7-21-08 Detroit vs Kansas City

19-4, 18 hits, a great baseball game from Zach Miner (6 innings pitched, 3 hits, 0 earned runs). Matt Joyce is showing us he is the real deal belting a home run, a triple, and 2 singles to go along with 5 RBIs. Strong games from Curtis Granderson and Carlos Guillen with three hits each. Miguel Cabrera is finally showing everybody why the Detroit Tigers made the trade knocking in 6 runs with 5 hits matching his career high. This was one heck of a major league baseball game. To temper my enthusiasm a bit the bullpen, specifically Freddy Dolsi was bad again giving up 4 hits and 4 earned runs in one inning. The Tigers need to continue to play good baseball as they are now only 5 1/2 games behind the struggling Chicago White Sox.

7-20-08 Detroit vs Baltimore

Led by Justin Verlander's strong 8.2 innings the Detroit Tigers have moved withing 6 1/2 games of the Chicago White Sox with a 5-1 victory over the Twins. Magglio Ordonez and Marcus Thames led the offensive charge, each hitting home runs. Ryan Rayburn also had a strong game going 2-4 with 2 RBIs. These young guys are really stepping up and playing solid baseball when called upon. If we can get decent pitching from the rest of our staff the Tigers may have a chance to catch the White Sox and win the division. The club must take it one ball game at a time and might possibly turn in one of the great comebacks in major league baseball history. Next up the Kansas City Royals.

7-19-08 Detroit vs Baltimore

Neither a 6-0 lead in the first inning or a 10-9 lead in the ninth is safe with this Detroit Tigers pitching staff. Big games from Granderson, Polanco, Sheffield, 2 RbIs from Ordonez and homers from Cabrera and Larish weren't enough for a victory. led by Nate Robertson and his 7 earned runs in 2.1 innings the Tiger staff was again awful. If Detroit can't get better pitching in the second half then this baseball club is never going to win the MLB Central Division.

7-18-08 Detroit vs Baltimore

Out hitting the Orioles 14-9 the Tigers ended up on the wrong side of the scoreboard. Leading 4-3 after 5 innings Detroit was unable to hold on. Giving up four home runs (Luke Scott, 2 homers) ultimately was to much to overcome as the Tigers dropped a game they should have won. Pudge Rodriguez (4-4, 2 RBIs), Magglio Ordonez (2-5, run scored), Curtis Granderson (2-4, 1 RBI) and Matt Joyce (2-4) led the Detroit Tiger attack. A. Galarraga pitched 6.2 innings giving up 8 hits and 4 earned runs recording his fourth loss of the season. These are games the ball club must win to be in contention in September, time to turn it around.

7-17-08 Detroit vs Baltimore

With a 6-5 win the Detroit Tigers have started the second half of the baseball season exactly how they needed to. Led by Gary Sheffield and Marcus Thames the Tigers got the win despite being out hit 14-9. Kenny Rogers picked up his seventh win of the baseball season despite giving up 11 hits. The bullpen threw 3 shut out innings.

Great read by Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit News. It's a sad time, many memories for many people at the old ballpark. Going to Tiger Stadium was like going to heaven for many. With a tear in my eye I say goodbye old friend, I'll see you again!

DETROIT -- The pilgrimage continues, day after day, carload after carload. They come at all hours, from the Bloomfields and the Grosse Pointes, from Detroit's east and west sides, old and young, black and white, dry-eyed and misty-eyed, all connected by an old building that's empty and falling, but in many ways, forever full.

It's mostly a somber processional, marked by the occasional shout of dismay from an on-looker as a mechanical claw takes another bite. Tiger Stadium has been crumbling for a while, since the last game there on Sept. 27, 1999, but now it's officially dying, and it can be agonizing to watch.

But they watch, we watch, in growing numbers, stopping on the I-75 service drive, standing on car hoods and straining to see over the fence, to see what's left, to remember what used to be. Is it gawking? Not really. It's reminiscing, which means the occasional tear is allowed to escape.

Tiger Stadium has stood, in various forms under various names, at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull since 1912, and soon it will be gone. It's disheartening that another of Detroit's one-time treasures will be reduced to trash, that a story of baseball and tradition and family will end with another vacant lot, with no clear plan for development.

Ernie Harwell and the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy are trying desperately to raise money to preserve some element of the ballpark, and it's absolutely a worthy cause. If you have the means and harbor the memories, you should help. If you're ambivalent about saving any of her, I suggest you swing by the lot that's rapidly becoming a plot and gaze at the hole where the center field bleachers once stood, where the flagpole still stands, flying the colors.

From the freeway at dusk, Tiger Stadium looks like some grotesque road kill, spilling twisted metal and frayed aluminum, as clouds hover and the machines gnaw. If you have the time, if you believe that paying last respects serves the mourner as well as the mourned, come spend one more night at the Old Ballpark.

