As the team heads to New
York
Tyler
Anderson Jersey , we take a look at how things are going so
far."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Detroit Tigers AnalysisDetroit Tigers
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PodcastsDetroit Tigers LinksDetroit Tigers News: The opening series is in the
booksNew,5commentsAs the team heads to New York, we take a look at how things
are going so far.EDTShareTweetShareShareDetroit Tigers News: The opening series
is in the booksRaise your hand if you’d love to see some offensive production
from this teamDan Hamilton-USA TODAY SportsGood Monday morning, reader. We have
officially closed the book on the first series of 2019, and what an interesting
one it was. Christin Stewart opened the season with one of what will be many
home runs this year to solidify the game one win behind some really solid
pitching by Jordan Zimmermann. There were two bad offensive games and a
workmanlike Spencer Turnbull start snuggled in the middle. The bookend on the
back was a great Matt Moore start, a good offensive game from Jeimer Candelario,
and an extra inning winner that helped the Tigers split the road series, which
is exactly what you would ask a team to do.The pitching has been unexpectedly
good. The offense? Expectedly not so good. Fifty strikeouts over the course of
the series and only three innings in which the team put numbers on the board is
a little concerning. Next, the team travels to New York to take on the Yankees
where we will see how these current trends hold up.What’s this offense thing
everybody’s talking about?Despite the minor breakout on Sunday, this Tigers team
is looking offensively anemic. After the second game of getting blanked by the
Blue Jays on Saturday, manager Ron Gardenhire addressed it. He observed that the
team was chasing balls out of the zone, and that at this early stage of the
season, guys may be trying to do too much.That’s funny in March and April. Give
it a few months, and if we’re still dealing with this, it will be much less
so.Give him a handIn Saturday’s game, we had a tense few hours while we waited
for the results of x-rays on Miguel Cabrera’s hand after he took a pitch off the
meaty portion of his palm. Results came back negative, but it was a reminder of
what we as Tigers fans will be dealing with for the remainder of our time with
Cabrera. His history over the last few seasons has left us waiting for the next
injury that’s going to significantly hamper his ability to contribute to the
team. Aging. It’s no fun.Defining a seasonHeading into the year, John Perrotto
of Forbes took a look at the team and named five guys who will define the Tigers
season. He has Nicholas Castellanos as the MVP — which tracks so far — Josh
Harrison as the best addition, and Miguel Cabrera as the x-factor.Nick getting
defensiveI don’t know if you’ve been watching, but Castellanos has made himself
some nifty plays in the few opportunities he has had in right field so far this
season.Chris McCosky of The Detroit News is of the opinion that Castellanos is
starting to quiet his detractors. He is already looking better than last
year
http://www.rockiesfanproshop.com/authentic-chad-bettis-jersey ,
but that is admittedly a low bar to clear. To his credit, the coaching staff has
been pleased with his work on the position, and early in the season it seems to
be showing.The new crewAlong with many of the new faces we are seeing on the
field, we got our first taste of some new blood in the booth. Matt Shepard made
his debut as the official television voice of the Detroit Tigers this weekend,
and we all had the... well, we heard him joined by former Tigers great Jack
Morris. Shepard is enjoying this opportunity and even got the chance to call a
big moment on Opening Day when Christin Stewart hit the game-winning home run.A
few things differ from how the previous crew handled things. For instance,
Shepard had no problem openly discussing Jordan Zimmermann’s perfect game as it
was happening. That is a subject that would have been danced around considerably
by former play-by-play man Mario Impemba. Despite having to drag the
curmudgeonly fun-hating Jack Morris through every broadcast, Shepard seems to be
enjoying himself.Around the hornBrewers TV statistician Mike Falkner and the
evolution of baseball broadcasts. The nine best baseball documentaries. The 1985
baseball season was scandalized by a coke dealing parrot. Pitchers and catchers
report in eight days. The Orioles - well, you already know how this year is
going for them."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Commentary & AnalysisOrioles
ProspectsOrioles Game RecapsOrioles News and RumorsCamdencastBird
DroppingsMonday Bird Droppings: Where spring training starts next
weekNew,380commentsPitchers and catchers report in eight days. The Orioles -
well, you already know how this year is going for
them.ESTShareTweetShareShareMonday Bird Droppings: Where spring training starts
next weekJonathan Dyer-USA TODAY SportsHello, friends.There are now 52 days
until the next Orioles game. Just eight days stand between now and when pitchers
and catchers report to spring training to mark the beginning of baseball-ish
activities for the year.It has been 13 days since Mike Mussina was elected to
the Baseball Hall of Fame and the Orioles have not announced any plans to retire
his jersey or add his statue to Camden Yards.As the world of Baltimore sports
goes, things don’t really get a lot worse than when the most recent
championships in both baseball and football were won by Boston teams. Alas, the
strong wishes of all right-thinking people are not enough to power the outcomes
of sporting events. On the bright side, not unlike the 2018 Orioles, things
can’t get much worse than that.Perhaps with football season over and spring
training fast approaching, the last bit of action will get wrung out of the free
agent market over the course of this week. Signing late does not seem to have
benefited players in recent years. We’ll see if that makes any of the big names
start to get antsy about signing.Not that any of this matters as far as the
Orioles are concerned, because they won’t be signing anyone who is important.
