That was stunning. Vomit-inducing. Unfathomable. Simply impossible. I cannot believe what I witnessed this weekend from my Tigers. Nevertheless, we can’t sit around and whine about it. It’s done, it happened. The Yankees are the focus now and they deserve our undivided attention as beating them will be no easy task. Their fantasy baseball-like lineup will test the strength of this team on the mound and in the field. Meanwhile, their pitching presents an opportunity for the Tigers, but only if they can display a level of patience they have yet to master in this dream season. After Mike Mussina and Chien-Mein Wang, things get muddy. How effective can Randy Johnson be? Is Cory Lidle worth anything? Outside of Scott Proctor and Mariano Rivera, are there any reliable relievers in that bullpen? Though the World Series favorites in the eyes of many, this team is not without flaws and those flaws are found within their run prevention abilities.
The Yankees themselves are a tough enough matchup for this team that I seriously hope there is no residual effect from the Motor City Meltdown against the Royals. I just cannot get my head wrapped around the events that took place this past weekend. Mind you, I take no solace in the attempted comfort of some that say “Hey, when the season started, you didn’t even expect your Tigers to be in contention.” Thanks, but no thanks, Mom & Dad! I love you both, but that’s not going to erase the nightmare of a division blown in stunning fashion to the league’s worst team. Worse yet was the comfort call placed by Mom informing that the Detroit Lions (my 1a team behind my Tigers) were winning and looked ready to post their first win. Rams 41-34. She tried and I give her credit for it, but yesterday just wasn’t my day.
In other news, my lengthy hiatus between posts wasn’t really out of choice. Work has been hectic, in a good way, as I received my second promotion in as many months. I’m once again on a new schedule, but it is more conducive to time on the computer, so expect regular updates throughout the playoffs. I’d like to thank those that still made the pilgramage daily to see if I had risen from the dead and the few that emailed just to see what was up. I’m alive and quite well, just busy is all. I’m debating on a whether or not to put out a full-blown preview of the series. Plenty of other things on the agenda as well including postseason awards team-wide and league-wide, statistical analyses aplenty now that I have a full 162-games to digest (I’ve already placed my order for the spiral bound Bill James 2007 Handbook) and of course, the most important thing is day-to-day discussion on the first playoff series for the Tigers in nearly 20 years.
Edit to add: Mitch Albom, as always, does a good job of describing the disgust of the weekend.
Baseball By Paul 