Leelanau Sports Guy’s World at sportspig.com

I just heard this and I am a bit troubled by it…

Tigers SS Carlos Guillen recently signed with Scott Boras. Maybe that’s because the Tigers clubhouse includes Boras clients LHP Kenny Rogers, C Ivan Rodriguez and RF Magglio Ordonez working under contracts that guarantee them a combined $131 million. Guillen won’t be a free agent until after next season, and now it’s less likely he’ll sign an extension without testing the market.

I am holding out hope he will sign an extension with the Tigers, I believe Guillen has some loyalty, but we shall see.

Read Inside Dish: Baldelli blows off comeback snub at Yahoo! Sports

Boys Soccer: Benzie slips by Glen Lake
Benzie grabbed their first soccer win of the season with a 2-1 win over Glen Lake.

Boys Soccer: Dingrando scores 4 goals in SB win
Alex Dingrando scored four goals to help Suttons Bay in a 9-4 non-conference win over Manistee. The Norsemen improve to 2-2 on the season.

Cross-Country: Suttons Bay runners compete at Manton Invitational
Click the link below for details.

Read Titans capture Saginaw Heritage Quad in the Record Eagle

Let me start by saying, that thank goodness Mariano Rivera can’t save every game. I am not saying this wouldn’t have still happened, but the odds would have been much lower. Craig Monroe’s 3-run 9th inning homerun gave the Tigers a double-header split with the Yankees as they came from behind for a 5-3 win in Game 2. Nate Robertson was the hard-luck loser in game 1 in a 2-0 loss.

This could be one of the biggest wins of the year as the Tigers try to hold on to the lead in the AL Central. Here’s what Monroe had to say…

“It feels good to do something special for this team,” Monroe said. “They deserve (my) best effort, because they give me their best effort. And to give me an opportunity to win the game … actually, I don’t feel like I won the game.”

Go Tigers!

Read EVERYBODY PANIC!!! – I was damn close to pushing the button edition at The Wayne Fontes Experience
Read Oh, my Craig Monroe!!! at Sweaty Men Endeavors

In both posts comments above, The Sports Dude has coined a new phrase, go check it out!

Freshman Alisha Glass recorded 37 assists to help #2 ranked Penn State to a 30-32, 24-30, 30-23, 30-23, 15-6 win over LSU in the final of the LSU Classic. Glass has played in all 11 games and is third on the team in blocks and tied for third in digs.

Read No. 2 Penn State Women’s Volleyball Survives LSU, 3-2 at GoPSUsports.com

Girls Basketball: Eagles, Lakers fall in Tip-Off Classic
A good first half wasn’t enough as Lake Leelanau St. Mary fell to T.C. St. Francis 54-39 in the Katie Heintz “We Believe” Tip-Off Classic. The Eagles held a 27-23 halftime edge. Alyssa Korson scored 14 points and Susan Herman 11.

Glen Lake fell to T.C. Christian 36-24 and will now face St. Mary in the consolation game today.

Read Glads shake off jitters, St. Mary’s in the Record Eagle

Girls Basketball: Lady Norse fall to Ramblers
Crystal Dittrich scored 9 points and pulled down 7 boards as Suttons Bay fell to Boyne City 61-18.

Girls Basketball: Northport falls in season opener
Lauren Browning scored 12 of the Wildcats 25 points as they fell to Baldwin 32-25.

Boys Golf: Norsemen win conference preseason tourney
Nate Kelly led the way with a 1-under par 70 as Suttons Bay cruised to the Northwest Conference preseason tourney title. Kingsley was second with 383. Drew Palmer shot a 75, David Trophf a 78, and Chris Wanroy 79 to complete the scoring for the Norsemen.

Boys Soccer: Leland tops Glen Lake
Leland improved to 5-0 with a 2-1 win over Glen Lake behind goals from Matt Larsen and Brian Zaryczny.

Read Panthers top Charlevoix, 61-53 in the Record Eagle

Boys Golf: Suttons Bay 9th at Okemos Invitational
Nate Kelly and Josh Schaub each carded a 79 to lead the Norsmemen to a 9th place finish out of 19 teams.

Boys Soccer: Sabres shutout Norsemen
Eric Pardini registered the shutout in the Cherryland Conference win for T.C. Christian.