They might not sign any one of these big league free agents at all. It’s going
to be a bad baseball team again. This much has been clear for some time. Maybe
they can be slightly better than last year. That’s really all we can hope for,
and that, much like the outcome of last night’s football
game
http://www.rockiesfanproshop.com/authentic-chad-bettis-jersey ,
sucks.Around the blogO’sphereExamining Orioles’ pursuit of Yolbert Sanchez
(Orioles.com)Pursuit of an international free agent doesn’t mean much if you
don’t sign the guy. Cuban free agent Sanchez is eligible to sign with teams...
tomorrow. Maybe the O’s will use some of that pool money.Being on 40-man roster
only a “small stepping stone” for Kline (School of Roch)2019 is going to be
about finding little things to appreciate with the Orioles amidst the losing. If
Maryland native Branden Kline can make it to the big leagues and find success,
that would be a nice little thing.Zimmermann hopes to be homegrown Oriole
(Baltimore Baseball)Speaking of Maryland natives, one of the pitchers in the
Kevin Gausman trade, Bruce Zimmermann, will also be looking to push his way to
MLB. Good luck, Bruce!Austin Wynns is set to bring intensity and passion to the
field (Steve Melewski)Maybe he can also bring a little more than a .669 OPS,
although as a catcher on a team everyone knows will be bad, it’s certainly fair
to focus more on other aspects of his performance.Sunday Notes: Flipping Mussina
and Palmer (Fangraphs)In his usual Sunday column, David Laurila wants to know
how much differently the Hall of Fame Orioles pitchers, Palmer and Mussina,
would be viewed if Mussina had Palmer’s eight 20-win seasons and Palmer had
Mussina’s one.Birthdays and anniversariesIn 2011, the Orioles signed Vladimir
Guerrero to a one-year contract. He wasn’t the worst aging veteran signing in
the history of the dark years, but it annoys me to this day that Buck Showalter
batted Guerrero cleanup 127 times that season.Of all the players to play for the
Orioles, not a single one was born on this day.Is today your birthday? Happy
birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: Norton I, Emperor of
the United States (1818), pioneering pilot Charles Lindbergh (1902), civil
rights legend Rosa Parks (1913), musician Alice Cooper (1948), musician Natalie
Imbruglia (1975), and gold medal gymnast Carly Patterson (1988).On this day in
history...In
960
Wade Davis
Jersey , general Zhao Kuangyin overthrew the Later Zhou dynasty of China,
proclaiming himself Emperor Taizu of Song. During his reign he united several
warring kingdoms within China, and his dynasty lasted until conquered by the
Mongols in 1279.In 1555, a man named John Rogers was burned at the stake in
England. His crime was being a Protestant in the days of “Bloody” Mary I.In
1846, the early Mormon pioneers, a wagon convoy of about 70,000 people departed
from Nauvoo, Illinois for the Salt Lake Valley. At the time of their departure,
this was Mexican territory, though following the Mexican-American War and the
1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ceded the area to the United States.In
1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill,
and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin began a week-long conference in Yalta, during
which they discussed a number of post-war matters. One legacy of this conference
is that Stalin did not keep up his promises about Poland and that country
suffered for a long time.**And that’s the way it is in Birdland on February 4 -
or at least, unless something happens later. Have a safe Monday.