Tigers Week 7 Recap (20-24)

To echo my last weekly update, rough does not come close to comparing whatever the Tigers put on the field this week. They went 2-4 against the Indians and Pirates.  The offense continued to just be dead, and I have a hard time believing it all has to do with Austin missing for these 6 games. Instead of pulling closer to the Indians in the division they continue to dig themselves into a deeper hole. 

Of course the week started with one of the best pitching performances you will ever see.  Justin was one weak base hit away from his 3^rd no-hitter, and the offense came to life in scoring 6 runs on a Verlander start.  Then in the remaining 5 games the offense combined for 13 runs.  The starting pitching had 6 decent starts (4 quality starts), and the bullpen actually pitched closer to average than we have seen in a while. The terrible defense continued to show its face and the complete lack of offense just keeps frustrating me beyond anything else.  Before the season we knew our infield defense would be below average, so as much as stupid errors are tough to watch they are pretty much performing how we expected.  This team was built for one thing, to score runs… lots of runs, and through 44 games the random assortment of the Cleveland Indians lineup is outscoring the star-laden Tigers. Everybody is struggling at the plate right now.  Miguel is getting useless singles with 2 outs, Prince is swinging at anything, and the bottom of the order can double their average and still barely be hitting their weight. 

I will admit right here on May 24^th that maybe my expectations for this team were just too high.  I expected Avila to be the hitting catcher of 2011 not 2010, and so far his 2010 campaign is looking pretty good right now.  Peralta had a career year last season, and it was unfair to expect him to do that again.  Raburn’s hot spring gave me hope his first half woes would finally go away, but how wrong I was.  I feel like most pitchers just physically do not have the stuff to get Miguel out on a normal basis, but he has had some of the worst at bats that I have ever seen from him to start this season.  Both Prince and Miggy are walking half as much as they did just a year ago (yes that could be because both were intentionally walked a lot, and pitchers cannot offer free bases to back to back hitters), but Prince normally walks more than he strikes out.  This year he has fanned 31 times, and has walked only 15.  Austin Jackson is the only player right now that is exceeding everyones off season expectations, and guess what, he is injured with no time table to return.  Could it be that this team just is not that good?  What would happen if the Tigers don’t win the Central, don’t make the playoffs, or don’t win 81 games?

On the pitching front, Justin Verlander continues to be special, but even today with his average stuff gave up 2 runs.  That sounds like a great start, but he got the loss.  Yes, he is the best pitcher in baseball, but so was King Felix a few years ago when he won the Cy Young with a 13-12 record. Verlander cannot continue to be expected to pitch 8-9 innings of 1 run baseball.  That makes every inning a pressure environment which will wear him down faster.  Verlander should really not have a loss right now and be closer to 8-0 than 5-2.  When is Porcello and Scherzer going to become consistent, because if it isn’t soon then they both should offer some good trade value (possibly for David Price which Tampa has been rumored to be shopping). We cannot expect Smyly to continue his surprising start all season, which will mean Rick or Max has to step up and roll off 5 good starts in a row or 8 of 10.  Yes, Max just struck out 15 and it was very impressive, but what will he do on Friday?  Fister has been given some bad luck as well after he has come back from the DL. 

I know that there is over 100 games left of this season, but from what I have seen in the first 44 I do not like what I see.  The Tigers are just not playing good baseball, and they are really tough to watch with the lack of hitting and defense.  I hope they can turn it around and go on a winning streak, but I guess I would take back to back wins again. 

Looking forward, the Tigers continue their weak May schedule which will likely mean 2 more losses in Minneapolis even though this is a series that they could sweep without much effort.  Can Smyly bounce back from 2 average starts in a row? Can Scherzer follow up his 15K start with just a quality start? Can the offense score more than 2 runs per game against the little league pitching staff that makes up the Twins rotation?  Following up the trip to Minnesota, the Tigers head to Fenway for a 4 game series in Boston.  I will be present for the series opener, but at this point I have to be honest… I am not super excited to see the offense get shut down live.  It will be a tough game to sit through if Fister gives up 2 runs and gets hit with the loss.  Oh well, at least Red Sox fans are friendly, right?  Guess not.

Verlander & Schlereth of the Series (Indians)

Welp, this was an ugly week mostly due to rolling over and playing dead against the Indians.  When is this team going to turn things around, and if they do, will it be too late?

It is really difficult to choose a Verlander of the Series for this one because most of the team looked lost at Progressive Field. I will just go with the starting pitchers.  None of the starters (Porcello, Fister, Verlander) had career games, but they were by far better than anything else the Tigers put on the field for these 3 stinkers.  Porcello again was the victim of shoddy defense, Fister was hampered by a 29 pitch first inning then settled down and made one bad pitch to Hafner who put it in orbit, and Verlander just didnt have his change up working like he did against Pittsburgh but he still shut down Cleveland for the most part and was throwing 101 mph fastballs in the 8th.  The thing these pitchers have in common is the offense let all of these guys down. 

Schlereth of the Series is such an easy pick it is a little sad.  The Tigers offense was just atrocious, did they forget it in Detroit or are they just that miserable without Austin Jackson?  If that is the case, I really hope AJ comes back soon, I cannot take much more of this terrible garbage they call baseball.  After the 2nd game when Detroit left the bases loaded in both the 7th and 8th innings their batting average with the sacks full dipped to .129.  You read that right, .129.  I honestly didn't know it was possible to be THAT bad as a team.  Brandon Inge almost has as many RBI's from bases loaded hits as the entire Tigers team does to this point.  If you are feeling sick about that stat, you are not alone.  The Tigers left 29 men on base in 3 games and were 3-23 with RISP.  Folks, it cannot get any worse than this. 

What more does JV need to do to get a win... 8 IP, 7K 2 ER and he gets the loss.  I couldn't handle being a starting pitcher in those situations.

Looking ahead, if the offense does not pick it up against the worst pitching staff in the majors then I don't know what will.  Hopefully they can score close to 20 runs in the 3 game series against the Twins and get closer to .500 again. 

Verlander & Schlereth of the Series (Pirates)

Hello again.  The Tigers welcomed the Pirates to Comerica this past weekend, and Detroit finally wins a series.  The Pirates are the worst hitting team in the NL, but even with that fact, two of the Tiger's pitchers brought their A game to the park.  Let's get to the awards.

