Tigers, ValleyCats split the DH tonight at Dodd....

as CT takes the opener by a score of 2-1 behind Rayni Guichardo's (2-3) 6 innings of strong pitching and Tyler White's second save of the season. Down 1-0 in the bottom of the fifth CT used sac flys from Brett Anderson and Chao-Ting Tang to win it.
In the nightcap Tri-City won 3-1 as James Robbins drove in the lone Tigers run. Miguel Mejia in a spot start out of the bullpen took the loss to bring his record to 2-1 on the season.

Tigers win 7-1 at SI tonight and

salvage one game of the three game set with the Yankees. Eric Roof and James Robbins both hit their second homers of the season to pace a 12 hit CT atttack. Robbins' was a three run shot that iced the game for the Tigers.
Patrick Lawson (1-0) threw 5 IP allowing the lone Yankee run. Tyler Clark (3 IP) and Logan Hoch (1 IP) shut down the Yanks the rest of the way.

Misc fan notes: Big homestand starts tomorrow without me. Will be back at Dodd next week.

Yanks make it two in a row over the Tigers...

tonight in Staten Island 5-3. CT starting pitcher Clemente Mendza (2-4) takes the loss. The Tigers offense was quite again managing just 5 hits in the game. Josh Ashenbrener and James Robbins had RBIs for the Tigers.

Yanks top Tigers 1-0....

this morning/afternoon in Staten Island in front of 7200 camp day fans.
Brennan Smith made just one mistake; a solo homer in the 4th for the only run of the game. Smith (0-2) threw all 8 IP allowing just 6
hits.
Ryan Enos and James Robbins had two hits each as CT's offense could manage just 6 hits for the whole.

Gaylord Perry....

#36 San Francisco Giants--the ball was so wet sometimes catchers couldn't throw it back to him....my fingers are slipping off the keyboard just typing this....

Tigers win 3-2 in a thriller vs...

the Spinners in Lowell tonight. Ryan Enos hit a solo homer in the top of the ninth to make it 3-1 CT. Lowell came back in the bottom of the 9th to load the bases with one out. Logan Hoch came out of the bullpen and came up a sac fly for the second out and then struck out the next batter to earn his first save of the season. Josue Carreno (2-4) started for the Tigers and went 5 IP to earn the win.
The Tigers have drawn to 2.5 games back of the Lake Monsters for first place in the division as Vermont has cooled off after their fast start.

Far and away the biggest crowd reaction....

for a single HOF player during the parade down Main Street was for Henry Aaron. The chant "Home Run King, Home Run King" seemed as much an affirmation for Aaron as the "real" record holder as it was for an indictment of Barry Bonds and the whole steroids deal (just my opinion).

Misc fan notes: Tigers beat Spinners last night 9-5 as they try to climb back into wild card contention.

Congrats to the HOF class of 2010!!....

great day in Cooperstown yesterday. Tigers win 6-5 in 13 innings at Doubleday Field over the ValleyCats.
Could have easily spent another day just walking thru the Hall. Have not been there since 1969. Just a lot to see and take in.
Being there for induction weekend was a treat. Lots of HOFers around to BS with. Main Street was buzzing.
With the Hawk being inducted lots of people wearing Expos hats/shirts and the same for fans wearing Cardinals gear with the White Rat going in. I saw people wearing stuff from ever MLB team out there.
Anyway I took nearly 500 pics. Plently for me to work on, label, etc.

Hats off to the Tigers staff who went along yesterday--did a great job!

Tonight's game rained out...

will be made up next Saturday as a DH....I, of course, am working all next weekend.....

