Random Tigers Thoughts From Laura: Postseason Edition

Hello! It's been a while since I've done one of these. I'll try to keep the girlish dithering to a minimum...but, honestly! It'll be kind of hard what with all the amazing, exciting, unbelievable things that have been happening to our boys lately. Bear with me on the randomness, too; who knows what I'll write in my sleep-deprived, Tiger-loving, overexcited and overstressed state!

First off, lets go with something that is unrelated (for now) to our Tigers…
Breaking News: Braves lose to Phillies, blow Wild-Card lead, Cardinals in the Playoffs
Seriously? Can you believe this s%$^ ?
I know many people are excited to see this kind of historic collapse happen (especially to the unbearably cocky, unbelievably overpaid Red Sox), but it makes me have horrifying flashbacks to the dreaded Game 163 and the weeks leading up to it. Thank the Baseball Gods that our 2011 squad is completely different, but it makes me feel sad for the Braves to pull such an epic fail. And as I type, Sawx Nation is crying tears of entitled fury as Jonathan Papelbon blows the save with one out to go. Orioles win! My God! Though I blocked out most of that incredibly disappointing season, even I know that our boys weren't this pathetic.
Ohhhmygawd! Longoria homers! Tampa wins!!! Is this even real life?!!?!?! Can you say Biggest Collapse Ever??????

Ahem. In Other News, It's Time to Take Down the Yankees.
I am now so happy we're not playing those crazy Rays. I mean, holy hell. Besides, I like, if not love, our chances with Verlander and Verlander Pt. II Dougie going in Games 1 & 2 in New York.  And sorry, Yanks, besides C.C., none of your pitchers can hold a candle to ours. I'm nervous for these games, but an excited, giggly sort of nervous. Now, if we were playing the Rays, I'd just be a blubbering, anxious mess. But not now. It's time to stick it to these pompous pricks from the Bronx (even you, Curtis!).

Miguel Cabrera. MVP.
Seriously. I mean those words. Not Justin Verlander (sorry dude). Not Jose Bautista. Definitely not Jacoby Ellsbury. Miguel Cabrera, the man who everyone said would succumb to his off-the-field issues. Miguel Cabrera, the guy who every sports writer in the country turned their backs on. Miguel Cabrera, the happiest, most huggable-looking guy in the clubhouse.
Well, guess what bitches? He just won the batting title. After being overshadowed all season by Adrian Gonzales.
That's right. All those jerks who said that Miggy was a failure or a lush or a distraction to the team can all shove it. If you couldn't tell, this particular topic is one I feel very strongly about. Even people who I thought were Tiger Faithful were turning their backs on our superstar. Well, here's the deal: without Cabrera, we wouldn't be going to the playoffs. He is the most feared hitter in baseball for a reason, and he seems to have gotten his off-the-field issues taken care of, not that it even matters. Sorry, haters…
PS-in addition to Miggy winning the batting title, Valverde has the most saves this year and Verlander won the AL Triple Crown. Sick. Just sick.

Oh Ozzie
Well, I'm not gonna go all Brandon Inge, Je T'aime on this one, but I'm actually going to miss this guy! He was always so freaking honest, and I just loved it when he would put his team down after we beat them. That was the best. So colorful, so inappropriate…so typically Chicago. I'm not sure who they're hiring to replace him, but anyone would look like a boring stiff in comparison to Oz. Oh, he will be missed. Good luck in Miami, buddy.

Random Random Ridiculousness
Ok, I know some of you who read this site are educated, serious, learned baseball lovers who, for some reason unbeknownst to me, come to this site to read the ramblings of three collegiate girls. But I also know some who come to this page do it for the fluff pieces! I stumbled upon this website a few months back and it is about as fluffy, ridiculous, and NSFW as a baseball site (or any site) can be. But if you're a girl (or just find baseball players attractive at all!) and you're not one of those stuffy conservative boring types who can't take some major inappropriateness, then GO. Go now. You'll see what I mean. Oh, but if any heterosexual guys read this site (unlikely)? I wouldn't click the link. I just wouldn't. You have been warned…

Before I go, a few things. We might be a little late on this, but I thought it would be cool if the three of us got a Twitter account so we could tweet our oft-hysterical reactions to the upcoming playoff games. Should we? Should we not? Who knows, it might be fun…
Oh, and if our boys make the ALCS? You can count on me and Megan being there. If they do actually make it, we'll tell you guys where we're at so if you see us you can say hello!

That's all from my end. Expect some MAJOR coverage as our boys take on those horrible Yanks on Friday and Saturday. And if you're bored, go watch that Evan Longoria walk-off clip again. Come on, you know you want to. It's so heartwarming! God, I love baseball...

Sorry. But Not Too Sorry.

So!
Sorry we haven't posted in a while. We are now all back to college, and the work is kicking our collective you-know-whats.  But something has been getting us through the madness that is school. What is it? 


CLINCHING THE FREAKING AMERICAN LEAGUE CENTRAL CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!!!!


A game that elicited much screaming and merriment from us.  Yay!  Now, we can be slightly annoyed, but not outraged, when Brad Penny decides he can't remember how to pitch (like he did a few days ago). When one of our infielders makes an error, no longer do we scream in horror, but instead smile and shake our heads ("Oh, that crazy Inge!"). Now we can rub our championship status in the faces of the Tiger-haters that surround us at our respective schools (Laura goes to school in Ohio. Indians fans aren't so loud and proud now, huh??). 


Although we've had a few losses thrown in there, everybody's been doing pretty good work. The pitchers have been doing a stellar job (including the pen) and when they don't, our hitters back them up. And when we're just not getting the job done--like tonight, for example--we are comforted in knowing that WE'RE THE AL CENTRAL CHAMPIONS. 


Even though the championship merchandise is really, really lacking in style factor, we're not sorry. 


It's not time to rest on our laurels, though (like it ever is??), because we wan't that home field advantage. We are currently tied with Texas, and it is now time for us to make that final push into playing the ALDS at home. With Verlander and Fister pitching like Ace #1 and Ace #1.5, if we get the advantage it practically guarantees us the win. 


And hopefully, with that advantage, we will be playing Boston. Not to put our boys down or anything, but there is no way we want to see Tampa (or L.A., for that matter) in the first round. Or ever. Their pitching staff scares us.


Still. It's a little hard to get us nervous or unhappy these days. Our boys have made the playoffs. It's going to be pretty fun to see how far they go.

Baseball: America's Cure-All

Before we get to the real heart of this post, we just have a quick word to say about the Tiger's play in the past twelve games.

The word is: WOW.

That pretty much sums that up.

Now to the point. This post was supposed to come three days ago, but due to college/work/general busyness, it is a little delayed. We've barely had time to watch our boys win twelve straight (!!!). But there was one pretty big news story lately that changed not only the sports world, but the whole world. Obviously, we're talking about September 11th.

You may be thinking, Wow, how irrelevant. This is a silly blog with ridiculous posts about juvenile topics and now they want us to read something else about 9/11? Nuh-uh. What does that have to do with baseball or the Tigers? But please, hear us out. This relates to baseball and the Tigers. Just bear with the seriousness for a few paragraphs and we'll go back to our girlish musings on Rick Porcello's chiseled features soon, okay? Okay.

Hit the jump and we'll tell you more...

Can't Be Tamed

This is what the Tigers have won since we last posted:

-Destroyed White Sox in the second biggest butt-kicking in the MLB this year
-Won series opener against Indians by way of Doug Fister's 13 (!!!) strikeouts, a career high
-Chased Fausto Carmona out early by putting up 8 combined runs in the 1st and 2nd innings, going on to win 10-1
-Jose Valverde got his 42nd save, tying Todd Jones for most club saves all time
-And, finally, swept and demoralized the Tribe with a come-from-behind victory thanks to Victor Martinez's grand slam (which got him a good slapping around from Justin Verlander!)

Yeah. Not much. Just two sweeps, one home and one away, of our two closest division rivals.

(Also, apparently we CAN win in Cleveland. Maybe because that witch girl dancing behind home plate wasn't there? Guess girlfriend's powers can't curse us forever.)

For serious, though--who could have dreamed this would happen? We're not part of the grumble-grumble-pessimist-We-Hate-Leyland-Tigers-Are-Collapsing crowd, but never in our wildest dreams did we think our team would do this. Chicago is closest to us in the AL Central race, at 9 back. Our Magic Number is now 12.

Barring what would be an unbelievable, epic, Met-like collapse, the Tigers are going the playoffs (knock on wood). There. As much as it scared us to actually write that sentence, it is what is going to happen. There is no denying it now. Besides playing the White Sox in Chicago next week, there aren't any more difficult series. The Central belongs to the Tigers.

And you know what we love most about the past six days? Before, we kept hearing that, save for Verlander, this team's pitching staff was average at best. What Max Scherzer, Doug Fister, and Rick Porcello just did was not mediocre. No, if our pitching staff can keep going strong throughout these last few weeks, we will roll into October with a lineup that absolutely no one wants to face.

Oh, and our hitters! We've said it before and we'll say it again: this year, Dave Dombrowski is looking like a straight up genius. Our hitters, led by Victor Martinez and Miguel Cabrera, have scored 57 runs in the past 6 days. It really doesn't even matter who Leyland puts out there--even with the cringe-inducing lineup today, we still pounded out 8 runs. Our hitters can do no wrong.

