A Letter to Doug Fister

Dear Doug,

I'm sorry. I'm so, so, so sorry.  

First can I say how amazing you were today?  How fantastic you are to watch?  After a game in which the Kansas City Royals pounded us with 18 hits, you were absolutely perfect through six innings and only allowed four hits and one run through 7 and 2/3.  You were amazing on the mound, exhibiting an amazing control and a nearly perfect eye for the strike zone.  Doug, you were exhilarating to watch, and I feel so happy that you're on our team during a playoff race that could prove to be very close.  Your stuff is amazing, and I commend you.

The Tigers don't deserve you.  You came from the Mariners with a promise of something you've never had this season. The Tigers stacked lineup promised you run support, wins, and an opportunity to shine on a division-leading team.  What did we give you today?  While you were on the mound we only managed two hits, and we couldn't even get you a run. Not a single run.  "It's all right," you say,  "I'm used to it."  But that's just it, Doug, you shouldn't be used to this treatment.  You should be getting the same hustle that Justin Verlander gets every time he steps on the mound.  You deserved the win today, you really did, and I'm so so sorry that we couldn't do it for you.

So, Doug, I just wanted to tell you that you shouldn't feel sad. We did win tonight, in dramatic fashion.  So at least we're still winning the central! Please don't hate us. You should have gotten the win. You did your part. It should be you that gets the glory.  You should be all smiles after your performance today, and I'm just happy that we could pull the win out eventually so you could at least go home with a small smirk.  Before you leave the clubhouse tonight, make sure you get a big hug from Cabrera or something.  Make sure someone tells you how amazingly talented and wonderful you are.  I know we got the win, and maybe you're saying, "Calm down! It's all good! A win is a win is a win!"  And that's true Doug, that's true.  But you deserve more than what we've been giving you. And I swear our hitters will try to be better. They will.

With all the Tiger-love and empathy in the world,

Megan

P.S. Say "congrats" to Lil' Ramon will ya? You two should be SO proud!

Hey Dave! Your Genius is Showing!!!

What a G(M)!

In case you haven't noticed, Dave Dombrowski is a genius.

This isn't something we've said in recent years. It's not that we've hated everything he's done, it's just that the trades he's made in the past couple of years haven't been amazing, or season-changing, or memorable.  This year however, has been exactly the opposite.  Dave Dombrowski has somehow managed to give this team  everything they've needed without giving up anything that was anywhere near essential.  Without his trades, the Tigers might not be the post-season quality team that they are at this point in the season.

The Fister/Pauley trade was perhaps the most important trade we've made so far this year, and people, Dougy was a steal.  The Tigers were obviously having a severe problem with winning when their fifth pitcher was on the mound, as evidenced by Phil Coke's 1-8 record. However, it was worse than that. Before the Tigers acquired Fister, the Tigers had a 4-17 record when the fifth starter was pitching, as opposed to a 52-34 record when the other four were starting.  Obviously the Tigers needed a new starter, and Doug has delivered.  He has a 3-1 record in his five starts so far with the Tigers, and he also has pitched seven innings in three of the games he's started, giving our bullpen a break.  He was totally worth it, and even though we miss Casper Wells' stellar personality, we cannot say that we needed his bat, or Charlie Furbush's arm or two of the minor league prospects, as much as we needed Fister on the mound.

The acquisition of Wilson Betemit was also just what the Tigers needed.  Yes, his defense hasn't been amazing, but at that point in time, with our top third basemen being Brandon Inge (who was hitting .177) and Don Kelly (who really should play off the bench) the Tigers really needed to find a guy that could produce offensively. With Wilson in our line-up we are an incredibly formidable team.  As a Tiger, Wilson is hitting an astounding .324, which is obviously much better than the production we had been getting. Yes he's already made four errors, but with Don and Brandon waiting on the bench, he can come out in late-inning defensive situations. To have this sort of offensive production from a place in our line-up that seemed hopeless is huge for the Tigers offensively.  And once again, who did we lose to obtain him? Just two class-A prospects that really couldn't have helped us in this year's pennant race.

Delmon Young has been a huge help to the Tigers as well since he's been here. We have to admit, we were a little bit skeptical of Delmon, considering that he was not only a Hated Minnesota Twin, but he was also a Tiger Killer. We basically hated Delmon whenever he played us.  But now that we think about it, it's great to have that kind of power on our team instead of against us. In his 12 games with the Tigers he already has 10 RBI and is hitting .308. Considering he's helping to support Magglio Ordonez, who is only hitting .230 this season with 24 RBI in 77 games, he is dead useful.  Once again, defensively he's not that best.  But with Austin covering 80% of the outfield anyway, who really cares?  Delmon's clutch hits in some of our recent games have given the tigers the runs they've needed to win some close ones.  And once again, we didn't lose anyone that could have possibly helped us get to the post-season this year. Dave really has put us in great position to win the American League Central for the first time since 1984.

