Days 11-20: '84 Tigers Roar!

It's not quite a 35-5 start, but the 1984 Tigers are off to a great start at 15-5!  The World Series winners were the hottest team this block of games, ripping off an 8-2 record over the last 10 days.  The Big Wheel, Lance Parrish, is providing the offense with a hefty .367 average, and team-leading 9 HRs and 19 RBIs.  Jack Morris is 4-0, with his usual high ERA of 4.38.  Dave Rozema is off to a nice start, at 2-0 with a 0.90 ERA.  The .400 Watch is in effect as utilityman extraordinaire Rusty Kuntz is at .412 so far.  Look out, 1911 Ty Cobb!

Look for some names from 1984 to be added to the

Injured List from Kirk Gibson's monster high fives 

The real-life World Series Championships teams are mostly off to great starts, with 1984, 1968, and 1935 all leading their divisions at this point.  The 1945 Champs are underachieving though, near the bottom of the Navin Division.  The 2011 Team and the 1911 team are 100 years apart, but both had the worst record this stretch, at 2-8.  2006 Carlos Guillen is riding a 16 game hitting streak, while 1909 Ty Cobb has 15 in a row.


The Player of This Block is 1968's Willie Horton.   The slugger, immortalized in a statue at Comerica Park, hit .429 with 6 homers to edge out 2014 Victor Martinez (.425, 4 HRs) and Denny McLain (1-0, 2 ERs in 16 innings, 12 K's).  Some players are not quite as hot, though.   2011 Magglio Ordonez is struggling with a 4-25 stretch, .160, 0 HRs, 0 RBIs.  1961 Don Mossi had nine miserable innings, somehow racking up 3 losses, 23 hits, and 14 earned runs.

Willie always looked much more

intimidating with his patented Fu Manchu!

Not the first "Not Hot List" Don Mossi has been on  :-(  

Hs ears are the highlight of every baseball card he is on

Day 11    1968 Jim Northrup erupted for 2 HRs and 9 RBIs (a league record, at least for now) in a 15-14 instant classic win over the 1984 team.  2011 Justin Verlander and 2014 David Price both tossed shutouts.  2011 Jhonny Peralta belted three homers.  1945 team put up 20 hits, including four by Doc Cramer, in a 12-3 romp over the 1946 team.  It took 13 innings, but the 1987 Tigers got past 1935 2-1 on Darrell Evans walk-off double.

Day 12    1993 Dan Gladden slugged 2 homers in a 9-5 win over the 1973 team. 1940 Rudy York plated two runs with a walk-off single in an exciting 6-5 win over 1911.  1946 Fred Hutchinson tossed a 4 hit shutout with 10 strikeouts to top Stubby Overmire and his 1946 team.  The 2014 team romped over 1915 12-2, with Rajai Davis contributing 3 hits and Max Scherzer whiffing 13 batters.  The 1944 team scored 3 runs in the top of the 9th to edge 1907 4-2.  

Day 13    1909 Hughie "Eee-yah" Jennings had 4 hits in a 5-4 win over 2006.  2014 Victor Martinez rapped out 4 hits, and Joba Chamerlain gets the win over 1907.  2013 Doug Fister had a no-hitting going into the 7th, and Miguel Cabrera had a HR and 3 RBIs in a 6-1 win over 1935.  1984 Jack Morris and 1940 Bobo Newsom each tossed shutouts. 1908 catcher Boss Schmidt had 7 RBIs in a 14-4 win over 1987.  1944 Jimmy Outlaw (great name!) had 3 hits in a 5-3 win over 1915.  

Day 14    The 1984 team wins on a walk-off wild pitch by 2011 Daniel Schlereth.  Real-life all-time Tigers win leader Hooks Dauss shutout the 1944 team 1-0.  2013 Miguel Cabrera belted his 6th homer in a 12-5 defeat of the 1945 team.  1987 Matt Nokes drove in four  in a 5-3 win over 1908.  2012 Brennan Boesch (there's a blast from the past!) was the hitting star in a 9-2 over the 1911 squad.  1940 Rudy York clubs two HRs and racked up 4 RBIs in an exciting 7-6 win 1993.  

