Archive for the ‘ Dailies ’ Category

It Feels Dead Around Here

There may have been a couple thousand fans left here at Comerica Park when today’s Tigers game ended, there certainly weren’t any more than that, and by “ended” I mean by the time the final out was recorded.  The game itself had ended, in a defacto sense, long before Detroit made their 27th offensive out. 

The final score was 12-2.  The game was probably over when Chicago, now 36-12 (.750!) since the Tigers beat ‘em in Chicago in June 8 to put the White Sox a season’s-worst 9 games under .500, scored four in the 3rd and another in the 4th for a 5-1 lead.  It was certainly over when the White Sox added two more in the 5th off Rick Porcello, the Detroit starter who on this day failed to survive the 5th, who fell to 4-10 on the year and who saw his ERA jump to an altogether unhealthy 5.91.

As a team, Detroit is now 11-19 (.367) since they were last in first place on June 28.  Since the All Star break, the Tigers are 4-15 (.211).  Play an entire season at a .211 clip, you are not just be bad, you are the worst team in Major League history since .211 ball means a 34-128 record.

The Tigers have fallen now from first place to 8 games out of first place in the span of 5 agonizing weeks and one ugly day. 

The White Sox and Tigers play again tonight and I’m going to go out on a limb here and call this one a must-win for Detroit.  Win and they will be where they were when the day began: 7 games out of first and in trouble big.  Lose and they are 9 off the pace and in a truly desperate fix.

Fool Me Once, Fool Me Twice. Please.

When the Tigers 7-game home stand began a week ago tonight I was thinking Detroit was only one quality pitcher (Roy Oswalt, anyone?) away from the AL Central title. In fact, I was hoping I’d run into Detroit General Manager Dave Dombrowski in the Press Box (which you sometimes do) just so I could ask him, quietly, under my breath even, “”Oswalt? Roy Oswalt? Don’t he win you the Division?” before he walked away from me. Honestly, that’s how close I thought the Tigers were: One front line starting pitcher away from the division title and the playoffs and all that it entails.

By early Sunday evening, only 6 days later, I figured the Tigs were toast even if they had gotten Oswalt, which, in the interest of accuracy, they had not.

From that Monday night to that Sunday twilight–in less than a week–what had been, arguably, the best 3-4-5 hitting combination in baseball, Magglio Ordonez, Miguel Cabrera and Brennan Boesch was history and half the Detroit infield was, too: The Tigers lost both their third baseman Brandon Inge and their second baseman Carlos Guillen to extended stays on the Disabled List in the same time frame.

Too much, too fast.  Too many quality players gone for the Tigers to contend any more, I thought.

And on a related and indeed on an even more important note, Detroit had lost 9 of 11 games and was a mere dozen offensive outs away from making that grim toll 10 of 12 in a game in which they trailed Toronto 4-0 heading to the home half of the sixth. 

But, the boys fooled me yesterday.  Maybe they can fool me some more.

I thought they were a lock to lose that game to Toronto but they came across with a couple in the 6th on, like, the one-millionth big hit of the season by Cabrera and then won it in the 8th when Ryan Rayburn–embarrassed by bouncing into a rally-killing double play in the 5-3 loss the hung on Detroit earlier in the day by the Jays–cleared the loaded bases with a double to give the Tigers a 6-4 lead. They won 6-5.

So it was 3-4 on the home stand and two games out of first when all was said and done and all in all it could have been much, much worse. Of course, you also think about it and you figure the Tigers really could have gone 6-1. They lost the first game of the home stand in 12 when they had the ballgame won in 11 had Johnny Damon scored from second on a single by Boesch. They lost the game Saturday to the Jays by a run when they had chances to win, and on Sunday in the first game Detroit had the bases loaded with one out in a tie game in the eighth and failed not just to score the go-ahead run, but failed to put the ball in play at all.

Tonight, heartbreak in Tampa: Max Scherzer was a strike away from taking a no-hitter into the 7th inning when he allowed a grand slam to former Tiger Matt Joyce that looked like it was fair by a foot, perhaps less. The bases had been loaded on 2 walks and the rarely-called Catcher’s Interference. And that was that. The Tigers offense didn’t muster a hit all night long against Matt Garza and instead of a double no-hitter which really would have been big news, instead we get another no-hitter thrown in the Majors which is getting to be a bit routine in this summer of 2010. Congrats to Garza, the first Ray nee Devil Ray ever to toss a no-hitter. For the Tigers, 6 wins now in their last 25 road games (.240) which is most assuredly not going to get it done. Detroit falls 3 off the pace in the Central race with 3 more to play in Tampa before a trip to Fenway over the weekend.

