A full baseball season can be broken into Nine 18-game segments. I have termed these 18-game segments as an “inning” of a season. In the past I have provided analysis of each “inning” at www.detroittigersweblog.com. For 2009, I am going to post the analysis on my own blog www.samhoff.com.

Let’s compare the first four innings of 2009:

                                                                      Starters:         Bullpen:

       W-L  RS –RA     HR-SB-AVG/OBA/SLG    W-L- IP-  ERA     W-L-S-ERA

1st:  10-8  102-84     21-12-276/349/432    7-6-103.1-4.62    3-2-4-3.96

2nd:  10-8   99-86     20- 6-265/342/436    8-5-104.0-3.63    2-3-3-5.68

3rd:   9-9   67-65     14-13-252/317/370    9-8-114.1-3.23    0-1-5-4.23

4th:  12-6   85-84     29- 8-259/335/459    6-5- 97.2-4.98    6-1-6-4.08

The fourth inning featured a 12-6 record despite the Tigers outscoring their opponents by only one run. The Tigers were helped tremendously by an 8-2 records in one and two run games. The Tigers must be concerned about getting under 98 innings from their starters. Only two innings in 2008 and one inning in 2007 featured less innings pitched by the starters. Even though the bullpen factored in all the wins (6 saves, and 6 wins) overuse of the pen will hurt the Tigers come mid August.

A full baseball season can be broken into Nine 18-game segments. I have termed these 18-game segments as an “inning” of a season. In the past I have provided analysis of each “inning” at www.detroittigersweblog.com. For 2009, I am going to post the analysis on my own blog www.samhoff.com.

Let’s compare the first three innings of 2009:

                                                                      Starters:         Bullpen:

       W-L  RS –RA     HR-SB-AVG/OBA/SLG    W-L- IP-  ERA     W-L-S-ERA

1st:  10-8  102-84     21-12-276/349/432    7-6-103.1-4.62    3-2-4-3.96

2nd:  10-8   99-86     20- 6-265/342/436    8-5-104.0-3.63    2-3-3-5.68

3rd:   9-9   67-65     14-13-252/317/370    9-8-114.1-3.23    0-1-5-4.23

The third inning of 2009 featured a 9-9 record and a return to the dead ball era. In the 3 years I have been doing this analysis, 67 runs is a low by the Tigers for any one inning. On a positive note, 65 runs allowed is also a low! The Tigers are getting excellent starting pitching as 114.1 innings is also a high water mark for the last 3 years.

A full baseball season can be broken into Nine 18-game segments. I have termed these 18-game segments as an “inning” of a season. In the past I have provided analysis of each “inning” at www.detroittigersweblog.com. For 2009, I am going to post the analysis on my own blog www.samhoff.com.

Let’s compare the first two innings of 2009:

                                                                              Starters:         Bullpen:

       W-L  RS –RA     HR-SB-AVG/OBA/SLG    W-L- IP-  ERA     W-L-S-ERA

1st:  10-8  102-84     21-12-276/349/432    7-6-103.1-4.62    3-2-4-3.96

2nd:  10-8   99-86     20- 6-265/342/436    8-5-104.0-3.63    2-3-3-5.68

The second inning of 2009 featured an identical 10-8 record to the first inning. They have now matched the number of winning innings from last year. What may be even more encouraging is the consistent performance of the team for the first two innings. There have been some bullpen issues and beyond the first three starters, there are lots of questions. But as we stand on this off Monday, the Tigers are in first place in the AL Central on a pace to win 90 games. Based on the weakness of the division, winning 90 games should ensure the playoff baseball in Motown.

A full baseball season can be broken into Nine 18-game segments. I have termed these 18-game segments as an “inning” of a season. In the past I have provided analysis of each “inning” at www.detroittigersweblog.com. For 2009, I am going to post the analysis on my own blog www.samhoff.com.

Let’s compare the first inning of 2009 to the first inning from the last 3 years.

                                                                              Starters:         Bullpen:

       W-L  RS –RA     HR-SB-AVG/OBA/SLG    W-L- IP-  ERA     W-L-S-ERA

2009: 10-8  102-84     21-12-276/349/432    7-6-103.1-4.62    3-2-4-3.96

2008:  6-12 74 -112    15-10-262/345/404    3-9- 96.2-5.96    3-3-3-5.28

2007: 10-8  86 -79     17- 9-235/313/380    5-2-110.2-3.66    5-6-8-4.68

2006: 11-7  89 -69     30- 5-281/332/496   10-7-107.2-4.01    1-0-5-3.10

The start of the 2009 season was much better than 2008 and compares favorably with 2007 and 2006. The team scored 102 runs (more than they did in 8 innings last year) and 12 steals was the most since 2007. The pitching has been improved over 2008 and Rick Knapp is having a positive effect with his “throw strikes philosophy.” The team is ranked 3rd in the league in issuing walks (after ranking 13th in 2008).

