Rod Allen, Verlander, 500 ball, Zumays

1. Rod Allen. He was classic last night. Benoit was pitching. Rod said on the air, "Benoit needs to move the next pitch over about 6 inches and this guy will hit one to Peralta and the game will be over". The words weren't out of his mouth and there was a grounder to Jhonny P. Rod is so knowledgeable.
2. Tigers are now on their win streak - we get high when they win and mad when they lose. But that is their pattern. Ther division is ours if we just could be consistant.
3. Verlander is our ace. And I forget how young he is - he will go down in History as one of our best pitchers. Didn't he come up the same year as Zumaya - a tad of sarcasm there.
4. People make excuses for Joel all the time - my feeling is he was a loose canon, who did as he pleased and i believe his career is over

Talkin' Verlander, Polanco and Leyland

I can't believe that no one has commented on Keith Johnson's post from three days ago. I'm just as guilty... I hate it when my job interferes with my blogging! Been busy here in northwest Michigan, but I'll quickly comment on:

1) JUSTIN VERLANDER. I'm finding it very difficult, even after two no-hitters, to put Verlander among the Tigers' all-time greats... yet. Why? His inconsistency (certainly prior to this season) has been aggrevating. Yes, he can crank it up and be lights out. His near-perfect game was a thing of beauty. And yes, so far this season he has generally done his job by keeping the Tigers in the game when he doesn't have his best stuff. But, with all due respect to my friend Lynn Henning (who wrote a column today with the headline: "Tigers’ Justin Verlander on his way to acing Hall of Fame"), I don't think of Verlander in the "ace" category that I do other pitchers. When I think of true aces, I think of guys like Roy Halladay and Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux because of their ability to calm the masses and stop losing streaks. Your ace is supposed to be the guy who steps up and stops the misery. I just don't see Verlander doing that on a consistent basis. I'm willing to be corrected by statistical proof (because I did not research this), but I'm not alone in this thinking. When Verlander takes the mound, do you say to yourself, "Whew, here's a win"? Or do you STILL hold your breath a bit? He has proven too many times that he's one or two bad pitches away from losing 3-1 or 5-2. When Halladay takes the mound for the Phillies (and I felt the same way when he was with the Jays), I think: "Count it." I'm so confident that he's going to win that I'm surprised when he doesn't. True, Verlander can be an "ace" without being Roy Halladay, but it's the feeling I have when he takes the mound. Do I KNOW the buck stops here? Or do I HOPE the buck stops here? I know I'm being a little hard on the guy, since every team in the majors would love to have him, but stop talking about the Hall of Fame, please. It's a tad early, folks.

2) PLACIDO POLANCO. I said it then, I'll say it now: How stupid can you be not to even offer him arbitration? Whether or not you truly wanted to sign Polanco... whether or not you questioned how much he had left in the tank... you do NOT let him walk away without at least getting a draft pick. Then to give a completely bogus excuse that it was a "cost-saving measure" -- only to sign Johnny Damon to bat second in the order (Polanco's spot) for almost the same amount you could have gotten Polanco for TWO seasons? That's insulting the intelligence of anyone who cares about the Tigers. This is not not a knock on Dave Dombrowski. He is waaaaaay smarter than that. The Polanco debacle was a TOTAL Ilitch move. I just wish he would stick to signing the checks and let Dombrowski make the baseball decisions. You want a better team? Let Dombowski do his job. He gets it right most of the time (Jurrjens-for-Renteria not withstanding).

3) JIM LEYLAND. Does this guy overmanage his pitching staff or what? Pulling Porcello after 84 pitches and one hit on Sunday? Why? Because the "situation" dictates that the closer comes in? He goes with his gut one moment, then with what the "situtation" dictates the next time around. He leaves some in longer than he should (veterans like Verlander and Penny seem to get the benefit of the doubt), but then he pulls a guy who is clearly cruising? Come on!

NO HITTER

nothing about the Verlander no hittter almost perfect game...faced the minimum batters.
disappointed not to see anything so far. how does he compare to other great tiger pitchers?
Jack Morris, Denny Mclaine

Dirks joins Tigers


Here's the newest Detroit Tiger, Andy Dirks, hitting for the Lakeland Flying Tigers on May 6, 2009. Other former Flying Tigers currently on the Detroit roster include Justin Verlander, Rick Porcello, Ryan Perry, Brennan Boesch and Brayan Villareal.

are we done with .500 Ball

Well what do you think? win three lose 3. Lose six, win 6. That is the way this season is shaping up. Cleveland is only team in the division who has been consitent. Austin appears to be breaking out of his slump. martinez is healthy. Pitching is always a concern - our 1-2 punch is awesome, but then scary - look at Ryan Perry last night. Maggs and 2nd base still a concern. What is latest on Guillen? - of course he will get injured when he returns. Got to get out of this .500 slump. I am ready!!