Verlander of the Series: I never thought I would need to say this when one pitcher goes a complete game of 1 hit ball (8 1/3 of no hit), but this weekend's award is a little competitve.  Scherzer had one of his best starts as a Tiger, striking out 15 Pirates over 7 innings.  It increased his lead of K/9 in the AL, and set the Comerica Park record.  The dude was dealing.  But I just have to go with Verlander on this one.  I was lucky enough to watch his start from the first pitch, and it seemed special after only the 3rd inning. Verlander was just dominant.  He was one bad luck ball away from having his third no hitter of his career.  This guy now leads the AL in almost every pitching category and has continued his 2011 dominance.  JV might have the largest expectations of any starting pitcher in baseball, and somehow he still finds ways to exceed them.  I am excited to see what he can do against the Indians on Thursday. 

Schlereth of the Series: Since I can't pick just one offense player here, I will just choose the offense in general.  Yes the Tigers are still batting .277 with RISP (4th in the AL), but they have struggled to get those clutch hits to push runners across all season.  That was the reason the Tigers lost the game on Saturday, they were 1-8 in this category.  I will put a little asterisk by that number though, because most of those chances were with 2 outs.  The Tigers just couldn't get runners on base early in innings, and it cost them a sweep.  Yes, I am probably nit-picking a little, but I had to pick something here.  Over the past week I have been impressed with the direction the offense was heading, and then Jackson got hurt.  He has been the catalyst all season, so it is very impressive the Tigers were able to win a series with DK in the leadoff spot.  AJ come back soon!

Looking ahead, the Tigers get their first shot at the division leading Indians and then head to Minnesota.  Again looking at the schedule (and the pitching matchups) Detroit could win 5 of these 6 games.  But, the games have to be played on the field, and if AJ doesn't come back soon the offense could have another tough series.  I just hope they can get back over .500 before they (and me) head to Fenway for the Memorial Day series.

Tigers Week 6 Recap (18-20)

Well saying it was a rough week for Tigers fans might be a little of an understatement.  The Tigers had 3 of the worst offenses lined up for 8 games (Oakland, Chicago, and Minnesota) so it seemed like a perfect time to continue the quality start streak.  Instead the quality start streak was broken and now the Tigers are on a non-quality start streak.  These 3 series were going to get Detroit back on track, and would likely let them jump Cleveland in the standings, but instead Detroit still has not won back to back games in over a month. 

Since the things that were encouraging about this 3-5 week are very few, I will start with my concerns first then try to end on a positive note.  The starting pitching had their first bad week of the season, and at this point the offense is not clicking enough to carry the load. There have been 4 non-quality starts in a row against lower quality offenses.  These bad starts have really hurt the bullpen as well.  Yes, everyone knows how bad they have been this season (losing the AL in ERA and WHIP), but it is tough to have to get more innings out of the pen than from the starters for more than a game.  At some point in Porcello and Scherzer’s career the light bulb needs to go off and they need to mature as big league pitchers.  Smyly had his first rough outing of the season, but you cannot be upset about that (unless you are a Phillies fan).  I know quality starts will not happen each night, but I don’t think 3 of 5 is asking too much. 

Everyone knows that the Tigers have one of the worst infield defenses in the AL, but so far this season they have seemed to be playing pretty average in the field (which is a compliment to Raburn, Miggy, and Prince).  So, maybe this season will just be the rollercoaster that the two games against the Twins was.  The team can go 2 weeks with an error every other game, and then for 2 games completely forget how to close their glove or throw the ball.  I still feel like the defense is just below average, but the last two games were really tough to watch.  At this point in the season I feel the most confident about the left side actually.  The Prince and Raburn combination leans toward butcher more often than I like. 

Finally, the hitting is up and down.  Detroit’s team batting average has been respectable this season, but their ability to drive in that clutch run has been lacking.  The top four guys can get on base, but there hasn’t been anyone behind them to knock them in.  The bottom 5 has to start to pick things up.  I know last season was a career year for Jhonny, but I thought Avila was more the .280 hitter from last season than the .220 hitter from his rookie campaign.  Also, just when it felt like the offense was beginning to click a bit, Austin is struck with an abdominal strain.  They list him as day to day, but if this is an injury that sticks with him for a while this offense could go back into hibernation.  Austin has been the best player on the field for Detroit this season, period.  I don’t even think you can argue it (and win).  He is the catalyst in wins and he puts so much pressure on the pitcher if he gets on base in front of Dirks, Miggy, and Biggy.  Come back soon Austin.

Ok, enough ranting, lets jump into something a little positive shall we?  Hmm, well there is not much here.  ESPN talked to Tom Seaver about pitching the other night, and I found the interview very interesting.  He said of the 35+ starts you make in a season, you only have your great stuff in 10 of them.  He said you just don’t have it in 5 or so depending on the pitcher, and the rest you might just have a couple of your pitches working and this is where you go from good to great.  Seaver said it is how you battle in those 20-25 starts with just average stuff that makes the pitcher.  Well, lately I have felt JV has been in that average stuff funk but is still good enough to pick up wins.  That is a good thing though because earlier this season he had his Justincredible stuff against Boston and Tampa and came out 0-1.  On Sunday JV brought his nasty with him to work.  It was his best start in a few weeks, and he again was must watch entertainment.  I am excited what he can do tonight.  Even though Fister got rocked for his first time as a Tiger, yesterday, it is still encouraging having him back in the rotation.  He can be simply dominant at times, and I just love how much he attacks the strike zone.  With Fister and JV pitching in back to back games, it should be able to rest the bullpen most weeks because these guys will get into the 8^th more often than they are pulled before the 6^th.

Like I mentioned a bit earlier, the top 4 of Jackson, Dirks, Miggy, and Prince are starting to click.  When AJ is getting on base like he has this season (with walks and hits) this offense is scary.  Did you know that AJ is leading the team in OBP?  Dirks has done what most of us expected Brennan to do, crush the fast balls pitchers have to throw him with Miggy and Biggy waiting behind him.  Andy is having the Boesch season of last, and is cementing his place in this roster.  Miggy and Prince both have had career long slumps at different points this season, but it has been impressive to see both of them fight through it.  They are the first ones at the ballpark taking bp, and it has paid off.  Miguel has taken more bad swings and has had some bad at bats this year, but he is still the best hitter in baseball and will again bat close to .330.  And the thing that I love most about the big fella is that he makes people around him better.  Last year VMart almost had a career year in terms of average and OBP batting behind Miggy Poco.  This year Prince is still batting close to .300 and is batting .400+ after Miggy gets on base.  If Cabrera heats up like the temperature, these two meat wagons can be very tough outs.