So Dave, props to you. Fantastic job this year, good buddy.  You have somehow managed to construct an incredibly talented team that, we think, has what it takes to get to the post-season.  Cheers!

A Few Days in Tampa Bay

First off, we must say: What an amazing, exciting, confidence-boosting turnaround by our team. Although tonight's loss was a little disheartening thanks to Brandon Inge, Defensive Replacement, it's still heartening to know that by the end of the night we will be at least 5.5 games up on the competition for the AL Central crown. After that horrible series against Minnesota, we sweep Cleveland in dramatic fashion and win two very good and close games against the Rays. Last night's win in particular was outstanding, as Brad Penny out-dueled David Price. That was a sentence we never thought we would write, but things seem to really be going the Tigers way lately.

Secondly, we're sorry we haven't posted in a while. Because we have pretty busy schedules lately, including one of us going back to school for the fall, we needed to take a break. And it just so happened that Laura and Megan took that break....

In Tampa. The Tampa Bay Area. Yes, with the Tigers. 


You reader(s) may remember that about a month back Sam from Roar of the Tigers accidentally stayed in the team hotel in Minnesota. For us, it was not so much of an accident. At all. Don't worry, we're not as crazy as we sound, and we didn't harass (or even approach) any Tigers, but it was very fun and entertaining and STRANGE to see the Tigers dressed in normal clothes, walking around doing normal(ish) things.

We all have seen the Tigers up close and personal at games (obviously) and we're sure a lot of you have seen them at events or promotions or randomly on the street or wherever. But to see all these Tigers in such a small space in such a short amount of time was a little more than we could take. Meeting Curtis Granderson alone in 2009 made us almost pass out. So you can only imagine our euphoria when we were in the same hotel as all of them. At once.


Oh yeah, there was a game too, and a good one. Jump with us to read in detail about all of the Tampa Bay Fun...

Make It or Break It

So. That was a fun series, right guys?

Tigers vs. Twins. 1st place vs. 4th place. In Detroit. Tigers acquired a very good player from the Twins in Delmon Young. The Tigers should have been completely dominant for the whole series. They certainly were when Verlander was on the mound. As per usual, Justin was amazing. But this fairly dramatic blog post isn't going to be dwelling on the shiny happy points of the series so much.

No, this post is going to be focused on the fact that, after tonight's soul-crushing, heartbreaking loss with the Cleveland Idiots breathing down our necks once again, it is now officially time for our boys to show up or go home.

What exactly do we mean by this? Well, we'll tell you AFTER THE JUMP...

What The What?!?

Carlos Guillen is on the DL (surprising no one). Will Rhymes was called up. Delmon Young is sent to Tigers. Will Rhymes is sent down.

What?? Too much has happened these past few days for us to keep up. And lately, unless Justin Verlander is on the mound, our team is playing not-so-great.

For now, we're going to say we like this trade. Maybe the Young will give our team the boost they need to win the division. He already hit a HR in his first at bat!!

After today's game, we'll write a longer post. But for now, we're still just shocked that this move actually happened!

The Real Reason Why The Tigers Suck in Cleveland

The Tiger's three-game series in Cleveland is over (finally). During that stretch we have seen many, many plays transpire in Progressive Field--most of them not going our way. Aside from Austin Jackson's great catch, Justin Brooks Verlander's 10 K's, and Papa Grande's 33rd save, there wasn't much to be pleased about. It should be noted that the club had been on a 12 game losing streak in Cleveland in addition to a 6-3 season record against them.

First, we sleepily watched as the Indians scraped by with a walk-off HBP that ended at 2 a.m. after 14 innings, a 2-hour rain delay, and nonexistent hitting. Next, our eyes bled as Rick Porcello was used and abused in an extremely lopsided 10-3 loss. Finally, only by the grace of the Baseball Gods and the freakish powers of Verlander were our boys able to crawl out of Cleveland with a win.

It was weird, confusing baseball for the whole series. Our Tigers did not look like the Tigers who had taken the previous two series from KC and Texas. Something was amiss.

Just what was amiss? Take a look after the jump...