Fundamentally Unsound

The Ernie Harwell Media Center

Comerica Park Detroit, MI

(Sunday, July 25, 2010) — The Detroit Tigers sustained a season-ending injury here Saturday night in a 3-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. 

It happened when Magglio Ordonez–second on the Tigers in home runs (12) and RBI (59)–fractured his right ankle sliding into home in a vain attempt to score the game-tying run from first base on a double to right by Miguel Cabrera.

Ordonez is done for 6-8 weeks and, likely, so too are the Tigers.

As usual, the whole thing was eminently preventable and, as usual, there is blame aplenty to go around.  The “what-ifs” abound and astound:

If Cabrera (what was he thinking?) had simply hit the ball 5 feet further it would have gone into the right field  seats and Ordonez would have trotted around on the homer.  If, when they built this baseball stadium they had not made the ill-advised decision (what were they thinking?) to recess the wall 10-15 feet in the right field power alley, again, the ball Cabrera hit would have gone into the stands and Ordonez would have scored in the manner described above.  If Detroit third base coach Gene Lamont (yeah, what was he thinking?) had realized that his man was 15-feet out if he sent him and had held up the stop sign instead of the “go-for-it!” windmill, Ordonez stops at third and never slides into home base and never snaps his ankle.

All of which is to be duly noted, but the truth of the matter–and it sounds cruel to say it since he was the one who had to endure the pain–is that most of the blame must go to Ordonez himself.  I’m sorry, but it was a simple slide.  I don’t know about Mags, but I know they started to teach me how to slide when I was about 8. Sure, it’s a little scary at first, but you get used to it, and they keep on teaching you how to slide until you are done playing organized ball.  In my case, that meant high school, by which time I could pull off a pop-up slide with the best of them.  (Your pop-up is one of several types of slides and is useful in case there is an errant throw as it leaves you ready to bolt for the next base and carries the additional benefit of looking cool as hell.)   Sliding is an elemental, a fundamental part of playing baseball.  Seeing a player–especially one of your top players not to mention one of the highest paid players in the game–injure himself perpetrating a routine and run-of-the-mill hook slide is infuriating.  Infuriating in the way you feel when you see a player at the Major League level who can’t bunt.  Only in the instant case instead of failing to move the runner(s) along, your whole season is ruined.  That’s all.

Detroit lost third baseman Brandon Inge to a broken hand (hit by a pitch) earlier this week and an inning or so after Ordonez left last night’s game, second baseman Carlos Guillen was lost to a pulled leg muscle. 

That meant that in the first of the two games being played here today against Toronto, the Tigers had a .203 hitter, Ryan Rayburn, hitting third in a batting order which featured five rookies.  The thing of it was, the Tigers still had a good chance to win the game.  It was tied at 3 in the 8th and Detroit had the bases loaded with only one out, but two of those rookies, Scott Sizemore and Jeff Larish, struck out and that was that.  Then, Jose Valverde (and why he was in there in a 3-3 tie I do not know) gave up a two-run homer to Lyle Overbay in the top of the 9th and the Blue Jays had a 5-3 win.  It had been 41 appearances for Valverde since his last home run allowed dating all the way back to the second game of the season at Kansas City.  He’d been money since then.  But that’s just the way things have gone this weekend here at the ballpark. 

The fans are filing in for the second of these two games against Toronto today…

 

 

All In All, It Could Have Been Much, Much Worse

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

All in All, It Could Have Been Worse

by Rich Kincaide

The Tigers ended their 7- game losing streak Wednesday night with a 4-1 win over Texas and moved back to within 2.5 games of first-place Chicago as the White Sox, three outs away from an 11-inning, 1-0 series sweeping win at Seattle, instead permitted the M’s to score twice in the bottom of the 11th to pull out a 2-1 Seattle victory.

So, when you look at what could have happened, the Tigers got out of this mess–this mess being their season’s-longest losing streak–in much better shape than they realistically could have hoped would have been the case.  If Minnesota hadn’t beaten the White Sox a couple of times over the weekend, and had the Mariners not come back the way they did, Detroit could well have wound up 5.5 games out of first, not two-and-a-half.