Overall, I never thought this team would flirt with .500, and I especially didn’t see them being 2 games under this late in the year.  I don’t know when the appropriate time is to stop using the cliché line of “It is still early, and baseball is a marathon” but I think it is close.  This team has to be more than a .500 team.  Looking forward, Detroit gets a visit from Pittsburgh starting tonight and then heads to Cleveland for the first meeting with the Indians.  By the time of the Week 7 Recap, Detroit could be in first place or by over 5 games back and in 3^rd place.  I have a hard time thinking this much talent will allow that to happen, but I am still a bit worried.  Instead of saying the Tigers should go 4-2 this week, like I have been this whole season (and then feeling angry when they go 3-3 or worse) I am just going to sit back and try to enjoy this week’s game. 

Anyways, happy Verlander day, I hope we can enjoy it with an adult beverage taking in this great weather and a much needed win. 

Verlander & Schlereth of the Series (Twins)

After another 2 gamer, the Tigers continue to frustrate anyone with any interest in this team.  Somehow they found a way to lose both games to the worst team in baseball.  One ugly stat was that going into the series, the Twins were the worst team in both hitting and pitching in the AL and they had the worst record in all of baseball.  Well 2 wins later they scored the most runs of any game this season and recorded a quality start, and they still have the worst record. Their 11 run outburst on Wednesday night accounted for about 10% of their offensive output of the season.   Someone pinch me, I have to be dreaming.

Verlander of the Series, well this award is interesting here.  Can I really give it to nobody? Well it is my blog, so I can do what I want.  As tempting as it is to just go with Rod Allen on this one for his first “Joe Mauer?” of the season, I guess I will just pick Andy Dirks.  He continued his hot streak batting in the 2 hole.  He got on base twice in both games and is still batting .400 in this new lineup.  I like Andy “The Neck” Dirks.

Schlereth of the Series, hmm, well this one might be the hardest award to pass out this season thus far.  Fister has his worst start as a Tiger, Porcello is falling into the Scherzer rut, and the bullpen continues to serve up beach balls.  But, I will go with the infield defense on this one.  6 errors in two games is brutal.  I don’t think it can get much worse actually.  Fielder continues to look like a TRex on first, and Miggy is still re-learning the hot corner.  Ryan “Sieve” Raburn continues living up to his hype, and JaHonny thought he would try to fit in with the rest of the rat crap pack. 

Looking ahead, the Tigers continue their weak May schedule with a visit from the Pittsburgh Pirates.  With the way the season is going so far, I would not be surprised if the anemic offense that is Pittsburgh suddenly plays like Hall of Famers for the weekend and puts up 30 runs.  JV is on the mound tonight, so that cant happen, right… right?  Detroit should sweep Pittsburgh, but the way the Tigers are playing just winning two will be tough. 

Verlander & Schlereth of the Series (White Sox)

This was a quick 2 game series, so the awards will basically go to the bum from losing game 1 and the hero from winning game 2.  I was listening to the game on the radio yesterday and thought Scherzer had wrapped up the Schlereth, but luckily for him the bats picked him up. 

Verlander of the Series: Prince Fielder.  Biggy just jumped from worst to first in 2 games, and it continues the streak of people competing for the Schlereth of one series and turning it around to win the Verlander the next.  All Biggy did was go 6-9 with 3 doubles in two games against the Sox.  The Tigers offense started to pick things up a bit in the Windy City, and you don’t have to look past the top 4 in the batting order.  Prince continued hitting near .400 following a Miggy hit, which is a stat that will be fun to watch through the summer, especially with Miggy going 14 for his last 28.  Prince’s home run totals have still been down to start the season, but I think he will have a big weekend in Comerica. 

Schlereth of the Series:  this is a tough one because Max is just so inconsistent.  You can tell within his first few batters if he has his good stuff or not.   Yesterday was not his best start.  Hopefully he can turn things around against the worst offense in the NL on Sunday. But I think this series belongs to Luke Putkonen.  Leyland went to the youngster to hold onto a 5-4 lead on Monday night, and he couldn’t do it.  One encouraging aspect was all of the hits were grounders that found a hole, but it still frustrating to see the bullpen continually come in and give up as many runs as the starters (in half of the time).

Looking forward the Tigers have a great chance to win back to back games for the first time in a month.  They have a great chance of going on a little winning streak here to be over .500 at the all important 40 game mark.  Except the way this season has been going, it seems like a good time for the Twins to come in and win 10-1 somehow.  Detroit should be able to go 4-1 in their homestand, and probably catch Cleveland by the time they have to face the Tribe for the first time this season.

Power Rankings #2

 This is my 2^nd installment of my MLB Power Rankings.  There are some surprise teams in the top 5, and some disappointments outside of the top 10. 

1.       Texas Rangers (23-12) have been nearly unbeatable this season, and they are as close to a perfect team as there is in the big leagues right now.  Josh Hamilton is on pace to hit about 1,000 home runs, and the lineup has been efficient enough to have runners on base when Hamilton is batting.  The AL West is terrible right now too, so Texas should just keep racking up wins.  The Rangers are trending UP.

2.       Los Angeles Dodgers (23-11) just keep winning.  It will be interesting to see how they do in interleague play because after Kershaw the starting rotation is pretty weak.  But with the injuries in the NL West, the Dodgers shouldn’t have a problem to keep their lead.  The Dodgers are trending NEUTRAL.

3.       Atlanta Braves (22-13) score a lot of runs.  This was a struggle to put the Braves this high after they looked inept last week when I watched them at Wrigley.  It would be exciting to see Atlanta keep the NL East lead throughout Chipper’s last season. The Braves are trending UP.

4.       Baltimore Orioles (22-13) are the biggest surprise of the season so far.  I don’t think they are as good as their record shows, but at this point I can only rank teams based on what they have already done and not potential.  They bounced right back against the Rays after getting bombed by the Rangers.  The Orioles are trending UP.

5.       Washington Nationals (21-13) still lead the majors in ERA.  It seems like every game they are pulling out a 2-1 win.  The interesting story here is how do you justify shutting down Strasburg after 160 IP if you are still in the playoff hunt? Injuries are piling up for the Nats, so at some point they are going to fade, right? The Nationals are trending NEUTRAL.

6.       Tampa Bay Rays (21-14) are my favorite team in the AL East, but they are still looking up to the O’s.  Every team in the AL are beginning to show extreme faults (except Texas).  Tampa just cannot score runs consistently enough to continue this winning percentage.  The Rays are trending DOWN.

7.       St. Louis Cardinals (20-14) are doing what they should against inferior competition in the NL Central.  It helps that Beltran is leading the NL is home runs and RBI.  The Cardinals are trending UP.

