The bats are alive!
Perhaps a bit of an understatement for the way they were able to rack up 37 runs on the Texas Rangers downtrodden rotation and dilapitated bullpen, don’t you think?
The Tigers were able to show off their their power and take advantage of the erratic Rangers pitching staff, that yielded 20 walks in the 27 innings of play.  While Texas lackluster arsenal assisted in making it a very long three game visit, the Tigers were on their game, punching out 35 hits in total, crushing an impressive 18 extra base hits (10 of which were roundtrippers), all the while keeping their own ERA in check.  Okay, okay, so the Tigers starters didn’t fare all that well either.  Actually, it was only Justin Verlander that was finally able to get his first win of the season, the positive sign from this 72 hour period is the fact that the ’pen was able to bail out both “The Gambler” and then Bondo on Thursday. 

A lot can be credited to the spark that Curtis Granderson provided as he looked as if he hadn’t missed a beat in re-joining the team.  All #28 did was notch his home run of the season, while going 3 for 8 in his first action of the 2008 campaign.

                        WELCOME BACK CURTIS!!!

The four game winning streak has propped them up and out of the cellar in the Central, and pulled them within 3 games of the first place White Sox (only four games out of the Wild Card leading Angels, whom the Tigers host for a three game set this weekend).  As an outsider, I think that this is just incredible after the horrendous start that they have had.  I know that it is way too early to discuss “Magic Numbers” or break down how many more games they must win to take the division and so on, but at least 23 games into the sched’ the Tigers aren’t putting themselves deeper and deeper into the abyss, which is more that anyone could say after 15 games or so.  Fortunately, with the bats swinging at the pace like they are, the only “Magical Numbers” that this team has to worry about, is keeping the other teams run number (no matter how high) less than their own.  It seems that that is the way that this team is going to roll.  Score in bunches, like the 11 run inning on Wednesday night, and they will assert themselves as an offensive juggernaut.
Tie that together with how that ‘pen has looked in bailing out their rotation and you can only think that things are definitely looking up.

I have decided to take a different approach to this post.  Instead of writing the most recent frustrations of how this season has started, I am going to try something different.  Somewhat of a glass half full/glass half empty atttitude in breaking down their play and all around happenings, so as not to only focus on the negatives, but put a positive spin on a similar situation.

Glass half full: Tigers have been able to pull at least a split in their last three series (2-0 versus the Twins, 1-1 against the Tribe and a 2-2 split with the Jays) taking that first step to respectability en route to playing plus .500 ball the rest of the way.
Glass half empty: The Tigers can’t put a long enough streak together to get them out of the cellar of the Central, as they are still 6 games under the .500 mark 20 games into the season.

Glass half full: Big ups to Armando Galarraga (the surprise starter when the D-Train went on the DL) on his first two impressive starts with the Big Club, boasting a record of 2-0 to go along with an ERA of 1.50, 10 K’s and only 4 BB’s.

Glass half empty: Big downs to the rest of the rotation.  They should be ashamed of what they have ”achieved” to this point, by going a combined 2-10, 6.48 ERA, 54 K’s and a whopping 53 BB’s!  YIKES!

Glass half full: The bats are starting to wake up, as you see certain things that you didn’t see in that first week and a half.  A string of 8-12 hit games, rallies, and improved patience at the plate when it matters putting players in scoring position and cashing them in to put up important runs on the board.
Glass half empty: Regulars such as the usually dependable Placido Polanco, Jacque Jones and Gary Sheffield are all struggling to shake off the rust, all hitting well below their career averages and battling the dreaded Mendoza line.  While Polanco and Sheff can be argued that they have been grinding out through injuries, it has been a big disappointment to the start of the season.

Glass half full: Edgar Renteria looks to be a solid defensive anchor at short.  While his range isn’t anything like Carlos Guillen’s, he has a much more confident approach that allows him to read a play much better and has yet to boot a ball where Carlos may have had four or five already at this stage.
Glass half empty:  With the exception of the jack of all trades Brandon Inge (who has yet to make an error while playing three positions) the rest of the defense has been shaky at best.  The always reliable Polanco had back to back games with an error, while Miguel Cabrera has been scary at times duffing routine ground balls all the while racking up five errors in a meek 50 opportunities for a .900 fielding percentage.

