And the Tigers are 0-4...... Not the start you would hope for as a Tigers fan, however I am not in panic mode yet (give me 2 more days at least) for 2 big reasons.
1. Since Jim Leyland got to Detroit this team relishes the underdog roll. In 2006 no one thought they would make the playoffs (cue major chip on the shoulder) and they did. Then no one thought they would beat the Yankees (especially after losing game 1 and Verlander getting into a bases loaded jam in the first of game 2), and they did. Then everyone picked the A's in the ALCS, and they swept. At this point everyone jumped on the Tigers bandwagon, especially after the Cardinals came out of the NL, and of course Detroit went quietly into the dark night. However, I think 1-2 more weeks of losing and baseball will again write off the Tigers (bullpen issues, Dontelle's ERA, Cabrera has put on 140 lbs in 2 weeks, etc, etc.) and that is when the Tigers will get a Gilbert Arenas size chip on their shoulder and make a run.
2. The offense has been awful. The Tigers have made Gil Meche, Brian Bannister, and Zack Greinke look like a young Smoltz, Glavine, and Maddux. And then let Contreras off the hook time and time again yesterday. It looks like everyone is trying to hit the proverbial 10 run homerun to jump start the offense and get on their way to scoring the 1,000 runs everyone has predicted. I think once Granderson gets healthy this lineup will be deadly, it may just take some time (after all it took the Big Cactus a little while to get adjusted in the desert).
So here's to the Tigers getting off the schneid today. They are the only team in the majors w/o a win. However, since the predictions about the Tigers offense have been wrong so far, here's to hoping the predictions about Dontrelle Willis will also be wrong. And if there is one thing baseball fans can agree upon, its that no one wants to see the White Sox win.
3:55 on Fox.
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