Though I may not post much anymore, rest assured that I am not neglecting my Total Amateur Analysis duties. For the most part. I have been watching all the games this past week (due to being “on vacation” from work), even though most did not produce desirable results. Justin Verlander still can’t figure out the Indians, who spent three days at Comerica Park looking like how they did last year (they then proceeded to get swept by Seattle at Progressive Field). Meanwhile, Kenny Rogers just looks like he’s running out of steam (Although…ever since he took the loss in that extra-innings game on the last day of the 2006 season when the Tigers were swept by the Royals, he has made a bunch of starts against Kansas City and he’s only pitched well in one of them). However, we got another real good start from Galarraga today and it’s only a shame that he couldn’t get the win (Although I think the chances of him winning Rookie of the Year are exceptionally slim, a win WOULD have helped his case). And unfortunately, his next start will be against Minnesota, and he has yet to figure them out. Three of his four losses have come against the Twins. By the way, I would’ve actually been willing to post a photo, but the AP or Yahoo seems to have not posted any since Chris Lambert’s start against the Indians. On an unrelated note, the Tigers have announced their September call-ups. I’m very surprised that Clete Thomas is not on the list, but I guess after Leyland criticized him (and Michael Hollimon) for not producing after being sent down, I could see his point. I AM just a little curious about seeing Dusty Ryan, despite my general disinterest in American catchers (at least, I think he’s American). Speaking of catchers, tomorrow is that makeup game against the Yankees, and, after careful deliberation, I have decided that I will not watch (nor will I listen to the radio). This’ll mark the first time that I have intentionally avoided an entire game without having some sort of schedule conflict, but I’ve reached the conclusion that it’s better just to let some things die. No sense reopening old wounds, right? It’s a shame to waste a Justin Verlander start that way, but I’ll have to make sure I see him next time (By the way, Justin was probably the LAST pitcher I wanted to face the Yankees; I would much rather it have been Chris Lambert, who is a complete and total stranger to them). Oddly enough, I had a dream last night that I had this particular game on TV, but I was trying to not watch or listen to it (I always make things real difficult for myself like that). Also, for some reason, the game was at Yankee Stadium instead of Comerica Park (marking the first time that Yankee Stadium has made an appearance in my dreams) and Nate Robertson was the starting pitcher. Despite my best efforts to not pay attention, I heard that they were going to interview Miguel Cabrera, and I left the room to tell my dad this (I don’t know why). Then I woke up.

By the way, did anyone see the CC Sabathia one-hitter? That guy has become a complete-game machine since moving to the National League. And what did you make of the one “hit?” Now, since I am neither a Brewers fan nor a Pirates fan, believe me when I say I can give a neutral judgment on this, but I think Sabathia would’ve been able to throw LaRoche out had he fielded the ball cleanly. It probably should have been ruled an error. However, it would’ve been a Catch-22 for the scorekeeper to change it later, because it would have looked like he only changed it to make it a no-hitter.     

I’m currently using the pharmacy student lab, which I’m not real fond of because it’s usually very crowded and because, well, the other students here actually tend to do work and I feel awkward going somewhere like Xanga (though I did catch someone looking at ESPN’s website, so I feel a bit less conspicuous). The only “work” I have to do that is relevant to a computer merely involves printing out lecture notes, and since I still have about half an hour before any of the lunch places open, that’s really not quite enough. I’m also stuck using Office 2007 on this computer, and I’m definitely not loving it. At least this computer uses XP and not Vista. I have used Vista once, and essentially Vista features pretty much everything I hate about Mac OS or Macs in general (bouncing icons, “shrinking” windows, etc). But I digress.

Well, the Olympics are now over, and regrettably, I didn’t talk much about them. I mentioned the U.S. softball team, which went on to only lose one game, but unfortunately, it was the one that counted the most. Then there was the Japanese pitcher, who threw three complete games (two of which were extra-innings affairs) and over 400 pitches in the span of two days. Now, I know pitching in softball is not as hard on the arm as it is in baseball, but that still strikes me as a lot. On a different subject, I was amazed as to how well my mom was able to follow volleyball. She was actually sort of getting into it, as a matter of fact. She was also kinda into watching Michael Phelps, but mostly cuz she was hoping Mark Spitz would turn up, which he eventually did.