8.       Toronto Blue Jays (19-16) are still in the thick of things in the AL East.  The last place team in this division is probably the 2^nd best in the AL Central.  If the young Toronto pitchers can continue to fool hitters, they should push for the division lead soon.  The Blue Jays are trending NEUTRAL.

9.       New York Mets (19-15) still have a winning record somehow. David Wright seems to want one more big contract, and RA Dickey is racking up quality starts with that knuckleball.  The Mets are trending UP.

10.   New York Yankees (19-15) roster is falling apart by the week.  They lost their new star pitcher for the season, and then lost their old star closer possibly for his career. The Yanks will continue to score runs, but it doesn’t really matter if they cannot hold opponents under 6 runs.  The Yankees are trending DOWN.

11.   Miami Marlins (18-16) are the comeback kids so far this season, and Stanton seems to be heating up lately… good thing their stadium is still empty.  The Marlins are trending UP.

12.   Cleveland Indians (18-16) somehow are still above .500.  They seem to be doing just enough to win ball games.  They have played in more save-able games than any other team, which has resulted in Perez running away with the saves lead early in the season.  The Indians are trending DOWN.

13.   Detroit Tigers (17-17) have been the biggest disappointment this season.  The problem here is this record isn’t because of major injuries or bad luck, they are just playing poorly.  I still think they will turn it around, but I have moved away from following first pitch to final out.  The Tigers are trending NEUTRAL.

14.   Oakland Athletics (18-17) are bad, but still are above .500.  they are in the bottom third in every offensive category, but their pitching is saving them so far.  Luckily they have a reinforcement in Brandon Inge.  The A’s are trending NEUTRAL.

15.   Cincinnati Reds (17-16) have been their normal selves to start the year, disappointing.  They should push St. Louis for the division crown, but they will likely be sellers at the trade deadline. The Reds are trending NEUTRAL.

16.   San Francisco Giants (17-17) have been hit with the injury plague again, losing Kung Fu Panda and Brian Wilson this season.  Luckily their pitching staff and weak division should keep them in playoff contention throughout the season.  The Giants are trending DOWN.

17.   Chicago White Sox (16-19) are not nearly as bad as I thought they would be coming into the season.  Their young arms are talented and should be able to keep them competitive in the AL Central.  If they can find another bat to protect Konerko they could be a legitimate threat. The White Sox are trending NEUTRAL.

18.   Philadelphia Phillies (16-19) are still hanging around the .500 mark even without their best two hitters.  It is putting a lot of pressure on the pitching staff, and will likely wear them down quicker than usual.  If Utley and Howard can come back soon, the Phillies should be alright, but if not they will really need to look for some offensive help. The Phillies are trending DOWN.

19.   Houston Astros (15-19) get the benefit of the doubt here because there is nobody on their roster that is an everyday name.  yes they are really bad and will likely finish with close to 100 losses, but right now they are hanging tough in the NL Central.  The Astros are trending UP.

20.   Arizona Diamondbacks (15-20) are not reliving their special year of last, but have fallen back in their old habits. They are struggling to hit and pitch right now.  If Upton can turn things around, Zona should jump up in the rankings. The Diamonbacks are trending DOWN.

21.   Milwaukee Brewers (15-19) have been riding a roller coaster this season.  Their offense is reeling without Prince in the middle of the lineup, and the pitchers are struggling with the smaller offensive support.  Braun will have to carry them.  The Brewers are trending NEUTRAL.

22.   Los Angeles Angels (15-20) just got roughed up by their AL West rivals.  So far Texas doesn’t seem like they are too worried about the collection of talent in Cali.  Pujols is really trying to crown himself as the biggest bust ever, and the bullpen is still awful.  I am not sure why they didn’t keep Rodney.  The Angels are trending DOWN.

23.   Pittsburgh Pirates (16-18) are still just 4 games out of the lead in the NL Central division.  The Pirates need some offensive help, but I doubt they will trade for someone. Can the Bucs finish with 82 wins this season, I certainly hope so. The Pirates are trending NEUTRAL.

24.   Boston Red Sox (15-19) would be lower if they didn’t just pummel the Indians over the weekend.  One encouraging thing for the BoSox this season has been the emergence of their top 2 prospects.  This will likely be Youkilis’s last season in Boston.  The Red Sox are trending NEUTRAL.

25.   Kansas City Royals (13-20) are still a scary team even way down at number 25.  Their offense can get hot and put up 8 runs in a game, and their young arms can hold any offense down.  The problem is that Duffy is likely out for the season with a blown out left elbow, and if that is true the Royals will have company in the cellar with the Twins. The Royals are trending NEUTRAL.

26.   Seattle Mariners (16-20) are terrible, and if it wasn’t for the Tigers they would be in the bottom 2 on the league.  They are 5-1 against Detroit, and 11-19 against the rest of the league.  The Mariners are trending DOWN (because they are done playing the Tigers).

27.   Chicago Cubs (14-20) have no offense to speak of.  Theo Epstein has some work to do with this roster.  One thing is for sure though, if Epstein can turn things around, Wrigleyville will be a fun place to be.  The Cubs are trending NEUTRAL.

28.   Colorado Rockies (13-20) did not get much help from Jamie Moyer coming back from his retirement community.  The Rockies really have very little to be excited about right now and will likely be eliminated from playoff contention by July 4^th.  The Rockies are trending DOWN.

29.   San Diego Padres (12-23) might be eliminated from the playoffs by the next Power Rankings.  Pure awful.  The Padres are trending NEUTRAL (the basement is as low as you can get).

30.   Minnesota Twins (10-24) have more talent that the Padres, so they might be able to get up to 28 or so by the end of the season.  The offense struggles and their pitching lacks any depth or talent.  Not a good combination.  The Twins are trending NEUTRAL.

Verlander & Schlereth of the Series (Athletics)

Well the Tigers didn't win another series, but they did salvage a split of the 4 game series.  The bats woke up for one game and then decided there was 6 more weeks of winter and continued their hibernation.  The consecutive quality starts streak ended on Friday night, but then a new one started with Fister and Verlander. 

The Verlander of the Series has some competition in this installment.  JV pitched a great game yesterday, and luckily for the fans the broken blister did not cause the Tigers to lose the game (and it limited his pitch count to 104).  Miguel also bounced back from his first Schlereth award with a big series at the plate, and he also made some nice defensive plays. He didn't hit a home run, but seemed to knock in all of the clutch RBI's.  I am going to go with Verlander this weekend.  He was back to his dominant self yesterday, and Oakland had 1 good at bat against him in the 7 innings.  His record is finally starting to reflect the quality of pitching he has done in the first 34 games. I expect JV's May dominance to continue this year, especially because the level of competition is pretty weak this month. 

