Mount Virtus

A classic proof of “correlation does not equal causation”: our Democrat Gov. Bill Ritter injects partisan politics into America’s game with an off-the-wall comment about how seven of the eight 2007 Major League Baseball playoff teams hail from states with Democrat governors. Did Ritter stumble while trying to make a point with this assessment, or was it just an attempt at a joke that has fallen flat?

Who obsesses over partisan politics so much that they not only have to figure out which party is in power in states where professional baseball playoff teams hail from, but also have to proclaim it to the media? To the governor and his staffers: just sit back and enjoy the games. Not everything is about partisan politics.

Meanwhile, shining a light on the absurdity of Ritter’s remarks, a shrewd Cubs fan went ahead and applied the partisan template to the past year’s championships in major pro and college sports, and found our governor struck out swinging in his off-the-wall observation.

Please, Mr. Governor, let baseball be baseball. Don’t pour water on our state’s shared Rocktober celebration.

The Colorado Rockies secured the National League pennant tonight … when did you ever think you’d hear these words? And after winning 21 of 22 games? Uncharted territory in Major League Baseball. W… O… W! Matt Holliday is chosen Series MVP, but it could just as well have been one of many others wearing the purple uniform. And how could you be anything but genuinely happy for Todd Helton?
Simply un-be-lie-va-ble. I’m in baseball heaven now.

October 14, 2006: My Detroit Tigers won 7 straight to claim the American League pennant, the franchise’s first in 22 years.

October 15, 2007: My Colorado Rockies won 7 straight to claim the National League pennant, the franchise’s first in its 15-season history.

Like last year’s Tigers, this year’s Rox face a long layoff headed into the World Series. Whether the opponent ends up being the Tribe or the BoSox, here’s hoping that the same hangover effect doesn’t apply.

ESPN and the like have had a hard time figuring out who these Colorado Rockies are, this true TEAM of champions. Well, pretty soon, they’ll all find out.

GO ROCKIES!!! (Also check out Michael’s live-blogging 9th inning celebration.)

One of the best baseball games I have ever seen. What a contest from start to finish. Controversy, comebacks, power, pitching, good defense, clutch hitting, and after an improbable ending, the Colorado Rockies are in the playoffs for the first time in 12 years. Un- be- lie- va- ble.

And somewhere in it all, Matt Holliday secured a NL batting title (and maybe an MVP), Troy Tulowitzki all but locked up NL Rookie of the Year, and the Rockies broke a Major League team season record for fielding percentage. Closest to most fan’s hearts, though, is the fact Todd Helton - the long-time face of the franchise - finally gets to punch a playoff ticket, a fitting tribute to his career.

Seeing this city go baseball crazy in October does my heart good. For at least another week, fans will say: Broncos who?

The Colorado-Philadelphia series figures to be a high-scoring thrill ride of its own, a matchup of two unlikely playoff contenders with amazing September stories. There’s only one thing I can say to that: Go Rockies!

Colorado baseball fans have stood up and taken notice at the amazing, unexpected run made by our Rockies down the regular season homestretch. Ten straight wins in September? Coming back from the brink to the thick of playoff contention? One game back in the wildcard with a chance to win the NL West Division? It’s a feel-good story for a young ball club that is gelling a season sooner than this amateur pundit expected. Clutch hitting, quality starts and fine work from the bullpen have anchored this underdog team.

Michael, a fan with a longer history of Rockies loyalty than myself (Colorado is my favorite National League squad, but all bets are off when they face my Detroit Tigers), has blogged his enthusiasm. Now I’m just waiting for Jared to chime in, but maybe he’s trying to avoid some sort of jinx (in which case, it’s all right if you wait ’till say, Sunday).

Will Coors Field be sold out for this weekend’s huge series against the Diamondbacks? I sure hope so. Go Rockies!

(For now, we won’t worry about the mind-boggling possibilities for endless playoff tiebreakers that could await the National League contenders next week.)