Well, if the Tigers aren’t gonna get into the playoffs, could they at least manage to hang on to third place? If they’re gonna do that, though, they can’t waste Galarraga outings like they did last night, especially since Cleveland has been playing a whole lot better recently and we’re stuck facing Cliff Lee and Fausto Carmona for the next two days. By the way, I got a bone to pick with Leyland over Brandon Inge (and though this is gonna sound like sour grapes, I assure you it is not). Brandon has now caught about 7 or 8 games in a row, including Sunday’s day game after the night game. In fact, Leyland did that deliberately, saying that Brandon had to learn to “get into that mode.” I have a couple problems with that statement. First of all, I’m sure Inge did some of that back in his first go-round as a catcher. If you want to take this a step further, ever since the trade, they’re acting as if Brandon Inge never caught a pitch in his life prior to July 30^th, which is obviously not true (and really, that attitude is actually a little insulting). Second, Leyland would do almost anything to avoid having Pudge catch day games after night games. Seems to me there is a bit of a double standard. Now, you may cite the difference in age as an excuse, but consider this: I was kind of oblivious to what the Tigers were doing in 2004, so I’m not all that familiar with the specifics of what was going on when Pudge first signed with the Tigers, but I do know that there was a small minority of fans who objected to the signing, and they cited Pudge’s age as one of their chief concerns. Pudge would’ve been 32 when he first signed. Brandon Inge is 31. Again, why the double standard? Speaking of Pudge, I’ve been trying to keep tabs on him as much as I can shy of actually watching a Yankees game (I still can’t bring myself to see him in a Yankees uniform. All right, I did happen to look up at a TV at school just when they were showing highlights from a Yankees game on Sportscenter, but that doesn’t really count cuz the TV was so far away that all I could see was a big black and white catcher-shaped blur). Unfortunately, this pretty much limits me to looking at box scores, which makes it difficult for me to track trends and that sort of thing, but I was getting the impression that Pudge has not been real good from an offensive standpoint since joining the Yankees, and yesterday there was an article on MLB.com that sized up all the big trades, and it pretty much confirmed my suspicisons (also, apparently neither Andy Pettitte nor Mike Mussina want to throw to him, which is also a bad mix; when two-fifths of your rotation doesn’t get along with the starting catcher, you’re most likely not gonna have a successful team). I already knew that Farnsworth wasn’t pitching very well. Now I know that Pudge hasn’t been hitting. Basically, this trade didn’t work out for either team (though I still say the Yankees got the better deal, if for nothing else than the fact that Pudge’s impending free agency will give them extra draft picks).

Well, while you were sitting there pondering my absence, school started again. Today marks the beginning of the so-called “Professional” division classes (and believe you me, “professional” is a HUGE buzzword around these parts). I am now known as either a third-year pharmacy student (old terminology, which I like better) or a P1 student (new terminology). Here is my schedule, which doesn’t exactly sound scintillating, but it is what it is:

Monday

Pharmaceutical Dimensions of Health Care   8:00-8:50

Pharmaceutics I   9:00-9:50

Medicinal Chemistry I   12:00-12:50

Pharmacology I   2:00-2:50

Physiological Chemistry I   3:00-3:50

Tuesday

Pharmaceutics I   9:00-9:50

Pharmaceutics Lab   1:00-2:50

Wednesday

Pharmaceutical Dimensions of Health Care   8:00-8:50

Pharmaceutical Calculations   9:00-9:50

Medicinal Chemistry I   12:00-12:50

Pharmacology I   2:00-2:50

Physiological Chemistry I   3:00-3:50

Thursday

Pharmaceutical Calculations   9:00-9:50

Friday

Pharmaceutical Dimensions of Health Care   8:00-8:50

Pharmaceutics I   9:00-9:50

Introduction to Pharmacy Practice I   12:00-12:50

Pharmacology I   2:00-2:50

Physiological Chemistry I   3:00-3:50

As you can see, I have to get up insanely early and my schedule is different every day. My current plan is to just take a cereal bar with me to school and eat breakfast in my first class, which I can probably get away with, since I’ve got a two-hour break before my noon class and I can just get lunch then. The other thing is that in the labs, you have to dress “professionally” (there’s that word again), which basically means business attire. I’m not really a fan of “professional” dress, but my big problem is that my dress pants don’t have pockets, so I’m still trying to figure out where I’m gonna put my wallet, cell phone, and keys.

