Always A Tiger

[mfbmike]

Tigers/Mets Come To Terms



Ryan Church can discard that "I Love New York" T-shirt he often wore around the Mets clubhouse as the Mets have bid Church farewell.

The Mets, who never seemed to embrace Church dealt him to the Detroit Tigers this afternoon for LF Marcus Thames, 2B Ryan Raburn and P Nate Robertson.

Church, 30, and Thames had fallen out of favor with their respective clubs this year. Though Church and Mets manager Jerry Manuel repeatedly denied a rift existed between the two, the manager often benched him without explanation, and he definitely was not a favorite of the front office.

The same with Thames. Thames was benced recently due to sub-par performance after a hot start to 2009 and was vocal with his unhapppiness with the decision.

"Shocker," Church said. "Came out of nowhere, but I think we're both in a good situation. You can look at it a lot of ways, but you know the business and how it works.

"Talking to Mets GM Omar Minaya, they needed to get a righthanded bat and they had to pull the trigger. I have no hard feelings. I loved it here."

The Mets also gain a young second baseman in Raburn to play behind Luis Castillo (for now) and some left handed relief (which they lacked previously) out of the pen in Robertson.

The Tigers offense has struggled against right handed pitchers so far this season which sparked the search for a left handed bat.

[Justo]

good trade for you. Church should be a solid addition

[goDawgs1433]

Very nice, realistic deal for both clubs. I'm really interested to see what Church can do for you.

[Miggy]

LMAO Marcus Thames FTL.. good acquisition by getting Church

[mfbmike]

Thanks a lot guys. Thanks for all the help in the trade talks thread as well. This trade had me stuck for a while but I think it turned out for the best. Well, hopefully Church can produce when given the opportunity.

I played the series finale with the Cubs and the game in 1 word was "insane". Update will be up tomorrow.

[chazmaniandevil]

nice trade

[albidnis]

Nice one man.. Very legit on your part...

[mfbmike]

nice trade

You kept bringing it up everytime I tried looking at someone else. lulz.

Good trade, Church should give you some batting help.

I hope so.

Nice one man.. Very legit on your part...

Thanks dude. Thought the deal made sense for both teams. Was nerve-racking. I really liked all 3 of the guys I gave up. Even Thames, but things just weren't working out this time around.

[mfbmike]

Update coming.

[mfbmike]

Tigers And Cubs Combine For 18 Runs/29 Hits; Cubs Take Finale

(43-29) vs (36-35)


Carlos Guillen's solo shot in the 4th put the Tigers out in front 3-1.

Despite bringing in 8 runs on 13 base hits, the Tigers ended up on the losing end of a 10-8 decision, as the Cubs claimed the narrow interleague victory. Going 4 for 5 and driving in 2 runs, Magglio Ordonez was the catalyst offensively. The game changed when Bobby Seay came on with the score tied, as he promptly allowed 2 runs on 3 hits and was pinned with the loss in relief of starter Zach Miner.

Curtis Granderson was forced to leave the game after sliding into homeplate and straining a finger. Granderson is listed as day-to-day and will likely miss a couple games. Newest Tigers Ryan Church will likely find his way into the lineup in Granderson's absence.

The Tigers head to Houston tomorrow night to take on the Astros, behind Dontrelle Willis (6-1 , 3.63 ERA) as he takes on Brian Moehler (7-3 , 3.59 ERA) in the series opener.



Tigers Pitching:
Zach Miner 5.1IP | 8H | 5ER | 0BB | 3SO | 3.91 ERA
Bobby Seay (L, 2-1) 1,2IP | 3H | 1ER | 0BB | 3SO | 4.18 ERA
Juan Rincon 0.1IP | 3H | 0ER | 0BB | 0S0 | 3.06 ERA
Ryan Perry 1IP | 1H | 1ER | 2BB | 0SO | 1.66 ERA
Joel Zumaya 0.2IP | 1H | 0ER | 0BB | 0SO | 3.85 ERA

Cubs Pitching:
Ryan Dempster 4.2IP | 11H | 8ER | 0BB | 1SO | 3.26 ERA
Aaron Heilman (W, 3-1) 2.1IP | 1H | 0ER | 0BB | 1SO | 2.80 ERA
Carlos Marmol (H, 16) 1IP | 0H | 0ER | 0BB | 0SO | 4.97 ERA
Kevin Gregg (S, 21) 1IP | 1H | 0ER | 0BB | 0SO | 4.76 ERA

