Happy Moms day to all of the ladies who can be called such.

Finally a well needed break for the boys. If ever a team needed a rain out it was the Tigers. A chance to get away from the field and relax. Maybe get their heads straightened out with a little family time. It's not often they get 2 days off in a row. Maybe when they get to KC they can use the time to get their plate timing back on track. I am sure Cabby and Renteria both need a little time to get going again. Grandy too after such a hot start back..

That all I can think of for now.. I"M taking the time off for Mothers day!

Was not in the mood to sit down and blog here for quite a while (2 days) beacause of how chitty the Tigers had been playing of late. Have to comment though on last nights win. WOW. What a win! Comment over.

I am not holding my breath that Sheff is starting to come out of his funk. I'll start believing it when he gets his average back above the .200 mark. The clock has to be ticking for him with management. I've stated several times that he hasn't hit with either power nor consistency since last years All Star game. And one 3 hit game and a bunch of walks does not mean consistent for what Sheff was brought in for. It's already had him removed from the 3 to the 6 hole in the batting order.

With Josh Beckett on for Boston tonight, it's going to take a repeat performance of last night to win this one.

Ramon Santiago. Why the heck is this guy NOT getting more at bats? Clutch hit off one of the better pitchers in the AL and he rides the pine more often than not. Seem like the bigger the game, the better he hits.

Closing this one out. I know its early but feel like there is nothing left to say about tonight. Becketts doing too damn good and the bats of the Tigers are too damn cold. So.. 90+ loss season is still on track for the 2nd highest paid team in the majors.

Dice-K is on the mound. Way the Tigers been hitting, I wouldn't be surprised to see him throw a no hitter at us. Despite his 5 walks thru 3.

One thing I was actually not surprised at was the Tigers parting ways with Jaque Jones. If anyone read my rant from this morning, that was one of the moves I said the Tigers had to make and soon.

Ok.. so Grandy broke up the no hitter. And in the process kept my Beat the streak streak intact.. up to 2 games now!! LOL

Ah well 5-1 Sox in the top of 7.. writing this one off.. again.

Ok folks, I don't know about the rest of you but todays loss to the Twins just really pi$$ed me off. Leyland called that line up a major shakeup? I call it more of the same crap we've had to put up with since last years All Star break. Unless Skip and Dombrowski make a major change I am fully ready to write off this season after only a month and a half. The only reason the Tigers haven't suffered a sweep from every other team in the division is because they have only played the Indians twice. And they caught C.C. Sabathia on an off night!

The starting pitching can only be blamed for a short while. After that, the lack of offense and shoddy defense have to answer. What would I change? In the pitching staff, nothing. The position players..

 First, with all respect to his past accomplishments, Sheff must be let go. He hasn't hit with any power or consistency since before last years All Star break. You can only blame his shoulder issues for so long before you HAVE to start making a move for the rest of THIS season.
 Second, say bye bye to Mr. Hack Jones. He never impressed me when he played with the Twins and he sure isn't impressing me with a .180 average now. He was supposedly brought in to add some left handed pop. More like left handed fizz. Ramon Santiago has been more consistent with more pop than he has. Plus he's getting paid less! You want to add another left handed bat to the mix, recall Clete Thomas.

My defense would run like this:

Renteria SS
Inge 3b platooning with Santiago
Polanco 2b
Cabrera 1b
Thomas LF
Grandy CF
Maggs RF
Pudge C

Save Carlos Guillen's knees and make him the DH.
If they let Sheff and Jones go the last roster spot could be Dane Sarhdina as Pudges back up. Or, Mike Piazza is well rested I am sure! (thats a joke son!)

The pitching staff is another rant I'll save for later

Serious Line up change by Leyland. Cabby batting 3rd? Maggs DH'ing? Worked like a charm in the 1st inning. First 5 reached and scored. Including Grandy's lead off homer. Scored 6 in the 1st, Polanco is 3 for 3 thru 4 innings. Kenny was perfect thru 3-2/3. gave up one run on 2 hits but recovered nicely.

