By Jeff Moss
August 24, 2011
DetroitSportsRag@gmail.com
While watching the Tigers inexplicably defeat the Tampa Rays on Tuesday night en route to putting the rest of the American League Central in a proverbial sleeper hold™ (Brutus the Barber Beefcake) I had a couple of epiphanies:
1) The Tigers are unquestionably going to win the American League Central and make the postseason for the first time since 2006.
2) Every move that I have recently suggested on the DSR is eventually implemented by Jim Leyland except there seems to be a four to six week lag time between my rants and Cancer Stick making the CORRECT move. (Please see: Ordonez, Magglio and Betemit, Wilson.)
Seriously, is there anyone out there who is still worried about the Tigers wrapping up their first divisional title since Ronald Reagan was President and the only Star Wars movies released were classics and not dog shit?
Yeah, yeah, I am well aware of the Collapse of 2009 when the team blew their September 6th, seven game lead over the Twins and then couldn’t close out the title with a three game lead with four games remaining.
But this ain’t™ (Sparky Anderson) 2009 and there isn’t going to be a sequel to that nightmare. Two years ago the Tigers were being chased by a pretty damn good Minnesota team that struggled early in that season due to a myriad of injuries.
This season? There is ZERO chance that either the Cleveland Indians or the Chicago White Sox are going to go on a Twins-esque 17-4 run and catch this Detroit squad.
I mean, could you possibly fathom either of those two lousy teams winning 17 out of 21 games?
The Tribe are coming off a series with the Seattle Mariners at HOME where they lost 3 of 4 games. This against a team with a winning percentage of .344 on the road heading into the four game set. The Detroit Lions under Matt Millen mocked this Seattle team’s ability to win games away from Safeco Field.
Not to mention, in the last two games of that series the Mariners scored a total of 21 runs. TWENTY-ONE RUNS.
To put that number in perspective, Seattle scored only ten runs in Doug Fister’s last TEN starts for his former team.
And we are still waiting for the White Sox to make their run, but it is almost Labor Day and time is running out. And really, can you take a team seriously that bats a guy with a .577 OPS in the cleanup spot in the middle of a supposed pennant race?
Yep, Ozzie Guillen thought it was a good idea to bat Alex Rios fourth in his lineup on Tuesday night even though the guy has splits that make Dagly Ordonez chuckle (.215/.254/.323.)
And Rios isn’t even the biggest bust on the team. That honor of course goes to Adam Dunn who possesses a batting average that is 15 points lower than Brandon Inge’s which I didn’t even know was statistically possible.
But on Tuesday night those two contractual albatrosses were batting 4th and 6th in the CHW lineup or as some like to call it, “the heart of the order.” If that is the freaking heart of their order then Guillen needs to hire Dr. Christiaan Barnard instead of Charlie Lau.
(I will wait here while you go to Wikipedia to look up Dr. Barnard. Even Dennis Miller thinks that reference is obtuse.)
These are the teams that we are supposed to be paranoid about? Look, I still have nightmares about Gerald Laird’s 0-for-6 in Game 163 (10 LOB) and because of Alfredo Figaro I can’t even eat creamy white sauce with my pasta or listen to Pavarotti music anymore.
But I am not worried in the least that THIS team is going to repeat THAT tragedy.
The only thing that could keep the Tigers out of the 2011 ALDS is a malfunction of Red Bird III at an altitude of 40,000 feet. And speaking of the playoffs that leads me to my other epiphany about the Tigers organization.
Now, I have no idea if this team is going to be good enough to get to the World Series, errr, I mean, I don’t know if Justin Verlander will be able to get enough starts to get the Tigers to the World Series or not.
But I do know this …. If Detroit is able to advance to the World Series, they are going to have to take drastic measures to have any chance in competing with the National League pennant winner.
If you look at the Tigers divisional record it is quite obvious that they have benefited from playing in the horrid AL Central. But they have also fared quite well against the AL East (17-13) and have held their own against the AL West (16-16.)
So where have the Tigers sucked this season? Interleague play and more specifically against NL teams on the ROAD.
In nine interleague road games the Tigers finished with a record of 3-6. And it wasn’t like they were taking on the Braves, Brewers and Phillies away from Comerica Park either.
Instead they faced the Rockies, Dodgers and Pirates. A triumvirate that combined has a winning percentage of .477 this season.
So why did Detroit struggle against those NL teams on their way to losing all THREE of those series? Because two of their best three hitters CANNOT START when they are playing under the idiotic rules of the NL where Designated Hitters aren’t allowed.
And because the National League won this year’s All-Star game, the World Series will start in the home of the NL champ.
Can you imagine having to face Philadelphia in Game 1 of the Series and not having Victor Martinez in the lineup?
Because unless the Tigers start preparing for this inevitably, Detroit would either be without their most clutch hitter who has a .323 batting average and 70 RBI or Alex Avila who currently possesses a shockingly good OPS of .922 in potentially four of the seven games.
So why am I bringing up this doom and gloom scenario now when the team still has to get through two playoff series before even getting to the World Series?
Because the team should start experimenting with different scenarios when their divisional lead becomes insurmountable.
Whether that means getting Avila some playing time at his collegiate position of third base (an experiment that only lasted one game in Colorado) or the far more extreme (and unwise) decision of getting Miguel Cabrera some time at his old position, the Tigers have to do SOMETHING to insure that both Avila and Martinez can play in potential road World Series games.
The idea of a Game 1 versus Roy Halladay with one of those two on the bench is about as appealing as watching Jim Leyland’s walk around the Tigers locker room wearing his urine stained, tighty-whiteys while sunflower seeds drop out of his mouth.