Ride my see-saw...Tigers win a wild one...

in Game 1 of tonight's DH. Tigers scored in all six innings they batted, coming from behind twice in the game. Down 7-5 in the bottom of the fifth, the Tigers got a RBI infield hit from Chao-Ting Tang (3 for 4, 2 RBIs) to draw to 7-6. PJ Polk tied it with a RBI ground out. Ryan Enos then put the Tigers up 8-7 with a RBI double. CT put the game out of reach in the sixth with three runs with the last two coming on James Robbins 2 run triple. Robbins was the hitting star of the night going 4 for 4 with a double, triple and 4 RBIs.
Kevan Hess got the win in relief of starter Clemnte Mendoza and fellow reliever Drew Gagnier. Hess throws 2.1 IP of no hit ball and improves to 2-0 on the year.
Mendoza, who was lights out in his last start, lasted just 4.1 IP allowing 7 hits and 6 runs five earned.
Tigers had their running shoes on in game 1 stealing six bases: two each for Alexander Nunez and Tang, and one each from PJ Polk and Robbins.
Of course if you score 11 runs in game one the baseball rule seems to be you have a hard time scoring in game 2 but the Tigers are leading 3-1 after 4 innings in Game 2.

**UPDATE Tigers drop game 2 4-3 as the Lake Monsters score 3 runs in the top of the 7th taking advantage of a pair of errors and a bases loaded walk. Antonio Cruz (0-1) is the losing pitcher. SS Brett Anderson's error allowed in the winning run. A sweep sure of the DH and seies would have been nice...Ryan Enos, Matt Perry and Chris Sedon with RBI singles for CT.

Misc fan notes: A bunch of stuff. First, while in the ticket line exchanging last night's rainout ticket for tonight's I overheard a couple of other customer transactions that spoke to question/issues I raised in the preseason. First the $5 berm ticket includes the red seats in the last section down left and right field. Second a senior discount does exist; a $1 off ticket price. Good to see both addressed however neither is really posted that I can see.

Fox 61 at the game; noticed GM Andrew Weber doing a interview with reporter Bob Rumbolt.

It was Irish Night at Dodd. The "C" behind home plate was presented in the traditional Irish colors as was the "C" on the scoreboard. The team did the same thing for the 4th of the July with red, white and blue colors. The grass behind home was also lined in Irish green. Nice touches--these guys (front office) are trying hard. I WISH MORE PEOPLE WOULD SHOW UP. Very entertaining game 1 tonight.

I hear the corn beef and cabbage was good too. Great chicken wrap for me upstairs between games with Kim running the show up there.

For the bus trip, a movie suggestion: "For love of the game" starring Kevin Costner as a Tigers pitcher no-hitting the Yankees. Hey, it'll make the Red Sox fans on the bus happy and as a Yankee fan, well I know it's make believe.

Pics top to bottom: Game 2 starter Patrick Lawson, Game 1 winner Hess, Gagnier, PJ is safe, Julio Rodriquez is out, Tang and Mendoza

RIP...Ralph Houk

Yankee catcher and manager. He also managed the Tigers and that team from Boston. "The Major" was 90 years old.

Heavy rains, winds, thunderstorms wash out

tonight's game. DH tomorrow starting at 6:05pm.

Tyler White gets the save....

Tigers edge Lake Monsters 2-1 at Dodd tonight...

as CT takes game 1 of the three set against their divisional leader. Connecticut jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead. PJ Polk lead off and hit a grounder to short that ended up being ruled an infield hit as Polk advanced to second on the throw. Alexander Nunez laid down a nice sac bunt to move Polk over to third. Matt Perry singled Polk in for the first run of the game.
CT starter Brennan Smith went 5 IP and worked in and out of a couple of jams as he allowed 5 his and walked four and gave up the lone VT run. Smith gave way to Miguel Mejia, making his CT debut. Mejia was impressive throwing three innings of no hit ball striking out one.
In the 7th with two outs CT scored the winning run when Ryan Soares doubled into the left field corner. Polk then hit a liner up the middle that was in and out of the second baseman's glove and scored Soares with the winner.
Logan Hoch came on to close it out for the Tigers but gave up two straight singles and then a sac bunt for the first out. Tyler White relieved Hoch and got then stuck out the next two batters to earn his first save and nail down the win for CT.
Mejia earns the win in his first appearance as CT improves to 16-15 on the season.

