Thinkin' baseball this morning
▪▪ I thought Tim Salmon was out of baseball, but there he was, hitting a home run against the Tigers last night. Maybe Mike Scioscia called Salmon back for a night because he had five previous homers against Kenny Rogers. You think? No, you're right.
As 6-4-2 writes, it was a special moment for Salmon, his intro music, and the fans that have followed him throughout his career.
▪▪ The Detroit News' Tom Gage is trying to rain on my Tigers parade. He's right about Jim Leyland benefiting from an infusion of young talent and a healthy roster, two luxuries Alan Trammell didn't have last season. But Leyland deserves credit for pouncing on old tendencies with the "it's not good enough" speech last week, and his deft handling of the bullpen so far. Joel Zumaya, Todd Jones, and Fernando Rodney have all benefited from Leyland patiently letting his relievers work their way out of jams early in the season. Let me enjoy this, Tom.
▪▪ "Rule 5" draft picks are in vogue with the early success of Chris Shelton, which led Rob Neyer to post his All-Time Rule 5 team at ESPN.com.
▪▪ So what's with all the home runs early in the season? Baseball Musings addressed the smaller strike zone theory a week or so ago (which Neyer and Alan Schwarz also discussed on ESPN's "Baseball Today" podcast last week), along with the possibility that the steroid ban is affecting pitchers more than hitters.
In Sunday's Washington Post, Dave Sheinin also listed steroid-less pitchers among his plausible theories, which include baseballs wound more tightly, warmer weather in the Midwest and East, terrible pitching, and players finding loopholes in MLB's steroid policy.
As 6-4-2 writes, it was a special moment for Salmon, his intro music, and the fans that have followed him throughout his career.
▪▪ The Detroit News' Tom Gage is trying to rain on my Tigers parade. He's right about Jim Leyland benefiting from an infusion of young talent and a healthy roster, two luxuries Alan Trammell didn't have last season. But Leyland deserves credit for pouncing on old tendencies with the "it's not good enough" speech last week, and his deft handling of the bullpen so far. Joel Zumaya, Todd Jones, and Fernando Rodney have all benefited from Leyland patiently letting his relievers work their way out of jams early in the season. Let me enjoy this, Tom.
▪▪ "Rule 5" draft picks are in vogue with the early success of Chris Shelton, which led Rob Neyer to post his All-Time Rule 5 team at ESPN.com.
▪▪ So what's with all the home runs early in the season? Baseball Musings addressed the smaller strike zone theory a week or so ago (which Neyer and Alan Schwarz also discussed on ESPN's "Baseball Today" podcast last week), along with the possibility that the steroid ban is affecting pitchers more than hitters.
In Sunday's Washington Post, Dave Sheinin also listed steroid-less pitchers among his plausible theories, which include baseballs wound more tightly, warmer weather in the Midwest and East, terrible pitching, and players finding loopholes in MLB's steroid policy.
Labels: 2006 Detroit Tigers
posted by Ian C. @ 10:00 AM
sweatymen[at]gmail[dot]com
1 Comments:
At April 25, 2006 3:14 PM,
Rob said…
Thanks for the link back. What's impressive about the Tigers' run post-rant is that two of those wins came against the A's. Granted the other three were a sweep of the Merinos, er, Mariners, whose choice of free agent acquisitions haven't always been the smartest, but still. A good week for Detroit.
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