Stars over...Kansas?

The three of us here at April in the D are very very excited.  Why, you ask?  Because a brand new star outfielder is coming to the Tigers. We know you're screaming right now, "YOENIS CESPEDES?!" and doing a happy dance, but we have to tell you that this star is even better.  A brand new baseball celebrity  has been born, and that star is this man:

Yes, Detroit's big new baseball sensation is the corn-eatin', tractor-ridin', Kansas-born, thick-necked sweetheart Andrew "Andy" Dirks!

We know. We were surprised to hear this too, but according to this article, Andy is quite the smash in the Dominican Republic, where he is currently playing with the Dominican Republic's Escogido Squad in the Caribbean League.  He had recently made a quite a few clutch, late-inning plays, and although he's only hitting .262 or so, the fans there absolutely love him.  Chants of "Andy! Andy! Andy!" have apparently been heard in the stadium on multiple occasions, and his performance has turned him in to a "mini-celebrity" on the island. 

We're proud of our boy Andy, and we hope he can bring this momentum into Spring Training and hopefully into the 2012 season as well.  However, if Andy enjoys his celebrity, we wouldn't actually mind him staying there if we can get Yoenis Cespedes in the meantime. In all seriousness though, we didn't know lil' Dirks had this in him, and we're really proud that he's reppin' the D all the way in the Dominican Republic!  With Prince Fielder, Justin Verlander, Miguel Cabrera, and most importantly, Andy Dirks, we have far and away the most star power in the AL Central, as if they weren't far enough behind already.  Take that, Twins!

In other news, we can't wait for the season to start!  We need baseball. Enough with the waiting.

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.