One interesting thing about this team is that they have the second oldest hitters in the league (avg age 30.5, behind the Yankees 30.7), but have the second youngest pitching staff (avg age 26.7, behind Oakland at 26.4). The season is young and there are still question marks surrounding this team including shortstop, starting pitching, and a recent history of late season collapses. In the last three seasons:

• 2006: The team had a 76-36 record and a 10-game lead on August 7^th, they then went 19-31 the rest of the year and lost the division.  
• 2007: The Team had a 59-38 record which was the best record in baseball and a 2-game lead on July 23^rd. They got swept at Chicago in a double header the next day on route to a 29-36 finish. 
• 2008: After a horrible start, the team climbs back to a 52-49 record on July 23^rd. They were within 5 games of the White Sox. A blown save by Todd Jones against the White Sox starts a 22-39 run to end the season.

Ed Nicholson Jr. (John T. Greilick / The Detroit News)

Shortly before the 1965 baseball season, “Fast” Eddy Nicholson used a connection to get a job as an usher for the Tigers. His first day on the job was opening day, April 21, 1965. The Tigers defeated the Kansas City A’s 1-0 behind the stellar pitching of Hank Aguirre.

Since 1996, Eddy’s affiliation with the Tigers has not been limited to Comerica Park. When Eddy retired from his full time job at Grand Trunk Railway, he and his wife started wintering in Florida and Eddy started working the third base gate at Joker Marchant Stadium during the Tiger’s spring training.

He has many fond memories of his 45 years with the Tigers including 2 All Star Games (1971 and 2005), 2 World Championships (1968 and 1984) and the improbable 2006 Pennant.  His favorite and most emotional memory came on September 27, 1999 when the Tigers said good bye to Tiger Stadium, their home since 1912. Eddy revealed that he could not hold back the tears when the former players took the field during the post game tribute.

I have had the pleasure of sitting in Fast Eddy’s section 132 for the past eight seasons. One particularly hot day, a young girl near us suffered a heat stroke. Eddy went into action and handle the situation flawlessly.

I am sure that his wife, five sons, and fourteen grand children are quite proud of Eddy’s class service to the Tigers. Eddy will regrettably become the Sr. Usher for the Tiger’s this year, as his friend and fellow usher, Dennis Kilpatrick, passed away in February. When you come to Comerica Park this summer, stop by and say hi to Eddy.

 Always nice to get a little postitive press.

http://www.metromodemedia.com/innovationnews/pattiengineering0107.aspx

Patti Engineering goes from 25 to 33 people in 2 years

Jeff Barker, a Columnist for the Baltimore Sun, has declared war on Gary Williams, the head coach at the University of MD. Barker has been releasing a series of negative columns on Williams and has turned many of the local sports fans against Williams, including my Dad. I completely disagree with Barker.

Maryland hit a real dark period in on June 19, 1986 when Len Bias died of a drug overdose one day after being drafted by the Boston Celtics as the second overall pick. Lefty Driesell, their long tenured coach, who was great recruiter, but had limited success in the NCAA tournament, was forced to resign as a result of the Bias death.

Bob Wade, a successful African American high school coach at Dunbar was hired next. He was the first African American coach in ACC history. Unfortunately, in his 3 years the team was 36-50 and there were numerous NCAA rules violations.

Gary Williams, an already successful coach at Ohio State and a former MD player, took over a program that had faced many NCAA sanctions, lost its once proud legacy, and would have trouble recruiting African Americans out of Baltimore, as a result of Wade.

Williams struggled for six years at Maryland, but hit a turning point in 1994 when, Keith Booth, a Baltimore area African American chose Maryland. Williams built a powerhouse that would make the NCAA tournament 11 straight years and win the school’s only NCAA Championship in 2002. They were the first NCAA champions in many years that had no McDonald’s High School All Americans.

The 2004-2005 season saw a downward turning point. John Gilchrist, a highly talented junior, who had almost singlehandedly won the ACC tournament as a sophomore feuded with Williams down the stretch of the season as MD faded to 19-13 and missed the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1993. MD has made only one NCAA tournament since.

This past off season was particularly difficult as a two highly touted transfers, Gus Gilchrist, and Tyree Evans, both left before ever playing a game for MD. This has left a very young, undersized, scrappy team that so far has still managed to go 15-8 and 4-5 in ACC.

Williams has prided himself on running a clean program. Two of his assistant coaches are Keith Booth and Chuck Driesell, who is the son of Lefty. Both the recruits that left in the off season speak very highly of Williams. He has done things the right way for the last 20 years and I have enjoyed telling my Michigan Friends that they should “Fear the Turtle.”

Now it appears that the School Administration and the local fans may just be dumb enough to let a sports columnist lead the charge to sweep Williams out of town. If that happens, It will be very dissapointing and a sad ending to a great 20 year run for MD Basketball.

Today we are going to inaugurate our 44th US President. For the first time in history, our president is going to be of African American Descent. Now matter your political views, this is a historic day. Our European Brethren, who often times look down on America as being racist, have no room to talk. How many Black Prime Ministers has the UK had, how many Black Presidents in France, could you imagine a Black Chancellor in Germany?

I am not going to state how I voted, but I will proudly state that I voted for candidates from three different parties in my federal selections. I think too often we are programmed to vote based on the letter behind the candidates’ last name, rather than how the candidates’ views match yours and just as importantly the candidates’ character and integrity.

I was having dinner with a good friend of mine, Jason, early last fall. Jason is an African American from Kentucky and is very well educated, multilingual, and has traveled all over the world. He has experienced isolated incidents of racism in his past.

He and I disagreed on whether America would actually elect a black president. He claimed that many Americans may say that they would elect a black person when polled, but when they got into the polling booth would not cast that vote. I disagreed, and said that Barack Obama would be elected if more Americans thought he would be a better president than John McCain.

I called Jason the day after the election to say “I told you so.” Jason revealed to me that he had cried the night before. That phone call was one of my proudest moments as an American.

I am pretty proud of the fact that Patti Engineering was recently published in Control Engineering Magazine. The article is about an automated system we did for Ancor in Troy, Michigan. The system packages Federally Mandated Vehicle Information Labels for all Ford Vehicles sold in North America. You can check the article out yourself:

http://www.controleng.com/article/CA6620339.html

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In May 2006, I first heard Alan Beaulieu speak at the annual Control Systems Integrators Association (CSIA) conference. During the Florida-based conference, Alan remarked that the nation was in a one-state recession, and jokingly advised those from Michigan not to return home. That drew a hearty laugh from my fellow integrators and a couple of teasing smiles my way. I have since become a big fan of Alan’s and would recommend that business owners subscribe to his monthly analysis newsletter (www.ecotrends.org).

Beaulieu predicted back then that the rest of the country would join Michigan in a recession in 2008 and that it would be a pretty deep one - unlike any in the past 30 years. True to his prediction, the country has joined Michigan in the recession and there seems to be a reaction of panic across the nation. Beaulieu also has said that if you think 2008 is bad, wait until you experience 2009!

The politicians in Washington think that if they throw enough money at the financial industry, the recession will go away. Again according to Beaulieu, their moves will only act to prolong the downturn and hamper our children with a debt that they will have a hard time repaying.

Having seven years of experience with a recession, here are my tips on how you can cope with it:

• Do not feel sorry for yourself! Your business can be nimble enough to survive the downturn and even prosper. Many of your competitors will go away. With the banking industry being so tight, there is very little capital for startups. When the economy turns around (and it will) you will be ready!
• Do not look at your 401(k) and/or IRA statements. They will only depress you. If you have not moved them to cash yet, you are probably too late.
• Keep making your monthly mortgage payments and do not think about the shrinking equity in your house. Housing lead the recession in and prices have probably hit the bottom.
• If you own a business, be very careful who you work for. Nothing is more brutal for your business then to have a big collectable for a customer who claims Chapter-11, which ensures you only pennies on the dollar. Get as much money up front and give companies on shaky ground to your competitors.
• Do not skimp on sales and marketing. It is even more important in bad times to get in front of existing and potential customers.
• Do not listen to the mainstream media. The economy will come back. According to Beaulieu, mid-2010 will bring new signs of economic growth. He is very positive about America’s prospects over the next 40 years and I couldn’t agree with him more.

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