I know it’s been a while, but I’ve got a brief report on both the Olympics and baseball in a nutshell. First, the Olympics. It was a very entertaining first week. I, like everyone else, kept track of Michael Phelps and his eight gold medals. However, I don’t really think I totally get the significance of the feat. I mean, when Mark Spitz won seven gold medals, I hadn’t been born yet, and I saw Phelps win six gold medals in Athens. Some of those races were downright incredible, though, particularly the first relay (when Jason Lezak ran down the French) and the 100m Butterfly (where Phelps literally just got in). However, Katie Hoff, who was kind of the female version of Michael Phelps, was kinda disappointing. I mean, she was the gold-medal favorite in a bunch of events, and I don’t think she won any. Of course, the other big event of the first week is gymnastics, where the Chinese have just been downright dominant. If not for the fact that they didn’t qualify any athletes into the men’s vault finals, they probably would’ve swept all the men’s events (I have not seen the finals for parallel bars or high bar, as they won’t be aired until tonight and I don’t feel like looking up the results). The U.S. women kinda did the same thing they did in the team final four years ago and made some dumb mistakes, which gave China the gold. Yay for Nastia Liukin for winning the All-Around, though. And I really don’t understand this new scoring system. The “perfect 10” system was a lot easier. And I also don’t understand why you can’t just give two golds in the event of a tie. They do that in track and swimming. I’ve also been watching some softball, which I’ve never seen before. The American softball team is really dominant, even more so than the Chinese gymnasts. The Americans have got a couple of really big women on their team. And I know this is mean, but their catcher (whom I would kinda have a tendency to naturally gravitate towards, anyways, just like in baseball) bears a strange resemblance to Jim Thome. Women should not look like Jim Thome. However, she seems to do a really good job behind the plate, and that’s the important part. I still don’t like their uniforms, though. Softball uniforms should look like baseball uniforms, NOT soccer uniforms (or in the case of the Australian team, basketball uniforms with knee socks).

Through all this Olympic coverage, I have been keeping an eye on the Tigers as well, though perhaps not as much at work due to the fact that Ross has gotten rather bitter about the whole thing and is nowhere near as even-keeled about it as I am (I tend to aim MY bitterness at the Pudge trade, not at the Tigers’ bad record), so there are some nights where I won’t bring it up. But, suffice it to say, it was not a very good homestand. They did win last night, despite Kyle Farnsworth not pitching very well. And he pretty much hasn’t pitched well since joining the Tigers. However, tonight is a game I have looked forward to for a long time. I have really wanted Armando Galarraga to have a chance to pitch against Texas, and I really hope he pitches well and gets a win out of it. He’ll have to earn it, though, because Texas has a really good offense and they have a LOT of left-handed bats in their lineup.

In Other News: I’ve started re-reading the Harry Potter books cuz it’s been a real long time since I’ve read any of them. I’ve gotten through the first three books fairly quickly, as usual (though I think it’s about time I get a new copy of the first book, as the pages are starting to fall out of mine). However, I’m onto the fourth book, which is my least favorite of the seven, so it’ll probably be a bit more slow-going with this one (However, my copy of the fourth book IS one of the first American editions, which contains a rather large error in it, so much that some fans thought it was an intentional clue left by JK Rowling, which, of course, it wasn’t). I’ve read the first four books several times, but due to the fact that I get slowed down by the fourth book, I don’t always continue on after that. I’ve only read the fifth book twice, and the sixth and seventh books once apiece (well, I tried to re-read the sixth book right before the seventh came out, but I probably only got about a hundred pages into it).

I meant to get this posted BEFORE today’s game, but because I had a massive amount of Olympic footage to sort through this morning, I wasn’t able to get to it. Well, my one trip to Comerica Park this year has come and gone, and considering all the circumstances in recent days, I actually enjoyed myself quite well. Things started off on a strange note. We ate dinner at the Johnny Rocket’s across the street from Comerica Park, and I noticed that Paws was greeting a bunch of fans right outside (Johnny Rocket’s, not Comerica Park, which would make more sense). Also, there were two separate wedding parties having photos taken in front of Comerica Park. At one point, one of the brides, along with about six bridesmaids, came into Johnny Rocket’s and they all went into the restroom together. Later, when I went to use the restroom myself, I could not figure out how they all fit.

This was the scene shortly after we arrived. And you can’t see it very well without me making the photo so large it’d kill your Internet, but there is a lot of hail on the ground. A few minutes before I took this picture, we all paid witness to one of the light towers on the scoreboard being struck by lightning (although we did not realize this until I read it on the website this morning). That’s probably the closest I’ve ever been to a lightning strike, and let me tell you, it’s LOUD when it’s that close. The lightning strike also screwed up the screen, as you can probably tell from the picture. This storm was gone before 6:30, and they briefly took the tarp off, but then they put it back on, did not take it back off until around 7:30, and the game didn’t start until 7:55. During that span, it did not rain at all save for one brief shower that lasted less than five minutes. Go figure.

