Tigers' "Big Three" Struggle (NXPL Update / 82' Tigers)

The Detroit Tigers' "Big Three" -- Manny Soto, Joaquin Andujar & Dan Petry entered their series against the 22-23 Minnesota Twins, undefeated; Detroit (34-11) meanwhile owns a four game-lead over the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Pennant race.

The series breakdown...

The Twins come to Tiger Stadium, with a 3-2 season series edge over Detroit.

Game 1

Manny Soto enters 6-0 with 1.99 ERA, but just didn't have his stuff today. Soto would get whooped with 4 HR's allowed (including two-run HR by Gary Ward) -- allowing 7 ER in 5.1 innings. Lance Parrish homers for Detroit; Twins win 8-5.

Soto's first loss of season.

Game 2

Lance Parrish clobbers 2nd HR of series, but the Twins get off to early lead again, and Gene Garber records a three-inning save for his 11th; 4-3 Twins.

Joaquin Andujar (part of the "Big Three") loses his first game of the season...

Game 3

Twins jump on Tigers with Grand Slam by Kent Hrbek; Hrbek ends the game 4-for-4 with 6 RBI and a walk. Lance Parrish hits 2 HR's (3rd consecutive game with HR)...

Dan Petry loses his first game of the season...

Meaning the Twins did something the rest of the American League has not been able to do, hand the "Big Three" their first loss of the season (Congrats, Twinkies).

Game 4

RBI double by Lance Parrish early on, gives Tigers 2-0 lead, Bill Madlock adds clutch PH two-run in 6th that got Tigers rolling, as they win finally with 7-1 victory.

Game 5

Two-run triple by Lance Parrish gets things started for Tigers, but Sixto Lezcano cuts 4-0 lead in half in 4th inning with his 10th HR of the season. Bill Madlock was everywhere this game, his 3rd hit was a RBI single to give extra insurance with 5-2 lead... while his 4th hit of the game would be a solo HR in the 6th.

Twins start to battle back with runs in the 7th and 8th inning, cutting lead to 8-4; Bases loaded for Gary Ward (who had some big hits against us this series), but Randy Moffit does not allow him to clear the bases.

Tigers win 8-4.

Minnesota Twins wins series, 3-2 (and own season series, 6-4)... winning 6 of their first 8 meetings against Detroit; Lance Parrish is a beast and without looking around the league, I can confidently say if we voted for MVP, he would be the early choice (.325, 13 HR & 41 RBI) through 50 games.

Detroit is now 36-14, while Minnesota climbs a game to an even 25-25; Good series by the Twins, it could have been a bigger series for them, but at least they didn't go backwards.

Amazing April 2016 (Day 1 / 1st Round)

John Lackey's 2004 Angels, plus the 2012 Angels are two big surprises so far.

The Amazing April 2016 Tournament is underway, and we have already had a few surprises in Day 1 of the 1st Round; By the way, some of the rankings may have you scratching your head, #1- #4 are last year's Final Four, and the rest are ranked by MLB winning percentage -- hence, that's why the 2001 Seattle Mariners are ranked #11.

Results

		Game #1	R	H	E
#60	2012	Los Angeles Angels	2	2	0
#5	1909	Chicago Cubs	1	4	1	F
	WP	Je.Weaver (1-0) / CG (1)
	LP	Mo.Brown (0-1)
	HR	Trout (LAA) - 1
	INJ	E.Aybar (LAA) - 1 game
		Trumbo (LAA) - 1 game
		Game #2	R	H	E
#39	1957	Milwaukee Brewers	4	7	2
#26	1968	Detroit Tigers	3	8	3	F (12)
	WP	Buhl (1-0)
	LP	Da.Patterson (0-1)
	HR	Adcock (MIL) - 1
		Crandall (MIL) - 1
		N.Cash (DET) - 1
	INJ	E.Mathews (MIL) - 1 game
		Game #3	R	H	E
#46	1914	Boston Braves	1	5	0
#19	1919	Cincinnati Reds	0	5	0	F
	WP	D.Rudolph (1-0) / CG (1)
		SHO (1)
	LP	Eller (0-1) / CG (1)
		Game #4	R	H	E
#49	1998	San Diego Padres	2	4	0
#16	1901	Pittsburgh Pirates	3	7	0	F/wo
	WP	Phillippe (1-0) / CG (1)
	LP	K.Brown (0-1) / CG (1)
		Game #5	R	H	E
#64	2013	Baltimore Orioles	2	5	0
#1	1979	Pittsburgh Pirates	4	6	0	F
	WP	Candelaria (1-0)
	LP	Tillman (0-1)
	SV	Tekulve (1)
	HR	A.Jones (BAL) - 1
		Bi.Robinson (PIT) - 1
	INJ	Madlock (PIT) - 2 games
		Game #6	R	H	E
#47	1985	Los Angeles Dodgers	2	8	0
#18	1975	Cincinnati Reds	4	6	0	F
	WP	Gullet (1-0)
	LP	Valenzuela (0-1)
	SV	McEnaney (1)
		Game #7	R	H	E
#56	1982	St. Louis Cardinals	0	3	0
#9	1909	Pittsburgh Pirates	2	4	0	F
	WP	Camnitz (1-0) / CG (1)
		SHO (1)
	LP	Andujar (0-1) / CG (1)
		Game #8	R	H	E
#52	1984	Chicago Cubs	3	10	1
#13	1948	Cleveland Indians	7	13	0	F
	WP	Feller (1-0)
	LP	Sutcliffe (0-1)
	HR	Keltner (CLE) - 1
	INJ	Keltner (CLE) - 1 game
		Game #9	R	H	E
#54	2004	Los Angeles Angels	2	6	0
#11	2001	Seattle Mariners	1	5	0	F (12)
	WP	Lackey (1-0)
	LP	A.Rhodes (0-1)
	SV	F.Rodriguez (1)
	HR	J.Guillen (LAA) - 1
	INJ	Figgins (LAA) - 1 game
		Game #10	R	H	E
#35	1985	Toronto Blue Jays	0	2	1
#30	2013	St. Louis Cardinals	5	4	1	F
	WP	Wainwright (1-0) / CG (1)
		SHO (1)
	LP	Stieb (0-1)
	HR	Holliday (STL) - 1
		Game #11	R	H	E
#37	1962	San Francisco Giants	1	6	1
#28	1909	Detroit Tigers	4	6	0	F
	WP	Mullin (1-0) / CG (1)
	LP	Marichal (0-1)

