A Small Rant...

Was I not watching the same game that everyone else was last night? We did win, correct? 8 runs on 11 hits with one error while holding the first place division team to 3 runs on 7? So why, I ask you, do I read the comments this morning in the Tigers' pro blog (Beck's Blog) and see a sea of negativity and complaints. We WON THE GAME PEOPLE! Be happy for that, because the way that we've been playing on this road trip we could have easily been swept by both the Rays and the Sox. I'm not getting tired of watching this team, even if they do lose, but I am getting tired of the fair-weather fans who claim to "love" this team and the game of baseball, but do nothing but complain. I admit to being disappointed by the outcome of a lot of the games this season. I've even called out certain players who I felt blew the game. However, that doesn't mean that I think the whole team sucks. Look, I realize that all that matters is the W or the L in Baseball and that expectations for this season were very high. I know that at this point, a expectation of the Tigers playing in October is highly optimistic, but people saying that they're worse than Tigers teams that languished at around 100 losses in the last decade is just ridiculous. They're in third place in the division, 6th in the wild card race
(where did Toronto come from?). They don't have a double digit game deficit in either one. This is a long way from the '90's and early 2000's when they were eliminated 'round about June.

My biggest pet peeve is self-proclaimed experts who claim that they could manage the ballclub better than Jim Leyland. How wonderful it must be to have infallible insight into the game. Too bad it always comes after the game. I feel sorry for Leyland. Good Lord, we've had 10 players on the disabled list since the beginning of the season. Joel Zumaya, Fernando Rodney, Curtis Granderson, Gary Sheffield, Brandon Inge, Magglio Ordonez, Jeremey Bonderman, Ramon Santiago, Dontrelle Willis, and now Todd Jones. Did I miss anybody? Not to mention the "day-to-day" scares we've had with Edgar Renteria and Miguel Cabrera. Bonderman is out for the season, as is Dontrelle Willis. Todd Jones made a mess of things before he admitted he was hurting. Curtis Granderson, Brandon Inge, and Magglio have all performed well since coming back from the DL, but everyone else either hasn't come back at all or hasn't come back to full form. How are you supposed to choose which reliever to send out when none of them have been particularly reliable? What are you supposed to do when a career .300 hitter has a season average of .220 and then blaming bad calls for it?  Do people think that because they play fantasy baseball they could handle real world situations? Grow up.

I haven't given up on this season, but even if they don't make the postseason this year; there's always next year. That's the beauty of sports. Let's look at the Chicago White Sox, for example. In 2003, they finished the season 10 games over .500, losing the division to Minnesota by four games and 9 games behind Boston in the wild card race. Ok, not bad, right? They were in the race. In 2004, they finish 9 games back, but still had a winning record. In 2005, they won the world series. In 2006, they were 6 games back, but kinda lost in the intense battle between the always dangerous Minnesota and the 2006 Miracle Tigers. In 2007, however, they crashed, finishing a dismal 24 games behind the surprise of the century Cleaveland Indians with a  72-90 record (that's .444). Now they're in first place again. It's not the end of the world. Heck, it's not even the end of the season. There's no E next to their name in the standings. So, stop complaining and enjoy the game. It's supposed to be entertainment.

Now, back to last night:

Winners: Miguel Cabrera hit a 2-run home run in 3rd, giving him sole possesion of team lead with 21 on the season. He also has 85 RBI. Curtis Granderson hit a solo home run in the 7th to add some insurance. Carlos Guillen had had an RBI double. Magglio got his first triple of the year to add two runs. Matt Joyce got his 11th double of the season for an RBI. Fernando Rodney had another solid outing, allowing only one hit. Zumaya had a good inning as well, walking one but not allowing him to score. Last but not least, Zach Miner had his fourth straight  quality start, giving up two runs, only one earned with 3 strikeouts and not a single walk. Ryan Rayburn made a game saving catch in the eighth when Rodney came in and almost allowed the two men that had been left by Bobby Seay with what surely would have been a double if Rayburn hadn't sprawled out and made the play.

Losers: Not many in this one, everyone played fairly well. Ramon Santiago's throwing error allowed a run to score. Marcus Thames went 0-3, dropping his average to .239. He also lost his tie for team lead in home runs. Bobby Seay gave up a home run and got himself into a jam, forcing Leyland to take him out of the game after just .2 innings, but he's been pitching so well lately that we can forgive him a bad inning. Besides, we won the game!