The Boys Are Back in Town!

Well, we can honestly say that this first series against the Red Sox was one of the most exciting that the three of us have seen as Tigers fans.  It had everything...dominant pitching, powerful slugging, and comeback wins that made all true fans want to weep with joy.  All this against a not-too-shabby Boston Red Sox team.  There have only been three games this season, and we don't want to make predictions too early, but we thought we'd point out a few of things that we saw in these first three games that we hope continue for the season (and some things that we hope are changed immediately!)

Good Thing 1: Justin Verlander
To be honest, throughout this offseason we were kind of worried about our ace JV.  Not that he was slacking, but the talk from all of our news sources showed him making commercials and playing golf as opposed to throwing and practicing like he did last offseason.  However, if its possible, Justin looks even better than the beginning of last season. He seems to have finally found a sort of solution to his April woes, and we just hope that the trend continues.  He deserved the win, yes, but what's most important is that he gets off to a good start.  He wasn't MVP for nothing. When Justin does well, the team tends to do well too.

Good Thing 2: Big Bats
Our offense seems to be as powerful and dominant as it was in Spring Training.  We put up big numbers in games two and three of this series, thanks most notably to Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder, but to all the other players as well. It was truly a team effort to win, especially in game 3, when every player who came up to bat had at least one hit.  At this point, there is no obvious weak link in the Tigers lineup, and Prince Fielder seems to have settled many people's fears about being able to hit home runs in the expansive fields of Comerica Park, blasting two home runs in game two.  Even when our pitching struggles, it seems like we will have our bats and clutch players (@Miguel!!!) to bail us out.

Good Thing 3: Team Chemistry
Was it just us or did it look like they were just having fun out there?  From the good natured jokes at Miguel's ungainly foul territory catch to Prince talking about how he loves his new club, it just seems like our boys are on a mission.  Many people think that Chemistry doesn't matter in baseball, but we really believe it does.  It also makes for a much more entertaining game when players are rooting for one another, and we're looking foward to a fun season!

Best Thing: Austin Jackson
Rod has often stated that Austin (and Curtis before him) is the "Straw that Sitrs the Drink."  We're not entirely sure what that means, but from context clues, we gather that when Austin is playing well, the team plays well. Austin Jackson has been freaking amazing this week.  In the game on Sunday, he was 4-6 with a double and three singles, and he had the hit that one the game in walk-off fashion on Thursday.  He's been coming up clutch, and he seems determined to shut up the haters by having has few Ks as possible. We hope he keeps doing well!

Concern 1: Dougy F.
We don't want Doug to be injured, mainly because we don't want Andy Oliver or any of the other no-name shmucks who got beat out for the starting job to come up to the big leagues.  They are not reliable, and its conerning to have the player we were most excited about at this blog be injured. Thankfully, it's the beginning of the season, and we can deal without him for a little bit, but we hope he recovers ASAP.

Concern 2: Max Scherzer
Max will be one of the keys to the Tiger's success this year, but judging by his performance on Easter, we're going to need a different key.  We really like Maz Scherzer... if you don't follow him to Twitter then you should because he's crazy hilarious... but he needs to get his act together to help out the team.  We think he can; this was just his first game of the season afterall. Max has good stuff, and we really just want to see him use it.

Concern 3: Brennan Boesch
Brennan played pretty poorly.  Everyone else in our lineup was hitting like a champ all weekend, but Brennan was the lone weak spot in the lineup. He has the power and he has the skills, but it just didn't work against the Red Sox. Once Brennan gets hitting (and we belive he will) we will have a pretty much unstopable lineup.  Its also a hard place to be hitting, but that's why he has to do a good job and get on base for Miguel and Prince.  Its times like this when we miss the best 2nd man the Tigers have had in a long while in Placido Polanco!  Brennan can do it though...we have faith!

Anyway...it was kind of a crazy first series, but we were glad to sweep the Sox and and show those clueless FOX commentators a thing or two.  What are they going to do now that both the Sox and the Yanks are 0-3? 

Here's to a fantastic rest of the season!

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.