I was very much impressed (again) by 25 year-old Max Scherzer tonight.  You could make the case that since he returned from a “you’re not pitching well enough to stay up here right now so go down to Triple A Toledo and get your act together” demotion in May, Scherzer has been the best starter Detroit has got.   He was seven innings strong tonight, 123 pitches strong tonight.  His finest moment came in the 4th when he allowed a leadoff triple and stranded the runner right there where he was. 

The Tigers got a huge 2-run homer early from the bat or whatever it is that Gerald Laird has been holding in his hands when he steps into the batters box.  That would be the crude wooden implement which has produced for Laird a batting average which so far has yet to go north of .200 this season.  (Laird entered the season with a career BA of .247., for the record.)

The Tigers added a pair of add-on runs in the 7th and then, after Scherzer gutted his way out of a two-on with one out scenario in the 7th with the final few of those 123 pitchers, Phil Coke threw gas in the 8th, dismissing the Rangers on 12 pitches, fanning two of his three hitters.  Jose Valverde, El Papa Grande himself, finished ‘em off in the 9th, although not in the 1-2-3 dominant style to which we have become accustomed.  Valverde gave up a shutout-spoiling run without permitting a hit.

Toronto’s coming to town next for four starting with a daytimer tomorrow.  They’ll be tough.  The Blue Jays have won 48 games this year.  Detroit has won 49.  Get the picture?

See you down at the ballpark!

Leyland by Half

Sunday, July 18, 2010

by Rich Kincaide

So what we’ve got here is a chart which is going to tell you the nature of the fix we now find ourselves in.  What is revealed here is a simple fact: No Tigers team managed by Jim Leyland has ever won more games in the second half of a season than it did in the first half.

Somebody mentioned to me a while back that Leyland’s teams always seem to worse down the stretch than they do coming out of the gate and when I thought about it, I realized that the speaker was probably correct.  So, I did what the Old Professor Casey Stengel always said you could do.  I looked it up. 

Remember the way the Leyland’s Tigers blew their10-game lead in the division in ’06 had to settle for the wild-card spot to make the playoffs?  That team was 76-36 (.679) on August 7.  The 2006 Tigers finished 95-67 (.586), which means it played .380 ball the rest of the way after hitting that 40-games-over-.500 plateau on a record of 19-31! (Play .380 ball over the course of a full season, and what you get is a team that finishes 61-101.)

How about ’07, when Detroit had the best record in baseball at the all-star break, 52-34, and played sub-.500 ball after the break?  In fact, that 2007 club was 60-40 (.600) on July 25 and in first place by a game and a half and went 28-34 (.452) the rest of the way and finished 8 games out in the AL Central.

Here are the raw numbers for Jim Leyland’s Tigers teams, broken down by full-season results and by halves (Games 1-81 and Games 82-162*):

image

* Yes, we know.  The Tigers played 163 games last year cause they had to play that extra game against the Twins to see who’d make the playoffs.  The Tigers lost, most likely because the game was played during the second half of the season.

If Leyland’s teams performed at their first-half rate (.570) for the entire season, they’d win 92 games a year.  At their second-half clip (.479), they’d win 78.

And now the Tigers have opened the second half (technically not the halfway point as Detroit played 86 of their 162 games this season prior to the All Star break) by getting themselves swept in a 4-game series at Cleveland.  Yes, Cleveland:  The last-in-the-division Indians who were 20 games under .500 before the Tigers showed up. 

So, welcome to the second half.  History tells us that this is not going to go well. 

But there is this:  Look at the chart again.  You will notice one oddity.  The Tigers had the exact same record after 81 games this year that they had last year and while, yes, Detroit failed to make the playoffs last year, it was by the narrowest possible margin and still wound up being pretty exciting.  All in all. 

The Texas Rangers–recently themselves swept in a four game series against a last place team, except it happened to them at home against the team, Baltimore, with not just the worst record in their division but indeed the worst record in the entire American League (oops, I mean) Major League Baseball–come to town Monday night for the first of three. 

We’ll see you down at the ballpark.

Hello Again, and Goodbye

This is what it’s all about, gang.  We’re back in the saddle, back in the Press Box and, as there is of course NO CHEERING in the Press Box, we just watched in silent wonder  as Miguel Cabrera blasted a home run with a man on and a man out in the bottom of the 9th to tie this here ballgame against the lowly Baltimore Orioles and so, just when it looked like Detroit might blow a game to the worst team in baseball (the Orioles came into play tonight at 25-57), Miggy hits a bomb and we’re into the 10th.  All in all, very exciting stuff.