Day 15    We had the longest game of the season tonight, ultimately won by the 1909 team when they rolled up 5 runs in the top of the 16th.  1907 Ed Siever blanked the 2006 team 1-0.  The 1961 team put up 15 runs in the first four innings to romp over 1935 15-9.   OF Jimmy Outlaw (1946) had a walk-off single off of 2012 Phil Coke.  I had to double-check the daily report when I saw the words "pitchers duel" referring to 2011 Brad Penny and 1973 Jim (Gaylord's brother) Perry, but Penny led the 2011 team to a 3-1 victory.  

Day 16    1993 Skeeter Barnes had 4 hits and 3 RBIs in a 8-7 win over 1950.  1968 Willie Horton blasted two homers to push the '68 champs past 1944 by the score of 8-4.  2012 Delmon Young hit a grand slam against 1946 Fred Hutchinson.  1945 Stubby Overmire got another win, 2-1 over the 1945 team.  Eddie Mayo (mmmm, Mayo) added two hits to aid the Stubster.  

Day 17    The 2013 team won their fifth straight, 12-1 over 1911.  Max Scherzer racked up 11 strikeouts.  1909 George Mullin moved to 3-1 as he held off the 1987 Tigers in a 5-3 ballgame.  1946 surprises 2012 as Jimmy Outlaw gets another walk-off hit.   1934 Hank Greenberg hit 2 HRs and had 5 RBIs in a wild 15-11 win against the 1924 team.  1944 was down 2-0 in the top of the ninth, but came up with three runs and held on for a 3-2 win against the 1968 squad.  Dizzy Trout got this 4th win and Boom-Boom Beck (yes, that is a player and not a stripper) got his 2nd save.  1945 Hal Newhouser shut out the 1908 team.  1915 Wahoo Sam Crawford stroked a walk-off single.  The big hitting star of the day was 1935 Mickey Cochrane, who had 5 hits in a 1901 shellacking of the 1961 team.  

Day 18    1935 Tommy Bridges went to 4-1 in an 11-1 romp over 1946.  1924 Ty Cobb and 1911 Ty Cobb both had four hits.  The 1944 team defeated the 1946 team, sending Dizzy Trout to 0-5.  1934 Goose Goslin had a homer and 4 ribbies to defeat Joe Coleman and the 1973 team.  Game of the day was a 12 inning affair ultimately won by the 2006 team 9-8 over the 2012 team.   C-Mo, Craig Monroe, had a homer and three RBIs.  The winning runs were scored on a two-run homer by Brent Clevlen.  

Day 19    1909 Ty Cobb hit for the cycle tonight in a 14-0 win over 1940.   Ed Summers tossed the shutout for the 1909 team.  In an interesting way to win a game, Scott Livingstone got a walkoff  "got on base due to an error" to give the 1993 team a win over 1915.  2006 Joel Zumaya was outstanding, picking up a win while whiffing 6 batters in 2 and 1/3 innings.  2013 Anibal Sanchez outdueled 1924 Lil Stoner in a 3-1 game.  1934 Hank Greenberg hit his 6th and 7th homers of the year to send Jim Perry and the 1973 team down to defeat 6-4.  1968 and 1987 were scoreless going into the bottom of the 14th, when Gates Brown (The Gator!) went yard on an Eric King fastball and gave the '68 team the win!

Day 20    The 1915 team brought it "old school" to defeat the 1993 team 7-6 in 12 innings.  1915 manufactured the wining run when Storm Davis allowed a single to Ty Cobb, who quickly stole 2nd AND 3rd, and then came home, spikes a-blazing, on a Bobby Veach sacrifice fly.  1973 Woody "I am not Travis's father" Fryman blanked the 1934 team, and 2012 Anibal Sanchez pitched his own shutout of the 2006 team.  1908 Matty McIntyre had a walkoff hit to send the 1911 team to defeat.  The 1968 team came up with 5 runs in the bottom of the 8th to top 1987, giving John Hiller his first win of the year.