Time for Prairie Ball

Urbana, Illinois will host the 1st Praireland APBA Baseball Tournament.

My friend Thomas Nelshoppen will be hosting the first ever Prairieland APBA Baseball Tournament in Urbana, Illinois. This year's event landed 16 participants, which is pretty dang good for a first tournament turn-out.

I first formed a friendship with Tom through his blog (The APBA Blog) and APBA Facebook Group, and officially got to meet him in person at the Chicagoland World Series (Winter Edition) in November 2013. There is no better guy to host such a event -- he is to the APBA community as Lou Gehrig was to the New York Yankeees... Seriously? Why is this guy not in the APBA Baseball Hall of Fame already?!

I do want to say that others are playing significant roles in hosting the event as well, as in my friend Thomas Fulton (who were looking for a replacement at press time - due to an unfortunate death in the family).

The division names are based on local heroes of close-by hometowns; The Divisions are as follows, with the following teams...

The 1st Prairieland APBA Baseball Tournament takes place this upcoming Saturday (April 16th)!

Good luck to Tom & all the guys participating, I know a few of the others as well, and they know as well as I do how fun these events can be!

Have fun, boys!

Boys Keep Swinging (2016 Boys of Summer Season)

SEASON OPENER - WEEK 1

The Boys of Summer APBA Baseball League is underway, starting our 4th season! Plenty of excitement for this upcoming year, with an influx of rookies (due to MLB's "Year of the Rookie" - 2015). The rosters have completely took a overhaul with so many transactions, signings & releases this off-season! Every team has a reason to be optimistic and excited for this 2016 BoS Season -- plus two big questions are: 'Can the Portland Microbrewers repeat?'... and 'Are the Chicago Nine, truly the team to beat in 2016?'

We'll find all that out by the end of the season.

The first week was a big one for the Fairgrove Tigers, who opened up a 6-0 series victory over a talented South Side Spartans team -- with Chris Davis batting .368 with 3 home runs & 4 RBI, plus 2 doubles & 4 runs; Their ace Madison Bumgarner also had a good week in his two starts, 16 K's & only 2 earned runs allowed in 16 innings -- including a shutout.

On the National League side, the other undefeated team from Week 1 was the Louisville Sluggers, with the return of manager Larry Waddell, back at the helm; His rotation was excellent against the Seattle Rainiers -- led by Sonny Gray (2-0, 0.52 ERA, 16 K & 4 BB in 17.1 innings)!

There was plenty of shutouts this first week and there was plenty of contenders for this week's pitching awards in both leagues, but in the end it came down to these two...

• Zack Greinke (Swatara Eliminators/A.L.): W, 15 K's, no earned runs (including a shutout & no-decision) with only 5 hits allowed -- in 15.2 innings.
• Lance Lynn (Holland Hitchhikers/N.L.): 2-0, 0.53 ERA (1 ER, 8 H & 5 BB's allowed) with 15 strikeouts for Holland -- just edging Louisville's Gray for this week.

There was plenty of offense as well -- but none was as impressive as these two...

• Bryce Harper (Holland Hitchhikers/N.L.): .435 AVG (10-23), 4 HR, 12 RBI & 1.635 OPS.
• Chris Davis (Fairgrove Tigers/A.L.): .368 AVG (7-19), 3 HR, 4 RBI & 1.426 OPS.