Boys Soccer: Northport cruises past Buckley
Cody Brown and Ryan Blessing accounted for all the Wildcat goals in a 6-1 Cherryland Conference win over Buckley. Brown and Blessing each scored hat tricks and Drew Mitchell registered 8 saves.

Read Marquette tops Stags, Central up next in the Record Eagle

Cross Country: Glen Lake’s Treece takes 2nd
Marissa Treece ran a 18:54.8, but it wasn’t enough to claim the Benzie Invitational title as she finished second to Rockford’s Katie Haines by 10 seconds. Treece ran in up a class in the White Division against runners from bigger schools.

“She (Haines) was awesome,” Treece said. “It was a good race. This shows me what I have to do to get better. I ran up ( a class) so I could see what I needed to do for states. Now I know what I need to do.”

The Suttons Bay girls and boys both finished 6th in the Red Division.

Read Duo on the way back in the Record Eagle

Boys Soccer: Leland captures 5th straight Boynton Invitational
Leland defeated Manistee in the final 3-2 after defeating Forest Area 4-1 to advance to the final.

Read Comets keep crown in the Record Eagle

Boys Soccer: Big Day for Wildcats
Northport cruised to two 5-0 victories, the first over Harbor Light and the second over Grand Marais.

Read Northport soccer posts a pair of shutout victories in the Record Eagle

Boys Football: Suttons Bay, Glen Lake win openers
Glen Lake quarterback Jason Kemp accounted for three touchdowns and 183 yards of total offense to lead the Lakers to a victory over East Jordan 42-6.

Suttons Bay’s Anthony Stewart scored on 4th-and-goal in overtime and Matt Pasch added the extra point to give the Norsmen an exciting 13-12 OT win over Benzie Central. The game was 6-6 after regulation.

Read Rayders open with win in the Record Eagle

Cheryl Ford grabbed a postseason-record 23 boards to help lead the Detroit Shock to a 70-59 win over the Connecticut Sun. Games 2 and 3 of the best-of-three series are in Connecticut. Deanna Nolan was the high scorer with 21 points as the Shock look to advance to the WNBA Finals for the first time since their 2003 Championship.

Read Ford puts Detroit in the driver’s seat at Yahoo! Sports

Boys Golf: Suttons Bay’s Kelly ties for another medalist honor
Nate Kelly shot a 71 to tie for medalist honors at the T.C. St. Francis Invitational as the Suttons Bay White finished with a 308 to capture second place in the tourney. St. Francis shot a 295 to win the title. Charlie Olson (76), David Tropf (80), and Drew Palmer (81) rounded out the scoring for the Norse. The Suttons Bay Red team finished 13th with a 351.

Boys Golf: St. Mary’s earns win
Tyler Shaffran shot a 43 to lead Lake Leelanau St. Mary/Leland over Frankfort 184-222.

Boys Soccer: Leland earns shutout
Tyler Kenney registered the shutout, and Eric Larsen did the scoring as Leland shutout Charlevoix 2-0 to improve to 2-0 on the young season.

Boys Soccer: Norse fall to Elks
Suttons Bay didn’t have an answer for Dan Werth as he shutout the Norsemen 2-0 in boys soccer.

Read TCSF golfers set new mark in the Record Eagle

Boys Soccer: Northport falls in opener
Ryan Blessing scored the lone Wildcat goal as Northport lost their boys soccer opener 2-1 to the Traverse City West JV. Drew Mitchell was in goal and made 8 saves.

Boys Golf: Norse capture Mesick Jamboree
Suttons Bay cruised to the Mesick Jamboree title with a 27-stroke win. Nate Kelly (35), Craig Jasinski (36), Josh Schaub (39) and Charlie Olson (39) combined for a team score of 149 easily ahead of second place Kingsley’s 176. Glen Lake also participated but didn’t have enough golfers to qualify for the team title, but Steve King led the Lakers with a 49.

Read TC Central wins Port Huron Invite in the Record Eagle

Absolute Michigan has a feature on Ty Cobb, recently voted the greatest Detroit Tiger of All-Time. Check out the links and photos from the Hall of Fame career of one of the most talked about players in baseball history!

