And so with the loss this afternoon...

looks like the sucker, er, fan who voted for the Tigers clinching Thursday afternoon is eliminated. I fear it won't be long until the Tigers are eliminated too.

Which Day will the Tigers Clinch?

OK folks -- we are down to the last week and the magic number is a lot higher than it should be. OUr boys are scaring me way too much. This series with Minn. will be HUGE. So what day do we clinch? I am saying Thursday after the day game -- what say ye?

'Tis the Season

As the Tigers try to hold off the Twins, the latest crop of Tiger hopefuls started the Fall Instructional League this week. They played their first home game yesterday against the Braves at Joker Marchant Stadium. The pride of University of Detroit Jesuit High School, Daniel Fields (above), watches the action from the dugout. For the schedule and roster visit http://tigers.scout.com/2/892300.html.

You guys see this yet?

Sure, they show us warts and all, but at least they show some of the good stuff too.

Stuff like the bonds between the Tiger front office and the other businesses in town. p://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/lee_jenkins/09/22/hope.in.detroit/index.html

Thanks to my buddy and former Detroiter, Wayne Mielke, VP PR for Comerica for bringing this to my attention. Yeah, that Comerica.

A bit of explanation about the current poll

You might ask "Where's Inge? Where's Verlander? Where's Cabrera?"

This poll started out in Chuck's brain as "Unsung Heroes." Not bad, but I would say if they are unsung, we wouldn't know about them, would we?

IMHO, Inge, Verlander and Cabrera have all done more than their share. I'm looking for the guy who really has not shown us as much as we had hoped for to date.

So let's call them "unexpected." Am I missing anybody?

Magic Number is now 11

Well sports fans, a little reliefe after today's win. 11 is the big number. Is it doable? YES Is it doable without giving me stress? NO! Nate Robertson pitched well today - a sigh of releif. Glad to be off tomorrow and then on to Clevelnad - need to pick up some ground this week. And then it is Chicago, minnesota, Chicago. Did you read where Ozzie Guillen was trying to motivate his team by saying they gave uo on him? That certainly is not Leyland's style. Go get "em Tigers!

Where Have all the Hitters Gone?

Porcello pitched well enough to get the win last night. There was no offense once again. Is it time to start panicking? Maybe Leyland needs to manage this afternoon's game like Billy Martin once did. Put everyone's name in a hat and play whoever he pulls out. Only kidding, Leyland is not a drunk like Martin, but something needs to shake up our boys. This will be an exciting last two weeks, excitement that I was hoping to avoid.
Since my last prediction was more accurate than I dreamed of. We wil win today 7-5 and Cabrera will rip the hide off the baseball.