It appears my last post has stirred up a little East Coast angst in my friend David Harsanyi, the genial libertarian and Denver Post columnist who for the most part is a very sensible, stand-up sort of guy. (Nobody’s perfect.) Well, I may have dashed my chances at getting a free galley copy of his new book Nanny State to review - though there is no denying Harsanyi’s ability to use clever and shameless self-promotion.

I didn’t realize that Harsanyi and I both shared a past as sportswriters - albeit he got to cover the World Series, and I was busy writing about high school track meets and Division II college football.

The best part of this exchange is the sweet, sweet memories of last October and the Yanks’ demise at the hands of the upstart Tigers in the AL divisional playoffs. I can understand why David might still be a little sensitive about it, but at least he has the present and the home-and-home series the two teams share in August. We’ll see who comes out on top after these eight games.

Though many on the team have been feeling under the weather, the Detroit Tigers came out on top of the New York Yankees last night, 8-5. Nothing like heading into the heart of the Evil Empire to win the first of a critical four-game set (unless it turns into a four-game sweep of the Bronx Bombers in their own backyard). And as the struggling bullpen is healing up and returning to normalcy (you can’t come back soon enough, Zoom), let’s go back out there, keep up the momentum, and beat the Yanks!

Baseball seasons are long for a reason, but these are the times that try Detroit Tigers‘ fans souls. For a group of fans used to years of futility, the sudden rise to dominance can bring us to a state of insecurity in the wake of their recent 3-8 road trip. Injuries have taken their toll on an overworked, underprepared bullpen, while nearly all of the normally potent lineup has gone cold at once. Somehow, though, they cling to the narrowest of leads in the American League Central division.

After a day off, they have their opportunity to turn things around by coming home to play their next 3 series at Comerica Park. It’s easy to get impatient when things aren’t going your team’s way during the long baseball season. But perspective dictates that I be grateful. Three years ago I would have been ecstatic just to see my team atop the standings at all at the beginning of August. I said before the season that the Tigers’ biggest challenge in 2007 would be fighting the newly high expectations. Even when they’re not dominant, the Tigs are demonstrating real character. Should they stick it out and make the playoffs, I think this will work to their advantage.

Anyone like me, trapped in the dark ages of having a television set not equipped to receive digital signals, ought to read this (though with more than 18 months to go, it seems hardly the time to panic):

On Feb. 18, 2009, tens of millions of televisions that are not equipped to receive digital signals will become useless pieces of furniture. The government is spending $5 million to let owners know so they can do something about it — not enough, critics say.

While the government has committed $1.5 billion for viewers to spend on converter boxes that will translate digital signals for older televisions, it is largely relying on the broadcast industry to spread the word about the changeover.

The critics are wrong: It shouldn’t be the government’s job. It is indeed in the interest of broadcast corporations to notify consumers. And some might even add the occasional mention by random bloggers, too. Just thought you ought to know.

A fitting night for the Detroit Tigers to beat the Bo Sox in dramatic fashion - 3-2 in 13 innings. On 7/7/07, the game-winning hit came courtesy of #7, Pudge Rodriguez, off Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon.

Comerica Park sold 44,193 tickets to the game - standing room only and a near record for the 7-year-old stadium. Sellouts have become the norm in the Motor City, where just four seasons ago the Tigers flirted with record futility.

Now reigning American League champs, the team closes in on the All Star break in a first-place tie with Cleveland, despite having a decimated bullpen. Detroit’s manager captured the city’s love affair with the game, echoing statements I used to make regularly back when the team wandered in the wilderness of bad management and mediocre to sub-par talent (do you believe me now?):

“I know that this is one of the best baseball cities in the nation, there’s no doubt about that,” [Jim] Leyland said.

The crowds are great for Leyland; he admitted he gets goosebumps anytime a capacity crowd gives the team a standing ovation in the ninth inning, but he is most proud of the fact that the Tigers have appeared to lay a foundation that will make them a successful franchise for the long term.

