Waiting and seeing.. Still. But for the most part there are STILL no true signs of the Boys coming our of their season long inconsistencies. At least at the plate. Pitching staff is doing just fine now but where the hell has the hitting gone? I do not blame any of the pitchers used last night in Anaheim for the result. The blame for that mess rests on the lack of offense.

8 shut outs in the first 2 months of the season. Simply pathetic.

That was a more Tiger like series against the Mariners. But since the Mariners are now the only team worse than the Tigers in the AL, I'll wait and see how things are looking when we get closer to the All Star break. Remembering the Tigers came out of their earlier funk the same way, that culminated with sweeping the Yankees in their ballpark. Then they went to Minnie and we know where it went from there. Now Minnie is coming in tonight for 3 more games. Last time the Tigers played them in Detroit they pummeled them good. Will history repeat itself? Wait and see..

Now the roster is starting to get a little tight. Rodney and Zumaya are getting close to beginning their rehab assignments. So is Vance Wilson. Going to be VERY interesting what moves Leyland and DD make to open the roster spots when they're ready to rock.

Wait and see.

Its called life I guess. I have slowly come to grips with how badly the Tigers have performed this year. I will still watch them, still cheer for them. But I have basically written off this season in Detroit. It will take a turnaround of record proportions to make it even close for the wild card this year, forget the division. The only reason that not every other team in the division has swept the Tigers at some point is because they have only played two with the Indians and one of those they caught C.C. Sabathia in his season starting slump and blasted him for 9 runs. I seriously doubt that will happen again THIS year.

What will it take to turn these Tigers around? It will be as drastic as it is dramatic. Some heads will roll for certain. Jaque Jones was just the first. There are others I seriously consider as dead weight in the organization. I know who'd I release and call up but will anyone in the organization listen to any outsiders? Hell no. If they did Sheff would be on the waiver wires already.

Ah well.. I will wait and see. Sooner or later the Baseball boss in Dombrowski will kick in and sentiment will be set aside and some serious changes will be made in the clubhouse. We can only hope it'll be before the 1st of June. Other wise this season will definitely have to be written off. 

Why are people surprised by this? First time I looked at the kid I thought he looked more like the prototypical first baseman. After all how big was Frank Howard for the old Washington Senators (now the Rangers) and Boog Powell for Baltimore? He has got to be a better First base candidate than say.. Pudge! (sorry Pudge)

Even Sean Casey is taller and more robust than say Brandon Inge or Polanco. Both of whom are well suited size wise for where they play. Throughout baseball history its always been the taller, larger specimens played first base. The times I watched Cabby at third he always looked like a fish out of water.

On the flip side, Guillen at third is not the best choice either. It actually makes me wonder. I think I'll do a little search after I post this and see how much time Renteria has spent at third.. Maybe then Skip will move Rent to third and put Carlos back at his real position of Short!

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.