Misc fan notes: A bunch of the front office folks lead by GM Andrew Weber at the gates thanking fans for coming out as they left tonight. Nice touch--just wish there were more fans there.

Pics top to bottom: White, Hoch, Julio Rodriquez, Les Smith, Perry, Brennan Smith, Polk, and Mejia.

Rain out post...

as CT and Hudson Valley were rained out tonight, The game will be made up on 8/4/10 as a DH at Dodd. So instead of a recap let us review the current stats of some of our fav players of the Navigators/Defenders past:

Mike Cervenak "The Mayor" is playing 3B for the Buffalo Bisons, the AAA team of the Mets.
Mike has played 70 games. BA is .249 with 4 HR and 24 RBI

Jake Wald is playing Double A ball for the D-backs as a Mobile BayBear. In 64 games he's batting .170 with a homer and 15 RBIs.

Dayton Buller is playing against Jake as a member of the Huntsville Stars, the Brewers AA team. He has a homer and 9 RBIs and is batting .228 in 30 games.

EME, on the comeback trail is playing High single A ball with the High Desert Mavericks. His BA is .367 in 31 games with 2 HRs and 16 RBIs.

Brett Pill, climbing the Giants ladder, is batting .282 in 93 games with Fresno. He has 21 doubles, 11 HRs and 57 RBIs.

Another marketing first.....

the RockCats with an ad in the New London Day today....

Tigers lose 9-5 to the Renegades tonight...

in New York. A six run second inning outburst by Hudson Valley against CT starter Josue Carreno (1-3) put the Tigers in a hole they couldn't climb out of. Chris Sedon hit his first homer of the season for Connecticut, a two run blast in a 4 run third inning. Matt Perry added a RBI single in the fourth inning to make it 6-5 Hudson Valley, but that was as close as the Tigers would come. CT loses it's second game in a row and falls back to the .500 mark at 15-15. The Tigers will try to salvage one game of the three game set Monday.

Hudson Valley 10 CT 2....

tonight in the first game of a three games series in NY. Rayni Guichardo (1-2) gives up 5 runs, 3 earned in just two innings of work. The Tigers committed four errors in the game to go along with two wild pitches and two balks as 5 of the Renegades runs were unearned.
Eric Roof (2 for 4) and Julio Rodriquez hit RBI doubles to account for the two Tigers runs.

A tidy 2-1 win and an even...

tidier game time of 1 hour 39 minutes in front of a lively 2275 fans on fireworks Friday. Tigers take two of three from the State College Spikes and head out on the road for three games against Hudson Valley before returning home to Dodd on Tuesday.
Tigers scored both of their runs in the first inning. With one out 2B Alexander Nunez and 3B Josh Ashenbrenner hit back to back singles to put runners on first and second. Matt Perry then grounded to the second baseman who threw wildly to the shortstop covering second allowing Nunez to score with Ashenbrenner moving to third. Josh then scored on a Julio Rodriquez sac fly to make it 2-0 tigers.
CT starter Patrick Cooper (2-1) made those two runs stand up with 6 IP pitched allowing 2 hits, one earned run along with 7 Ks. Tigers reliever Micheal Torrealba (SV 2) came in for a 3 innings save allowing just two hits and getting 4 Ks.
Ryan Enos and Ashenbrenner both went 2 for 4 for Connecticut.

Misc fan notes: Stopped upstairs for a bite to eat at "The Yard" for the first time this season. Ordered a chicken fajita and it was pretty good. Good to see that the Tigers brought back Kim to quarterback things up there. She's like a point guard.
Chao-Ting Tang's host family was up there also. If you read Joe Perez's piece they're happy to have him in their lives.

