Detroit Tigers

The Detroit Tigers are far from a perfect team.

Despite holding a division lead since May 10, the Tigers have failed to pull away from the mediocre pack.

The Tigers took a seven game division lead and Tigers fans started doing the math to determine what kind of a ridiculous streak the Twins would have to get on if the Tigers just managed to play .500 ball.

Unfortunately, Detroit went 8-11 between the sweep of the Rays and the beginning of this last home stand. The Twins went 13-6, even in the midst of losing perennial MVP candidate Justin Morneau for the season.

I anticipate a lot of hand-wringing by Tiger fans over the next couple days. There is going to be a lot of talk about how they could essentially blow their current lead over the Twins by the end of the weekend and fumble their shot at the postseason. I'd like to offer up some facts that will attempt to show just how unlikely that is.

It's like a splinter you just can't get out.

For whatever reason, the Detroit News' beat writer Lynn Henning just keeps picking at Curtis Granderson relentlessly. Henning just cannot get over the fact the fan favorite and All-Star center fielder is allowed to have an off-year. And by off-year I mean, he's only the second-most productive position player on the team.

Last Monday, the Tigers enjoyed a well-deserved Labor Day like many of us: They enjoyed a day off.

They had just swept the defending American League champion Tampa Bay Rays for their sixth consecutive victory. The bullpen had performed terrific, while the Tigers batters found timely hitting and pushed the runners home whenever they were in scoring position.

Detroit led the AL Central Division by seven games, and the big question for the manager was how to squeeze six starting pitchers into five rotation spots.

Where's the do-over button when you need it?

I expect the Tigers to name their Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Year soon. In my mind, the Pitcher of the Year is a slam dunk for Casey Crosby. He had a dominant season that saw him do well whether you go with traditional stats or dig deeper into the stats we use to determine whether a player has potential.

The traditional stats are what win players these awards, though, and a 10-4 record with a 2.41 ERA should be enough to get him the award. Throw in 117 strikeouts in 104.2 innings and an opponent's batting average of just .195 and you write this one in ink. 

My weekly take on the Tigers, also known simply and affectionately as “MMM.”

Week of 9/7-13: 1-5

This week: 9/14: TOR; 9/15-17: KC; 9/18-20: at Min

Goat of the Week

The bullpen sprang its first major leak of the season.

I've been thinking about Brandon Inge quite a bit lately. One reason is at some point this season, I placed an over/under bet with my friend on the number of home runs he'd hit this season.

I put the number at 28 and my friend took the over. The next homer Brandon hits will mean my wife and I don't get a free "reasonable" night out. Assuming there is another home run after that, not only will we not get a free night out, we'll have to pay for my friend and his wife. So before I dig more deeply into my thoughts, I only ask that Brandon choose his spots wisely.

Notable nattering nabob of the Detroit Free Press Drew Sharp recently took a break from his negativity to proclaim Tigers manager Jim Leyland as the easy pick for American League Manager of the Year.

When Sharp writes, I instinctively believe exactly the opposite.

But maybe he's on to something.

Leyland won the award in 2006. In just his first year in Detroit, he guided the Tigers from perennial bottom-feeder to their first playoff appearance since 1987.

Sparky Anderson was miserable.

Sleepless nights. Constant worry. Fear of being strung up on the center field flagpole at Tiger Stadium (no joke). Ghoulish thoughts of bitter disappointment.

Yep, the Tigers’ 1984 World Championship season almost wrecked the team’s manager.

The ‘89 season of 103 losses almost wrecked him too. When Sparky took a few weeks off during the season due to mental exhaustion he said: “I ain’t never lost no 100 games before.”

But 1984? It was nearly poison to him.

At age 28, Curtis Granderson is a first time All-Star. I definitely do not think this will be his last trip to the mid-summer classic.

Granderson got selected for his first All-Star game by putting up the type of productive numbers he is bound to increase upon in his career. He is already five home runs away from his season best total of 23, set in 2007. He has his 18 dingers this season in only 86 games played.

Granderson's RBI totals should increase over the next couple seasons, as well. Being moved to the middle of the batting order from leadoff should facilitate that.