Now this is just plain a$$ed ridiculous. Tigers build a 6-0 lead after 1, never manage another run and let the damn Twins back in it. I am so friggin pissed right now at how the Tigers have managed to boot away most of the damn season so far and Skip keeps saying they'll get better. When the heck is ot going to happen Skip? After the Friggin All Star break when we're 15 games out in the division? I'm going to stop here cuz I am actually afraid of pounding my keyboard so hard I'll break it.

Baker vs. Verlander. Good news, bad news. The good news is Baker is already out of the game, bad news its because of a pulled groin. I don't mind seeing a guy knocked out of a game, but prefer it to be because of a good beating on the basepaths. His replacement Mr. Bass is doing just fine though. Justins having his ups and downs as usual.

Ok.. the Tigers slump has returned. Bad time for it too.. Damn I hate the Metrodome

Having been to the Metrodome, I can tell you it is NOT a good baseball park. I don't hate the place but it is just.. Dingy, dirty and old. I am sure the Twins won't miss the place. But on the flip side, their new stadium is not going to have a roof. Therein lies the bugaboo. The new stadium will be a hellish place to play for the early spring and late season games. We're talking Minneapolis here. Why not do a retractable roof like Toronto or Milwaukee? Then again, we're also talking Carl Pohlad. Having been an employee of a company that he once had controlling interest in, I can testify to his uhhhh frugal ways. So the new stadium will be a bare bones operation and they'll charge a small fortune for anything and everything. Rant over.

Mr Galarraga not doing too good tonite. 3 runs already and only 3 hits; and none of the hits drove in any of the runs. Tigers on the other hand are pounding the ball and only have 1 run to show for it. That one run being Maggs homer in the 2nd. Thru 5 its 3-1 Twins. Tigers have left 7 on so far. Sorta like they did all thru the first 12 games. Will pick this game up later...

The last regular season visit to the old Yankee Stadium. Kind of like saying goodbye to an old friend. I've never been to the stadium but have driven past it a couple times. Kinda sad I never made it there. The one thing I am glad about though with the newer stadiums being built, they are putting all the emphasis on the heritage of the ball club. I am sure the new Yankee Stadium will do the Bronx proud.

Going to keep this short, I am not holding my breath that Nate is on his game tonite. Would love to see the Tigers leave this old park with their first regular season sweep in 42 years. I might make a new entry after the game is over.

Pettite and Bonderman. Good matchup. Marcus Thames just homered off Pettite in the top of 5 to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead. Now if Bondo can just hang onto the lead for a couple more innings and get to the bullpen. Held them 1-2-3 in bottom of 5. Good Job!

Beat the streak: A LOT of big number streaks ended today. I may actually start catching up here!!

Sheff is starting to hit. HARD line drive single in top of 6. Best looking drive I've seen from him in a couple weeks. Gotta love the every day line up for the Tigers.

The one thing I will concede here, these are NOT the best of the Yankees. How can it be when A-Rod and Posada are both on the DL? While we did see Pettite, we didn't see Wang this time around. Makes you wonder what that will be like..

I knew the Tigers were going to have to make a roster move this week for Cruceta coming up to the pen. I had expected that Rapada or someone else would be sent down. I wasn't expecting Jason Grilli to be traded to Colorado. Thats the beauty of this great sport. You can think you can predict what the team is going to do and then they turn around and surprise the heck out of you!

Bondo made it thru 7 with less than 85 pitches.. Will Skip let him come back for the 8th and possibly the 9th? I would LOVE to see a complete game. Ah well.. 7-2/3. Damn good job tonite Bondo!! Now that goes down as a Quality start!

The Tigers win their final series in old Yankee Stadium. Not bad!

A win for Kenny? That would be good. Its 6-3 Tigers going into bottom 9. Mr Rollercoaster coming in to close it. Jonesy can handle it I am sure.

What surprised me is Sheff actually got a hit. Will he finally get past his shoulder and start hitting regularly?

Jonesy being his usual cardiac self. But he got the job done. And its a win for Kenny!

Is it me or is Grandy actually more confident than he was last year? 2 for 3 with a homer and a double plus 2 walks and 3 runs scored tonite. Me thinks he's gonna get some SERIOUS voted for the All Star team this year. My 25 votes included!