The latest news from the Motor City.
According to this chart, via The Wall Street Journal, Justin Verlander has been pretty good over his last 51 starts.
But he's got a long ways to go to be Bob Gibson.
Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford is a pretty great guy, if you didn't know it. His on the field heroics are one thing, but he's doing an awful lot of good off the field. So good in fact that, as a former Georgia player, he's attending charity events widely populated by University of Michigan Players. But it's not simply attending the event that's noteworthy, it's what he did.
Stafford donated some Monday Night Football tickets to a charity auction to benefit the U-M children's hospital, and spent some time there during the Griese-Hutchinson-Woodson fundraiser. He spent some time with Faith Falzone, who is having surgery this week, and her brother, Will. Stafford engaged the family his entire time there and, in the end, was moved by their story.
So he bid on his own auction. According to the Detroit News, Stafford bid on his own auction, and won it for $15,000, and then donated the package - which includes six tickets, two of which were donated by Mike Tirico - to Will and his family. A grand gesture, to be sure, and entirely well-received, especially if you read this blog post from Will's mother. So yes, as stated: a pretty great guy.
The basketball ties in the Beilein family apparently run deep. John Beilein had a great year with the Michigan Wolverines in 2012, helping lead them to a solid run in the NCAA Tournament and a top spot in the Big Ten.
Now, his son Patrick has gotten a job coaching the West Virginia Wesleyan Bobcats, a top level Division II NCAA school. It's a job close to home for Pat, his playing career was spent with the West Virginia Mountaineers. The Bobcats finished 22-9 in the 2011/2012 season.
Wesleyan's official site has a statement from Pat since the hiring was made official:
"I have always wanted to be a head coach at the collegiate level and I thank President Balch and Athletic Director Randy Tenney for this opportunity. I am really looking forward to the challenges in front of us and am very happy to be coaching the Bobcats, as well as coming back to the great state of West Virginia. West Virginia Wesleyan has a proud tradition of success in basketball. We have our work cut out for us to re-establish consistency with our roster and coaching staff. I am anxious to get started and continue to build this program."
Patrick had held jobs as a Graduate Assistant at Michigan and Director of Basketball Operations at Bradley University among others since his solid college playing career for West Virginia.
Justin Verlander pitched one of the best games of his career on Friday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates. With a game score of 95, it matched his no-hitter from 2007 against the Milwaukee Brewers, and as you know, it wasn't even a no-hitter -- it was a one-hitter. Verlander lost the no-no in the ninth inning on a one-out single by Josh Harrison.
After the game, Verlander was asked (baited?) for his reaction immediately after losing the no-hitter. Verlander answered the question honestly, which should always be appreciated:
Michigan wide receiver Roy Roundtree will have a new number in 2012. After wearing the No. 12 jersey for the past few seasons, Roundtree has switched to No. 21. Worn by Junior Hemingway last season, the No. 21 jersey is the first recognized as being worn by a "Michigan Football Legend."
Desmond Howard wore the No. 21 jersey when he won the Heisman Trophy at Michigan, and he was honored during the Notre Dame game last season. His number wasn't retired, but instead a patch was added to the No. 21 jersey recognizing Howard. The patch will continue to be on a jersey this season with Roundtree switching to No. 21.
"Coach Hoke and I discussed it, and one day I came into the locker room and went to the No. 12 locker and didn't see my name anymore. I laughed, looked around and there it was, at No. 21," said Roundtree. "I know what it takes to wear the winged helmet and I know what it takes to be a Michigan football player. I won't disappoint wearing this jersey. It's an honor to be associated with Desmond Howard. I will live with it for the rest of my life. It's a blessing."
The No. 1 jersey has been synonymous with Michigan's top wide receiver in the past, but nobody has worn that number since Braylon Edwards left college. Perhaps once Michigan has an elite receiver that will change, but for now, Michigan's top receiver in 2012 will be wearing the No. 21 jersey.
Detroit Lions WR Calvin Johnson is throwing out the first pitch before tonight's Tigers-Pirates game, but he also got to partake in batting practice with the Tigers a few hours ahead of time.
And he looked like a natural.