No Haters Allowed

Four games up in the Central. One of the best winning percentages we've had all year. Clutch, gritty wins with good pitching and hitting. Victor Martinez is going to be fine. With all of these good things, what could we possibly be annoyed about? Well, we'll tell you.

After witnessing one of the best catches we have ever seen on Saturday by one of our most exciting young players, the three of us have something we would like to get off our chests. And by something, we mean A Rant. Bear with us, please...

It's no secret that the three of us are big Austin Jackson fans. If you've read even a few of our blog posts, you know this to be true. So it is always a sure way to boil our blood when Tigers "fans" post comments about how A-Jax sucks or how he should have been traded to Seattle or how he should be in Triple-A.

Well to the Haters, we say: suck it.  This is why he's on our team. Not because he is a stellar hitter (yet). But because he is far and away the best defender the Tigers have, and the best center fielder we've seen wear the Old English D. Yes. Better than Curtis Granderson.

Does Jackson strike out too much? Hell yes. Is he doing somewhat poorly at the plate this year? Absolutely. Is it fair to compare him to Granderson, his predecessor? Of course. But before "Tiger Nation" makes him their whipping boy in the vein of Brandon Inge or Ryan Raburn, remember what he is capable of doing offensively (hitting .293 last year). Remember that he is only 24 years old. And most importantly, remember that his defense literally wins games for us.

So before you "loyal fans" out there start to type an uninformed, misspelled comment slamming A-Jax for not living up to your lofty expectations about what a 24 year old center fielder in his sophomore season should be doing, think about what he has done, and think about what he has the potential to do.

Also, just look at this. Someone this sexy can't be in Triple-A. Please. 


On a happier, less preachy note, the Tigers are still four games ahead of Cleveland as we head into a pivotal  three game series. We're dying to see Verlander/Jimenez--as in, we're dying to see Jimenez torched by American League bats again. Welcome to the Central, buddy.

Before we go we should mention one last thing: Megan and Laura are road-tripping to Tampa in a few weeks to watch our boys take on the rays. So exciting!!! Especially since we haven't been to many games this year. Expect a crazy recap afterwards. You know how ridiculous we can be...

Teach Me How To Dougie

NICE.

We changed the Look of April in the D a little bit! Like it? Don't like it? Please, let us know! We don't mean to brag, but the three of us love it. 

So. The Trade. We have to be honest--at first, it made us incredibly sad to think that our beloved Casper "Upstate Baller" Wells would not be filling the Tiger's dugout with his absurd handshakes or flooding twitter with his crazy tweets. But we must say, this was one of the better trades that Dave Dombrowski has made in his time here in the D. We got a good starter (Doug Fister aka Dougie) and a solid reliever (David Pauley aka Pauly D) without giving up any of our key young players, which was what we were worried about to begin with.

On one hand, we kept reading and hearing whiny Tigers fans bitch about Dougie's record was 3-12. Look, idiots. This guy had the lowest run support in Major League Baseball. In fact, by the time the Tigers had scored him three runs, Doug had received more run support than he had all year. That's how bad the Mariners are.

On the other hand, we kept reading and hearing whiny Tigers fans bitch about how Cleveland got Ubaldo. Listen up, folks. We would have had to give up Jacob Turner, Brennan Boesch, and Rick Porcello/Max Scherzer for friggin' Ubaldo Jimenez. Guess who has a lower ERA than Saint Ubaldo? Doug Fister does. Suck on that, Indians. One good starter can't save you now!!!!

But for the most part, the Tigers fans/blogosphere had been fully supportive of The Trade, and anxious to see how our newbies would do.

So, in leading up to today's game, we were excited and nervous to see how Fister (tee hee! okay, got that out of the way) would perform. It's not like he had much to live up to, seeing as the Tigers haven't won in the 5th starting spot in a zillion years, but it was an important game to win so we could ride the momentum from Carlos "You Just Got Served" Guillen as much as possible.

We're going to be honest: when we first saw Doug take the mound, our reaction wasn't, "Wow, what pitching prowess he has!" It was more along the lines of "Looking gooooooood!"

Sorry. Girls will be girls. And we'll bet all our female readers agree with our reaction.

Needless to say, Doug Fister did not disappoint, in more ways than one. Without striking out or walking anyone, Dougie gave up only two earned runs and pitched through seven. Jose Valverde got his 30th save. Cleveland lost (again). Ubaldo can only save you every five days, suckas. All is well.

Well, for now. But for the time being, this trade looks GOLDEN.