Following last night’s 9-2 thumping of Boston, Detroit News sports columnists Bob Wojnowski and Lynn Henning penned words that are beautiful to read for this displaced Michigander:

Baseball dominates in Detroit, and you should take a moment to ponder that, before you resume fretting about the bullpen. The Red Wings and Pistons struggled to sell out playoff games. The Lions struggle to recall what a playoff game is. The Tigers sell out regular-season games with regularity.

People are attracted to a winner, naturally. But this goes a little deeper. The Tigers are winning with a healthy combination of stars and youth and even some style. They’re still somewhat new, but this is what separates them from their Detroit sports brethren: The Tigers have the potential to be dominant in every area.

OK, we’ll temper the superlatives. But if you watched lean, lanky lefty [22-year-old phenom Andrew] Miller stymie the Bosox on three hits, and you watched Boston starter Julian Tavarez get so flustered, he was warned after hitting Gary Sheffield with a pitch, you know the Tigers can rattle anyone. [emphasis mine]

What’s more, five Detroit players headed to the All-Star Game to represent the American League? My friends, I was 8 years old the last time that happened. And I’m a little ways past “spring chicken”hood now.

It’s so much fun to be a Detroit Tigers fan again. A dozen (or more) long years of faithful anticipation are now being rewarded. May it be a dozen (or more) seasons of competitive success (a World Series title or two along the way would be sweet) for the Olde English D.

Sure, there are more important things in life than baseball. But not as many as you may think.

What a night for Detroit Tigers fans! The reigning American League Rookie of the Year put to rest any lingering rumors of a possible sophomore slump in dominant fashion, with a stellar Comerica Park performance. Justin Verlander, the 24-year-old pride of Goochland, Va., denied the Milwaukee Brewers a single basehit in an impressive 4-0 victory tonight at Comerica Park in Detroit. Here’s the bottom line: a 99 MPH heater, a wicked Uncle Charley, 112 pitches, 12 strikeouts, 4 walks, only 3 balls hit outside the infield, and one spectacular double play in the 8th inning.

Drafted by the Tigers in 2004, Verlander (7-2, 2.79 ERA) recorded only the sixth no-hitter in Tigers’ franchise history, the last time coming on April 7, 1984, when Jack Morris mowed down the Chicago White Sox at Old Comiskey. Verlander was barely a year old then. The last Tiger to throw a no-hitter in Detroit was Virgil Trucks, who amazingly performed the feat twice in the same 1952 season.

After a recent slump, Detroit has pulled back into a first-place tie in the American League Central with the Cleveland Indians. Loyal Tiger fans everywhere look forward to many more seasons with Justin Verlander in the rotation. Can’t you hear the ROAR?

Spelling geeks of the world, re-unite: The finals of the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee appears on network television tonight for the 2nd consecutive year. The 2006 edition must have been enough of a ratings success to bring back an event once confined to the popular shadows.

Returning for his fifth and final year of bee eligibility, 13-year-old Samir Patel of Fort Worth, Texas, occupies most of the spotlight with the expectations that this might finally be his year. By the same token, there are several top-notch spellers from the United States and Canada with a legitimate chance to win the 80th annual Scripps Howard event. For its part, the Rocky Mountain News focuses our attention on 14-year-old Maithreyi Gopalakrishnan, the Superior girl who represents Colorado’s hopes going into today.

Be sure to check out the official Bee Blog from a journalist stationed to cover today’s semifinal action and tonight’s final round. He has handicapped some of his favorites and has his eye on the latest happenings on the stage and behind the scenes. (Who would have ever imagined a day of live-blogging spelling bees? Great stuff.)

And now a brief diversion from politics & public policy:

Simply put, today is the best day on the American sports calendar. A lot of fans today are donning orange and blue to root the Florida Gators to success in an unprecedented feat: simultaneously winning back-to-back NCAA basketball titles while defeating the same school they beat to win the NCAA football title earlier in the year. Whoa! Yes, this game will be fun to watch for sure, and here’s hoping that Ohio State can make it a close contest.

