Congratulations to Detroit Tiger Brandon Inge for being selected by the fans as the "final" American League player for the 2009 All Star Game in St. Louis. Without a great fan base, Inge wouldn't have been elected. It was quite a viral campaign that helped "the Amazing Inge" be selected.
He's having a great season and is clearly deserving of the nod.
Go, American League.
Feedly is a service that turns your Google Reader and Twitter information into a "magazine–like" appearance. It's pretty cool. I'm amazed by the technology.
Of course, you would have to be tweating occasionally, as well as reading your "feeds" through Google Reader, but other than that, you have no reason not to check out feedly. I didn't know what it meant by "magazine–like," but when you see your page, it looks like a specially laid–out page.
It may just be a fad for me because I like going right to reader and right to twitter (and occasionally to Tweetdeck.
Feedly is very cool. Check back in a week to see if I'm still using it.
A Free Press writer John Lowe (@tigerslive) will keep you updated on many Tigers games. It's a nice feature to watch on your phone if there is no radio station available or if your FSN feed is "black" like last night. Al Yankovic (@alyankovic) provides funny commentary and sometimes posts pictures, like the one below. Many people are tweating and keeping people informed. It's like a text message, only it's not! I'm @rheitmeyer, if you want to follow ... You can comment on other people's posts; you can forward other people's thoughts; you can direct message.
The dude who sang "Ricky" is tweating and posted this pic last night.
You can also find out that Chris Anderson's new book, Free, is available for "free" at scribd.
One of my favorite things to do when I was a youngster was to read the columnists "musing rants" in the Sunday editions of our state papers like the Free Press and News. As a young future journalist, I wondered how they kept everything in order and put together their ramblings on Sundays. I wonder how they did that ... in the pre–tech era?
• How could Brandon Inge be left of the All Star roster? He's having a solid season and is deserving of his first All Star nod. Vote Brandon Inge!
• I have never purchased any of the "new" editions of either the Free Press or News. Have you? How long will newspapers hang on? It's a shame that the industry is in peril. What other industries need to wake up?
• This summer weather is unique.
Just because the sky looks rough doesn't mean there's no blue sky coming. It's tough being an optimist in a world of pessimists.
• Went to Macy's in Lansing on Friday night to buy CK Summer. I get the new version every year. Anyway, I had looked for it at a couple of other places and couldn't find it. The woman at the counter was so rude that I would have told her to (keep) it in my younger days. Courtney, the 16–year old daughter, was with me. She mentioned how rude she was. "When I was your age, Court," I said, "I would have told her off. Even if I did drive an hour to get something." That hour just seems much more valuable.
• Currently re–reading Good to Great. What an incredible book. It's an amazing book, even if some of the companies are no longer ... or no longer great. Research on numbers makes more sense for every industry every day.
• So many great tools to be using: Google Reader, Twitter, Facebook ... And to put everything together and share long links (you know, the ones that get truncated in an email message), use Tiny Url.
Imagine having to interview that cat!
We were in Clarkston, Michigan, getting ready to go. We had done some grocery shopping at Farmer Jack and were getting all set for a week on the East Coast. We were at the corner of Dixie Highway and M–15 where the Boron Station stood for years. Anyway, Grandpa looked at me and said, "Rick, you remember that Imperial we looked at last summer? I wonder if it's still there ..."
The Tigers were 43–43 on July 4, 2008. They were 56–28 in 2006; 48–34 in 2007. In that magical season of '03, they were 20–64. You wondering about 1984: 55–25. This year, they sit in first place, holding off the White Sox and Twins. It's the usual suspects in the American League Central.
The Tigers are having a good season, and no one seems to be running away with any other division in baseballs. The Dodgers are having a nice season in the National League West — but the other teams in that division are having TERRIBLE seasons.
I outlined some scenarios recently, and hope the Tigers are ready to make some noise in the trade market. They are playing from a position of power — although, they don't have a lot to offer in terms of prospects.
It should be a fun second half to the season.
Brandon Inge deserves to be on the American League All Star team in St. Louis.