Pics top to bottom: Londell Taylor, Tang, Chris Sedon, Torrealba, Copper, Nunez, James Robbins, conference on the mound, Matt Mansilla

Tigers: Taiwanese outfielder Tang adjusts to new home - Norwich, CT - Norwich Bulletin

Tigers: Taiwanese outfielder Tang adjusts to new home - Norwich, CT - Norwich Bulletin

Clemente Mendoza two hits the Spikes thru...

8 innings and the Tigers win 5-0 to even the three game series tonight at Dodd. The other CT hero was 1B James Robbins who knocked in three runs to pace the Tigers offense.
The Tigers scored three runs in the third all after two outs. Alexander Nunez hit a hard double off the left center field wall, just missing a solo homer. Matt Perry (3 for 4 2 runs scored) followed with a RBI single to put CT up 1-0. DH Chris Sedon in his first game walked and both he and Perry moved up a base on a passed ball. James Robbins then single them both in for a 3-0 lead.
CT scored another run in the fifth. Perry and Sedon singled with on outs. Catcher Julio Rodriquez tried to bunt them over twice and then grounded in a double play with Perry going to third. Robbins came thru again with another two out hit; this one a RBI double as CT lead 4-0.
The Tigers scored once move in the 8th as SS Ryan Soars singled, stole second and third and came in on Londell Taylor's sac fly.
Mendoza pitched a gem, with just two walks and 7 Ks. His record improves to 2-3 on the season.
The win puts the Tigers a game over the .500 mark at 14-13 and snaps a four game losing streak.

Misc fan notes: Good to back at Dodd with 1100 of the faithful; great summer night--come on folks!

Almost had a heart attack going down RT 32 as another Tigers billboard has popped up this one in my town of Montville. Also there was a Tigers ad in the Courant today.

Front office planting a lot of seeds; come on out!

Great piece by Joe Perez in today's Buletin. Check out the above post.

Good chat with Tigers GM Andrew Weber tonight, very positive and upbeat. Hope to get some "on record" stuff with him soon.

Pics top to bottom; Perry, Mendoza and Rodriquez, Soares, Robbins and Mendoza.

Spiked! Tigers lose 11-1....

at what I guess was a rainy Dodd Stadium in front of 726 of the faithful to State College. Brennan Smith (0-1) takes the loss and the Tigers have now dropped 4 in a row and their record evens up at 13-13.

Misc fan notes: looking forward to seing the team the next two games and posting fresh pics!

Tigers return home to Dodd today....

for a three game set against the State College Spikes, a Pirates farm team. It feels like the team has hardly been home at all this season. I'll be on hand Thursday and Friday and should be at most of the home games next week (Tues-Thurs vs Vermont, Friday & Sat vs Tri-City). Reminder: Saturday's "home" game is played in Copperstown NY.
The Tigers are at 13-12 and are slowly losing ground in the chase for the wild card berth. Hopefully a little home cooking will do the trick over the next couple of weeks.

Get out the broom...Williamsport wins 7-4...

and completes the 3 game sweep of CT. The Tigers jumped out to a quick 2-0 in the top of the second on Matt Mansilla's two run RBI single. But the Cross Cutters scored three runs off CT starter Josue Carreno (1-3) and never looked back.
The Tigers added a run in the top of the fifth on Londell Taylor's solo homer, his second of the season that made the score 6-3. CT had a chance with the bases loaded and one out in the 8th but could only come away with Brett Anderson's RBI ground out to pull to 6-4.
The Cutters added an insurance run in their half of the 8th to increase their lead to 7-4.

The Day - Yankees owner George Steinbrenner dies at 80 | News from southeastern Connecticut

The Day - Yankees owner George Steinbrenner dies at 80 | News from southeastern Connecticut

Love him or hate him he was "The Boss."

Tigers Getting The Feel For New Home - Courant.com

Tigers Getting The Feel For New Home - Courant.com

The Courant discovers the new minor league team in SE CT as hondo noted in his post below. Nothing groundbreaking but good to see.

