This team, no matter who it might be able to add by month’s end, is not/will not be equipped to compete for an AL title much less the World Series. Not that there are a lot of commodities on this squad that can be peddled, but what is available should be offered up in an attempt to keep restocking the farm system with some live arms and left handed line-drive hitters.

Who can be dealt you ask?

The two most tradeable commodities are probably Kenny Rogers and Pudge Rodriguez.

It’s a shame that another strong start by Rogers was laid to waste by a balky bullpen that is festooned with problems. Fernando Rodney can’t seem to throw two consecutive pitches over the plate which is a definite problem for any pitcher, much less one who was once considered a closer in waiting. He was brought in a rather harmless situation today and managed to turn a solid lead into a tight game again. Todd Jones proved once again why a closer who pitches to contact lives precariously on the edge. When the ball is hit bad things can happen (please see Matt Joyce’s misplay in the ninth). Conversely, Twins closer Joe Nathan allowed only one Tiger to touch his stuff (a harmless infield fly) and though he walked three batters to create a loud puckering sound from Ron Gardenhire’s backside he was able to blow away Jeff Larish and Pudge with some serious cheese to clean up his own mistakes; something Jones is not equipped to do. This Tiger team also has a lefty specialist who, for some reason, can’t get out lefties. (Thanks for the walk to Justin Mourneau, Bobby Seay, thus forcing Freddy Dolsi into extended duty.)

I say offer Rogers to the contenders who could benefit from a veteran presence at the back of their rotation and lap up whatever prospects you can.

Ditto for Pudge. The one thing he has managed to do consistently all year is negate the opposition’s running game. What contender doesn’t need that come October? And let’s be realistic, does anyone really foresee him catching for the Tigers next season? It would certainly have to come at a great discount and I’m not inclined to think he’s taking that discount. In other words, if Brandon Inge is the catcher of the future, let’s make the future start now and get something for a player you’re probably not going to have back.

And if Dombro can find a suitor for Edgar Renteria, by all means ship him. I realize Ramon Santiago on a regular basis will be exposed offensively, but his defense is excellent and he just quietly goes about his business. Didn’t the Tigers learn anything from Renteria’s previous foray into AL waters (.276 average with 100 K’s and a career-high 30 errors for the BoSox in 2005)?

At present, Detroit sits at 46-45. I’d say 88-90 wins will be needed to win the division (depending on how the team does against the White Sox and Twins) so you’re looking at 42-29 — minimum — to end the season. Does this team really look like a 12 games over .500 type of club? I, for one, don’t think so.

Margin is about to call Mr. Dombrowski, don’t be fooled and have to pay up. Play it safe and gird for 2009.

That was my first thought as my Frontier Airlines jet touched down at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport early Thursday evening. It seems as though for we Michiganians glimpses of the sun outside the months of July, August, and – maybe – early October are random and fleeting.

Warmth!

That was my second thought. Despite the best efforts of the aircraft’s cooling system it was quite evident I was no longer in Michigan.

This fact was made even clearer later that evening when a call home elicited this comment from my soon-to-be 7-year-old son Jake: “Dad, will you please bring back some warm air. Every baseball game I have it’s always cold and wet.” (Included in my luggage home was a one Zip Lock baggie filled with 85-degree Arizona evening warmth!)

Friendship!

That was my third thought as I spotted Mike’s red Infiniti easing onto the North Curb outside baggage claim; Mike and I go back to my sophomore year of high school when I was the 13th man on the Lakeview High junior varsity basketball team and Mike – younger brother of Husky great Tom – was a freshman trying to make a name for himself.

How else – beside friendship – can you explain someone leaving his family near dinner time to drive 45 minutes one way to pick you up at the airport? And then put you up in his guest house for a long weekend.

Uninspired and inconsistent!