• • •

Larry Whitfield was running errands on Saturday night when the lure became too great. He turned and headed toward his favorite corner, got out of his car and just stared.

"The more I look, the more I talk about it, the more emotional I get," he said. "I've been coming here since the '60s. My grandmother used to bring me here for bat day. Remember bat day? Oh my God, bat day was great."

Whitfield, 53, from Detroit, blinked through his frameless glasses. He still has the sod from 1968, when he ran on the field after the Tigers won the American League pennant. He still has the memories of sitting in the frigid stadium with his dad, sipping hot chocolate, watching the Lions.

It all returns now, as the big crane swings and another chunk tumbles.

"I've been wanting to come by for the longest time," he said. "It's kind of sad, but I like Comerica Park. I just wish they could've done something with this, renovate it or something. It's part of our history, part of my family's history. Now it just looks spooky."

For a moment, there's a flash of annoyance.

"Why do they have to put up that plastic to block people's view? Isn't the fence good enough?"

Through the opening, you can see the distant blue and orange seats. You can see the light tower on the right field roof, where Reggie Jackson hit a ball during the 1971 All-Star Game. You can see once-forgotten games and fathers and mothers sitting with sons and daughters.

"Fond memories, man, fond memories," Whitfield said. "It's like you're losing somebody, you know?"

. . .

Jim Reno drove over from Grosse Pointe Woods with his wife and two sons, and they came not to mourn, but to reminisce. This is how it is during the final nights at the ballpark, like it is at funerals. You tell stories, you smile.

"My first job was right here, as a seat wiper," Reno, 51, said. "Well, I was an usher, but all we did was wipe seats. Most I ever made in tips was 50 cents."

His sons, James, 25, and Marc, 19, laughed. They joked about Tiger Stadium's famously daunting bathrooms with the massive urinals, where as kids they were lifted up for the first time by their dad.

It's funny what you remember at the end. It's funny too, while spending four hours over three nights outside Tiger Stadium, I heard only warm stories, nothing about the losing seasons or the obstructed views or the dark, narrow concourses.

In the dying light, all is bright.

"My dad saw Babe Ruth play here, right on this field," Reno said. "It's sad to see it come down, piece by piece. Couldn't they just do one big boom?"

His family nodded. More cars pulled up. More people wandered over.

"It's really shocking to look at," Reno said, "like a decaying corpse."

It's unfortunate Tiger Stadium never garnered the national appeal of Fenway Park or Wrigley Field, but it was every bit as wonderfully distinctive, from the right-field overhang to the closeness of the seats to the field. There was an intimacy about it, despite its size. It was completely enclosed, a placid scene in the middle of a rugged city, a world suddenly, obscenely opened to the outside now, as the walls fall.

• • •

The security guard didn't want to give his name. He patrolled the sidewalk, reminding people not to climb on the chain-link fence, not to tear away the plastic. He says he's had to call the police a few times but they've stopped coming. Since the demolition began a couple weeks ago, he has caught two people inside. One was a young lady he handcuffed to a post. When he returned, she was gone, leaving the bloody cuffs behind.

The guard shook his head.

"The more they tear down, the worse it gets," he said. "I get grown men crying, begging me to let 'em get a chunk of grass or a brick. These people really love this place. It's making them sad, so just tear it down already."

The guard, who appeared to be in his mid-20s, admitted he didn't quite get it. He went to a few games there and he loves sports, but not enough to weep over a relic.

As the cars kept coming and the pleas grew more insistent, he understood a bit more.

"I wish I could open it up for people, but I can't," he said. "I got a job to do."

• • •

Scott Sitner, 43, clicked away, poking his camera over the fence to take random photos. They came out amazingly sharp, the grass amazingly green inside.

He wasn't sure he wanted to come because he had driven past many times and the old stadium saddened him. But he knew he had to see.

"As I pulled up, I was thinking it's time for the place to come down," said Sitner, from Birmingham. "But then you walk up and you get that feeling in your stomach and you see the hole and it's just the finality of it. It's jarring."

Joe Grutza and his friend, Val MacIsaac, stood nearby. They drove up from Trenton, and like many, felt compelled to visit.

"I don't feel sad, because right now, all the good times I had here are flooding back," Grutza said. "It would've been nice if they could've saved it, but it's time."

No tears?

"Nah, we paid our respects at the last game in '99," he said. "Only two events in my life I cried at -- when Yzerman raised the Cup and the closing of Tiger Stadium. I said my good-byes then, and I don't mind saying, I cried like a baby."

• • •

For the most part, there aren't tears, at least not yet, with one corner of the stadium knocked down. But the crowds will increase in the coming weeks and people will discover what many already have found.

The lump in the throat returns, no matter how long it's been gone.