But around this house today, sports fans don their blue and orange to celebrate Major League Baseball’s Opening Day. My beloved Detroit Tigers begin their American League pennant defense at home against the Toronto Blue Jays, with emerging pitching phenom Jeremy Bonderman on the mound.

Baseball fever has seized the land of my nativity with a newfound fervor, as a team coming off two long decades of futility shocked the sports world en route to last year’s Fall Classic. This year the AL Champion Tigers are back, virtually intact: with the proven powerful bat of Gary Sheffield added to the lineup to boost an offense that seemed to shy away last October against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Pitching? The Tigers are loaded - witness the fact that the loss of Kenny Rogers for half the season to a blood clot in his arm will slow Detroit down a bit but should be far from fatal. Almost every other team in the Majors would sell the farm to have the young talented combo of Bonderman - Justin Verlander - Nate Robertson - Joel Zumaya, with the amazing Andrew Miller groomed to join them soon.

Whatever the results on Opening Day, it signals the return of baseball season - the first Detroit has experienced with great hopes, expectation, and confidence in a long time. Less than 3 hours ’till Jeremy tosses out the first pitch: How sweet it is!

As college basketball fever sweeps the land today (have you filled out your brackets yet?), let’s not forget another type of March Madness: the ability of taxpayer-funded lobbyists to treat our elected officials to luxury box suites and high-priced seats at NCAA Tournament games. Check out RealMarchMadness.com, sponsored by Americans for Prosperity (HT: John Fund, Opinion Journal).

By the way, how does this Final Four sound?: Florida, Pittsburgh, North Carolina, Louisville. If you think I’m crazy, just remember what time of year it is.

Anyone out there who may wonder what exactly it is I do for a living, this terrific piece from the New York Times (gulp … yes, I said it) - complete with a photo of my boss Jon Caldara and a quick mention of my place of employment - gives a glimpse into the working world I inhabit. You may get an inkling of what it is I do … just an inkling, though.

A great weekend to all, and M GO BLUE … Beat the Buckeyes!

Baseball season is over. Time to move on to other things.

Have I been disappointed thus far by my Detroit Tigers‘ performance in the World Series? Yes. Now that they’re down 3-1 to St. Louis, have I given them up for dead? Certainly not.

This team has been counted out before, and it makes my day to see ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski not only write off the Tigers’ chances as dead and buried but also spit on the fresh grave. Of course, Cardinals’ fans should be indignant, too, as his East Coast disdain for us flyover hicks shines through (nobody’s watching, because who could care without any teams from New York or Boston in the Fall Classic?):

To the tens of baseball fans who are watching the lowest-rated World Series in history, hang in there. It’s almost over.

Only nine innings and one more victory separate the St. Louis Cardinals from their first World Series championship since 1982 … and the Detroit Tigers from a long, painful offseason of watching Tom Emanski instructional fielding videos. And if the expected downpours take a breather, that championship could come as early as Friday evening.

Forget Polanco’s struggles. Forget “dirtgate.” Forget four fielding errors by pitchers. Forget playing Eckstein too shallow, or serving up a fat pitch to Albert Pujols. Forget the first four games.

Thanks for the bulletin board material, Mr. Wojciechowski. We’ll put it right next to the clips about the 1968 Tigers’ World Series comeback against the Cardinals.

We’ve got a long way to go, but the Series ain’t over yet.

Enough with Fox and ESPN’s contrived controversy about dirt on Kenny Rogers’ hand. He pitched a good game. Get over it, St. Louis. Bring on Game 3.

In the spirit of a Detroit Tigers team returning to the World Series for the first time since it was “Morning Again in America” and Stevie Wonder topped the charts, I just had to link back to this bit of childhood nostalgia. It’s 1984 all over again and time to “Bless You Boys.”

Restore the Roar once more. Wow!

Not often do I write about my Detroit Tigers‘ ongoing special season, one that has far more than revived the franchise from a decade-plus of the doldrums. But last night’s 10-4 victory over Tampa Bay hit so many milestones that it’s impossible to ignore:

Go get ‘em, Tigers!