ALDS Game Two: And the Series is Tied!

We won!  We won! We won!

We three are going  to ignore the fact the Jose Valverde literally blew up in the ninth inning. We're going to overlook the fact that the hated Nick Swisher hit a home run in the ninth inning.  We're even going to pretend we didn't hear the TBS announcers verbally blow the Yankees.  Do you want to know why?  It is because we won. And unlike no-hitters, or statistics, or history, or Derek Jeter, or anything else, winning is the only thing that matters in the post-season.

Hell yeah!

So let's look at the positives for now!  Firstly, and most importantly, is Max Scherzer's performance.  Right before the post-season, Rogo from DesigNate Roberston wrote a wonderful post on the importance of Max Scherzer. We couldn't have agreed more with him, and boy did Max deliver!  He took a no-hitter into the sixth and had zero earned runs on the day.  Our boy Benoit (or Ben-OYT as the boys at TBS would say) pitched very well today as well, despite giving up a solo home run to Curtis Granderson, as he got out of no-out two-men-on jam that Max left him.

The two spot also delivered today.  Magglio went 3-3, and good ol' Don Kelly laced a very important RBI single in the top of the 9th to give the Tigers a four run lead. If the Tigers are going to get to the World Series, they're going to need production from every part of the line-up, not just Latino Row, so great work DK! We commend you! We also congratulate Miguel Cabrera for providing us with three runs today and for stealing a base. Miguel Cabrera stole a base everyone! That is how badly he wants to move on to the ALCS.

More positives:  The Tigers head back to CoPa tomorrow, so the Yankees don't get to keep hitting pathetic fly balls that are home runs in the Yankee's itty bitty park. Also, the heavyweights are pitching tomorrow!  Justin Verlander, the probable AL Cy Young winner, and CC Sabathia, 6'7" and about 500 lbs. We feel very optimistic about the Tigers chances at home, and hopefully JV can deliver for us.

So yeah, that game was a little bit scary there at the end, but the end result is a tied ALDS. There's so much to look forward to in the next couple of days, and we can't wait for some more post-season baseball.  Get the defibrillators folks! This series looks to be a wild ride!

Don't Forget the Little People

Our Tigers are now 42-36 and have a full one game lead over Cleveland in the AL Central. We fans have witnessed two great games in a row, in which our two biggest stars have come through in outstanding fashion. On Saturday we saw Justin Brooks Verlander continue his year of amazing-ness, striking out 14 (14!!!!) and going eight innings while allowing only 4 hits. The next day we saw Sparky Anderson's number retired in an emotional ceremony and then watched Miguel Cabrera be clutch--again--while driving in the game-winning runs in the bottom of the eighth.

As great as these two are, and as much as we should appreciate their skills, we do have to remember that others on our team have been making significant contributions as well. In fact, we would argue that without  certain players stepping up and filling in key supporting roles, we wouldn't be winning the Central right now.

Austin Jackson-The Catalyst. Despite his pretty bad day at the plate yesterday (4 strikeouts-yeeeeesh), Ajax has been hitting well lately, and whenever he's on, the whole team follows. Obviously nothing needs to be said about his defense. We all know how good he is at that.

Victor Martinez-The Quiet Leader. More than a few Tigers have commented on how good a leader V-Mart is. He seems to lead both in the clubhouse and on the field, and it is great to see him get all emotional and riled up whenever he delivers a clutch hit or slides dramatically into home. He also has helped out a bunch of younger players (Jackson, Alex Avila) with their offensive swings this year.

Alex Avila-Pitcher's Compliment. Verlander is obviously an amazing pitcher, and Max Scherzer is getting a lot of work done, too. However, people tend to forget that not only is Alex Avila kicking ass and taking names at the plate, he is also helping out our stellar starters behind it. He is a genuinely good guy, too, and deserves perhaps more than anyone on this team (save Verlander) to start the All-Star Game. If you haven't voted yet, vote!