I learned two valuable lessons on this trip as well: 1) Never put a baseball in a cup holder, cuz it will be almost impossible to get out. 2) If your tickets aren’t for the best of seats, hang around the nice seating areas for as long as you can in case you get lucky. We did. Our seats were for the upper deck, but because it was raining when we got there, we initially stood near some of the seats underneath the upper deck down the right field line. Eventually, the usher told us that we could sit there until the actual ticketholders showed up, and we took him up on his offer. Later, he informed us that a lot of those seats are held by season ticket holders, many of whom would probably not come to the game because of the weather. It turns out that he was right and we were able to stay there the whole time. The only drawback was that we ended up on the wrong side of an aisle, and there were people constantly going up and down this aisle and blocking the view somewhat (also, it was a little too far away to get great pictures, as evidenced by the amount of blurriness), but they were still much better seats than we would’ve had otherwise.  

It was Fiesta Tigres night, and the Latin players really stepped up (Galarraga pitched well, Cabrera and Renteria both homered, Maggs and Polanco both had RBIs). It was also just a little bittersweet for me, because of what happened with Pudge. The people who wrote the Fiesta Tigres program appeared to be having a tough time of it, judging from the first page. I had to be the one to break the news to Laura as well. However, I unexpectedly got a very brief cameo from him. Before the game, they showed a brief video of a bunch of players talking about the Latin influence in baseball, and Pudge was one of the players featured. It was only about two or three seconds, but he was there in some form. Also, he’s still got a tremendous amount of fan love in Detroit, way more than I realized. I saw a ton of people wearing Rodriguez jerseys and t-shirts. I think the only name I saw more often than “Rodriguez” was “Inge” (You know, I like Brandon Inge despite the fact that I don’t want him catching, but I’ve never been able to understand why he is so enormously popular; on the opposite end of the scale, the media tends to really try to hype up and push Carlos Guillen on the fans, but I don’t think that’s working, cuz I only saw two, maybe three Guillen shirts). There was one woman wearing a Rodriguez jersey with a “broken heart” attached to it. That kinda made me laugh (for the record, I did not wear my jersey, and while I don’t exactly regret not wearing it, I’ve now realized that I totally would not have looked conspicuous at all). At least I’m not alone, and maybe, just maybe, there are those who felt even worse than I did. On a related note, to say that Kyle Farnsworth got a chilly reception in Detroit is a vast understatement. They were downright venomous. Even when he was announced, the public address announcer didn’t say his name with the same amount of enthusiasm as he does all the other Tigers. When he first took the mound, there was almost no reaction whatsoever, but once he threw ball one to the first batter he faced, the chorus of boos started. After he gave up the leadoff double and the subsequent single, the boos were joined by shouts of “You suck” and “Go back to New York.” Farnsworth did get out of the inning without allowing a run by inducing a popup and striking out the last two batters, but even then the cheers seemed first sarcastic, then reluctant. The cheers of happiness did eventually arrive with the final out, but I get the feeling they were in spite of Kyle Farnsworth and not because of him. By the way, with last night and today’s wins, the Tigers have FINALLY broken the pattern from last year.

Other than Kyle Farnsworth, it was a well-pitched game by the Tigers. Galarraga did a fine job right up until the end. I really wish he could’ve gone the full six innings, but I guess he kinda ran out of steam. Bobby Seay was really impressive, but I was thrilled that I got to see Joel Zumaya pitch (he was on the DL during the two games I went to last year). Unfortunately, I kinda forgot that I had the camera with me, and I didn’t get any pictures of him. Joel did a real nice job as well.

I found it interesting that of the four Tigers in the starting lineup that I did not see last year (Thames, Sheffield, Cabrera, and Renteria), three of them hit home runs. The only one who did not was Thames, but Cabrera made up for it by hitting two. One thing I had not seen prior to this game was a lot of Tiger home runs. In fact, in the two games I went to last year, the only Tiger home run in those two games was a solo shot by Sean Casey (probably the least likely of the 2007 Tigers to hit a home run, I might add). As a result, I’ve definitely wanted to see more home runs, and I got my wish. And it looks as though Miguel Cabrera has adjusted to the American League. By the way, I took this picture of Gary Sheffield right before he hit the home run.

