Welcome Back Carlos

The Tigers went into the first game of their doubleheader against the division rival White Sox in a battle for first place in the Central. The two teams couldn't have come into the series going in any more different directions. The ChiSox had won 5 of their last 7 and were fresh off Mark Buehrle throwing the 18th perfect game in MLB history against Tampa Bay, one of the top offenses in the league (3rd in the AL in runs scored with 501). The Tigers, on the other hand, are 1-5 since the All Star break and have only scored a single run in 4 of their last 5 games. Offensive struggles are nothing new for the Tigers this year - they have been maddeningly inconsistent, showing both excellence and frustrating droughts at various points in the year. This has manifested itself in the team scoring 4.67 runs per game, slightly below the league average of 4.78.

Enough of the bad though, because after this game there's a completely different buzz and I am looking forward to the Tigers wrecking that fatass Bartolo Colon (who some would be shocked to know was at one point traded for Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore and Brandon Philips) in the second game of the doubleheader later today. Umm, knock on wood... or something. The feeling around the city was that the Tigers were perhaps on the cusp of a free fall, but Verlander came in and did exactly what the team ace is supposed to do - he pitched an excellent complete game, surrendering only 1 run on 6 hits and 4 walks. JV wasn't totally dominant, wracking up only 4 strikeouts, and got into trouble at some points (including a bases loaded, no outs jam in the top of the 9th from which he escaped unscathed) but he was good enough to take sole possession of first place in the Central... for a few hours at least.

Verlander himself admitted in the post-game interview that he got out of rhythm in the early innings, before mostly cruising through the mid-to-late innings until the scary 9th. He was clearly amped up and I'm sure he could feel the pressure of pitching with first place on the line the day after a ChiSox pitcher threw a perfect game. Although it may have been a little bumpy at times, the finals numbers and, more importantly, the win, look pretty damn nice right now.

Oh yeah, and some dude named Carlos Guillen was activated today and went 1/4 while DHing. The one single came off a shattered bat and barely made it through the infield, his shoulder is still too sore to bat from the right side and at one point he appeared to misread the signs coming in from the dugout, so color me unimpressed. I hope he does well, but my hopes just aren't very high at the moment. Unfortunately, news has also hit the web that the biggest bat available on the market, Matt Holliday, has been officially dealt to the Cards for Brett Wallace and two other minor leaguers. Good for my fantasy team, I guess, but I wanted him on the Tigers. Dombrowski never really seemed to have the team in the Holliday hunt, so this is not unexpected however.

HAHA Suck It Twins

He's... umm... out?

As the AL Central race heats up a bit (White Sox 1 GB/Twins 2.5 GB) the Twins suffered an embarrassing defeat last night, allowing the Athletics to rally from a 10 run deficit to win 14-13 behind Matt Holliday's 2 blasts, including a game-tying grand slam in the seventh. Even though Mourneau, Holliday and Jason Kubel combined for 17 RBI in this ridiculous slugfest (39 hits to only 7 strikeouts between the two teams), the story of the night was a blatant botched call at home plate to end the game instead of tying it in the top of the ninth. Actually, perhaps the call wasn't botched, but rather Michael Wuertz's tag is so devastating that it travels both through space and time, thus explaining how Cuddyer was out despite the fact that approximately 50% of his body had touched the plate by the time Wuertz appeared to lay his tag down.

The take home message from this game is not that baseball needs replay, but rather that God hates the Twins because they are perenially the most boring team in the league.

I Am Going to Freak Out

Some people seem to believe that the Tigers don't need to make a move prior to the passing of the trade deadline in 10 days... because Carlos Guillen is coming back. Don't get me wrong, I like Carlos, but this Tigers team has serious offensive issues and Carlos is coming off a relatively pedestrian .286/.376/.436 line with 10 HR and 54 RBI in 420 AB last year. I really doubt how much of an impact that his return will make. In fact, the guy who Carlos would be taking playing time from has already matched Guillen's HR total from last year in 1/3rd the ABs and his only hitting 9 points below Guillen's 2008 season total.

Where exactly is this offensive explosion supposed to come from again?

"But he made the All Star game last year!" people cry. So? The All Star selection process is a joke - the fact that you played in the All Star game last year means absolutely nothing to me. For fucks sake, Tim fucking Wakefield made the All Star game this year and guys who actually deserved it such as Mark Reynolds, Miggy and *shudder* Chone Figgins get blackballed.

Also, Guillen is 33 and there is no guarantee at all that he stays healthy and contributes to the team for the entire rest of the year. Although DHing will certainly help, Guillen has never been the healthiest player - he has only played 150+ games in a season twice in his career - and so I just don't "get" gambling the team's playoff hopes on an old, injury-risk type player who isn't even coming off a good year. The Tigers are probably good enough (or the rest of the division is terrible enough, depending on your outlook) to reach the postseason without acquiring another player, but I just really feel that we need one more bat to ignite the offense. *cough*MattHolliday*cough*

Although Holliday's first season away from the snug confines of Coors Field hasn't gone well, he has been positively on fire since after the All Star break - batting .400 with 3 HR, 10 RBI and 2 SB in 5 games. Small sample size? Sure. Slight overreaction on my part? You betcha. Although guys don't always immediately produce for their new team when traded (I am looking at you, Mark DeRosa, and your .105 BA + 2 weeks on the DL since going to the Cards), Holliday is exactly the kind of hot bat the Tigers need to blow them out of their general malaise. Holliday's skills are legit and he is not as bad as his numbers in Oakland make him out to be - time to go get him Dombrowski. Magglio has been reduced to a platoon with Clete Thomas, Miggy has been good but not what everyone was expecting, Granderson is on pace for a 30/30 season and made the All Star team but is batting a painful-to-see .254 (22 points below his career average), the offensive production from the SS position has been anemic, etc. I feel that just standing pat on the season would be a mistake and that something needs to be done.

Pistons Sign Ugliest Man in the World

The Pistons have made quite the splash this offseason, signing former college teammates Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueava.

Holy Jesus, shield your eyes.

Undoubtedly, these are two good players. However, these were not the signings I had in mind when Joe D. made the Billups-Iverson trade. Congratulations Joe, you know have a bench player and the ugliest player in the world. If you could now work on a coach and a player that could take the Pistons back to the NBA finals, I would appreciate it.