A note on the passing of Bob Probert yesterday of an apparent heart attack at 45.  I talked to a lot of guys who played against Probie and they all said the same thing: When he was coming to get you, be it in the corner or in the middle of the ice, his eyes were as cold and as dead and as utterly lacking in emotion as a shark’s.  These men–paid to be brave for a living–were scared witless by this.  The thing is, whenever I saw those eyes they were either twinkling with joy after a win or flashing anger after a loss or belying the embarrassment he felt as a result of his latest off-ice transgression of which, to be sure, there were many.  Too many.  But Probie always treated me great and as I wrote yesterday–and as I believe to be true–even on a team with a player as great as Steve Yzerman, Bob Probert was, here in Detroit, the most popular Red Wing.  Hands down.  This town loved the guy.  I will share with you something someone who knew Bob Probert way, way better than I had to say about him after I mentioned that even now I can see Probie in my minds’ eye, grinning that missing-his-front-teeth grin of his.  Just a kid goofing around in The Room:

Rich, I hear and feel ya..he’d be grinning a couple tooth missing smile and just let out..”ahah, what’s up Rich man?!” never expecting an answer or a smile…but always getting the latter. A gentle giant, a monumental friend and teammate, and a tortured but beautiful soul. Let any man judge him that walked his shoes..no one ever has.

The death of Bob Probert has hit me hard.  Just as the death of another Red Wing, Willie Huber hit me hard when he passed away at 52 a week to the day before Probert died.  God bless them both.

Johnny Damon just hit it out.  A two-run blast to right to win this one for Detroit 7-5 in 11.  A great ballgame on a not-so-great night

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A Little Baseball, A Little Hockey, Too

