casimir

I read that book for a book report in grade school. I don't think the teacher was happy that I chose it. But she audibly laughed when I read aloud Sparky's entry about clinching the division. He got cut by a bottle of champagne and remarked how the mixture of blood and bubbly looked good on his jersey.

Its Jackie Robinson Day.

I looked up that acronym on my google machine, and that was the response I got.

Jake? Jake who?

I believe you need more vowels, sir.

This one. https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/DET/DET198404210.shtml I had just turned 11 and my brother just turned 10. Mom and Dad splurged on us big time and got birthday seats for the boys, 2nd row behind the plate. It was only the 2nd time there for me and my brother. The previous year we were 2nd deck along the RF line. But seats behind the plate? 2nd row? Wowza. Sweet Lou led off the bottom of the first with a home run. A few drunks behind us yelled “Oh no, it’s Ho Jo!” every time Howard Johnson came to the plate. It was funny until they knocked a beer over on my brother’s Tiger yearbook that was under his seat. It was a cool day. The snap of the catcher’s mitt was fun. While the premise of sitting that close seems awesome, especially to a kid, I think that’s when I first realized that sitting up front like that takes away from some of the other vantages that just aren’t there. But, whatever, it was a great time.

The SO% seems really high compared to last season. It’s only 29 PAs and he did have a very good offensive debut in about 150 PAs last year in Lakeland. Hopefully it’s just a rough start.

Its early. But he's making a case for the all star game, is he not?

Crucify him and see what happens.

Kind of surprised that Dingler is catching today.

Yeah, that's a good point. I get the injury thing. I guess I would think a dangling chain would be more suspect to catching on something. I work in a manufacturing facility and no jewelry is allowed to be worn on the floor to reduce risk of injury and product compromise.

That's funny. I think I might be too time conscious and I have no desire to wear a watch. I have a phone on me. Someone came into my work office once and asked where my clock was. I pointed to my watch, my desk phone, and my computer. I'm not one for jewelry either. If someone else wants to, have at it. As for as ballplayers, as long as it isn't impeding their performance, why should I care?

False. Riley Greene will make this screen shot before the all star break.

I had a random thought when Finnegan was on the mound. I noticed he had one chain with a ring on it. OK, a couple of random thoughts. First, what was the ring for? But then I wondered about when the first chain was worn, when did it become more mainstream than not?

Mize pitching today. Day game after a night game. Seems like a Rogers start. I like the top 3 in the order that we saw last night. McGonigle, Torres, Keith. I would like to see that continue. Then a mix & match following that until getting to Baez at the bottom. Shuffle 4-8 around based on the other SP's handedness, consider defense for Valdez' starts, incorporate days off for Dingler, etc, etc. Baez, should he be on the base paths, with that top trio at the plate? That could get an opposing battery off of its game.

I like seeing Baez play defense. He has the throwing issue every once in a while. OK, fine, I can deal with it. But I am convinced after seeing him play SS and then effortlessly transition to CF that he can be put anywhere defensively and he'll be very good at it. The bat can be frustrating, sure. Take the good with the bad. If the rest of the lineup is such that he's forced lower in the order, he's a roster asset.

I like this. The Tiger roster after the Perez call up has playable CF depth and allows for McGonigle and Keith to play every day. Clark needs to play every day. If he were to be called up, his addition is going to dig into McGonigle and Keith.

With any luck, this removes Keith from platoon with Jones status to full time let him hit against LHP status. My wholly unqualified opinion is that its time to see what Keith can do on an everyday basis.

I would think his BABIP would increase if his LD% increases. I like that his plate discipline seems to have improved. I don't know if going up the middle is a part of an overall approach. Maybe its just a too early and small sample size. I wonder if Greene has peaked. I wouldn't extend him beyond current club control.

Might as well start a winning streak.