Read Remembering Detroit Tiger Legend Ty Cobb at Absolute Michigan

Scott Miller takes a look at the impact of manager Jim Leyland on the turnaround of the Detroit Tigers. Needless to say, he’s a big reason, probably the biggest reason the Tigers are in 1st place and the city (and state) is getting ready for the playoffs!

Read Old man Jim’s approach brings roar back to Tigers at CBS Sportsline

An interesting movie title? Nope, just the interesting world of Detroit and Michigan Sports!

Rogers pitches strong in Tigers win

For everyone that said Kenny Rogers was done, and is a bad second half pitcher, he sure is coming on strong.

Rogers (13-6) gave up four hits and walked only one over seven innings, his third straight strong outing.

That sounds like a pitcher I would want to have down the stretch run as my team was battling for a division title. Lucky for us, the Tigers have him.

Marcus Thames led the offense with a homerun and a triple, and Fernando Rodney pitched two scoreless innnings of relief as the Tigers took game 2 of a crucial 4-game series with the White Sox. The division lead is back up to 7 1/2 and the Tigers are looking like their current funk could be finished!

Read Tigers’ Rogers shuts down White Sox at Yahoo! Sports

Lidstrom to follow Yzerman as Wings Captain
It’s going to take a while to get used to seeing someone else with a “C” permanently on their Wings jersey, but it’s a no-brainer that the player should be Niklas Lidstrom.

This pretty much sums up why he’s the right choice…

Lidstrom, 36, joined the team for the 1991-92 season. He is the longest-serving member of the squad and arguably the Wing’s best player. In June he won his fourth straight Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenseman.

Read Just call him Captain Lidstrom in the Freep

The Fall of Smoker
Detroit News writer Lynn Henning has another book coming out called Spartan Seasons II that follows some of the ups and downs of MSU sports. The following article is an excerpt from his book about Jeff Smoker and the 2002 MSU Football team that showed lots of potential, but ultimately fell flat.

Here’s a description of the book…

All the key figures live and breathe, spar and parry in these pages. The great athletes and those who strived greatly. Coaches Nick Saban and George Perles. Bobby Williams and John L. Smith. Jud Heathcote and Tom Izzo. The MSU presidents, athletic directors, and University trustees who influenced the ups and downs of MSU sports. Henning sought them out for their versions of who said what and who took the actions that made for wins or losses on the playing field and put MSU again and again into the headlines.

Read Inside story on turmoil of an MSU star in the Detroit News
Order the Books

Boys Soccer: Leland opens with shutout
Matt Larsen scored two goals to lead the Leland Comets over Boyne City 3-0 in the season opener. Adam Nedow scored the other goal and Tyler Kenney was the winning goalie.

Boys Golf: Eagles finishes 7th at Benzie
Lake Leelanau St. Mary shot a 348 to place 7th in the nine-team Benzie Central Invitational. Traverse City St. Francis captured the tourney with a school-record 295.

Read St. Francis golfers set record in win in the Record Eagle

it was quite a tournament for Nate Kelly and Suttons Bay. Kelly led the Norsemen to a 6th place finish in the Traverse City Tee-Off Invitational by tying for medalist honors with Clarkston’s Matt Fuller. Kelly shot a 73 on the second day at the Spruce Run course, after a day one 68 on The Wolverine. David Tropf and Charlie Olson added 79s, and Josh Schaub an 83.

Suttons Bay coach Todd Hursey was pleased…

“After you’re second, you start thinking about the top five,” Hursey said. “Going into the tournament, if you would have said we’d be in the top 10, I’d say we had a heck of a tournament. It’s quite a field.”

Read Suttons Bay’s Kelly comes out strong in the Record Eagle

The Detroit Shock open the WNBA Playoffs on the road against the Indiana Fever tonight. The Shock finished 2nd in the East and the Fever 3rd to setup this very good first round best-of-3 matchup. The teams split four games this season each winning both on their home court, so the home court advantage could be big in this series.

Here’s some quotes heading into the game…

“It’s going to be nice to have home court again,” said Shock guard Deanna Nolan, whose team has been eliminated in the first round in each of the last two seasons. “It’s been a long time.”

“I think we’re fairly evenly matched,” Fever coach Brian Winters said. “The teams that rebounds and goes to the free-throw line the most is probably going to win the series.”

Read Shock/Fever Preview at Yahoo! Sports
Read Shock Game Notes at the Shock Official Site [Adobe PDF]