferson City @ St. Joseph Academy

I feel like I’m entering an unfamiliar territory with this post, but I want to give it try. I’d like to get in some more blog entries about sports and about games I watched. It doesn’t matter if I don’t have any particular loyalty to either of the teams in a game.

I was on ESPN3.com to see if The Big Ten Championship football game was listed, because Michigan State is in this game. I have to be honest. Although the Wolverines are my all time favorite college team, the Spartans are my second favorite. When the Spartans are in the championship game, that’s a game I want to watch.

But, no luck. The Big Ten Championship game was not listed on ESPN3.com, so I decided to watch something else. There were quite a few games to choose, most of them NCAA football and basketball games. But I wanted to watch something a little different and selected a girls high school basketball game that was listed.

That game was Jefferson City at St. Joseph Academy. I don’t think it was a live game, but I’m pretty sure it was recent, probably yesterday or the day before. I don’t even know what state these two schools are in. But all that’s cool. It was just a pure basketball game where everyone plays fair.

I came in late. They were in the third quarter. The scores were close, in the high-twenties. I think St. Joseph Academy was leading by two points when I first got the game on. Since I didn’t have a dog in the fight, I was rooting for whoever had the ball at the moment.

I thought both teams played very well. I was impressed with some of the moves the players made. I could never play basketball very well. I had a brief stint on Michigan School for the Deaf’s basketball team during my sophomore year, but I was just embarrassing. I just never had talent for basketball, but I do enjoy watching a good basketball game.

The young women playing for Jefferson City and St. Joseph Academy were talented players.  They played a good game, a game worth watching.

At some point Jefferson City pulled ahead and continued to secure their lead. But St. Joseph Academy kept playing until the clock ran out. The final score was Jefferson City 47 and St. Joseph Academy 34.

Football, NCAA, Sports

Meanwhile, the Michigan Wolverines are kicking ass

While the Detroit Lions are having a horrible season, the Michigan Wolverines are kicking ass. They’re 7-2 so far this season. Many of their victories were big wins and only a couple were close.

I wish it was a perfect season, but it’s a season I’m happy with. I admit, I was disappointed when they lost their first game to Utah and my faith dropped some. But then they had a solid streak of big wins.

Until the Michigan-Michigan State game.

For several years in a roll, the Spartans have beaten the Wolverines. I had high hopes that this year we would see a Wolverine victory over the Spartans. We have Jim Harbaugh now and he certainly has turned things around since Hoke’s reign ended. I had hoped he would bring us a victory in the Michigan-Michigan State game.

Oh, the Wolverines were ahead by a few points, with just a few seconds left on the clock, and then something went terribly wrong. A field goal attempt went bad, a Spartan defense man got the ball and ran all the way down the field for a touchdown.

It was painful to watch and my spirit died a little. Out of all the games they play, there are two games that I really want to see them win. That’s the game against Michigan State and the game against Ohio State.

I’m not completely over the loss to Michigan State, but I’ll consider this a great season if they win the rest of their games. The last game will be against Ohio State, who are currently undefeated. If the Wolverines can beat the Buckeyes this year, I’ll be very, very happy.

Football, NFL, Sports

I love the Detroit Lions, but sheesh….

Oh, man, what a season. YAY!!! The curse continues.

That’s right. Whatever curse the Detroit Lions have been dubbed with, it ain’t lifted yet. Was there someone from Ancient NFL who declared the Lions will never make it to the Super Bowl because he was pissed off about being cut from the roster or traded to another team? Like Babe Ruth did when the Red Sox traded him to the Yankees?

I don’t know, but every season we see the Lions miss the mark. Some seasons are better than others. Once in a while the Lions will be having a season that looks so good, we dare to think that “Hey, this just might be the year they break the curse and set foot on Super Bowl turf.” Those are seasons that are exciting, they get your blood pumped. At least you got hope, even though it always gets dashed in the playoffs.

But this season ain’t one of the seasons of high hopes. No, it’s quite far from that. The Lions are currently at 1-7. Amazing that they managed to beat the Chicago Bears. But all the other games are losses and I’m not expecting a dramatic change for the remaining eight games. I mean, it would sure be impressive if they suddenly turned everything around and won all of the remaining games. But the way things are going, they might win one more game and lose the rest. Either way, the season is already blown.

 

Football, NCAA, Sports

The Michigan-Minnesota Game

Rudock was injured, but Wilton Speight proved to be a decent replacement. Still, that was too freaking close. Minnesota was right there on the goal line. All Minnesota needed was a touchdown and they would have won, but Michigan managed to hold them back until the clock ran out. Practically gave me a heart attack.

Michigan wins, 29-26. That makes them 6-2 for the season.