1 and 2 in the A's series. Couldda been worse I guess. We need at least TWO in Los Angeles California Angels of Anaheim, the Angels, in Southern Cal... oooooohhh, that dreaded arena. Are the Tygs worth their met? We will know by Thursday.
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1 and 2 in the A's series. Couldda been worse I guess. We need at least TWO in Los Angeles California Angels of Anaheim, the Angels, in Southern Cal... oooooohhh, that dreaded arena. Are the Tygs worth their met? We will know by Thursday.
Current Lyon ERA: 2.78.
Anyone got his email address?
Regardless of how Detroit does on this road trip, the White Sox nor the Twins can seem to make up any ground on us either. I had heard that our Tigers actually have been in first place the second longest of any team in the majors this year. Granted we're in the miserable Central Division where no one seems to want to pull away from the pack.
I'm not bemoaning the fact of us being in first place. I'm going to enjoy seeing our name at the top of the column but realistically looking towards any measure of success in the post season might be a bit of a stretch for me. Sure we have the likes of Verlander & Jackson to carry this team, but our offense has been, well... offensive, and not in a good way for this team. I've applauded the acquisitions of Washburn & Huff because they seem to want to make a serious drive, but I've yet to see the sticks come alive to give me much hope in the post season. Who knows? Maybe Jim Leyland has got some hitters' bubble gum or special sluggers' sunflower seeds that he'll let the hitters tap into a few more weeks, but so far the bats have stayed far too quiet for my liking. I'd feel a lot better with our chances if we can string a few more hits together and be somewhat consistent.
In the meantime, I'm still going to enjoy our view from the top of the escarpment.
Tigers split on a 6 game west coast road trip and come out 2 games ahead in the parity division [[don't buy in to the "weak division" idea).
Not too shabby.
Now, beginning with the Rays series, Tigers have TWO days off for the remainder of the season, if I'm understanding the schedule right. Rays, Injuns, ChiSox, Twinkies, Injuns, Rays, etc. Good shtuff. And ol' shakey Nate is back Saturday.
edit: what I mean is two additonal games ahead than before the trip.
Six in a row?
Brandon Inge gets a grand slam in the top of the 9th?
And the Twins & Sox are falling fast?
My, my, my... dare I say that our team might be peaking at the right time? Who knows what a wee bit of confidence can do for this team as we go... uh, further [[don't want to jinx things just yet).
Oh geez. I just checked the standings on Yahoo sports and they've already started assigning the infamous Magic Number to the amount of wins/losses for the Tigers to take the division. After today it's 20. So I guess my desire not to jinx them has gone out the window. I cast all blame on Yahoo now if the Tigers fail to make the post season.
The Tigers Pitcher made the ESPN Sports Center Top 10 Plays of The Day with the one handed catch and throw to 1st base.
Since the majority of the games the Tigers have left are against Minnehaha and Chisox, seems like just playing .500 ball would lock the division.
26 more games to go. One has to feel pretty good [[although let's not get Kwame Kilpatrick cocky now) about our chances of making the post season. Leyland's really earning his keep as of late by substituting in some players and resting a few of the key folks as well. Seeing Bonderman coming out of the bullpen and throwing well was a bonus, seeing Robertson step into the starting line-up like he never missed a beat was great, and just having some of the fresh faces up from Toledo will definitely get this team ready.
Considering how hyped we were last year and what a huge disappointment it was, this season's nearly been the opposite. They weren't expected to go anywhere and yet they're in first place- and regardless of who the weak feeble opponents are in our division, we're somehow doing it. We've maintained first place just long enough to get us to a post season berth. And once we're there- who knows what will happen. With young stud arms like Verlander and Jackson pacing this team and clutch hitting from up and down the line-up, who knows what kind of magic this team still might have? Cabrera has been a horse and if folks like Ordonez, Huff, Guillen and Thames can offer up some sort of protection around him, I seriously think this team still has some pretty formidable fire power.
Personally I say we make a concerted effort to win this thing outright. One never knows when or if the Twins or Sox can catch fire the next few weeks, but let's win this puppy and go onward. Use every bit of guile, deception, trick pitch, substitution, defensive wizardry, juju, glove wax, special bubble gum, rally cap or whatever... let's continue winning and enjoying the ride.
People always talk about what a weak division the Tigers play in. So what?
The point is to win your division, no matter how poor it is. And the Tigers are doing just that.
When the playoffs start all teams in it are even. What matters is how well you are playing at that time. And the Tigers have been steadily improving.
Pitching and defense will get you far. The Tigers have both. They also have a flair for the dramatic, which can be good or bad. All I know is I've enjoyed this season immensely. Never expected them to hold onto first as long as they have. Leyland definitely deserves consideration for manager of the year.
Magic number is around 20. That's ten more wins by us and ten losses by Minnesota. Easily conceivable. This time let's win the division outright instead of blowing it on the last game, like 2006.
The Tigers lead over Minnesota slipped to 5.5 games but I am not worried, I am sure we will win the division. I am going to my first Tigers game on Wednesday. So many people earlier in the season said Detroit wouldn't hold onto first place, well when they do I am going to laugh :)
Amazing. We lose three games & get swept by a Kansas City team that's darn near the bottom of the majors in a ton of categories. And somehow we don't lose any ground; the Twins stunk it up simultaneously. Talk about blessed.
0 - 4 yikes!
Still 5.5 games up. Utterly amazing. Again, I'm not complaining one bit. We'll probably make it into the playoffs and have a post season game or two here, but I sure as heck would like to see the offense come together a little bit more and maybe just a little bit more consistently. It seems as though we either score 9 runs a game or we get shut down for three hits.
Admittedly once we do get into the post season, Lord knows what can happen. I'm still proud of this team. How can we not be after the big let down last season. We were expected to win big and failed miserably. And now we weren't supposed to be any better than a fifth place team and we've held the lead in the division for this long. Go Tigers!
Collapsing, OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!
At least the Tigers are keeping the end of the regular season exciting for us! Was anyone else at Wednesdays game where Ernie Harwell made an appearance?
The tigers were picked for last place. We can't complain at all. They've supplied a lot of excitement this year.
What a game last night! They were down 5-0, came back and ended up winning 12-5.
Thank you Zack Greinke for putting some hurt on the Twins as we [[hopefully) slide into a playoff berth. Lord, how I wish we could just run away with our division. I guess I wanted some excitement to this season and getting in spades.
Ya gotta give it up for Verlander. Can't quite put him in the "lights out" category, but he took care of business. I wish that the whole team exhibited the intensity that he does [[and I wouldn't call Granderson's bug-eyed rotating head antics at the plate - intense). But just as soon as I wrote that, maybe it's better to go as even-keeled as you can until you actually end up in a real playoff game. I dunno, lots of questioning regards Leylands strategy lately. But I'll back 'im up on his recent line-up decisions.
Okay - nothing gained, nothing lost in that pseudo double-header. Now, let the real games begin!
I agree that Verlander needs props. I think he did better then the stats show and the runs he allowed.