It was 1989 and my Grandpa Morgan was quoted in Sports Illustrated. It was very cool. The article was about Ernie Harwell and Joe Falls was interviewed. He said he knows a service station owner in Clarkston, Michigan, who says he works every day from "7 a.m. to five minutes to Ernie."
In 2004, my Grandpa was the Grand Marshal of the Clarkston Independence Day Parade for the second time. I didn't know you could Grand Marshal more than once, but he did. He ran Morgan's service from the time he opened it in 1932 at the age of 16 until he walked out on Friday, September 23, 2005, to go to a ballgame with his grandson. How cool is it, though, that he served as the Grand Marshal twice!
Our family spend many 4ths of July down in Clarkston. I remember one, probably 1976, when I was actually riding in an Independence Township Fire Truck. I abandoned the ride early into it when one of the other kids riding in the cab twisted a knob and told me it would probably make the fire truck blow up. I think he just wanted to get rid of me ...
On this 4th of July, it's about 70 degrees outside and it might rain. But, it's appropriate that the Tigers are on the national game of the week in the afternoon. They're playing in Minnesota in a dome, so they'll play no matter what. Even if they did play (and win) in 16 innings. Ernie's 90 now himself and slowing down a little bit. We still miss his voice on the Tigers radio games, but not as much as we miss Grandpa Morgan.
Happy Fourth of July everyone!
You can find out more about the car and why it's important in Morgan lore by tuning into Rick's Writing Again tomorrow. Part 1 of the "Bar Harbor" story was written in 2007 and never completed. It'll arrive tomorrow ...
The original "thesis" or Rick's Writing Again aimed at education, baseball, and entertainment. Lately, I've written about all three, so I've stayed true to the original intention. Since I started RWA in 2006, I've posted several times and still enjoy sitting down and composing. Today, I'm going to write about something that relates to all three. The computer.
Today, I'll write about what's on my mind. I'm writing at my aging Dell 2350 right now. It's had it's problems; a hard drive died, a monitor died, spyware zapped it, etc. I have two hard drives inside the computer – a 40 GB that the computer came with originally and a 120 GB that I added. The 120 GB was large when I bought it and installed it — plus, I never thought I would run out of room.
It's divided into three drives:
The Tigers are in first place. The White Sox and Twins are closing fast. This week–end, the Tigers visit Minnesota to battle the Twins. Taking two of three is a must for our Detroiters. The Tigers don't hit much (remember, they were going to score 1,000 runs in '08) and their bullpen is shaky. If I were to be the General Manager for a day, I would make three changes.
To get the billboard reading something like this, the Tigers need to do something like this:
The Tigers need somebody who will hit the ball with authority. I don't know if they have any positions where someone can be displaced because the defense is sound, but I think I would release Magglio Ordonez because his production has suffered. He may end up suing the organization, but maybe a buy–out can be reached. You can't pay someone $18 million to hit five home runs. Then, I would platoon Ryan Raburn and Josh Anderson in right or left field, and try to trade for a slugger. Someone can be pried loose for a couple of prospects. The trade deadline is coming up.
Next, I would acquire a proven closer. There is someone on a team who is struggling who can be traded for a top–level prospect. The Tigers have a couple of infield prospects who may bring a return. Maybe they have to trade a major league player, as well. It could be Fernando Rodney. Yes, it's true he hasn't blown a save, but after three years of Rollercoaster Jones, we Tiger supporters would prefer a dominant closer. I thought it would be Huston Street (imagine releasing Magglio to bring in Street; the irony!) but the Rocks have been playing much, much better since jettisoning their longtime manager.
If Fernado Rodney doesn't start closing games in a safer manner, he's going to be selling Bud Light to the fans in the stands.
Finally, I would forget about pitch counts for your horses like Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson. Let them pitch. They have a few years behind them, they can throw 125 pitches night in and night out. Let them complete some games. "Stretch them out," as Rod Allen says. Get those guys ready to be the workhorse/bulldogs they want to be. Let them go. Let them pitch. That eliminates the bullpen from the equation when those two are chucking.
In 'o6, the Rookies dominated. Verlander's dominating again; Zumaya's still thinking about that "box that fell on my shoulder." 
Does anyone else remember "Gum Time?"
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