May 17, 2006
GRRRRRR:
Something new: Tigers atop AL Central (AP, 5/17/06)
Brandon Inge isn't going to give Jim Leyland all of the credit for the Detroit Tigers' surprising rise to first place.Just most of it.
Detroit's 7-4 win over Minnesota on Tuesday night, combined with Chicago's loss to Tampa Bay, lifted the Tigers into a first-place tie with the White Sox in the American League Central. The Tigers, who have won five straight, have not been in first place this late in the season since 1993.
"A lot of us were on that team that lost 119 games in 2003, and we fought hard to keep it to that many," Inge said. "We used to dream about getting to .500, and now we're looking at first place. This is an incredible turnaround."
It helps that the Central is so much weaker than folks thought it would be, but the Tigers are legitimately one of the two or three best teams in baseball and will stay there if their young pitchers hold up. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 17, 2006 8:27 AM
With most of their starters throwing about 90 pitches/outing, the young starters will be gaining experience and arm strength as the season goes on; they will be even better in the second half and, in addition, a very good playoff team; #1 starting rotation in baseball; #2 bullpen in baseball
tonight: Verlander against Santana, another Koufax v. Marichal matchup
Posted by: Palmcroft at May 17, 2006 9:30 AMThe smaller-market teams may not be able to hold them forever due to free agency, but the ability to develop young pitchers has helped balance out the differences between the "have" and the "have-not" teams in baseball this decade (the difference being the "haves" don't tend to change that much from year to year, while a new "have-not" team pops up as a contender every year or two).
Posted by: John at May 17, 2006 9:32 AMLet's see. "the Cenbtral is so much weaker than folks thought it would be", the West is al at .500, the East has the Bottom Feeders and the Orioles, and then there's the entire NL.
Better yet, why not just contract Major League Baseball to two highest spending teams and make their fans, the only ones that count anyway, euphoric?
Sounds more like those smaller teams (with some obvious exceptions) have figured out how to compete and we have a situation that most fans would welcome: their team has a chance to compete and win.
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at May 17, 2006 10:04 AMTalk to me in August OJ. Go Indians.
Posted by: BJW at May 17, 2006 11:09 AMUh, the AL Central is "weaker than it's supposed to be?" Can you identify a stronger division in all of baseball?
Posted by: the wolf at May 17, 2006 12:28 PMThe AL East, where the D-Rays will be over .500 as soon as they get all their starters on the field.
Posted by: oj at May 17, 2006 1:09 PMHow about some props for the NL West? Everyone, even the perenially mediocre Rockies, is .500 or better.
Posted by: Brad S at May 17, 2006 7:56 PMHow about some props for the NL West? Everyone, even the perenially mediocre Rockies, is .500 or better.
Posted by: Brad S at May 17, 2006 7:57 PMBrad:
If the humidor really has solved Mile High they could win that Division.
Posted by: oj at May 17, 2006 8:14 PMOJ,
I will say, though, that the Rockies are finally doing the right thing with pitchers: get young, strong arms. Or, at least arms that can eat up innings. And, surprisingly, Jose Mesa has only blown one game.
They could win the NL West, but the Padres are starting to get on one of those runs, again.
Posted by: Brad S at May 17, 2006 9:15 PMIt's the same quality of arms, they just aren't being terrorized in Denver.
Posted by: oj at May 17, 2006 9:33 PM