Looking back a month ago, not many thought that it would ever happen this year. However, the mountainous climb to respectability has finally been conquered by your Detroit Tigers. What is the next stop? The top of the division perhaps? Alright, I’ll try to keep things in perspective; however, just when things were looking so bleak and as if they were impossible to recover from, the Tigers and the scheduling Gods had other plans. Ah yes, a little scheduling fortune to provide the Tigers an opportunity to play some bad baseball teams, including most of their Inter-League battles through the last 23 games, in a stretch-run back to respectability.
AT LEAST FOR NOW…
Now, not all of the Tigers 18 wins have been against garbage. Remember, they opened this streak with a two-game split with the Tribe, followed by a sweep of the division leading (and previously red-hot) White Sox. (who have since returned to the hot status) However, they have played more than one really bad team, such as the Giants, Padres, and Rockies. Sandwiched between the have-nots, they have played a good, but underachieving Dodgers team, and an injury riddled Cardinals team, that proved to be a great test for them.
In an attempt not to fully rain on the parade, I honestly feel that many positives can be had from this run aside from the fact that they are now above that elusive .500 mark. For instance, the starting pitching has simply been tremendous. It seems that they are all giving at least 6+ innings a night, not over-working that bullpen which is extremely critical for a long stretch run. Another thing, is that they didn’t tank against teams they typically have earlier in the season. Thirdly, a huge plus is that they have been the recipients of some very timely hitting of late. This was magnified in their two comeback wins in the last couple games against Colorado this past weekend. That is the type of thing that we became accustomed to back in ’06, and must have at least the element of a team that can pull out a win at all costs if they expect to compete in this race.
YIPPEE! Another Tiger win celebrated
With “Step 1” (beating teams that you should) out of the way, what is the next motion in order to not promote your own demise? Well, they don’t get any rest, as “Step 2” began last tonight with the Tigers facing another challenge. “Step 2” can be simply stated by winning within their own division. OUCH. Which with a great finish to the game after struggling through seven against Twins lefty Glen Perkins, the Tigers chipped away and tossed up four unanswered runs, en route to their 6th win in a row.
Perkins pitched very well; unfortunately, (for the Twinkies at least) the bullpen let them down!
Divisional match-ups is something the Tigers have truly struggled with greatly to this point in the season. With getting off on to a good start, should they be able to continue pumping out wins and winning series against the always pesky and white hot Twins (who have won 14 of their last 18 games) they’ll have to do it without the timely hitting of Magglio Ordonez, as he was placed on the 15-day disable list with a strained oblique muscle.
Having no Maggs will hurt, hopefully he won’t be out long.
Expect a mix of talent in the outfield to go along with a constant juggling and line-up shuffling from Jim Leyland. I will assume that the standard clean-up spot typically held by Maggs has been temporarily handed over to Miguel Cabrera, if the Sunday afternoon finale against the Rockies would indicate. Other than that, don’t expect the Tigers skipper to stop there with the adjustments, as I’m sure he will continue to do what he has been doing all season.
I assume that Clete Thomas will become an everyday guy again in the outfield, as he made great strides at the plate to go along with playing stellar defense. Should there ever be a need, I’m certain that Ryan Raburn (who started last night) or the recently re-called Matt Joyce can step in no problem and from time to time may even take Marcus Thames’ spot in the line-up to provide a better defensive set-up, or a spot start.
I’m a fan of Clete!
Let’s not get too excited about the fact that the Tigers are a game over .500 though. It’s extremely difficult to not get happy as we have been waiting all season for this. However, six straight series wins against teams with a combined win/loss percentage of .469 indicates that they still have to play some tough teams including seven against the Twins. While this makes up (to a point…) for the horrendous start, the long road of hard work is just getting started.
A couple of weeks ago, I pulled a comparison to a couple of 90 loss Tigers teams, and wondered why they could be linked, posing questions as to how they can get this thing correct. With some positive signs over the month of the season, the Tigers need to continue this momentum and continue to win series as they have. Doing it with the starting pitching, patience at the plate, timely hitting, cashing in the runners in scoring position with the same consistency and an improved defense.
Ahhh, Rob Deer. Strikeout or Home run, that’s his production! (Random pic…)
Sounds like a great task, and that’s why I’ll stay back a step and collect myself instead of planning the parade route. Because remember folks, if the first 81 games of the season has been this tremendous of a roller-coaster, the 2nd half can be just as up and down. Hopefully for what they have put us through, there will be many more ups than downs.
