Wezzul.com - It's the Dinglez

Well, since the last time I posted, things have most certainly taken a turn for the worse as far as Detroit sports are concerned. Most recently, the Tigers lost three of four to the Yankees, and four in a row overall, being shutout twice in a span of two days. However, after last nights bottom of the ninth, come from behind win against the Bronx Bombers, things are looking a bit better. The Tigers begin a weekend series with the Boston Red Sox today, continuing their three series streak of playing some of the best teams in the AL (the next series is against division rival Chicago White Sox). To be considered one of the elite teams in the league, they need to have a good showing over the next six games, especially since they lost three of four to New York. Sure, the Tigers are still in first place, sure, they still have the best record in the major league, but when you play the Kansas City Royals as much as the Tigers do, that definitely helps.

The Detroit Pistons now stand behind in their Eastern Conference Finals series with the Miami Heat, three games to two. Games three and four both showed why Dwayne Wade is considered one of the premiere players in the league right now. Not only can he drive the basket and make circus shots, but since last year, his jump shot has greatly improved. He's also clutch. Like Michael Jordan kind of clutch. He wants the ball with the game on the line, and he hits when it is. The Pistons did win game five though, facing elimination for the third time in these playoffs (two elimination games against Cleveland), and looked good doing it. The defense was smothering, the offense was potent, and they kept Wade and Shaq in check enough to win the game. That leaves two more games, that are both must win for the Pistons. The first of those is tonight, we'll see what comes of it.

Briefs:

*Mike Maroth, who is probably having his best season as a Tiger (due in part to Kenny Rogers' arrival) is having arthroscopic surgery on his elbow today to remove bone chips and could be out up to three months. This is a huge setback for the Tigers, as they don't have a readily available starter to come in and take over. Roman Colon started for Maroth on Tuesday. He gave up five runs in two inning of work. On Sunday, Zach Miner is starting. Let's hope he can do a better job.

*Dmitri Young is still a jackass. He is currently attending to "personal issues", and is probably still hurt. The Tigers aren't saying shit about it, and neither is he. Marcus Thames is filling in nicely at DH.

*Wings signed three former drafts picks, goalie Stefan Liv, forward Evan McGrath, and defenseman Jonathan Ericsson. The only one I've heard of is Liv. Not sure about the skill level of these guys, but all three are expected to play in Grand Rapids next season, so don't look for too much.

*The Lions left Shaun King go. Huge surprise. I was hoping they'd start the season with something like two dozen quarterbacks and forty-five receivers. Oh well. They also signed guard Ross Verba. Who?

*The Lions did re-sign Jeff Backus which is a big deal since he's pretty much the only guy on the o-line worth a damn in Detroit. Not to say he's worth THAT much of a damn, but the offensive line has been bad enough that even a slight step backwards would destroy the entire team. Not that that's a bad thing

As an aside, over the next month, I have no less than four Detroit Tigers games scheduled, starting tonight with the game against Boston (Schilling vs. Rogers!). I also have tickets to all three games at Wrigley field on the 16th, 17th, and 18th. With the way the Chicago Cubs have been playing, winning 5 of their last 25, those should be fun games to watch.

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This season for the Tigers is getting pretty amazing. They won again, last night, agains the Kansas City Royals. What made the game special was that after the sixth inning, the Tigers only had four hits. By the end of the game, they had seventeen. At the end of the sixth, the Tigers were down, 4-2. By the end of the game, it was 8-5, Tigers. This the sort of thing that NEVER happened for the Tigers last year, winning games in the late innings. Last year, if the opposing team went up four runs in the first or second inning, you knew the game was over, they'd never come back from this.

Since Saturday, this is the second time the Tigers have come back to win in the late innings. On Saturday night, versus the Cincinnati Reds, the Tigers had a 5-2 lead when Ken Griffey Jr. hit a grand slam off of Joel Zumaya to put the Reds ahead 6-5. The Tigers responded in the ninth inning, when Curtis Granderson hit a solo homerun with two outs to take it to the tenth inning. Then, on a pinch hit RBI single in the tenth by Placido Polanco, the Tigers took the lead, and Todd Jones closed out the game, which coincidentally set the Detroit Tigers record for career saves. This is a perfect example of what Jim Leyland has brought to the table this year. With a roster that, for all intents and purposes, is the same as last year (add Jones and Kenny Rogers from free agency, and rookies Justin Verlander and Zumaya), he has managed to turn an also-ran in the MLB to a early contender for the AL Central division lead. The Tigers now stand at 31-14, and have a one game lead over the Chicago White Sox. They are the best team in the MLB right now. This is fun.

As for the other Detroit team currently still playing at this time of year, the Pistons lost their first round game against the Miami Heat last night after a very poor showing. At times, the Pistons contended for the lead, or even had the lead, but it looked bad pretty much the entire night. The Pistons shot a poor 37.8% from the field, lead by Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamiltons combined 15/41 shooting effort. The one thing about this Pistons team that everyone likes is that every night during the regular season, someone would step up, be it Rasheed Wallace, Chancey, Rip, Tayshaun Prince, or Antonio McDyess (you can't really put Ben Wallace here, as he's not really a huge scoring threat). In the playoffs, they haven't had a lot of that, where one guy picks up the slack for the other guys that aren't playing as well in that game. For the Pistons to win this series, they're going to need to get some better performances from their starting five. They have been a team that relied on their starting five, and should continue to do so if they want to reach the NBA Finals. Game 2 of the series is Thursday night, and it is a must win for the Pistons. If they go back to Miami down 0-2, it's going to be a hard climb back to evening the series.