I almost didn’t bring the camera, but this made me glad I did. I’ve seen double rainbows before, but I’ve never seen one this bright. It just kept getting brighter and brighter for the longest time. Laura facetiously wondered if there was a pot of gold sitting in Ford Field. Strangely enough, it was barely mentioned on TV. At one point, it seemed like all the fans noticed the rainbow all at the same time, and when that happened, every camera and cell phone in the ballpark was pointed at the sky and no one was paying any attention to the game. In fact, I think I took more pictures of the rainbow than of the game (mostly cuz the rainbow was easier to photograph). By the way, the rainbow first appeared right before the Sheffield homer. Now, I’m not superstitious, but at the very least, that IS rather poetic.

And so ends this year’s trip to Comerica Park. Hopefully I’ll make another pilgrimage next year. On an unrelated note, how sweet is it that the Americans swept in Women’s Sabre? The best part is that they actually televised a great deal of it (although it’s a lot more fun to fence than to watch fencing) And I would comment further on the Olympics, but this post is already long enough, so I’ll wait until tomorrow at least.

I told you I’d be back. And don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed my birthday (although the *real* celebration is not until this coming Saturday), but I sure did get served up a big dose of irony. Yes, Pudge finally hit a home run on my birthday. Unfortunately, it was for the wrong team (by the way, I’m trying to work on kind of a tribute music video, but it’s really slow going, so I may never finish it). And the Tigers probably could’ve used him, cuz they continue their trend of losing on my birthday, and really, they have not played well since the trade (and by the way, it was Rod Allen, not I, who speculated that the two were connected). I’m not so naïve as to buy into that just yet, but since he’s been gone, the pitching has really struggled, Brandon Inge has not had a smooth transition into the starting catcher role (including not throwing guys out and passed balls in three straight games, something which my dad’s friend was extremely critical of), and the offense has gone dormant with runners in scoring position. Still, it fits a rather odd pattern that I’ve noticed. For the past few years, the offense has been strangely symbiotic to the point where it’s a little unhealthy. If one guy goes down or is otherwise gone, the rest of the offense goes flat. Two years ago, Polanco missed a lot of time with the separated shoulder, and the offense struggled. Last year, Sheffield was injured and the offense sputtered. And the same thing happened this year when Granderson started on the DL. Well, right now they’re missing someone who was a key player for so many years, so this could well fit the pattern. By the way, one more ironic thing is that so far I’m getting a lot more sympathy from Yankees fans than I am from Tigers fans.

I have a few more observations about the first few games of the Post-Pudge Era. The lone win was that 14-12 win in Cleveland. Obviously, not very good pitching there. Everyone (including a Yankees fan that I work with) kept talking about what an incredible comeback it was, and I guess that’s the case, but the score was 8-7 when I got home that night, so I did not get to experience the emotion of coming back from the huge deficit (plus I was in a really bad mood anyways). They have not won since, and it’s been one issue after another. Verlander, Miner, and Rogers have just thrown WAY too many pitches in not enough innings. Galarraga has been the only steady pitcher so far. And the bullpen needs to not walk guys. As far as Rodney goes…well, remember a few months ago when I said that as much as Todd Jones gets ridiculed and criticized, the Tigers would probably be in deep trouble if they lost him cuz they don’t have another closer? Well, we might be reaching that point. Meanwhile, Kyle Farnsworth isn’t exactly impressing me. And I think I’m entitled to be critical. After all, we gave up quite a bit for him. What’s more troublesome is that the Tigers are still following last year’s second half TO THE LETTER. To summarize, at this point in the second half last year: a split of a four-game series in Seattle, a sweep of a three-game series in Minnesota, losing two of three at home to the Royals, losing three of five in Chicago (one of which was a makeup game, and as they lost both games of the doubleheader, I’m assuming a series split had it not been for the makeup game, all other things being equal), and being swept in a three-game series in Anaheim. And now, this year’s second half: a split of a four-game series in Baltimore, a sweep of a three-game series in Kansas City, losing two of three at home to the White Sox, a split of a four-game series in Cleveland, and being swept in Tampa Bay. At this point last year, the Tigers would proceed to lose two of three in Oakland. How ‘bout we finally break the cycle and win at least two of the three games in Chicago, huh boys? Posting will still probably not be as regular, but I’ll chime in if I have enough to talk about.