The Schlereth of the Series has to go to Prince Fielder.  Maybe he will read this blog and turn it around like Miggy did after winning this infamous award.  Prince is in the longest slump of his career (0-22), the problem with this slump is that the Prince is having terrible at bats.  He is becoming as easy to strike out as Boesch.  His 2 strike approach over the weekend was awful.  To his credit, Oakland does have a very good pitching staff, but he needs to be the better hitter.  It doesn't get any easier against the White Sox, but then the Tigers welcome the Pirates to town.  I don't think we will see the first back to back Schlereth winner, let's hope not at least.

Tigers Week 5 Recap (15-15)

Detroit is continuing their run of mediocrity through the first 30 games of the season.  They have not won back to back games since the Kansas City Royals series in the middle of April.  That is almost a month long slump.  There isnt a lot to like right now with the Tigers, but I guess the optimistic way of looking at these guys is it cant get much worse right?

Well it could, but I doubt that.  The Tigers have had the best starting pitching in the month of May so far, and now have recorded 9 straight quality starts.  The problem is they are averaging less than 4 runs per game so far.

Most of the things that could go wrong with the Boys of Summer has gone wrong in the young season, so maybe they will catch fire and not look back soon.  The bullpen has struggled in almost every game, the hitting has been horrendous, and Raburn has fixed himself as the worst statistical 2nd basemen in the league (and it is not close). 

Looking at this team though, you have to realize that they are made to hit.  The lineup is just too good to not score runs over the course of the season.  They will get better, and it might even happen soon.  While Austin is having a career year, the rest of the lineup has been down.  Miguel will not bat .270 for the season, Prince will finish with more than 10 homeruns, Avila will bat higher than .220, and even Boesch cant go through a whole season as bad as he has been. 

Last week I looked through the May schedule and thought the Tigers could have close to a 20 win month.  So far this looks impossible, but they have some very winable series coming up.  I would be surprised if Detroit was not in first place by the end of May (and 5+ games over .500).

Verlander & Schlereth of Series (Mariners)

And the Tiger Kryptonite struck again this week.  Detroit made the trip to Seattle for a 3 game series, and found a way to lose 2 of 3.  Luckily for us, we do not have to play the Mariners again this year, and we finish with a 1-5 record against the worst team in the AL.  Let's jump into the awards...

Verlander of the Series: This one seems pretty easy for me, Doug Fister.  I could go with all of the starting pitchers in this series (Dougie, JV, and Smyly), but it was Fister's first start back with the Tigers. All he did was go 7 innings of shutout ball, and did so with only 73 pitches.  It is nice having him back in the rotation, and hopefully he can stay healthy for the rest of the season.  Detroit will go back to having one of the best 1-2 punches in the entire league.  The other 2 starters deserve some credit here as well, as they pushed the consecutive quality start streak to 8 in a row.  The sad part here is the team is 4-4 in those 8 games, pretty embarassing.

Schlereth of the Series: I hate to do this, but I am going to go with Miguel Cabrera.  I will blame it on the fact that it was a west coast series and I couldn't watch all of his at bats (and I bring good luck to Miggy Poco).  Miggy finished the series 0-13 with 3 GIDP.  Yes, a few of those AB's were hard hit balls, and he had some bad luck with the BAIP, but I mean 0-13 against the Mariners?  We didnt even have to face King Felix.  The entire lineup continued to struggle at the plate during this series, only scoring 9 runs (6 in one game).  But I am tired of giving the crappiness award to all 9 hitters.  The bats need to get going to relieve some pressure from the bullpen.  Yes, the pen struggled a lot at Safeco Field, but it is hard to win scoring 3 runs in 2 games.  The 1A option for Schlereth is of course the bullpen.  The stat that infuriates me the most is the starters threw a comined 19 innings and gave up 4 runs.  The bullpen pitched 8 innings and gave up 5 runs, really guys?  Detroit has now lost 5 games after leading 7 innings or later, last year they finished the season 77-0.  As mad as I am at the bums in the pen right now, I can't look past the lack of run support we have given them this season.  You cannot expect a bullpen to come in every night and try to pitch with no cushion for error, eventually it will come back to bite you.  And it had multiple times this season.  If the bats can start to score more runs (5+ per game), you can expect the bullpen to not look so bad.  Because even though they will likley give up a run or two still, Detroit is still winning the game.  Winning cures all.

Looking ahead, the Tigers get to play the fighting Inges in Oakland.  They lost their rookie slugger for a few weeks, so now Inge gets to hit in the top half of the order.  The A's are last in a lot of offensive categories, so Detroit needs to win this 4 game series.  I dont know how much longer the starting pitchers can continue their impressive streak, but Oakland is a good team to do that against.  I have a feeling Miguel will come out hot in the series, and hopefully it will spark some big offensive games before heading back to the Midwest.

The Friendly Confines: 1st Wrigley Field Experience

 On Monday I was in Chicago for a work visit, and I was able to go to Wrigley Field to catch my first Cubs game.  It was an interesting experience, but I am glad I was able to check another stadium off the list. 

The beginning of the night started with terrible traffic and a rush to get to the stadium.  Since Wrigley is in the middle of a neighborhood, the streets are not made for the game crowd.  It took us almost 2 hours to go 4 miles, but we finally got to 1060 West Addison 5 minutes before the first pitch. But the view from our seats was pretty cool. 

It was a blast from the past as soon as our ticket was scanned.  There were no Ferris wheels, batting cages, hot tubs, restaurants, etc.  Wrigley Field offered Old Style Beer and baseball.  It was refreshing.  While Comerica is still my favorite because I know everything about the park, the nostalgia of the Friendly Confines cannot be denied.  After grabbing a brew and a stadium dog, we settled into our seats to watch the Cubs take on the Braves.

The game featured a great start by converted receiver Jeff Samardzija, back-to-back home runs by the Cubs, Chipper Jones still producing at 40 years old, “Take me out to the ball game” led by Pat Fitzgerald, a rough 8^th inning from Marmol, and ultimately a Cubs win. 

The park might not have had the most up to date technologies (no LCD screens or scoreboard) or been the cleanest place I have ever been, but it was special. Watching a game played on the same field since 1916 was pretty cool.  I can see why there are more Cubs fans than Sox in Chicago, there is more flavor and tradition with the stadium alone. 

I will continue to update you guys on my stadium explorations as I will add Fenway to the list at the end of the month, and then hopefully Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati and PNC Park in Pittsburgh in June. 