Juh-honny Peralta: The Comeback Kid. No one, especially us, thought Juh-honny would be an offensive asset this year, especially coming out of Spring Training. Not only is he hitting over .300 but he also has the best fielding percentage of all shortstops in the American League. Quite a departure from his lackluster seasons the past few years.

Brennan Boesch-The Comeback Kid Pt. 2. After his miserable second-half last year, many wondered, including us, if Baby B was just a fluke. He has (hopefully) proven us wrong again, hitting close to .300 and getting on base whether he's hitting 2nd, 3rd, 6th, or wherever.

Max Scherzer-All I Do Is Win. What is it about Mad Max? He gets on the mound, we score runs. Period. Sometimes he doesn't deserve the win, but why quibble? A guy like that is always an asset to the team, and his W-L record shows it. Hopefully he can get win number 10 tonight.

Jose Valverde-The Stopper. Despite him giving us a few heart-attacks this season, Papa Grande has not blown a save this year, not a one. Perhaps he wasn't as completely dominant as he was last season, but he gets the job done, and acts like a rock star while doing it.


Al Alburquerque-The Surprise. This guy isn't just having a few good outings--he is consistently making batters look like assholes as they miss his sinker by feet. He is on pace for a ridiculous number of strikeouts this year, and he has only let one runner he has inherited score. Oh, and he's 5-1.  No one expected this out of him, which is part of what makes him so amazing.

Don Kelly, Ramon Santiago, Casper Wells, Andy Dirks-Supporting Players Extraordinaire. Though many people have issues with one or more of the Tigers above, we love them all. They have consistently stepped in this year and delivered. All of them! Though we may mock Don Kelly for his sometime unfortunate hitting skills, his defense is not to be ignored, and lately he has been coming through in the clutch.

Ryan Raburn-The Comic Relief. This has to be the reason he's starting all the time. Jim Leyland must love to get a good laugh in, right? There can't be any other reason, right?!?!

So, as much as Verlander and Cabrera deserve to be credited for getting us into first place (and believe us, they deserve a lot of that credit!) the Tigers mentioned above are vital to our success, too. We're liking the look of this team a lot, and not just the physical one. A few pieces aside, we seem to be on track to be serious, serious contenders in our division (fingers crossed!).

Shiny Happy People

Happy Tiger!

Isn't life so much better when your team has a winning record? It's still way too early to count any team out of anything, but that doesn't stop people from getting carried away when their team plays well. I (Laura) had the misfortune dubious honor of spending Easter with diehard Cleveland Indian fans, and they were all going crazy that the Indians were at the top of the Central.

Now, I am as optimistic as anyone when it comes to my team, but these psychos were already talking about Grady and the gang going to the playoffs. Maybe it's due to the fact that Cleveland sports fans grasp at any signs of hope that they can, but their not-so-quiet desperation made me realize that having extreme optimism about a team is actually pretty fun. Let's look at the many, many positive points that our team has given us in the past few games.

• We swept the hated, loathed, and evil White Sox. Enough said.
• Austin Jackson is actually hitting again. Is it any surprise our offense was unstoppable in the Chicago series? When our lead-off guy is on, the whole team is on. It's important that our boy continues this trend, especially when we go to Cleveland to face the Indians.
• Our apologies to Alex Avila. After unfairly jumping on the We-Hate-Alex bandwagon in the first freaking week of the season, he hit .545 against Chicago and his batting average now rests at .316. Holy crap. Will these sparkling numbers stay? No. But we predict he'll hit really well for the rest of the season.
• Brad Penny comes out of nowhere to pitch like an ace. Excuse me? Now that we know what Mr. Karina Smirnoff is capable off, hopefully he can do it all the time. Max Scherzer, on the other hand, actually is an ace. He and Verlander are going to be a hell of a one-two punch, that much is for sure.
• Brandon Inge drew an Easter egg on Casper Wells' leg. We don't know why this is so great, but it is. Maybe it's because Brandon is such a good artist. Or maybe, coupled with this photographic gem, it proves that Casper Wells is a precious precious addition to our team, if only for comedic value.
• While it is true that the Cokehead needs to pick up his game, we're pretty sure that the Tigers are going to rebound from the loss to Seattle tonight. It is hard to beat King Felix.
• That being said, we're going to take that comedic value superlative away from Casper for a minute. Ryan Raburn is on this team for comedic value. If you can't laugh at the now infamous punch-the-ball-over-the-wall play, you need to freaking try. Because it really is funny.

