About four weeks before the Tigers convened in Lakeland for spring training, the club’s outlook instantly went from brimming with confidence and optimism to soaked in despair and gloom. That’s when Dave Dombrowski received word from Florida that Victor Martinez suffered a torn ACL in his left knee and would eventually be lost for the season. The Tigers’ front-office boss put on a brave face when he talked to the media after hearing the news: “After you feel sorry for yourself for a day or so, you move on,” general manager Dave Dombrowski said. “We have a good club. We’ve got a lot of players who will step up.” But Tigers fans knew the impact this would have on the lineup and most likely…
Making up for lost time with a stream-of-consciousness post … It’s been almost a month since Miguel Cabrera took a Sergio Romo 0-2 fastball down the middle for the final out of the World Series. In some ways it feels that long ago and in others, still too recent. So much seems to have happened since the middle of September when the Tigers were a game back of the White Sox and we weren’t certain (well, at least I wasn’t) postseason baseball was in our future. But it was. A grueling ALDS against the A’s, an exhilarating sweep of the Yankees and then, good God, that World Series. By the end of Game 2, it became increasingly clear that the Giants were a team…
There are some 2-1 or 3-1 games that you know are too close for comfort. Others, not so much. The GistALDS Game 1 Tigers 3- A’s 2 W:Justin Verlander (1-0) L:Jarrod Parker (0-1) Save:Jose Valverde (1) HR:Alex Avila (1) Boxscore Highlights I don’t know about you, but after the Tigers took a 2-1 lead over Jarrod Parker and the A’s in Game 1 of the ALDS it seemed to me like it would be tough for Oakland to score — thanks to the generous strike zone offered by umpire Jim Reynolds. And that’s only because Justin Verlander made it through the first couple of innings without suffering much damage. Coming into Game 1 my fear was Verlander would be the amped-up version we’ve seen…
And this evening I gleefully eat crow. Justin Verlander or no, I didn’t expect the Tigers to win Game 5. After Wednesday night’s deflating extra-inning loss, my typically optimistic self thought the Tigers had run out of gas and that the Rangers were just too hot to lose. Texas was making the most of their opportunities — lord knows they (and the Tigers with much less success) have had plenty this series — and how long could Detroit’s worn out pitching staff keep Michael Young and Adrian Beltre, the only Rangers not scorching the ball these days, in check? Not long, at least in the case of the former. When Young doubled in the first inning, that queasy feeling of doom washed over me. Then…