Verlander & Schlereth of Series (White Sox)

The Tigers finally won a series, some fans were wondering if it would happen again.  Detroit also managed to avoid going below .500 for a little while longer.  Every game against the Southsiders was a close game, and the Tigers got 3 more quality starts (5 in a row).  Peralta was one pitch away from recording the final out on Friday night, but then thought it was a good time to launch his first homerun of the season resulting in a walkoff win.  Baseball has a funny way of equalizing the amazing comebacks, so on Saturday Tigers fans got a taste of the opposite side.  The twice baked potato walked onto the mound and began throwing his standard arrow straight 94 mph fastball, and after the leadoff guy got to 3^rd base with 1 out Shrek hit one of the longest homeruns Comerica has ever seen (man I love a closer with a +6.00 ERA).  Sunday, pretty Ricky came back with another gem against the Sox and the Tigers managed to win the rubber match.  Now lets get to the awards.. drumroll please…

Verlander of the Series has to go the starting pitchers (Smyly, Scherzer, and Procello), and specifically Max.  He rebounded extremely well from New York by allowing only 1 run and adding to his K’s per 9 IP lead amongst starting pitchers, but the most important part for me was the zero walks.  The tv broadcasts focused a lot on Kid Rick and Maxi-pad’s alterations to their windup, and they seemed to have worked (if only for the weekend).  I am just asking Max to become consistent.  I don’t expect him to have this same stat line each start, but is 6-8 IP with 3 earned runs too much to ask for?  It will be interesting to see how Max’s next start goes down when he gets to pitch against an inept offense (the last time he faced an offense in the bottom tier he made them look like All-stars). 

Schlereth of the Series:  Well the bats continued to sport a box score resembling the Pittsburgh Pirates offense, but I want to mix up the loser award this week.  The rotten spud continues to struggle in every outing he stands on the mound.  It is becoming inexcusable.  Yes, he was not going to go 49/49 this season, but when your closer has more decisions (4) than your ace (3) something is seriously wrong.  He is struggling to have any fastball control, which leaves him unable to throw the splitter as much as we would like.  One good thing that happened over the weekend is Valverde stopped doing his ridiculous dances on the mound after saving Sunday’s game, maybe he is realizing you actually have to get results to act like an idiot.

Looking forward, the Tigers get to play their kryptonite in a 3 game series then head to Oakland where the Inge phenomenon is sweeping the bay. The Tigers have their 3 best pitchers scheduled to start against the worst offensive team in the AL.  The series shapes up in Detroit’s favor, but after seeing the result from last night, on-paper matchups don’t seem to matter much in baseball.

Kentucky Derby week... and nobody cares...

Since the Kentucky Derby is right around the corner, I figured I would mention it a bit today.  The Derby is one of sport’s greatest spectacles.  Even if you aren’t a horse racing person, you probably have seen Churchill Downs, at least once, during the first weekend in May.  The women wearing hats that are the size of a 3 person inner tube, everyone walking around with a gallon of mint juleps, and the infield looking like a mud wrestling moshpit at Woodstock.  I am not sure why I care so much, but growing up we always made a point to watch the Derby as a family.  Every opening weekend in May there was a small steer show in Hudsonville, Michigan all day on Saturday, then we would head home and walk in the door just in time to watch the race.  Every year I had the hope that maybe it was the year we would see a Triple Crown winner.  Anyways, moving on, it got me thinking today that it would be pretty cool to experience the craziness of Kentucky Derby week in Louisville at least once.  Expanding off of that thought, if money wasn’t an issue, what is the one sports event that you would like to attend?

This is a tough choice for me, since I love almost all sports.  Being on the grounds for the final round of the Masters would definitely make the top 5 list.  It is amazing how beautiful the course is just on tv, I couldn’t imagine seeing it in person.  And it is the Masters, the final round is always magical.  What about tennis?  Visiting the US Open could be pretty special, or Wimbledon, or Roland Garros.   Then there is the World Cup.  It would be amazing to see some of the group play games, be in a foreign country and see the passion from the locals.  Of course this would be a little higher on my list if the USA soccer team would make a deep run, but seeing Messi in person would be pretty special.  Some people might want to go to a Super Bowl, but I enjoy watching the commercials and spending the night with friends too much to be sitting in the crowd.  A few people I know have been lucky enough to make the trip out to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl, this is really high on my list.  To see one end zone painted dark blue with maize lettering spelling out Michigan, the mountains overlooking the stadium, the Rose parade.  It truly is the Grandaddy of em all, and I would trade being at all of the remaining Super Bowls for one trip to California to see my Maize and Blue run onto the field.  Staying with college sports, it would be a lot of fun to be at one of the arenas for an opening weekend to see 6 games live especially if Michigan was there. Or making a trip to the Final Four could be pretty special as well. 

When I was growing up I was lucky enough to visit Williamsport, Pennsylvania.  For those of you who have no idea why that is special to a young boy, it is the home of the Little League World Series.  I wish I could say that I was there to play in the tournament, but I guess it was close enough.  One of our family friends played there 2 years in a row for Saudi Arabia.  So in 1997 we headed out for a family trip to watch some of the games.  When I got there it felt like I was a part of the team, I was able to hang out with most of the players (not only from Saudi but from every team there).  A big part of the tradition is trading pins (all of the players get pins for winning regionals to make the World Series), and I was able to take home a hat full of pins from all over the world.  Then we watched the championship game of California vs Mexico right behind a dugout.  Life couldn’t get much better for a 10 year old kid.  I even got an autograph from Charles White (Heisman trophy winner at USC), because his son played on the California team. 

Looking forward, it would be cool to take my son there someday, but for me personally the event that I would choose to attend would be a summer Olympics.  For some reason I find myself liking every sport during the Olympics, even weightlifting and badminton.  It would be really cool seeing an American standing on the tallest podium receiving a gold medal while the Star Spangled Banner was playing. It might be just as fun interacting with people from all over the world when you weren’t at an event.  What a cool idea.  Maybe the games will come back to the United States at some point and I can catch a few events. 

What about you?

Did baseball just lose a legend?

Last night in a freak accident, Mariano Rivera tore his ACL last night before a matchup against the Royals. At 42 years old, the recovery time will likely be longer than most.  It is almost a sure thing that Sandman will not play the rest of this season. 

During batting practice, most of the pitchers are on the field to shag fly balls.  Apparently, Bob Gibson back in the day played 3rd base in BP to work on his defense and his reaction time.  In today's game the pitchers are usually forced to be in the outfield.  They use this time as a fun way to get loose and get the legs stretched out before the game. According to teammates, Rivera does this before every game and has for his entire 20 year career.