  • I would have watched the Blackhawks beat the Sharks 2-1 in Game 1 of the NHL
    Western Conference Final yesterday, really I would have, but I was watching the
    Twins v. The Team That Shall Not Be Named live from the stadium named for The
    Team That Shall Not Be Named instead.  TTTSNBN had a 3-1 lead over Minnesota
    after 7 which was good since it is the Twins that the second-place Tigers are
    trying to catch for the Division lead. (I can’t remember the name of the
    Division in which the Tigers play but it’s either the AL “North”, the AL
    “Central” or the AL “Norris”.)  TTTSNBN brings in Joba Chamberlain, their
    8th-inning specialist, to serve and protect that 2-run lead but he’s not
    particularly special on this day and the Twins load ‘em up on him with two
    outs.  No problemo.  The Evil Wearers of the Pin-Stripes bring in Mariano
    Rivera, a.k.a “The Best Closer in the History of Organized Ball” to record what
    should be an altogether routine 4-out save.  But Rivera goes three-and-oh on Jim
    Thome before walking him on a full count to force in a run and then gives up a
    Granny to Jason Kubel–whoever he is–and the Twins lead 6-3 and the game is
    over.  So Detroit, a 5-1 winner over the Red Socks (sorry, Spellcheck sez it’s
    Socks, not Sox and who am I to argue?) is not a game and a half off the lead but
    rather two and a half back all thanks to the New York bleeping Yankees who suck
    and who always have sucked and who always will suck and that’s all there is to
    say about that.
  • So, I missed seeing the Chicago’s beat the San Jose’s 2-1 and I missed
    seeing Blackhawk goalie Antti Niemi or whatever his name is, I had to look it up
    and besides, I thought he was Chi’s backup goalie anyway, stop 44 of 45 shots
    which must have been quite a performance on his part unless they were all on
    dump-ins by San Jose which they probably were not.  I suppose I could watch the
    10-minute video game re-cap on NHL.com to get up to speed, and maybe I will.
  • I missed the Canadians/Flyers game, too.  This maybe isn’t such a great
    column, ‘ya think?  I thought they’d be playing the two Conference Finals on
    alternating nights meaning I thought Game 1 of the Eastern series would be
    tonight so I would up watching the finale of “The Pacific” on HBO last night.  I
    can tell you that that was pretty good, if it helps.  Reminder to self:  Always
    check the Program Guide!!!
  • Montreal, in spite of being nipped 6-0 by Philadelphia in Game 1, matching
    the worst margin of defeat in Canadiens playoff history except for when they got
    beat this one time by 7 goals back in 1919 which I am not sure should even
    count, is my team in this match-up of Teams of Destiny. 
  • Montreal is a Team of Destiny because when I saw it was #8 seed Montreal v.
    Alex Ovechkin and the #1 seed Washington Capitals in Round One and I said, “No
    way Montreal wins.”  Canadiens beat ‘em in 7.  They won on account of their
    goalie Jaroslav Halak.  Remember, Halak battled for the starting job all season
    with Carey Price and was even replaced by Price after Montreal lost a couple of
    games to the Caps.  After Price got lit up, Halak went back in and stopped 131
    of 134 Washington shots (.978) in the last three games and Canadiens pulled off
    one of the biggest playoff upsets, ever. Measurably.  Washington–first overall
    in the NHL standings this season (enjoy that President’s Trophy, boys)–finished
    33 points ahead of Montreal.  There have been only four occasions where a team
    knocked off a playoff opponent when that team had finished more than 33 points
    ahead of them.  So, statistically, this tied for the 5th-biggest playoff upset
    in NHL history.  Then it was Montreal v. Sidney Crosby and the defending Stanley
    Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins in Round 2 and I said, “No way Montreal wins.” 
    Canadiens win in 7 again.  Montreal is outshot 18-3 in the 3rd period of the
    final game and Halak stops all 18. They are a Team of Destiny.
  • Philadelphia is a Team of Destiny for becoming the 4th team in all
    best-of-seven series’ in all sports ever played to overcome a 3-games-to-none
    deficit and win and because they happen to have a documentary about their
    previous Cup-winning teams (see: Broad Street Bullies) in the rotation on the
    HBO family of networks right now.  Playing their own Game 7, on the road
    naturally, the Flyers overcame a 3-0 Boston lead.  It was the first time this
    season Boston lost a game in which they led 3-0 (they had been 15-0) and the
    first time the Bruins lost a game in which they led by 3 goals at any point (had
    been 18-0).  These are the factors which make Philly a Team of Destiny.
  • Oh, and this is weird.  While it’s the #1 seed (San Jose) v. the #2 seed
    (Chicago) in the Western Conference Final, it’s the #7 seed (Philadelphia) v.
    the #8 seed (Montreal) in the Eastern Final.  A 7-8 Conference Final matchup is
    unprecedented and has never happened before, either.
  • But, back to baseball. The Tigers went 5-2 in against TTTSNBN and Boston
    last week.  Wow.  I did not see that coming.  Meanwhile, Detroit made some
    personnel moves.  Max Scherzer was demoted to Triple-A Toledo after getting his
    brains beat in (again) v. the Red Socks Friday.  When Scherzer gave up that
    3-run homer to David Ortiz in the first inning (you remember, that 450-foot Moon
    Shot to center) his line from that point working back to include his previous
    13.1 Innings Pitched was, well, a little untidy:  26 Runs (Earned), 31 Hits, 5
    HR and 8 Walks.  ERA is Earned Runs Allowed x 9 / Innings Pitched .  In this
    case, that works out to 17.59 and that, friends, will get you sent down.  His
    replacement, Armando Galarraga, looked terrific yesterday (1 earned run in 5.2
    innings).  It was of note who replaced him Sunday.  Jeremy Bonderman came out of
    the bullpen for the first time this season, taken out of the rotation after
    starting the year with six starts which can best be described as inconsistent. 
    And one other thing, Dontrelle WIllis walked 7 in three-and-a-third Saturday
    night.  Don’t think the brain trust isn’t a little worried about that.  It was
    control, actually the lack thereof of course, which knocked Willis out of
    Baseball for basically the last two seasons.  If he’s lost the strike zone
    again…
  • Chicago–soon to become the next team to fire its manager–brings their 15-22
    record to town tonight.  They are already 9 games out of first in the AL
    Norris.  Or whatever… 

Around the League with Rich Kincaide

We’re going to call
this one “The Shows What I Know Edition…

 

I took the 9th inning of the Tigers 13-1 win in
KC off yesterday.  Shows what I
know.  Yesterday, according to The Elias Sports Bureau was the time in
Major League history where two different teams came back from deficits of at
least six runs in the eighth inning or later on the same day to win.

 

I looked at the Padres score yesterday and they were down to
the Diamondbacks 7-1 after seven and I said to myself, “So much for their
9-game winning streak.”  Shows what I
know.  San Diego
scored 5 in the eighth, one in the ninth and one in the tenth for an 8-7 win.