Plus, we love the attitude. The Tigers, as Rod has frequently and persistently reminded us, now have lots of Swagger. They come in confident, but not cocky. They've learned that lesson. Jim Leyland, too, is taking the appropriate response to his team's success. Obviously he wasn't going to go "Yep, we got dis ish in the BAG" but it's good to see him constantly say that the Tigers have to keep grinding out the wins and that nothing is guaranteed yet.

Of course, there is always at least one catch, and that is our poor Baby Brennan's thumb. He's out for the year, but at least he can still hang with the team. We actually don't need him, what with Maggs, Delmon, Dirks and Raburn coming up big, but it makes us sad to see his baby face on the bench. Poor thing! He's the one Tiger who can be tamed...

Well, maybe him and Big Brad, the one starter who has underperformed this week. We'll see how he does Friday against the Twins. Hopefully he can move the Tigers closer to their goal of division champs!!

Oh No They DI'INNNN

Yeah, he's a boss.

Oh, yes they did.

We have never, in our many years of watching Tigers baseball, seen* a comeback that momentous. A blend of bad Brad Penny pitching, untimely poor defense, and the usual crappy umpiring put us in an 8-1 hole. Fabulous. In the past, we could expect our boys to take this loss sitting down, getting a major smackdown from the hated Sox today and focusing on tomorrow, hoping to win the series finale with Scherzer on the mound. By the third inning, all of Tiger Nation had accepted that the White Sox were probably going to take this game.

The Tigers, however, had other ideas.

What, did you think this was 2009?  This team obviously isn't going to take a loss sitting down. This team clearly isn't going to give up in a pennant race. This team has learned that every. Game. COUNTS.
How else can you explain the onslaught of offense that built up to the most dramatic ninth inning we've seen in years?

After Austin Jackson (four more hits!!! Someone's getting hot), Wilson Betemit, Delmon Young, Juh-honny Peralta and more made a seven-run deficit into a two-run one, and the not-so-oft-used David Pauley and rookie Luis Marte pitched four scoreless innings to keep the White Sox at bay, it was time to stage the biggest comeback in Comerica Park history. And this is where the Drama comes in.

Wilson Betemit Strikes Out. One gone.
Austin Jackson Singles. Of course he does!
Ryan Raburn Homers (!!!!!!!!).

Seriously?! Look, we know we have never been the biggest Raburn fans. But we've also never been part of the Haters Club. So for Ray Ray to launch that majestic, 420 foot shot into the stands, give a fist pump, and round the bases with the game all tied up was a very heartwarming thing indeed. Haters, without Ryan Raburn we probably would not have won that game. It was beautiful.

Funny thing was, as far as epicness goes, it wasn't even close to what happened next.

Delmon Young Strikes Out. Two gone.

Ok, we thought. We can settle for a tie ball game. We'll just win it extras!
Our thoughts were not shared by Miguel Cabrera.
Why? Because Miguel Cabrera wanted to win NOW. Miguel Cabrera wanted to make a statement to these White Sox. The statement: The Central Division is Ours.

The No-Doubter that came off his bat off of the first pitch had such beautiful timing, we almost teared up. The team went crazy, we went crazy, the fans in the stadium went crazy, Jim Leyland went crazy (for him), and we're sure all you people watching at home did too.

That was one of the the final nails in the coffin to the White Sox's season, don't you think? What a demoralizing loss for them. In fact, it seems like the kind of loss our boys might have taken down the stretch in the past few years. But this year, it seems everything is Different.

We have been afraid to say it, because we've been down this road of false hope before. But this team wants the Postseason, and they're going to get it. Valverde is still--still!--perfect. We have a club full of professional hitters ready to back our big slugger up. AJax has awoken. Our bullpen is finally pitching to their potential. We've had amazing pickups late in the season. But it is players Justin Verlander,, who's great outing yesterday was overshadowed by today's theatrics, and Miguel Cabrera, who's becoming more and more clutch by the game, who we need to thank the most.

What this long and rambling and emotional article is trying to say is that this team is Going The Distance. And it's games like these that fuel teams to go far. Keep it up, babies. Keep it up.

PS-Did anyone see Max Scherzer's reaction to Cabrera's homer? Holy crap, he's excitable. If you don't know what we're talking about, watch the bench's reaction to the walk-off. You'll see what we mean.

*We didn't get to actually WATCH this game. We listened on the radio and watched Gametracker. Stupid Fox broadcast wasn't in our region, so of course we miss the most exciting game of the year. So typical.