So while not everything is coming up roses for our team, things are starting to click. Why be negative when there is so much to be positive about?

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Phil Coke = Hot Mess.

So, our team just finished the dreaded West Coast road trip, and there was so much of a confusing mixture of good, bad, and ugly that we had to break it down here at April in the D. Read on!

The Good
-Miguel Cabrera, Brennan Boesch, and Jose Valverde kick ass. We're really really hoping/praying Brennan keeps this up all year long. Is that so much to ask?! As far as Cabrera goes, we would lose almost every game without him. That much is obvious. And Valverde, despite giving up his first run of the year, is 2-0 and 4/4 for saves. Plus he struck out Milton Bradley twice (and his dancing got a death stare). Do your thang, Papa.

-Max Scherzer, as Mario Impemba pointed out, has been on the mound for 4 out of 9 of the Tigers' wins. That stat right there says enough about how good he's been. IT'S THE EYES. Speaking of Mario...

-Mario and Rod take over Twitter. Nothing delights us more than logging on to Twitter and seeing Mario's tame, boring tweets juxtaposed with one of Rod's exclamation point-filled ones. It's like hearing them on TV, only with a behind-the-scenes feel.

-Scott Sizemore is hitting .375 with an OPS of .991. It's soooo great that he's on our team, we really need him!...Oh, wait. He's not. This needs to be fixed.

-Minnesota and Chicago are sucking even worse than we are. Gotta love it.

-Bromances. See our last post for more on this.

-And, finally, rumbling out of the West with a winning record. We feel like that hardly ever happens.

The Bad
-Staying up until 1:30 a.m. watching the boys slug it out every night was not so fun the next morning. Most of the time it was worth it, but other times? Not so much. The things we do for our Tigers...

-V-Mart's new stint on the disabled list was probably a good idea in the long run, but we desperately need him back. Not just for his accordion playing skills, but also for his bat, which we really need.

-Austin Jackson is slumping, that's no secret. He showed signs of life on Wednesday's game, but the Tigers need to get him hitting, since he really is our team's catalyst. Maybe Lloyd McClendon could wake up long enough to help him out...

-Kansas City and Cleveland are atop the AL Central. Kansas City and Cleveland. Is this real life??
The Ugly
-Phil Coke looked like an ace in his previous two starts. Tuesday night he looked like a white version of Dontrelle Willis, complete with the mania. We hope this is just a bump in the road, but that was seriously the ugliest game pitched all year.

-That pitch...only Justin Verlander would throw a ball that literally didn't exist in the baseball world. It was so confusing that Rod and Mario were talking about it for not just the rest of the game, but for days afterwards. Crazy.

-Our bullpen, save for Valverde and Joaquin Benoit, is erratic at best and cataclysmic at worst. It's good that Enrique Gonzalez is gone, but the Saucy Aussie needs to go as well.

-We're going to guess V-Mart getting nailed in the crotch by Valverde's pitch probably contributed to his groin injury. Yikes. Heal fast, Victor...


After a much need off-day, our boys are back in the D taking on the slumping White Sox and...the Mariners. We need these wins.

A Recap from Rosie

Yeah, He's a Stud.

Note: Every once in a while, our resident Tigers "rookie" Rosie will do a fun, lighthearted (or not, depending on the situation) recap of the game. Go Tigers!