Tigers Lineup:
LF Josh Anderson 1-4
CF Curtis Granderson 2-3
RF Magglio Ordonez 4-5
1B Miguel Cabrera 1-5
SS Michael Young 1-5 | K
DH Carlos Guillen 2-4 | K
2B Placido Polanco 0-4
3B Brandon Inge 1-4
C Gerald Laird 1-4

CF Ryan Church 0-2

2B: Ordonez 2 (8) , Inge (5)
3B: Granderson (4)
HR: Guillen (5)
RBI: Granderson (41) , Ordonez 2 (53) , Cabrera (57) , Young (27) , Guillen (25) , Inge 2 (29)
R: Anderson , Granderson 2 , Ordonez , Young , Guillen 2 , Laird
SAC: Anderson

E: Young (5) , Polanco (3)

SB: Laird (10)

Cubs Lineup:
LF Alfonso Soriano 4-5
SS Ryan Theriot 1-5 | K
RF Milton Bradley 1-5 | K
3B Aramis Ramirez 1-4 | BB
1B Derrek Lee 2-5 | K
C Geovany Soto 1-4 | 2K
CF Kosuke Fukudome 2-5 | BB | K
2B Mike Fontenot 3-5
DH Sam Fuld 2-4

2B: Soriano (21) , Ramirez (12)
HR: Soriano (10) , Bradley (11)
RBI: Soriano 4 (40) , Theriot (23) , Bradley (31) , Fukudome (14) , Fuld 2 (2) , Fontenot (14)
R: Soriano , Bradley , Ramirez , Lee , Soto , Fukudome 2 , Fontenot 2 , Fuld
GIDP: Soriano , Theriot , Fontenot

E: Fontenot

Player Of The Game:

Alfonso Soriano

Soriano led the Cubs offensive charge, with 4 hits including a home run and 4 RBI.

[mfbmike]

Both errors were on balls that they hit into double plays on. :pissed: 10 runs total scored by them, only 7 earned. God that was brutal. They made contact with everything.

Oh yeah, and Ryan Church went 0-2 in his debut after coming in for Granderson after an injury. He will be starting in the next couple games. :D Hopefully we can see some of his skillzzzzzz.

[goDawgs1433]

Yikes, that's rough.

[mfbmike]

Series Review:



They just did a much better job of stringing hits together to bring in runs. I hit for a significantly higher average but a whole lot of guys got stranded out there. Got to get back to getting into hitter's counts and waiting for pitches I can do something with. We take on the Astros in Houston next. And seeing as how that's a hitter's park, hoping we can shake off the long ball funk we've been in.

[mfbmike]

League Roundup:





- Placed LF Fred Lewis on the 15-day disabled list (Torn Hamstring)
- Recalled C Steve Holm from Triple-A Fresno





- Optioned SP Livan Hernandez to Triple-A Buffalo
- Optioned CF Jeremy Reed to Triple-A Buffalo
- Released 3B Jonathan Malo
- Released 3B Shawn Bowman



- Activated RP Sean Burnett from the disabled list
- Optioned SP Phil Dumatrait to Triple-A Indianapolis

[mfbmike]

Interleague Play Series Preview:

(43-30 , 1st in AL Central) @ (50-22, 1st in NL Central)


Minute Maid Park in Houston

Projected Matchups:

Game 1:


Dontrelle Willis 6-1 , 3.63 ERA | Brian Moehler 7-3 , 3.59 ERA

Game 2:


Jeremy Bonderman 5-4 , 2.27 ERA | Mike Hampton 7-3 , 3.19 ERA

Game 3:


Rick Porcello 5-5 , 3.26 ERA | Russ Ortiz 3-2 , 3.81 ERA

Astros Lineup:

2B Kazuo Matsui
C Ivan Rodriguez
1B Lance Berkman
LF Carlos Lee
SS Miguel Tejada
RF Hunter Pence
CF Jason Michaels
3B Jeff Keppinger
Pitcher

Division Standings/Wild Card Race: