A great man passed from the earth on a dreary Tuesday Morning. Donald Eugene (Ducky) Fridline was a tremendous family man. Marrying his baby daughter, Patti, I consider myself very lucky to know Ducky the past 20 years.
Ducky was born on the East Side of Flint in 1929 and raised in a tiny house on Maryland Avenue. One of 10 Children, they stayed very close throughout their lives, all settling in the Flint Area. One brother, Herb, was killed in a Motorcycle accident at age 18. The other five brothers all served in the US military, Ducky spending his time as a Navy Corpsman. Now that Ducky has passed, only two of the ten children are still alive.
Ducky returned from the Navy in 1952 and married Jeanie. He got a job at Buick City and she at AC. They bought a house on the East Side of Flint in 1955 having two small boys at the time. They ended up having eight children in all. They worked different shifts so that they could handle the day care and raised all of the kids in the house which was not bigger than 1000 square feet.
An Avid Hunter, Ducky bought a large parcel near Manton, MI in 1970. Nicknamed “Bugatussle,” it became Ducky’s favorite place in the world. The small cabin that was built shortly after the purchase grew with many additions to a place were over 20 could sleep comfortably. Hunting, exploring, riding ATV’s and enjoying the 80 acres became a passion for Ducky, his friends, and family.
Ducky faced several challenges in his life, and approached them all with vigor. He did not graduate high school in his youth, but went to adult education to get his diploma well after his 50th birthday. A smoker for years, he had his last cigarette in 1987 when a major stroke came close to killing him. The stroke left him permanently disabled as he lost use of his right hand and would drag his right extremities for the rest of his life. In 1990 Ducky would battle and survive Prostate Cancer.
In 2001, the love of his life, Jeanie, passed away after a long illness. I and most of those close to Ducky, thought there was no way that he would be able to live on his own. He proved us all wrong, taking care of himself and doing tasks that he hadn’t done since his stroke. He was determined that he would not need assisted living, and he didn’t.
After having worsening back pain, Ducky was diagnosed with bone cancer in late June. After battling for a while, he entered the wonderful Avalon Hospice facility on September 23rd. Ducky told his children not to feel sorry for him, he had a great life and everyone was going to die at some point.
Ducky, you did live a great life, and your legacy will live on for a long time. You made those closest to you better with the example you set. You will be missed.
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Each 18 games represent 1 inning of a baseball season. The Tigers record for each innings in 2008:
Starters: Bullpen:
W-L RS –RA HR-SB-AVG/OBA/SLG W-L-IP- ERA W-L-S-ERA
1: 6-12 74 -112 15-10-262/345/404 3-9- 96.2-5.96 3-3-3-5.28
2: 9-9 98 -87 21- 6-261/350/426 5-8-105.2-5.11 4-1-2-3.61
3: 8-10 89 -75 19- 2-275/326/442 8-5-109.2-4.19 0-5-4-3.83
4: 11-7 85 -74 19- 8-268/350/416 8-4-113.0-3.27 3-3-5-5.17
5: 12-6 86 -78 25- 6-297/347/476 6-4-106.1-4.23 6-2-6-3.43
6: 9-9 118-96 25- 8-299/368/483 8-6-105.0-5.49 1-3-2-4.03
7: 7-11 93- 103 26- 8-265/353/455 7-7-104.0-4.67 0-4-4-4.92
8: 8-10 91- 118 27- 8-263/335/475 4-8- 92.2-6.90 4-2-5-4.68
9: 4-14 87- 114 23- 7-245/330/410 3-7- 99.1-5.98 1-7-3-7.11
In the 9th was an abomination. Four wins was the worst inning the team has had since the 7th inning if 2003 (2-16). Three of the four wins came in the last weekend of the season against a Rays team that was busy celebrating their first ever division championship. The end of the season left a bad aftertaste in everyone’s mouth.
Leyland has now managed the Tigers for three years. The teams combined records in those three years (broken up by thirds):
Innings 1-3 (beginning third of seasons): 89-73
Innings 4-6 (middle third of seasons): 99-63
Innings 7-9 (last third of seasons): 69-93
The question for 2009 is not if the team will fade at the end of the year, but when the team will start fading. Let’s look at each of the 3 years:
2006: The team had a 76-36 record and a 10-game lead on August 7th, 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 23rd. They get 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 23rd. They are 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.
Onto the Analysis of the 9th Inning:
Starting Pitching: Miner continued to pitch well. Freddy Garcia did well in his showcase for 2009. Galarraga was hurt by seven homeruns. Verlander finished a really bad campaign with a thud. Robertson and Willis were horrible and Kenny Rogers is probably done.
|
Name
|
GS
|
IP
|
W
|
L
|
K
|
ERA
|
WHIP
|
|
Zach Miner
|
3
|
19 1/3
|
0
|
1
|
11
|
4.19
|
1.09
|
|
Freddy Garcia
|
3
|
15
|
1
|
1
|
12
|
4.20
|
1.13
|
|
A Galarraga
|
3
|
19 1/3
|
1
|
1
|
14
|
6.05
|
1.09
|
|
Justin Verlander
|
3
|
16 2/3
|
1
|
2
|
14
|
5.40
|
1.68
|
|
Nate Robertson
|
2
|
11 2/3
|
0
|
1
|
9
|
6.17
|
1.29
|
|
Dontrelle Willis
|
3
|
12 2/3
|
0
|
1
|
13
|
8.53
|
1.97
|
|
Kenny Rogers
|
1
|
4 2/3
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
13.50
|
2.14
|
Bullpen: I love slurpees from 7-11, but a team ERA of 7.11 from the Bullpen is an absolute joke. Lopez, much like Miner, put up decent numbers this year but gets no respect in terms of a future job.
|
Name
|
IP
|
W
|
L
|
S
|
K
|
ERA
|
WHIP
|
|
Aquilino Lopez
|
8
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
11
|
2.25
|
1.00
|
|
Freddy Dolsi
|
6 2/3
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
11
|
2.70
|
1.35
|
|
Clay Rapada
|
4 1/3
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
4.15
|
1.85
|
|
Chris Lambert
|
9
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
7
|
5.00
|
1.78
|
|
Bobby Seay
|
8 2/3
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
14
|
8.31
|
1.73
|
|
Gary Glover
|
8
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
8
|
6.75
|
2.13
|
|
Fernando Rodney
|
5
|
0
|
2
|
3
|
6
|
9.00
|
2.60
|
|
Casey Fossum
|
3 2/3
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
12.27
|
2.45
|
|
Nate Robertson
|
2 2/3
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
10.13
|
3.00
|
|
A Galarraga
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
-
|
-
|
|
Kyle Farnsworth
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
54.00
|
9.00
|
The offense had some bright spots. Dusty Ryan hit well and proved that he can hit major league pitching. Miguel Cabrera continued to hit. Hats off to 29-year old Mike Hessman, who has now surpassed 300 career homeruns (288 in the Minors and 13 in the Majors). Curtis Granderson slumped terribly. Brandon Inge continued to not hit and almost ended up below .200, but inexplicably was told he is the starting 3B for 2009?
|
Name
|
G
|
AB
|
HR
|
RBI
|
SB
|
BA
|
OBP
|
SLG
|
|
Miguel Cabrera
|
18
|
69
|
4
|
11
|
0
|
.290
|
.324
|
.522
|
|
Dusty Ryan
|
13
|
40
|
1
|
5
|
0
|
.325
|
.378
|
.450
|
|
Jeffrey Larish
|
15
|
30
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
.367
|
.367
|
.500
|
|
Placido Polanco
|
13
|
48
|
1
|
4
|
0
|
.312
|
.353
|
.438
|
|
Ramon Santiago
|
12
|
31
|
3
|
4
|
1
|
.194
|
.342
|
.548
|
|
Mike Hessman
|
5
|
10
|
3
|
4
|
0
|
.400
|
.455
|
1.300
|
|
Gary Sheffield
|
14
|
49
|
3
|
7
|
2
|
.224
|
.367
|
.429
|
|
Dane Sardinha
|
3
|
5
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
.400
|
.625
|
.400
|
|
M Ordonez
|
18
|
66
|
2
|
15
|
0
|
.273
|
.329
|
.379
|
|
Edgar Renteria
|
12
|
37
|
1
|
7
|
0
|
.270
|
.282
|
.432
|
|
Marcus Thames
|
9
|
30
|
1
|
5
|
0
|
.267
|
.312
|
.400
|
|
Matthew Joyce
|
16
|
37
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
.216
|
.383
|
.270
|
|
Ryan Raburn
|
10
|
32
|
0
|
4
|
1
|
.219
|
.306
|
.281
|
|
C Granderson
|
18
|
71
|
4
|
9
|
2
|
.113
|
.212
|
.310
|
|
Brandon Inge
|
16
|
53
|
0
|
5
|
1
|
.151
|
.246
|
.226
|
The 2008 Tigers were one of the most disappointing teams in Detroit Sports History. Expected to compete for a World Championship, they instead finished last place and looked totally listless in the last six weeks of the season.
Will they bounce back for 2009? I have a tendency to think so. In my opinion, I still have a lot of faith in Dave Dombrowski and think the organization will rebound. I must say though that Jim Leyland may be one of the most overrated managers in the history of baseball (.494 career winning percentage).