Yesterday and today were two very different games.  And I could spend hours talking about the mess Penny made yesterday.  I could go on and on about how he allowed eight, EIGHT, runs, and I could rant about how much I hate most announcers that aren’t Rod Allen and Mario Impemba. I could, but I won’t.  Today was such an excellent game, and I am in such a great mood, I won’t ruin it talking about yesterday’s debacle and the awful commentary which made it even worse.  Instead I think we should glorify our Tigers for sticking it to the Yankees.  Finally.  We’ve stopped acting like kittens and bared our fangs.  It wasn’t a massacre, but our hitters Would. Not. Stop.

           

Today’s MVP, Brennan Boesch (Baby B):I loved him last year.  His first half of the season was phenomenal, and even though it didn’t carry over into the latter half of the season, he was still my Tiger.  Today he had four hits, four runs, and four RBIs.  And he looked so cute too!

Miguel Cabrera: Can I just say how nice it is to watch baseball and not have to hear the words “Cabrera” and “Alcohol” in the same sentence? Today Miggy had TWO homeruns today in the 1^st and the 3^rd (driving Baby B home) and a single in the 9^th. Take THAT, snarky announcers and sportswriters!

Austin Jackson: AJax drew some walks today in addition to the great homerun he had yesterday. He definitely made up for his stupid error yesterday with some spectacular plays today. In the 7^th he had a gorgeous over the shoulder catch back on the warning tracks, stealing something big from Granderson (HA!) and in the 8^th he had another great shoestring catch nabbing a hit from Teixeira. Go Go Jackson.

           

Ramon Santiago: Little Ramon was a beast today.  He had two hits; a single in the 5^th, and a double in the 6^th.  In the first he came home on Baby B’s homerun, and then came home on his sac fly.  Way to go RAMON.

Pitching: Scherzer allowed six runs, but in all fairness, in any other of the 29 ballparks in this country, half of them would have been fielded. Coke did pretty well, getting hot vengeance on Granderson and only allowing one run. Benoit and Valverde were better, getting through the 8^th and 9^th innings with minimal drama.

Final Score: Tigers: 10 Yankees 7

Comments:  YES!  Obviously I am happy with this…a win is a win is a win.  The Tigers needed to get one game from the Yankees at Yankee Stadium, and they did.  It will make me even happier when we see them again and we knock them on their pompous, smarmy, pinstriped-asses.  I think we definitely have the talent to do it.  I also think that V-Mart should catch full time, Maggs should DH, and we should have Baby B, AJax and Raburn in the outfield.  Avila is just nowhere near good enough at the plate.  Also, thank God that THE WHITE SOX LOST TODAY! Double yes!! And finally, the fact that I had my Rod and Mario to watch today really made the game special. Who else would debate what shade of white nail polish the catcher has on?!

We are going to be a force to be reckoned with this year, and I will enjoy watching the Tigers prove to all their critics that they can do it.  Especially if we hit like we did today.  We are going to eat the Orioles ALIVE (I hope). Also, this is the song we will be listening to all April. WOO HOO.

          
And finally: Please don't forget to listen to Laura on The Knee Jerks podcast tomorrow!! www.thekneejerks.com 

IT'S. ALMOST. TIME.

In less than three days, our amazing, talented, badass, glorious team will be taking the field against the hated Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Are we excited? Extremely. Are we anxious? Yeah, kind of. Maybe not for opening day--Justin Verlander definitely seems like he's on a mission this year--but what about when Max Scherzer starts?

We are the world's biggest Scherzer fans, and his second-half performance last season made him one of the best pitchers in Major League ball. But his Spring Training starts have been troubling, to say the least. Giving up 11 runs on 9 hits to the Orioles is never, ever a good thing, especially on your last start before the regular season. Then again, it is Spring Training. It doesn't count. Scherzer was obviously not focused. So we hope know he will turn it around before his first start.

