It's about time I chime in on Detroit's Boys of Summer. Now since being seriously singed and torched for their debacle last season, my emotional roller coaster has finally eased up and I can finally look at them somewhat objectively again [[although there will always be the distraction of the Lions, Pistons and impending Stanly Cup title defense by the Wings).
I really didn't follow Dombrowski's wheeling & dealing over the summer mainly because I had lost a fair amount of faith in the man [[again, see last season). Leyland seemed like a man who was tossed an anvil in the churning seas as well. The team that had brought us so much joy by getting to the World Series had lost me for awhile.
But since watching peripherally a few games, this doesn't look like the same team on several fronts and yet still has some very good points to observe. Offensively we've still got some solid weapons in Cabrera, a faltering Guillen, Ordonez, Granderson, and hopefully a much needed slap hit from Polanco from time to time. Defensively we seem a bit stronger in the infield [[Inge at 3B has always seem like a good fit to me) although Everett & Laird are unknowns to me so far. Anything straight away centerfield I have no problem but on either side of Granderson, I will have to question their range and strength of their arms. Pitching will always be a conundrum here.
I totally expected Bonderman, Verlander, Galarraga and had high hopes for Miner, Robertson and Willis to regain some form to be the back bone of this team. It seems as though Edwin Jackson has stepped in place of Bonderman and while I'm still not a firm believer that Porcello is the next coming of Nolan Ryan, I really had hopes that he'd still be in the minors honing his craft at the beginning of this season. The relievers were going to be a total disaster based upon what I saw last season but looking at the numbers, Rodney seems to have accepted the role pretty well and seems to be throwing worthy heat. I just hope he doesn't give us all clumps of gray hair like Todd Jones did the last few years- very serviceable but scary to watch as a fan.
And after just checking, the lads are tied for first in their division. Woo hoo. Whether that will last for the next 170+ games will be a trick. They surprised me a few years back getting so close and they did it with very little hype or fanfare prior to. I will always be cautiously optimistic about this team- they are OUR Detroit Tigers- our hometown team. I will bleed blue and orange for them because they are the locals and in a way, represent our fair city. I hope they do better than .500 and will continue to improve. They shocked us all once and just maybe they can do it again. A little bit of confidence, some timely hitting, a few well placed strikes, and a lack of injury to the big guns... and who knows?
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