Williamsport 3 CT 2 tonight....

as the CrossCutters take game 2 of the three series and go for the sweep Tuesday. Tigers reliever Michael Torrealba (0-2) gave up a pair of runs in the 7th to Williamsport.
PJ Polk and Alexander Nunez drove in the Tigers runs.

Cutters keep on rolling with fourth win in a row

Cutters keep on rolling with fourth win in a row

CrossCutters 8 Tigers 2......

as Williamsport starter Eric Pettis (4-0) throws 8 innings of shutout ball, allowing just 4 hits. PJ Polk goes 3 for 3 for the Tigers.

Stored away for decades, artifacts from New Haven Arena coming back- The New Haven Register - Serving New Haven, Connecticut

Stored away for decades, artifacts from New Haven Arena coming back- The New Haven Register - Serving New Haven, Connecticut

RIP Bob Sheppard.....

the voice of Yankee Stadium

Vermont off and running in Stedler - Sports | Centre Daily Times - State College, PA | Penn State, Nittany Lions, weather, news, jobs, homes, apartments, real estate

some thoughts about Tiger attendance within the above link and the late move of the team from NY to Norwich. This move really didn't happen for the Tigers until March 26, 2010 as the league totally dragged it's feet thus hand cuffing the Tigers front office staff in trying to get any kind of buzz going.
Meanwhile the Lake Monsters are white hot and the Tigers are tied for the wild card spot.

The Tigers start a three game series with the Williamsport Cross Cutter today. I'm having a hard time getting use to the quirks of the NYPL schedule with series that end and new series that start on a weekend. The Cutters starting pitcher Eric Petitis is 3-0 in four starts with a 1.57 ERA over 23 IP.

Joe Perez recently described the Tigers marketing.....

as getting an "A" for effort. I agree. To that point I was surprised as seeing a Tigers/Price Chopper ad today in the Hartford Courant of all places. First time I ever seen an ad in those pages for a team that plays at Dodd.
The Tigers also have a bill board up on Colman Street in New London. I understand there are billboards in Waterford and Norwich also. These are "firsts" as well. Wonder if CT the Tiger is prowling SailFest this weekend?

MuckDogs take first game 5-3....

of today's DH.

**UPDATE: Tigers take the nightcap 8-1. Ryan Enos, Matt Perry and Eric Roof all knock in two runs each.

Rained out.....Tigers and MuckDogs...

play two Saturday starting at 5:05.

Misc fan notes: SNY had the Brooklyn Cyclones and State College Spikes game on last night from NY. No way did they have 6000+ fans in there but it's clear they do it up big league style at the park at Coney Island.

PS..what is there to do in Batavia, NY on a Friday night....anyone been there???

Tigers, MuckDogs tied at 2-2 heading....

into extra innings in New York tonight. PJ Polk lead off the game with a homer and Chao-Ting Tang who is 3 for 3 with a double scored on an Alexander Nunez single for the two CT runs.
Tiger starter Brennan Smith went 5 IP allowing two hits, one a solo homer and notching 4 Ks. Smith was relieved by Drew Gagnier (3 IP, one unearned run) and then Keven Hess (1 IP).

***UPDATE: Tigers win 4-2 in 10 innings. An Eric Roof RBI triple broke the tie and James Robbins knocked in Roof with a single. Kevan Hess gets the win.

Summer book list.....

seems around the All-Star break every year I start searching around for a good book or two to read. This year is no different but the number of books read and on deck has been more than a couple. So far:

"Then Roy said to Mickey..." written by Roy White and Darrell Berger...very easy read. White was a long time Yankee during those dark years forever known as the Horace Clarke era. It was an era I suffered thru when White and Bobby Murcer were about it in terms of Yankees to root for. Blew thru this in a couple of days.

"The Long Season" written by Jim Brosnan. First published in 1960 basically the author's diary of the 1959 baseball season. Brosnan, a pitcher I barely remember, played for the Cubs, Cards, Reds and White Sox. I'm halfway done with this one.