Briefs:

*The Detroit Red Wings have re-signed 44-year old Chris Chelios to a one year deal. I couldn't be happier about this. During the albeit short playoffs for the Wings, Chelios was a great stay at home defenseman, which the Wings need with the loss of Jiri Fischer. I remeber a particular penalty kill where Chelios cleared the puck from deep in the Detroit zone three times, essentially killing the penalty all by himself. I don't care how old the man is, he's still tough, he can still play defense. I'm happy he's going to be back. Now, on to Shanahan and Yzerman.

*Dmitri Young continues to suck. This is not news, but it's an indication that the Tigers are going to be looking for someone else to DH for them, perhaps Marcus Thames, who has made the most of his limited time at the plate. He's on the DL now as well. John Hannahan, 3B, was called up from Toledo

*Dmitri Young also has been charged with domestic abuse, after allegedly strangling his 21-year old ex-girlfriend at a Birmingham, MI hotel. Not only is this guy high paid, and not performing, but he's also a woman beater. Detroit has the best .169 avg DH in the league, that's for sure.

*Detroit Lions let Dan Wilkinson go. He had a good run with the team, helping Shawn Rogers become the two-time pro bowl player that he is today. Shawn Cody is expected to start at Nose Tackle in the coming season.

*Still no Steve Yzerman news. My feeling is the longer it takes, the more likely he is coming back.

Articles:

Wade's Hot Hand Helps Heat Steal Home-Court Advantage - NBA.com

Heat's Energy Rolls Pistons - ESPN.com

Oh So Cold! - freep.com

Wings re-sign Chelios - freep.com

Leyland's Message Hitting Home - detnews.com

Current Music: Alkaline Trio - Clavicle

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Last night, I attended the Detroit Tigers game with the Minnesota Twins, and it became even more apparent why the Tigers have the best record in the major leagues right now -- pitching. I watched 21 year old Justin Verlander pitch eight scoreless innings against the Twins. He pitched amazingly well, and was calm, and confident even during the few jams he got himself in. A few times during the game, the batter worked the count full, and with men on base, Verlander would force the easy pop up or ground out. I don't think he struck anyone out the entire game, but it doesn't matter if you're still getting the outs. I think he probably could have stayed in the game, and finished it, getting the shutout, but there is no reason to chance it when you only have a slim (two run) lead.

It's hard to think that Kenny Rogers wasn't worth the price paid. Not only does he lead the Tigers in wins (6), but he is also tied for inning pitched with Jeremy Bonderman. Sure, he's 41, and sure the Tigers had to pay too much to get him here (as they usually do with quality free agents), but his impact, not only on the Tigers win/loss record, but on the young staff is immeasureable. You think a guy like Mike Maroth would be pitching as well as he is this season without the veteran pointers that a guy like Rogers can dole out? They have a similar style as far as what kind of pitches they throw, and it's clear Maroth is learning from Rogers by example. He's 5-2 with a 2.18 ERA. Compare that to years past, and tell me Rogers isn't worth every single penny the Tigers have got built into his contract.

I think the big thing this year for the Tigers is getting young players from their farm system to step up and win games for them. The aformentioned Verlander, along with Joel Zumaya (RP) and Curtis Granderson (CF) are really playing good baseball this year. You can see in Zumaya (who, along with Verlander, has had pitches clock at 101mph) a future closer for the Tigers that could easily be in the tops of the league. It's amazing that, at the start of the season, it was said he could be a starter. If he can keep up pitching the way he does for 6 innings, I'd love to see it. And it's a real testament to the Tigers staff when a guy with that much obvious talent can't make the rotation. Granderson isn't playing GREAT baseball, but he's a real asset to have at the lead off spot, since he combines speed and a reasonable amount of power. He does lead the team in strikeouts, but he also leads them in walks. As he gets older, and refines his eye at the plate, we will see him become a more important part of the Tigers squad. The one thing you can say about him is he is defensively sound. He has a 1.000 fielding average at this point in the season, and while he may have trouble running balls down at times, this is another thing that will come with experience.

The Pistons are looking very frustrating lately. Last night, they lost their third game in a row (first time this year that has happened), and first playoff game at home. Chauncey Billups fouled out with about five minutes left in the fourth quarter, which hurt them, and Rasheed Wallace was also in foul trouble (and probably still injured) for most of the fourth. After watching the end of the game, it's easy to see that the Pistons are not playing like they want to win. Now, they are left with the task of beating the Cleveland Cavaliers at home and then bringing it back to the Palace for game seven. While it is clear that the Pistons can pull this off, it has yet to be seen whether they have the will to. It will be an interesting couple of games. Lets hope they can step it up on Friday and bring the series back home.

I won't even mention the Lions or Red Wings here. No reason to sour up the post.

Current Music: Sigur Ros - Track 1 from ()

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