Random Tiger's Thoughts from Megan: April in the D's First 2012 Game

Hi guys!

So, it's taken me a little while to get this post up, but I was able to go to CoPa for the first time this year, due to a birthday surprise from a couple friends.  Awesome I know. Overall, I was really happy with the tiger's performance. It was the second game of the double-header against the Rangers, so I got to see a Tiger's win, and it was just plain exciting to see JV face off against Feliz in a killer pitcher's duel.  The seats were great, we won the game, and I got to enjoy great company, but there was one thing I could not get over... the overall hatred Tiger's fans seem to have against Brandon Inge.

I understand completely that the guy sucks at baseball right now.  He came into Saturday's game hitting .071.  He'd have to be an anorexic 8th grade girl to even begin to be hitting his weight.  His defense at second base isn't so good that he can hit that poorly. And even though it's the beginning of the season, it is a disturbing trend.  I understand all of this, and I personally would rather have Danny Worth up here than Inge.

I'm not going to constantly heckle the poor guy throughout the entire game though!  One of the girls that went to the game with me was kind of disturbed by it.  She is a diehard Cards fan from St. Louis and felt really bad for Inge.  When other people's fans feel bad for a guy, you know the situation has gotten out of hand.  It's okay to boo him when he misplays an easy ball. If he strikes out for the third time in one day, groans of disappointment are acceptable.  But what's sad is that people were heckling him before he even started to play.  I guess that as a Tiger's fan that doesn't have the privilege to attend many games, I don't want to spend my time harassing my team.  I'd rather heckle the Rangers.  I don't see what real Tigers fans have to gain from bothering Brandon throughout the entire game. I doubt it's going to make him a better second-baseman.

The thing that shocks me most about this whole "We hate Brandon" trend is that he was one of the most beloved players one or two years ago.  There are those who have always hated him, but as loyal fans, I honestly don't think we should be kicking the guy while he's down.  I mean, he doesn't have to play for the Tigers, but Jim Leyland doesn't need a belligerent "YOU SUCK, BRANDON" to tell him that. Let Brandon play the game, and Leyland will decide whether or not Brandon plays at Comerica or  in triple A.

Other than that, I had a fabulous time! I was kind of obsessed with the new huge Tiger sign on top the new huge megatron-thing. It's really cool!

Rant over.  That was kind of a bad loss to the mariners, but I'm still optimistic about the season! Go Tigers!

Because Nothing Can Ever Go Perfectly...

So, we're sure you've already heard, but Miguel Cabrera is on the DL.  He took a ground ball to the face yesterday, and apparently was bleeding when he left the field.  Now we're hearing that he broke the bone underneath his eye.

On a pessimistic note, weren't we all thinking something like this was going to happen? Miguel is not exactly the world's best third baseman, despite his commendable effort to lose weight and get in shape.  And although he's super athletic, he was bound to trip up sometime.  It stinks that it had to maim his adorable mug, but, on the bright side, we're sure glad that this is happening during Spring Training, and not when we actually need him, during the regular season.

We here at April in the D felt this storm a'brewin'.  It seemed impossible that the Tigers could win so many Spring Training games without a serious calamity to follow. Let's all just thank our lucky stars that it wasn't his ACL, or his hand, or those freaking obliques that seem to trouble the tigers so much!

So, you feel better Miguel!  Put a big old bandaid on your face and do some sit ups in the meantime.  Use the time to get mentally prepared for the season ahead! We are just so pumped.

ALDS Game One: What the F--

I think the title says it all. Nothing went right. NOTHING. We never thought we would say this, but the Yankees have done the impossible of actually making us kind of hate Curtis Granderson. Stupid Yankee players. Stupid ugly dumb disgusting Yankee fans. Stupid nauseatingly biased TBS announcers. You can all DIE.
^(Maturity).
Tomorrow is a must win. Seriously. WE MUST WIN. Somethings gotta give, because that was one of the worst games we've played all season. No luck.


We still believe in our boys. We need to take this game tomorrow. And if we don't…well, that's one hell of a hole to climb out of.


Here's one last dose of 2nd-grade level immaturity for you, though: doesn't the picture below just get your blood boiling? Doesn't it make you want to beat those f#@$@^% Yankees just THAT MUCH MORE??? 

We Hate You. Douchebag.

This is the face of evil: Nick Swisher, That One Outfielder On The Yankees That Runs His Ugly Mouth Too Much And Thinks He's Cooler And More Talented Than He Actually Is. This is also the guy who said that the Yanks were going to beat the Tigers "Hands Down". 


Well if the above picture and quote doesn't make you want to bitch-slap the Yankees into last Tuesday, there's something wrong with you. This, people, is what is called motivation. Let's take it to the Yanks tomorrow in Game 2. I don't want to see this idiot smile his goon smile for a long time.

(Doesn't directing your frustration at Swisher make you feel better? Nothing wrong with some healthy misplaced aggression…)

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!

Rants and Raves on 6/29/11

We are sitting down to enjoy this Tigers game, and here are some thoughts that are running through our minds as we watch:

So by now obviously you have all heard about/seen Jim Leyland's epic charade meltdown. Two words for ya: HOT. MESS.  We are girls who love when a player (or manager) shows some character, and ol' Jim definitely did on Monday. Only increasing the hilarity was poor Andy Dirks, who looked like he was trying verrrrrryyyy hard not to giggle. He was doing a lot better than Rod & Mario, though, as they sounded as if they were going to wet themselves.  It was all kinds of awesome, and the Tigers ended up winning, so no harm done. In our opinion, Leyland's stock in Badassery increased significantly.