Most disappointing start may have to go to the #1 Overall Draft Pick (in this year's 2016 BoS Draft) - Kris Bryant (Third Baseman of the Micatin Destroyers) -- in which he went 0-for-21, striking out 10 times!

Separation at the Top (NXPL' 82 Update)

The American League this last week in the 1982 NXPL Season experienced some separation at the top of the League; Both the Baltimore Orioles and Detroit Tigers swept their opponents to improve to a majors-best 25-10 (The National League's Montreal Expos are also 25-10).

Baltimore faced the California Angels (who were 17-13 & only 3 games back, entering play); The Angels' bats could not get rolling the first two games, suffering 6-1 & 4-1 losses with 4 hits in each contests -- and would be outscored 27-10 by the O's.

Meanwhile the Tigers, rebounded against the Chicago White Sox, after suffering a 3-2 series loss to those Baltimore Orioles; Detroit would not win as convincing as the O's did against the halos -- Detroit would sweep this series on clutch bullpen pitching; Winning each game by a single run!

Detroit would win the series finale in 12 innings, with a clutch walk-off single to right field by Howard Johnson.

The White Sox by the way, entered the series at 16-14; With the series losses for the Angels and White Sox, and with the Orioles & Tigers soaring... some separation has been made.

The division now appears like this...

The Detroit Tigers' success has so far relied mostly on its team pitching (1.84 ERA) -- lead by starting pitchers Mario Soto, Joaquin Andujar & Dan Petry. In fact, they can start being nicknamed the "Big Three" with a combined 18-0 record through 21 contests!

• Soto: 5-0, 1.45 ERA, 2 CG (1 SHO), 47 K / 10 BB, with a .821 WHIP (56 IP).
• Andujar: 7-0, 1.03 ERA, 2 CG (2 SHO), 23 K / 11 BB, with a .892 WHIP (52.2 IP).
• Petry: 6-0, 1.36 ERA, 3 CG (3 SHO), 32 K / 13 BB, with a .925 WHIP (53 IP).

Andujar has been impressive, 7-0 with 1.03 ERA, just over a month into season.

The bullpen has been almost as impressive with a 1.95 ERA...

• Dave Rozema: 4 Saves, 4 Holds, 1.74 ERA, 7 K & 1 BB (.774 WHIP) in 10.1 IP.
• Andy Hassler: 1 Save, 5 Holds, 2.38 ERA, 5 K's in 11.1 innings (been a bit lucky, with 8 walks allowed).
• Dave Tobik: 2 W, 1 SV, 2 Holds; 1.32 ERA, 11 K & 4 BB (.732 WHIP) in 13.2 IP.
• Sid Monge: 2 Saves, 3 Holds, 3.27 ERA, 5 K (11 hits allowed) in 11 Innings.

Dave Rozema has been excellent, I use my bullpen basically by committee depending on the situation, and I am already finding it hard to be a bit selective with Rozema; I only have him for so many innings due to limited play in 1982 for him. 

Adding another bullpen arm will help, so I may shop around. Jim Slaton, a spot starter/reliever for the Tigers just returned from the disabled list, and will help take the load off some of the guys in the pen -- helping to preserve innings in the other arms, and facing lower pressure situations.

The Lineup has been better of late for the Tigers, with the team batting .242; There are areas in the lineup that still needs work. Jason Thompson, is a prime example -- Thompson hit .284, 31 HR & 101 RBI for the Pirates in 1982, with a .391 on-base percentage & .902 OPS; Thompson for the Tigers? .230 batting average, 5 HR & 11 RBI (.314 OBP & .716 OPS) through 35 games.

The team OPS right now is .685 with a .303 on-base percentage; Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker, most noticeably been playing below standards -- but they are not as relied on for their bats (at this point of their career) compared to Bill Madlock, Thompson & even an aging Bill Oglivie.

The interesting factor is that our .303 OBP & .242 batting average has us 4th in those areas, in our 8-team American League, while our team ERA leads the pack (1.84) to second-best Baltimore (2.71 ERA). The Minnesota Twins lead the A.L. with a .267 average, while the Orioles and Angels have better producing lineups as well. 

The Tigers' lineup still can improve which is something to be even more exciting about, although I am not sure if our bullpen will be as stellar as the season goes deeper... It will definitely be an interesting thing to watch as the year goes on.

I always believe in run differential, and the two teams that stand apart from the rest, are both the Orioles (+64) and the Tigers (+55) -- The next best team in the A.L. is the Angels (+20); The Twins who have the best hitting & scoring (164 runs/2nd), are at a -20 run differential, due to their suspect pitching. The Tigers in comparison have scored 31 less runs, but have only allowed 78 runs (2.2 runs per game).

Entering the season, I believed we ranked among the best 4 teams in the American League, but now I believe it is definitely a pennant race between the Orioles and Tigers -- it's their league to lose, another team to be in the mix would be more of a surprise (it's possible), but that would have to involve a big trade acquisition; My Tigers plan to add to the mix, and hope we have enough to take Baltimore, I do think they have the edge on us right now.