Megatron's first swing got some nice contact and drew some oohs from onlookers; his third swing was a seed to center; his fourth swing was stroked about 400 feet to center; and then the ball on his fifth swing landed over the fence in the Tigers bullpen (all assuming the video via Fox Sports Detroit wasn't spliced):
Before the game, Johnson joked with Jim Leyland about filling in for the injured Austin Jackson in center field:
"I told him that I was down for anything he needed," Johnson said after his chat with Leyland. "I just want to support the cause."
Johnson says he had some conversations with the Cincinnati Reds before heading to Georgia Tech to play football in 2004. I'd say that's enough to usurp Don Kelly, right?
Detroit Lions All-Pro wide receiver and Madden '13 cover Decepticon Calvin Johnson will be tossing out the ceremonial first pitch on Friday night before Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers take on the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Megatron will also take batting practice with the team, allowing him to relive a little bit of his childhood when he was a baseball player before his mother gave him permission to start playing football in the seventh grade:
"I've played baseball ever since I was five or six," he said.
"I know more baseball history than I know football history," he said. "I've always been a Ken Griffey fan. I've just always been a baseball fan."
It would've been cool to see Matthew Stafford throw out the first pitch to his favorite target, but Stafford threw out the first pitch on April 22 before the Tigers took on the team he grew up watching, the Texas Rangers.
Calvin Johnson won't even be the first NFC North wide receiver to throw out a first pitch at a Tigers game this year -- Greg Jennings of the Green Bay Packers, who is a Michigan native and went to Western Michigan, threw out the first pitch before Thursday's loss to the Twins.
Miguel Cabrera has been better at third base than any reasonable Tigers fan could have expected. Cabrera has taken a lot of pride in his "new" role, shedding over 20 pounds during the offseason and taking inordinate amounts of grounders to the point where his early struggles at the plate this season concerned some that he spent too much time on his fielding.
On Wednesday night against the Twins, he channeled Scott Brosius in his prime and made a fantastic barehanded play while simultaneously spoon-feeding warm crow in the mouths of anyone who doubted him. Unfortunately, the very next inning, after reaching to his left and snagging a line drive, Cabrera sailed a throw to double off Ryan Doumit to the tarp, allowing the runners on base to re-touch and advance.
Unlike the Tigers' other three errors in the game, which cost the Tigers four runs, Cabrera's didn't cost the Tigers any, but that didn't matter to Cabrera; he was still upset with himself when he got back to the dugout and he let the bucket of bubble gum know about it:
Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis, who has given Spartans fans an outdoor hockey game and basketball games at Ford Field and on a Carrier Classic, has hopes to take the Spartans to Greece to do battle with the USC Trojans in basketball. Hollis is apparently very serious about this happening and some headway has been made, according to the Detroit Free Press:
"We've made some headway with Greece, with the venue, but we're kind of in a holding pattern right now," Hollis said Tuesday during a break in the Big Ten athletic directors meetings. "I do believe there's opportunities in basketball to have value back from an NCAA perspective and, more specifically, from a Big Ten Conference perspective of sending some teams over to play in various cities and bring the game of college basketball to them. Those are things I want to explore in the future.
"Europe is a lot easier than China to get to from a regular-season standpoint. But I'd like to see some outreach. I think we're in a global world now, and it would be good to be represented over there with not only (summer) tours but regular-season games."
Prince Fielder of the Detroit Tigers is going to be playing just a little bit happier in the coming days. For one reason or another, Fielder takes pride in being Major League Baseball's Iron Man - which is the title given to the player with the active lead in consecutive games played. He was previously the leader when he played 327 consecutive games between Sept. 4, 2008 and Sept. 13, 2010, but missed the game due to flu-like symptoms.
He was definitely upset when he lost the title, and went as far as to have an IV drip in the hours leading up to the game to try and make a last-ditch effort to play. Now he's got the title back. Fielder hasn't missed a game since Sept. 14, 2010 - the day after he lost the title, and has played in 217 straight games.
Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers was the leader until his streak of 399 games was snapped on Monday. MLive.com has some good quotes from Fielder, who is clearly happy to have the title again. Will he get past his mark of 327, and then Kemp's mark of 399, though?
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