It was painful to listen to his press conference after the game to announce the ACL has torn, with all of his teammates around him trying to put on a strong face.  Inside, though, they were wondering what everyone else was, would this be Mo's last time on a baseball field as a player? The odds are definitely against a comeback, especially since it was likely this would be his last year anyways, but how can the greatest closer the game has ever seen go out like that.  Will his last appearance as a big leaguer be in front of about 1,000 Royal fans during batting practice when half of the team was still in the dugout? I certainly hope not. 

Mariano Rivera deserves his last outing to be in New York, at Yankee Stadium.  As much as I hate the Yankees, he deserves to be on the mound for a save opportunity in the post season one last time.  He deserves to get 3 easy outs with the pitch that he invented, and walk off the mound as a warrior, a winner, a Yankee great, with 50,000 appreciative fans and the teammates that he saved so many victories for. 

Please don't let this be exit Sandman.

Tigers Week 4 Recap (12-12)

The Detroit Tigers had another average week in the win/loss column by going 2-3 with the rain winning on one day.  This was their 2^nd straight week of under .500 ball.  The one encouraging note from this though, is the 2011 Tigers were 12-12 to start the year and then fell to 12-17.  This year’s version can still outdo the effort.  I think it is important for the Tigers to win another series here soon, and hopefully put together a streak of series wins.  The May schedule is drastically easier than the opening month, so I think we can expect (or some fans might want to demand) the Tigers to push for a 20 win month.  If the Tigers are not in first place after this month, my concerns about this team will continue to rise.

Looking back on this past week, the offense increased productivity (averaged 5.2 runs/game), Max continued to struggle, Smyly recorded his first career win, Rick got back into good form, and JV continues to cruise along racking up more No Decisions. I am still the most concerned about Max Scherzer.  I expect him to piece together a gem soon, but his calling card continues this season.  It seems like he just isn’t maturing as a pitcher, and if this is the best he has in him, he is a 4A player and doesn’t deserve a rotation spot reserved for him past this season.  Drew Smyly is making his case to be the AL Rookie of the Year by leading in ERA after 4 starts.  I think we should expect his effectiveness to decline in the month of May, but if he can keep going 6 strong innings with an ERA around 3.00 he will be the best 5^th starter in the AL.  Maybe I just have my homer blinders on, but I think Rick has made the next step with improving as a pitcher.  I don’t think going 7 or 8 innings and giving up 3 ER’s is out of the norm for what we should see from him for the most part this season.  Verlander will continue to be the best pitcher in baseball, but it will be important to limit his innings and pitches as much as possible to keep him fresh for the postseason.  But, the most exciting part of May is that Doug Fister threw a rehab start in Toledo last night and was fine afterwards.  We should get our 2^nd best pitcher back next week on our west coast trip! 

The offense seemed to improve over this week.  Maybe this was due to the guys feeling more comfortable at the plate, or Austin Jackson having 2 good series.  I just hope it continues this next week.  It was nice to see Prince bomb a ball to the moon in New York, but it would be nice if he can do it in Comerica soon.  Brennan Boesch seems to be having more quality at bats, and with him on base more the Tigers will score more runs.  Even though the White Sox pitchers have been very tough to hit so far, I think the Tigers will have a good weekend at the plate. 

Looking forward to week 5, the Tigers get to head out west for the first time this year.  While out there they will get to avenge their losses to Seattle and reunite with Brandon Inge.  I expect the Tigers to win 2 of the next 3 series.  I am excited to see the White Sox get dominated in Detroit, for Fister’s first start, and for Brandon Inge to strike out against Tiger pitchers.

Verlander & Schlereth of Series (Royals)

Another series complete means another Verlander/ Schlereth to award.  This series was rain shortened, and kept Duane Below from making his first start this season.  It also meant that Detroit had a great shot of sweeping the 2 game series with Verlander on the mound yesterday.  Some things are just not meant to be, and apparently scoring runs for Verlander is one of them.  It was the real MVP’s 6^th start of the season, and it was the 5^th time that the Detroit bats couldn’t score more than 3 runs for him.  Luckily, Brenann Boesch hit a game tying 2 run home run in the bottom of the 8^th to keep JV from the loss.  He still is 2-1 with a sub 2.50 ERA.  Anyways, let’s move on to awarding some guys from the series.

Verlander: This award goes to Austin Jackson.  He is the second Tiger, EVER, to have 3 four hit games in the first month of the season.  He finished with 5 hits in the 2 game series, and continues to be the Tiger’s most important offensive weapon.  In the 12 victories this season, Austin has an OBP of greater than .400.  In the 12 losses the Tigers have already suffered, his OBP is less than .300.  

Schlereth: This is a tough choice between the entire offensive approach and Benoit.  While Benoit has not been pitching like he did in the 2^nd half of the season, he still has been more effective than he was in the first 2 months last year.  It is frustrating to see him come out of the pen and walk people, or even get into 3 ball counts over and over again, but I think him (and Valverde) will begin to pitch better as the season progresses.  That is why I am going with the offensive approach yesterday.  Jonathan Sanchez was on the mound for the Royals, and somehow he carried a no-hitter into the 5^th inning.  This is the same pitcher that walks a batter per inning, yet for some reason the Tiger batters only drew 2 BB’s (in his last inning).  This guy is not pitching well at all right now, yet the aggressiveness really hurt the Tigers yesterday.  They continually swung at bat pitches, and they swung early in the count.  There was no reason why the Tigers shouldn’t have given Verlander his 3^rd win of the season.  One day after the bats exploded for 9 runs, the offense fell back into old habits. Yes, I know Detroit will not score 7+ runs every game, but Verlander had a huge pitching advantage yesterday and yet we needed a 2 run homerun in the 8^th inning to get our first 2 runs of the game.  Another problem I have been seeing lately is the at bats at the end of games.  Yesterday after Boesch took Crow deep, I was less than impressed with Miggy and Biggy’s approach.  It looks like every batter steps in the batter’s box after the 7 inning and just tries to swing for the fence, which usually results in some very bad swings and easy outs.

Hopefully the Tigers can find some offense against the White Sox, even though the Chicago pitchers have been a lot better than Sanchez has been in 3 years.  It will be nice to win a series again, especially against the White Sox.  

April MLB Recap

This is partially because I am bored at work, and partially because a lot has already happened in the baseball season and I love baseball.  I don’t know if I am the only one, but it seems like April just flew by.  At least us Tiger’s fans will not have to hear the April in the D song anymore on FSD.  Detroit closed out an up and down month with an 11-11 record (now 12-11 after destroying KC for the 4^th time this season). Since I keep my finger on the Tiger’s pulse through weekly updates, this will be a more general news and notes of MLB’s first month.