 

I didn’t even bother to click over to the Rays-Indians game
last night.  Shows what I know.  Tampa
Bay led 10-0 early and 10-2 when Cleveland
came to bat in the eighth.  The Indians
scored two in the eighth and seven in the bottom of the ninth to win
11-10.  I did go back later to watch the
tape of that bottom of the 9th. 
The key play?  Tampa
walked the lead-off hitter.  Any manager
will tell you:  You can’t do that.  The sequence was something like this as I
work from memory: walk, pop-out, broken bat single, throwing error on what
could have been a game-ending double-play ball which let in a run, line drive
out for the second out of the inning, three-run homer, a couple more walks and
a bases-loaded two-run single, and, ballgame. 
Cleveland scored those seven
game-winning runs in the ninth on just three hits.    

 

I thought when the Tigers got swept by Minnesota
the week before last–losing the last game at the Metrodome because they couldn’t
hold a 5-0 lead with 8 outs to get–that they had sustained a spirit-crushing,
season-ruining defeat.  Shows what I
know.  The Tigers are 8-2 since that loss
and have a four-game lead in the AL Central, matching their largest lead of the
season.

 

I actually wondered which would be the bigger loss: Chicago
not having  #1 netminder Nikolai Khabibulin
in the line-up for Game 4 or Detroit
not having top defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom dressed for the game.  I thought the question was worthy of
debate.  Top goalie or top d-man, who is
more important to their team?  Shows what
I know.  It was no contest.  As evidenced, at least, by the final score: Detroit
6, Chicago 1.

 

Enough of that, let’s move on to some things I do
know.

 

Nicklas Kronwall’s hit on Martin Havlat in Game 4 was legal,
as least insofar as current NHL rules
go.  I don’t know how anyone could have
ruled that Havlat was not in the act of playing the puck since it was in his
feet when Kronwall steamrolled him, so  I
don’t know how Interference could have been called the way it was.  Charging was not called, either.  I did not see Kronwall leave his feet.  Therefore, as I saw it, it was a legal
check.  Does that make it right?  Of course it does not.  Players are so much bigger and so much faster
now than they were when these rules were written.  Plus, as Don Cherry is fond of pointing out,
the shoulder pads they wear now resemble those worn by football players and
have become a weapon unto themselves. 
But I know the National Hockey League. 
The day they change the rules is the day somebody is paralyzed for life
or his killed on a check like that.  And
not a moment before.

 

The overtime goal scored by the Black Hawks Patrick Sharp in
Game 3 marked the first time Detroit
lost Stanley Cup playoff game in overtime in Chicago
since Harold March beat the Wings in OT in the Windy
City in 1934. That was the year
Chicago won the Stanley Cup for the first time and is one of only three times
that the Black Hawks have hoisted the hardware.

 

Detroit is up
three games to one in the best-of-seven which you probably already know.  Including this season, NHL
teams up 3-1 have gone on to win the series 211 times and have gone on to lose
the series 21 times (90.9%).  The last
team to come back from 3-1 down was Washington
earlier this playoff year against the New York Rangers.  Chicago
has never won a series in which it was faced with a 3-1 deficit.

 

And that’s all I know–and don’t know–for now.

Sixteen and Twenty-Four

We posted a few days ago about how Sparky Anderson’s forty-game cut-off was fast approaching (“Give me forty games and I can tell you if I have a good team or a bad team,” Sparky would always say) and now it is here and Detroit is 16-24 and last in the division and last in the league and last in starting pitching and Gary Sheffield can’t play no more and I think if Sparky Anderson were the manager of this club and you asked him about this team he’d say, “We’re horsebleep in every department.”

Which, in the interest of accuracy, they are right now. 

This is just a short, little post.  Detroit’s down 7-2 in KC in the 5th and another starter (Kenny Rogers this time) has failed to get the game beyond the fourth inning as I write and thus Detroit’s in danger of falling to oh-and-six against the Royals this year.  That alone should tell you all you need to know about this Tigers team. 

I think they are going to have to release Gary Sheffield. Manager Jim Leyland today said he can’t play left because of his shoulder,  He’s hitting around .200–his season high we are sad to report–with, if memory serves,  two homers and 8 RBI so I don’t think he can DH anymore, either.

I’d sign Bonds.  Heck, if he can homer from the left side on a consistent basis at Comerica Park at least we’d know the truth about the steroids thing because I am certain the only way anyone can homer on a regular basis from the left side at Comerica is if he’s juiced.  Big-time.

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