On deck:

"The Game from where I stand" written by Doug Glanville. I heard Glanville on WFAN talking about the book about his playing days with the Phillies, Cubs and the Rangers and had to get it.

In the mail:

"The Last Best League" written by Jim Collins about the Cape Cod League.


Any suggestions??

PS:

"The Power Broker" written by Robert Cano about New York City planner Robert Moses that clocked in at around 1200 pages took me the better part of 5 winter and spring months to knock off. All encompassing, incredibility researched, tackle at your own risk.

Tigers top Scrappers 5-4 in 10 innings...

tonight to take the rubber game of the three game set before 907 fans at Dodd. Julio Rodriquez knocked in the tying run in the 8th inning after Ryan Soares lead off the inning with his first homer. In the bottom of the 10th it was Soares and Rodriquez again as Soares singled, went to second on Alexander Nunez Fourth hit of the game, a bloop single and came in to score on Rodriquez's two out RBI walk off single.
Connecticut starter Josue Carreno went % IP giving up all four MV runs, two earned. Micheal Torrealba stuck out 8 batters in his three innings of work to hold the Scrappers at bay. Logan Hoch picked up the save in relief throwing the final two innings.

Misc fan notes: I worked tonight so I wasn't at Dodd but when I walked at 10PM to go home, man, its hot and humid out there. Hats off to the 907 who went today!

More pics from last night....

Pics top to bottom: Tyler Clark, Tyler White, MV manager Travis Fryman, James Robbins and Lonell Taylor.

I looked up Fryman's stats this morning: 13 MLBB seasons-8 with the Tigers and 5 with the Indians, 223 HRs 1022 RBIs, a 5 time All-Star. If I were one of his players I'd listen....looks like he could still play too.

MV 8 Tigers 3 tonight at Dodd.....

as the Scrappers take game 2 of the three game series to set up tomorrow's rubber game. Connecticut starting pitcher lefty Rayni Guichardo was cruising along until the fourth inning when the Scrappers broke thru with a pair of unearned runs. A lead off single was followed by a pop up for the first out. A room service double play ball went under shortshop Brett Anderson's glove to put runners on first and second. I'm not a master of reading body language but the error seemed to get to Guichardo who seemed to get more annoyed as the rest of the inning progressed. He uncorked a wild pitch to move up the runners but got the next batter to strike out. He was an out away of getting out of the inning but the next batter hit a hard ball at first baseman James Robbins that Robbins backup on and the ball took a hop off his chest for what was scored a double with both runners scoring for a 2-0 Scrappers lead.
Guichardo's night got worse when the next batter hit a line drive off his foot for a single that catcher Julio Rodriquez almost caught on a fly. After a walk, the final out was finally recorded on a grounder to first.
Guichardo's night was over and Tyler White came on in the fifth for CT. White wouldn't get out of the inning allowing 5 runs on 4 hits, one a long two run homer to right and that was basically the ball game with MV ahead 7-0 after 5 innings.
The Tigers scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth on Londell Taylor's triple, a RBI double by PJ Polk and a Alexander Nunez RBI single and later added a run in the bottom of the 9th on Rodriquez RBI double.

Misc fan notes: A small crowd at Dodd, 1100 of the faithful for Military Appreciation Night.....I counted 5 military uniforms, 4 in the flag honor guard and a recruiter on the concourse...with the sub base in Groton and a new Coast Guard cadet class having reported now in New London was there any kind of outreach to both branches? The cadets in particular are a very, very lively bunch and the Navy folks spend a lot of bucks at the food stands...
The "C" Tigers logo with red, white and blue as displayed behind home plate and the graphic also shown on the scoreboard was very creative.

Pics top to bottom: Drew Gagnier, Nunez and Bobbins on the right side of the infield, James Robbins, Rodriquez and Guichardo.
I'll put up more pics Wednesday AM