Unfortunately, I was out running errands and avoiding the graduation crowds in Ann Arbor most of the day, and my sports updates for the afternoon concerned the NFL Draft, so I don't have a recap of the Tigers' Detroit meltdown. But if Justin Verlander's pitching from the stretch with no one on base in the third inning, and Wil Ledezma and Jim Leyland are getting ejected in the fifth, I suppose it's no wonder the Tigers ended up losing 11-3. Clouds on a sunshiny day.
▪▪ In today's Detroit Free Press, Jon Paul Morosi visits the Cubs and has a chat with their bench coach, Alan Trammell. Among the topics discussed are Trammell's choice of uniform number, why he opted not to become an adviser for the Tigers after being dismissed as manager, and what he enjoys about working with Lou Pinella.
▪▪ I believe this is kind of old news to the rest of us, but the national press has now caught wind of the Tigers' desire to find a left-handed reliever. (Is that still the case with Bobby Seay pitching as well as he has recently?) It's mentioned in both the Boston Globe and Rocky Mountain News today.
▪▪ Former Tigers pitcher John Doherty is quoted in a New York Times article focusing on Little League Baseball's new pitch count policy. Doherty now teaches baseball clinics in the New York area, and tries to emphasize mechanics (and warn against throwing curveballs) in his tutorials.
▪▪ Also in the NY Times, Murray Chass' Sunday "On Baseball Column" looks at a league-wide trend painfully familiar to the Tigers and their fans in recent weeks: Middle relievers keep blowing leads.
EDIT (2 p.m.):
▪▪ And I forgot to mention that Episode #11 of The Detroit Tigers Podcast has been posted, which Mike McClary recorded from the two-game series in Anaheim last week. He also outs me as a lover of Red Robin, something I probably should've shared with the world long ago. Man, that's good eatin'. Bit of an assault on the senses, though.