The Sports Pages: Keeping it in the Family

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

The Tigers 6-1 loss last night was an ugly way to end a beautiful road trip, one that saw a pair of series wins. The winning trip brought the Tigers to 16-17 away from the CoPa this year which, while still under .500, is miles ahead of where they’ve been over the past couple of seasons.

You sorta had to see this one coming after the Tigers pounded out 38 hits and 21 runs in the series’ first two games. Rangers right hander Alexi Ogando kept Detroit bats off balance all night and the Texas offense perked up a bit against Tigers southpaw Phil Coke.

Don Kelly was the story for the Tigers, clubbing a first inning home run to extend Detroit’s extra-base-hit-in-every-game-this-year streak. A few innings later, Kelly was the story for different reasons when he missed the catcher by roughly 12 feet on a 50-foot throw, which allowed a run to score, then dropped a return throw from Victor Martinez to the plate, allowing a second run to cross.

Word filtered out just before the game last night that rehabbing right fielder Magglio Ordonez won’t be joining the team at all this weekend. There had been talk that Ordonez could have been activated while the team was in Texas, but now he says he needs more time with the Mud Hens in order to correct some timing issues at the plate.

The delay is not related to any issues with his ankle, simply a case of not yet being ready to step into a big league lineup and produce. A few more games in Toledo figures to cure what ails him and Magglio says he’ll be in Detroit on Monday when the Tigers take on the Rays in a make-up game.

The big news on twitter this morning is that Rogo of DesigNate Robertson has finally succumbed to the pressure and now has a twitter account. You can follow him @DNR_Rogo.

Speaking of, did you see Rogo’s foray into real, actual journalism the other day?

There’s a lot of people griping about the way the Tigers used the draft over the past few days. They spent the first several rounds (after the first, of course) selecting college hitters (John Verburg of the Detroit Baseball Page has a recap), but later in the draft, they dedicated many of their picks to friends and family. Notable among the picks were the sons of your favorite broadcasters, Rod Allen and Mario Impemba.

Personally, I have no issue with this whatsoever. It’s not as if the Tigers are the only team doing this (the Blue Jays drafted John Farrell’s son) and the alternative could get ugly. Such was the case last year when White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen was miffed that his son Onzey was drafted so low by his club (22nd round), Ozney did not sign. To make matters worse, this year Kenny Williams apparently went back on his word and decided against drafting the younger Guillen again, citing the “potential for distractions” that was “not in anybody’s best interest.” Guillen is taking the high road this time around.

A bit of sad news last night as the Tigers have lost another member. Jim Northrup, who hit the game-winning triple in Game 7 in 1968, passed away at the age of 71 yesterday. I’m too young to recall his career, so I can’t do him justice here, but Tigerdog1 offered a piece in his honor over at BYB.

Meanwhile, at the Hardball Times, Chris Jaffe highlights Northrup’s career.

Don’t forget, we are looking to expand the staff a bit around these parts. There is an exciting announcement coming soon so stay tuned.

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