Anyway. Now that THAT concern is off our chests, we can get down to how freakishly excited we are for Opening Day. There is something special about this team. Perhaps it is because players are coming in with things to prove: Brennan Boesch isn't a one-hit wonder. Will Rhymes deserved to make it over Scott Sizemore. Austin Jackson won't fall into the dreaded sophomore slump. Justin Verlander is an Elite Pitcher.  Miguel Cabrera is the MVP.

It might sound kind of stupid to the non-baseball fan, getting so worked up about Opening Day. But we know better. It means so much more than people realize. It means boring weekdays will be fun again. It means the start of summer. It means we will once again be subject to Rod Allen-ridiculousness. It means a city comes together to root for their team. 

There are very, very few things that we like more than watching a Tigers game, especially when our team is good. There are so many reasons for us to get excited about Opening Day....and FSDetroit's April in the D, from which this blog owes its name!!!

Also, from a completely shallow, dumb-girl point of view, our team physically is pretty attractive this year. If that doesn't get all the ladies out there excited for this season, nothing will! (Kidding. Kind of).

...If you're STILL not pumped for the season, maybe this will help! In a few days Laura will be on The Knee Jerks, a podcast show co-hosted by none other than Greg from "Where Have You Gone, Johnny Grubb?" If you want to listen (duh, we know you do) go to www.sportsgeeksradio.com on Monday, April 4th at 7 pm. We can't wait!

Random Tiger Thoughts from Laura

Me (obviously) at Spring Training last year!

Every so often, the three of us decided we will do a Random Thoughts section about a bunch of different Tiger topics from just one of us. So I'm going to do this first one. These are my opinions and thoughts about our lovely Tigers, not my sisters. Mine!

ESPN Can Suck It


No, really, they can. It's weird for me to even write that sentence. But the way they are handling the whole Miguel Cabrera situation really pisses me off. First, they're labeling him an alcoholic. Really? You don't know him personally. None of us do. But for people like Jayson Stark to say that Miggy is "avoiding the problem"actually makes me want to kick his ass. When did Jayson Stark turn into Dr. Drew?
But thats not even the whole problem. Yesterday SportsCenter did a recap of the Tigers-Braves Spring Training Game. Cabrera went 0-3, and they made it sound like he was spiraling into a Gerald Laird-level of suck. Come on. He missed the first six days of practice and it's only Spring Training. This is probably the first and only time I'll say this, but ESPN needs to leave Cabrera alone.
All this is coming from someone who wants to work for ESPN one day. Just goes to show that you don't  mess around with my Tigers!



I Overreact Often, But...


...I think Max Scherzer is going to have a freaking amazing season. He's started out strong in Spring Training (yes, I know, it's just Spring Training. STILL). He took names at the end of last season, and was arguably our best pitcher. He has those crazy sick eyes of his that sear into batter's souls. He is the complete package. Admittedly, I was completely distraught at the loss of Edwin Jackson and the end of my favorite Tiger's bromance. But as soon as Mad Max picked up his game by destroying the A's all those months ago, I knew we had something special.
I'm still looking for a good new bromance though. Come on, guys!


I Really Love Twitter.


I do! OK, at first when Twitter was starting out I really hated it. I don't care that so-and-so is eating toast for breakfast. I don't need to know when someone is going to the bathroom. I never understood the appeal...until certain Tigers joined the Twitterverse. Now I can't get enough. I love Will Rhymes's thoughts on music and his dogs. I adore Casper Wells's tweets about how much the Tiger's are going to kick ass this season. I find myself compulsively checking their Twitter pages just so I can catch a glimpse of what it must be like to be a Tiger. Clearly it's awesome. Plus, you get to see fantastic pictures like this! The appeal of Twitter is now obvious.

Could Spring Get Any Better?


No, it cannot. Do you know why? Because, in exactly two weeks I will be driving to Spring Training!!! I. Cannot. Wait. I will be taking a zillion pictures and trying desperately to meet my Tigers. I will also hopefully be doing a play-by-play analysis of the Tigers-Braves game on the 19th and then posting it to the blog later that night. Be on the lookout for it!