The Sports Pages: Leyland Eats Crow

“I always turn to the sports pages first, which records man’s accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man’s failures.” – Earl Warren

Sometimes my wife gets a little agitated with me during Tigers games. Last night, during the seventh inning, was one of those times.

I admit we hadn’t been watching closely throughout part of the game. The kids were up and were demanding attention and while the game was on, our focus was in and out. When the seventh inning started, both she and I were surprised to see Max Scherzer was still in the game. He hadn’t been sharp to that point, yielding a handful of extra-base hits, and he had allowed four runs through six. Still, his pitch count was in order so he stayed out there.

As the inning progressed and the Twins mounted a rally, I grew irritated that Jim Leyland stayed in the dugout when Twins slugger Justin Morneau, whom had already taken Scherzer deep, stood in the box as the go ahead run. “Why is he still pitching?” my wife asked. “I have no idea” I said. There was a left hander ready to go in the bullpen, if he wasn’t getting loose to face Morneau, why was he up?

We know what happened on the field; the Twins rally was ailed by a wild pitch (which happens way too often) and then Morneau gave the Twins the lead with a two-run bomb. Morneau’s shot was a no-doubter that left in a hurry, but not as fast as my remote flew across the room a split-second after he made contact with the ball. I was angry, so was my wife. To his credit, Leyland shouldered the blame for his lack of a move. (Via Beck)

"“I should’ve brought [in Charlie] Furbush for [pitching to] Morneau,” Leyland lamented after the game. “That was dumb on my part. I thought Max [Scherzer] was fine. He was throwing the ball 95 that inning. But it was a little late in the game, [Morneau] hadn’t seen Furbush yet.“I mean, it was set up perfect, and I blew it. It was my fault. Nobody’s fault but mine. And the guys picked me up tonight. That’s a good feeling. They picked the manager up. It was a bad decision.”"

It’s nice when the manager accepts blame for a bad decision. And for the record, I thought it was a bad decision even before Morneau took Scherzer deep again. Moving on…

Fansided has a new blog now open for public consumption and a very familiar name will be offering content there. As of last night, Fansided’s new minor league site, Seedlings to Stars, was launched. Wally Fish is getting the new staff up and running there and he introduces the site as follows:

"What we needed was a site capable of taking the pressure of minor league and prospect coverage off the shoulders of Call to the Pen. We also needed a place where we could assemble a team of writers  who would be focused on covering the minor leagues, prospects and the draft.Today, with the launch of Seedlings to Stars, we take our first step toward filling those sizable voids in our network’s coverage and presence."

Just as he has done here at MCB (and at SpotStarters and Mack Avenue Tigers before), James Chipman will be covering the Florida State League prospects like only he can at the new site as well as bringing you all your news and notes on Tigers prospects here. Congratulations JayRC, and here’s hoping S2S becomes the premier destination for draft and minor league coverage on the net.

Speaking of the minors, Paul Swaney of Stadium Journey recently spent time at West Michigan’s Fifth Third Ballpark. If you haven’t been there, and I haven’t, Paul’s critique will be quite helpful.

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