Glass half full: What I feel will be a big boost and potential catalyst to this teams turnaround, Curtis Granderson is set to return sometime this week after starting the season on the DL.  His 30/20/20/20 ability at the top of the order will change the way the Tigers play.  (another left-handed bat won’t hurt either)  The spark that Granderson has by kicking off a game with an extra base hit, will give the Tigers a huge boost in their turnaround.

Glass half empty: With Sheff’s shoulder acting up, Polanco and his aching back, Willis struggling with command as well as the issue with his knee, Rodney not having a clue as to when he can return and Zumaya still a long ways away, will this teams injury concerns constantly hinder their ascending abilities?

 This is a lot to absorb I’m sure, but at least things aren’t all negative.  Needless to say, Leyland’s got himself quite a job ahead of him and how the Tigers respond to his challenges to play better will definitely determine how much liquor is in his glass…..and whether his glass is indeed half full, or half empty.

Well, there you have it faithful Tigers fans, your first winning streak of the season.  Some say that a true streak only begins at a total of three games, but we’ve been desperate for anything positive so this will have to suffice.

Needless to say, neither of their wins were what critics would consider “pretty“, but definitely steps if not leaps in the right direction.  Murmers of Monday’s big come from behind win being the potential start of their expected turnaround, were followed up with Tuesday’s surge of power that displayed the potential that this team has for putting up quick runs.  This mini-series sweep of the Twins can be viewed as nothing other than a great success.

The “D” is slowly finding it’s way back to Detroit, as the progress made in the last two days is an indication that at least the players have some pride and that maybe that will drive them back to respectability.

On Monday night, the Tigers were twice back five runs of the Twins and battled their way back, almost solely on the back of their leader, Ivan Rodriguez.  Making up for a rare miscue earlier in the game when he booted a foul pop-up for his first error of the year, “Pudge” fully redeemed himself with a solo homer (with a little help from rookie right fielder Denard Span…ooops!) in the 7th, and then a bases clearing triple in the 8th to tie it, before scoring the winning run on a line shot sac-fly by Jacque Jones.  Pudge was pumped up and let his emotions show on what has probably been a tougher start than the expected sputter out the gates in his first season in Motown. 

    Pudge hasn’t looked that jacked since winning the World Series!

Detroits’ sputtering found a way to score runs in bunches twice, enabling them to an 11-9 win.  Todd Jones decided to make the game interesting before closing the door, but one way or the other, he didn’t allow a run to cross the plate and ultimately that’s what matters.

Whew!  Yet ANOTHER close one  (The Todd Jones Saga Continues…)

Fast forward to Tuesday, and the Tigers are trailing early again with the score 4-1 heading into the bottom of the 6th.  Maggs hits a solo homer, 4-2.  Bottom of the 7th, Guillen hits a solo jack, 4-3.  Bottom of the 8th, Polanco singles, Ordonez proves clutch again and doubles to knot it up at 4, which leads to Miguel Cabrera clubbing a 2-run jack to take the lead for good.  Cue the broken record, as Todd Jones comes into the game in the 9th for his first opportunity at back-to-back saves this season and of course makes it interesting by giving up a triple and an RBI single to former Tiger Craig Monroe to make it interesting enough for the white-knuckled faithful, Tigers win 6-5 and have their first multi-win streak of the year.  4-10.  Not great, but better than what it could be considering how not much has gone right to this point.

One thing is for certain, the Tigers will obviously go as far as their bats will take them and judging on the start of week three, the sky is the limit.  On to Cleveland for another mini-set, and then to Toronto for a tough four game battle.  Let’s just hope that the Tigers bats have woken up and only have to deal with one or two of their big bats slumping at a time, instead of the six or seven that started the year colder than a swimming pool in North Bay in January.  And for those of you not familiar with North Bay, or even winters in Northern Ontario for that matter, all you have to do is look at the Tigers stats through the start of the season to understand the potential for shrinkage coming out of that said pool.