5 impressive starts:

1.       Texas Rangers must have gotten tired of hearing how the Angels and the Tigers were going to run through the AL and were on a season long collision course for the ALCS.  The Rangers have been baseball’s hands down best team in the first month of the season.  They upgraded their pitching staff with Darvish, Holland has continued to develop, and Lewis has walked as many as Brennan Boesch on the season, 1 time.  They almost opened up the first double digit division lead, and it happened to be over the Angels.  This team is for real, and with playing in the AL West they will be able to beat up on the A’s and Mariners.  At this point in the season, I would be surprised if they do not finish with the most wins in baseball. 

2.       Washington Nationals still boast the best team ERA in MLB.  Their pitching staff couldn’t really be hurling any better right now.  Their offseason moves have worked so far, as Gonzalez has made the move to the NL smoothly.  The interesting part here will be how seriously will they stand by their innings limit on Stephen Strasburg, especially if they are leading the NL East in late August when he gets to the 160 IP ceiling. What happens if they make the playoffs?  Just recently the Nats pulled up phenom Bryce Harper to play left field and hopefully add some offense to the injured riddled lineup.  The thing I have been most impressed with his first two games have been his defense.  He seems to be pressing some at the plate to make an immediate impact, but his defense have been making him standout.  This guy has an absolute rocket.  Last night (I know it was May 1^st, but still), he almost threw out a guy tagging at home from left field.  No big deal right, this happens all of the time.  The only difference is most left fielders don’t even try to make the throw from where Harper caught the ball.  He was 300 feet away from home plate.  He got behind the throw and delivered a seed to the catcher.  The ball didn’t bounce and the catcher caught at eye level.  After watching the replay it was clear the runner was out, but the ump called him safe.  If he is making plays like this every series it will be hard to send him back down to the minors. 

3.       Someone forgot to tell Derek Jeter than he is old and is on the decline.  The Captain has the most hits in baseball with 37 already.  He is batting close to .400 still and has been the perfect table setter for the big hitters behind him in the lineup.  Jeter has found the fountain of youth apparently.  He is even running faster to first base than he has in the past 4 seasons.  Since he got his 3,000^th hit last summer, DJ is batting a cool .355.  It will be interesting if this can continue for the rest of the season, and with the way he is using the entire field to collect hits I think it can.  With the Yankees gaping holes in the starting rotation, New Yorkers need Jeter to keep it up.

4.       Matt Kemp is a monster.  He took finishing 2^nd in the NL MVP award last season to heart.  He has been quoted in saying he wants to become the first 50-50 player.  In case you don’t know what he is referring to, he wants to hit 50 homeruns and steal 50 bases.  I’m sorry, but if he hits that many bombs, he will need to attempt a steal almost every time he finds himself on the bases.  Kemp is currently leading the NL is every offensive category.  I don’t understand why teams continue to pitch to him.  The Dodgers have two offensive threats and the rest are mediocre at best major leaguers. With the amount of IBB’s he should collect this season, 50 steals might be easier than the dingers.

5.       Phil Humber pitches a perfect game.  Ok, it was against the Mariners so does it really count?  Well, after they played run around the bases off Tiger pitchers last week, maybe I should give Seattle a little more credit.  And regardless of opponent, a perfect game is a once in a lifetime feat.  The White Sox pitchers have started the season very well, and will look to keep the South-siders in contention in the AL Comedy Central.  Now the question will be, can Humber win 10 games this year? 

5 less than impressive starts:

1.        Kansas City was the hot pick to finish 2^nd in the AL Central this season.  They are full of young talent, and seem to have enough offense to win some games this year.  That is still true, and there is a lot of baseball left to play for them to improve in the standings, but the Royals have already had a 12 game losing streak.  Their offense has regressed significantly from last year, and even from spring training.  The one saving grace for them right now is Hosmer has an extremely low BAIBP.  He has been smoking the ball, but every line drive seems to find someone’s mitt.  Baseball is a game of inches, and he is a few away from batting .300+.  instead he is 0 for his last 21.

2.       The Boston Massacre. The Red Sox are starting to turn the season around a bit lately, most due to playing bad teams, but the starting pitching has put together a solid week.  I am still wondering if Valentine was the right hire for this lineup, but I guess that will play out in the next few months.  The Sox have been plagued by injuries and a terrible bullpen.  The AL East domination has seemed to lessen a bit over the past year or so.  The Yanks and Sox are no longer the most feared teams in baseball, their players are getting old or are just injured.  Both teams have glaring issues in the rotation with some bullpen depth problems.  Could the tide have turned westward towards Detroit and Texas?

3.       The Phillies are painful to watch.  Their best two offensive players are out with injuries, and currently they are trying to win each game 2-0.  The NL East should be concerned if they cannot build a big enough cushion to protect when Utley and Howard are back in the 3^rd and 4^th hole.

4.       Everyone keeps talking about Albert Pujols not hitting homeruns and batting sub .220.  I have a hard time thinking that will continue very much longer, but the Angels have a lot more problems.  Their bullpen is a complete mess, and if I was a fan I wouldn’t feel too comfortable about any lead smaller than 5 runs.  They let Fernando Rodney go to Tampa Bay, where he is having a standard Ray reliever’s year (dominant).  They replaced him with the rosen bag.  The Angels built their team on starting pitching and hitting.  They have 4 guys that can play 1^st base or DH, and now they just realized that this is only 2 of the 9 positions. They tried moving Mark Trumbo from first, but the dude is a butcher.  He has terrible footwork, is not agile enough, has less than stellar arm strength, and is basically an all around terrible 3^rd baseman.  They kid is in his early 20s, he cannot be a full time DH at this point.  The Angels just released Bobby Abreu to replace him with another highly touted prospect (Trout), and they immediately inserted him into the lead off role.  This team will need to improve a lot to be able to compete with Texas because if the starting pitching cannot put in 7 solid innings, the bullpen is likely to blow the game.  As we just saw a few weeks ago, the Rangers can knock out good pitchers very early in the game. 

5.       San Diego Padres.  This team is just awful.  I really hope Seattle does not have to play the Padres during an interleague series.  I think San Diego has a very real chance of breaking the record for most losses in a season.  I really don’t understand their situation.  They just built Petco Park for the ball club, and then a few years after the management decides to go into a full rebuild.  Usually that happens before the stadium comes.  Oh well, at least they still have Ron Burgundy.