So, you may be wondering what the hell happened to your day to day Tiger's coverage? More likely, you're NOT wondering where I've been, but regardless, I've been busy, but not as busy as the Tiger's apparently. Honestly though, did you really want me to start writing articles again while we're on such a hot streak? No right? Well too bad.
Three things that are keeping the Tiger's winning:
1. Who's the Boesch? Let me just say that if Brennan Boesch wasn't doing such a great job for the Tiger's right now, I'd have him starting for the Lions. He's the Matt Stafford of the Diamond. 6 ft 4 in, 235 lbs, and just a doubles machine, the dude is providing the kind of protection to Cabrera that Guillen used to be known for. Boesch has gone 10-20 in the Tiger's recent home stand and leads all AL rookies with 19 RBIs (Ajax and Heyward, take notice.) He enters the Chicago series with a .380 BA and his defense is a noticeable upgrade over Damon or Guillen in left field. To me, Ryan Rayburn may need to seriously start combing the classifieds, because when Guillen gets back, someone's going to need to take a trip to Toledo and I just hope it isn't Boesch. Don Kelly aka Stringbean, I'm looking at you. There is some talk of Guillen taking over at 2nd base when he comes back (a position he hasn't played since 1999) but I wouldn't hold my breath...2. Cha Cha Changes: Turn and face the strain.
So says David Bowie and I for one am inclined to listen to him. The Tiger's strain? It's been on their bullpen thanks to their starters. I mean come on guys, have you even heard of the sixth inning? It's the inning that you're expected to make it to as a starter on every other team in the league. Apparently, the Tiger's are no longer happy if you can only pitch 2 1/3 innings of no run ball. The bullpen can't take much more stress. Eddie Bonine and Phil Coke are both beating our number two starter (Porcello) in wins for Christ's sake. So guess what, Leyland pulled the trigger. Scherzer and Sizemore, both who have been struggling (Scherzer was pitching ok I thought, but not getting enough run support and honestly Sizemore can't seem to hit to save his life) have been sent to Toledo while Galaragga, who started yesterday in a gutsy win over the BoSoxs, and Danny Worth have been optioned from Toledo. I'm not saying Galaragga is the answer, but if the dude can take the edge off for even a day, maybe Ryan Perry will finally get some rest, wake up, and take that ridiculous gangsta chain off his neck. All in all, the reason the Tigers are still winning is because their bullpen is basically using up all its talent early in the season. Lets not deplete the reservoir fellas. Worth noting, Jose Valverde has not allowed a run in his last 17 outings for Detroit, tossing 16 2/3 scoreless innings over that span. Wowza.3. Rollin', rollin', rollin'... The Tigers are on a roll, and sometimes games just fall into your lap when you're winning (such as a walk off walk...). This particular home stand was supposed to be a tough one, but honestly, we kicked everyone's ass that came to play. The Tigers are the first team since 1995 to win four consecutive series at home against the league's four postseason teams from the previous year (Angels, Twins, Yankees, and Red Sox). We're the first team since 1999 to hold the Yankees to 2 shut outs in the same series. We're tied for the most home wins in the majors with 14. The thing that sucks is that we're still 1.5 games back of the Twins. But as long as we stay on track, we'll be the ones passing them at the finish line this year.
PS. Something that's not helping us win: dumb ass tattoos. Latest victim: Bondo. Bondomaniac more like it.
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