Rick Porcello, however, is a different story. He was still a Hot Mess, but a different kind. Not a good kind. We don't know what is going on with him lately, but he played like crap yesterday. Actually, Daniel Schlereth was worse, giving up two (!!!!!!!) grand slams. Who does that? Not all eight of those runs were on him, but still, thats pretty freaking terrible. Meanwhile, Porcello's average ballooned to 5.06. It seemed like only a few weeks ago it was in the sub 4.00 range.

The Mets, meanwhile, are not hot messes. They are just plain hot, ad we're not just talking about their looks. Right now we're watching the game and the Mets have already posted a 4-spot in the first inning. Look. Jose Reyes is spectacular, but no one else on that offense is. How are we supposed to win when our starting pitching isn't even giving us a chance?? Obviously the game isn't over yet, but Sweet Jesus, it's not looking good.

One thing is for sure: the Mets are an insatiable team. Putting up 14 runs last night wasn't enough for them, apparently. Greedy bitches.

This is such a gloomy post, we thought we'd offer A Ray of Light: Magglio is playing well. We have to be honest, we were divided in our household as to whether it was a good thing that he was coming back. Well, we can happily say that we think he will continue to be an offensive asset. However, he does have the worst luck we've ever seen, as opposing teams' defense continuously make amazing plays against him. Like Jason Bay just did. CRAP.

Let's just hope our boys can pull of a miracle here. It doesn't look great, and technically we shouldn't be publishing this blog post before the game ends, but whatever, we don't care. Besides, this does not look like that fun of a game. Now that we said that, watch the Tigers put up 10 runs or something. We can only hope....

Spring Training Thoughts

My only picture, and it sucks. Sorry.

As some of you know, last Saturday I (Laura) was in attendance at the Tigers vs. Braves game at Joker Marchant Stadium. We had really good seats--directly behind the dugout--so I was ready to take zillions of pictures of our glorious team. So, naturally, my camera died as soon as I snapped my first shot. But, no matter. I was still able to make a ton of observations on our team!

• Miguel Cabrera is my Tiger. Seriously. You have to see this guy, because he looks amazing. I know some of you have heard Rod Allen and others rhapsodize about how "firm" Miguel Cabrera's legs are, or something equally as disturbing. I also have heard many people say that Miggy is "fat". I am pleased to say that he really is much more muscled than I have ever seen him, and it looks like he lost a lot of the fat. So, for the people complaining about his weight? Muscle weighs more than fat. Duh. Also, some idiot in the row behind me had the audacity to scream stupidly about what a drunk Miggy is. Really? Say that to his face, a**hole. No one wants to mess with a 6-5, 270 pounds of (almost) pure muscled "alcoholic." No one. This has to work in our advantage-- Miggy is now ten times as intimidating as he was last year! And now other teams can't even pitch around him because...

• Victor Martinez is perfect. Even though he didn't get a hit or even a walk in the game I attended, V-Mart is going to do wonders for our team, both on and off the field. Not only are pitchers going to be kept up at night, dreading about how they'll deal with the Miggy/V-Mart one-two punch, but Martinez seems to be one of the nicest, most beloved players in the game. Every time he would walk to the mound to talk to a new pitcher, he would put his arm around him, pat him on the back, give him a hug (kidding about that last one. But that would be adorable). Everyone knows how much the Indians and Red Sox adored him, so our team should be no different. Dave Dombrowski wins again. Speaking of which....

• Dave Dombrowski was at the game! I don't know if he goes to all of them or what, but he was sitting about six or seven rows back behind home plate, just chillin' in his orange-and-white striped polo. I was thrilled to see him. Wouldn't it be sick to sit next to Dombrowski at a Tigers game?! 

• Will Rhymes wins second base spot. I honestly was not expecting this. I thought that Scotty would get it for sure. Neither of them started the game I attended--that honor belonged to danny worth. I can't say I'm not pleased about this, because who doesn't like Mighty Mouse and his twitter? Lets hope he can duplicate his success from last season while simultaneously give us unique tweets.

• Rick Porcello looked sharp...in more ways than one. He gave up one run and only three hits. He did give up about three walks, but he also had two double plays. So it really evened out. I am PRAYING that Ricky is over his sophomore slump and is ready to kick butt in the Verlander-Scherzer-Porcello triumvirate. Also, he looked tanned and gorgeous from the Lakeland sun, unlike some of the other lobster-red, sunburned Tigers. Just an observation.

• Andy Dirks....Detroit Tiger? Andy Dirks, as most of you probably know, is having a monster spring. A non-roster invite making the team? I kind of doubt it, but after seeing him in action on Saturday and driving in two runs in the bottom of the ninth for a walk-off win, who knows? I'm rooting for him, but he is still in a four-man race for only two spots. I feel like Brennan and Casper have the edge. I wish they ALL could make it.

• WTF Moment: Robbie Weinhardt didn't make the team? What?! I did not see that coming. He pitched really well in the game I went to, and he had been having a pretty good spring. Puzzling choice. We'll see what happens.