"When I saw that hole in the wall, it was like somebody punched me in the gut," said Dan Centers, 32, of Taylor, who drove over with a couple buddies, one sporting an Olde English D tattoo on his right forearm. "I remember seeing Cecil Fielder, sitting in the bleachers with my friends. I remember just the smell of it, you know what I mean?"

Everyone knows what he means. It was the smell of old cigars and fresh grass and grilling hot dogs and musty bathrooms. It was the smell of tradition passed through the ages, of generations connected.

"I was gonna watch the All-Star Game (Tuesday night), but then I heard them talking about the nostalgia of Yankee Stadium and I said the hell with that, I'm going down to Tiger Stadium," said Ric Vivyan, 39. "This is killing me."

The Tigers won four World Series here -- 1935, 1945, 1968 and 1984 -- and the Lions won their last championship here in 1957, when it was known as Briggs Stadium.

But it's not just about the games. It never really was.

"I'm feeling a lot of hurt right now," said Edward Lee, 60, of Detroit. "I probably spent 50 years of my life down here. One of my father's last requests was to see a game here and we did, back in '97, just before he died."

Lee's gaze never left the old building. He stood next to his car, the door open, but couldn't leave, not yet.

"I can't think of one bad thing about this place," he said. "Remember the hot dogs? Oh man, I don't even eat hot dogs, but when I came here, I had two or three, right off the grill, mustard only of course."

He laughed good and hard. And then he stopped.

"I'll never, ever forget this place. I know it's outdated, but how come in Europe, they save all their old buildings and here we tear 'em down and put in parking lots?"

He didn't expect an answer, and there isn't a simple one. Some tried to save Tiger Stadium but there wasn't enough money, or solid-enough plans, or enough motivation from the city or from the Tigers. And eventually, there wasn't enough time, even after a decade of dormancy.

On this night, the crane tore into the white aluminum and as each layer peeled away, it revealed an older layer. The mechanical claw clutched a steel beam and battered away at the siding, literally using pieces of Tiger Stadium to beat itself to death.

"Aw man, that's terrible, like they're making it suffer," Lee said, wincing, staring, shaking his head slowly.

In the fading light, the old building was succumbing, its guts spilling out. Amid the loud crunch of metal, you could hear the soft click of cameras. In the growing crowd, nothing was said, and no one turned away

7-13-08 Detroit vs Minnesota

Another strong outing from Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers win 4-2 in a much needed game against the Minnesota Twins. The young guys came through again for the Tigers. Matt Joyce and Clete Thomas both had homers to help lead the ball club to victory. Joel Zumaya pitched a scoreless eighth and Todd Jones the ninth for his 17th save. Going into the all star game the Tigers regained some of the momentum they had earlier in the month. 7 games behind the Chicago White Sox, the Detroit Tigers have some work to do in the second half of the season. There is a lot of baseball to be played and I believe the Tigers ball club has a good chance of tracking down the Sox. If the Tigers continue to get solid pitching and timely hitting it is very possible.
Go Tigers!

7-12-08 Detroit vs Cleveland

Another division loss 6-5 to the Twins. Detroit Tigers baseball has been derailed lately. This time the Tigers were done in by Brendan Harris who went 3-3 with a homer and 3 RBIs. The solo shot off Nate Robertson in the seventh inning gave the Twins the lead for good. Curtis Granderson and Matt Joyce had good days for the Tigers. With one more baseball game before the all star break and the Tigers need to desperately win and get some momentum back.

7-11-08 Detroit vs Minnesota

13-23. That pretty much sums up the season so far. 13-23 record against division foes is not going to get it done. After a 3-2 loss against the Twins the Tigers need to get back on track and win some ball games within the division. Another good performance from Armando Galarraga was wasted by a lack of key hitting. The Detroit Tigers battle the Twins again today in another key divisional game.

7-10-08 Detroit vs Minnesota

Tiger killer Justin Morneau did it again. It seems this guy has a big hit every time we play the Minnesota Twins. Morneau had 5 hits including a game winning home run in the 11th inning. The Detroit Tigers had a 6-4 lead in the top of the ninth when Matt Joyce (2-6 with a homer) let a Joe Mauer hit ball get by him for an error. In the bottom of the inning Joyce was unable to get a bunt down with runners on first and second. Joe Nathan finished the inning by striking out Larish (3-5, rbi, run scored) and Ivan Rodriguez setting up Morneau's heroics. Marcus Thames had another strong game at the plate going 3-4 with a run scored.

The Tigers baseball club seems to have a ton of young baseball talent. Guys like Joyce, Larish, and Clete Thomas have proven capable of playing baseball at the major league level albeit with a few growing pains. If the Tiger's young pitching can come around we should have a fine future in the motor city. Go Tigers!