Is there any other way to categorize the Tigers’ performance of late? The two nights I saw in the desert only served to verify this description. The list of transgressions on Friday was lengthy:

• Magglio not running hard out of the box on that second-inning double-turned-single-and-throw-out;
• Cabrera lollygagging (cue Robert Wuhl) after the pop up back of first;
• The lack of communication between Renteria and Guillen in the seventh;
• Guillen’s total aim job of a throwing error (also in the seventh); and,
• Leyland’s decision not to insert Brandon Inge for defensive purposes with a three-run lead and Guillen not due up for three more innings.

Of course Saturday came along and there was Raburn’s dropped double-play ball; Cabrera running for that very same pop up; Pudge’s savvy dropped pop up bunt in the eighth; and Leyland making the necessary defensive substitutions in the ninth.

Fellowship!

Could there be a better place for men to be men than at a baseball game on a warm summer evening? That’s what I thought of as I sat there under the stars and slowly cooling evening air with John, Mike, and Tom.

Just talking baseball, reminiscing about glory days (cue Bruce), and quoting guy stuff like Fletch, The In-Laws, Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Slapshot, Bull Durham, and the like.

Ridiculous!

That’s what I thought most of Saturday about the sizeable group of 20-somethings that tried to be Tigers’ fans sitting in front of us. Drink flowed from the moment they arrived and they thought nothing of getting up and changing seats – or leaving – during game play.

It’s a pet peeve of mine, but I was brought up to respect the game and its fans. That meant you didn’t leave your seat until between innings or pitching changes; the same was true of your return. If you want to socialize and not watch the game, then do everyone a favor and do it on the concourse.

Trust me when I say no one wants to see you – no matter how much you paid for your new chest or how nattily attired you may be; we all paid decent money to watch the game.

Lucky!

As I pen this on an old-fashioned steno pad at 38,000-feet, I realize how lucky I am to have a wife and two children who allow me to do something foolhardy like traveling 2,000 miles across the country to watch a pathetically underachieving baseball team and hand with the fellas for a few days. To them I say thank you!

Did you miss me?

The Family Hill is fresh off a Toronto vacay where we were able to catch the Tigers-Jays on Saturday. Suffice to say it wasn’t the best of the four days to be in attendance at the Rogers Centre, what with Miguel Cabrera kicking the game away on what should be an otherwise routine grounder.

The highlight of Saturday for us was the discovery that the Westin Harbour Castle (our weekend digs) was the Tigers’ team hotel. Imagine our surprise at dinner when my son Jake and I bumped into Rod Allen, Dan Dickerson, and Trevor Thompson and chatted them up about the unseasonably warm Toronto weather and Jake’s “fish-like” (Allen’s words) handshake (we’re already hard at work on improving this). Then, at the corner market looking for a Sunday morning muffin, there was a Jim Price sighting. Before you new it, we were in the hotel lobby seeing Jason Grilli holding an (his?) infant child. I’m pretty sure by bedtime my daughter Helena was convinced Magglio Ordonez (he’s her Tiger) was sleeping on the other side of our wall.

And then, on our way to checking out Sunday morning, my wife Carol spotted Mario Impemba (she couldn’t tell if he was wearing his Daily Fungo t-shirt) and Edgar Renteria hailing a cab while I was retrieving the car. (Quick aside, the Westin Harbour Castle charges $30 a day for valet parking or $17 for self-parking. The self-parking is two blocks away!)

Finally, as we loaded the car, Denny Bautista and Ramon Santiago emerged through the revolving doors to flag a cab and they received Helena and Jake quite warmly. Santiago even showed Helena his 2006 ALCS ring (pretty neat stuff) and we noticed Bautista had a similar ring (no doubt his Rockies’ 2007 NLCS version) before signing her autograph book and shaking hands with Jake.

Then, as we pulled out of the front lobby, we noticed Jeremy Bonderman (Saturday’s six-walk loser) climbing into the taxi with Bautista and Santiago.

So, despite the loss, and having to listen to the Sunday setback on the way out of town, it was a memorable weekend. As a matter of fact, the Hill kids are already plotting next year’s Tigers-Blue Jays roadie. Perhaps we’ll plot our course for adventure so it coincides with an Armando Galarraga start?

Until next time,

Doug