Wezzul.com - It's the Dinglez

This season for the Tigers is getting pretty amazing. They won again, last night, agains the Kansas City Royals. What made the game special was that after the sixth inning, the Tigers only had four hits. By the end of the game, they had seventeen. At the end of the sixth, the Tigers were down, 4-2. By the end of the game, it was 8-5, Tigers. This the sort of thing that NEVER happened for the Tigers last year, winning games in the late innings. Last year, if the opposing team went up four runs in the first or second inning, you knew the game was over, they'd never come back from this.

Since Saturday, this is the second time the Tigers have come back to win in the late innings. On Saturday night, versus the Cincinnati Reds, the Tigers had a 5-2 lead when Ken Griffey Jr. hit a grand slam off of Joel Zumaya to put the Reds ahead 6-5. The Tigers responded in the ninth inning, when Curtis Granderson hit a solo homerun with two outs to take it to the tenth inning. Then, on a pinch hit RBI single in the tenth by Placido Polanco, the Tigers took the lead, and Todd Jones closed out the game, which coincidentally set the Detroit Tigers record for career saves. This is a perfect example of what Jim Leyland has brought to the table this year. With a roster that, for all intents and purposes, is the same as last year (add Jones and Kenny Rogers from free agency, and rookies Justin Verlander and Zumaya), he has managed to turn an also-ran in the MLB to a early contender for the AL Central division lead. The Tigers now stand at 31-14, and have a one game lead over the Chicago White Sox. They are the best team in the MLB right now. This is fun.

As for the other Detroit team currently still playing at this time of year, the Pistons lost their first round game against the Miami Heat last night after a very poor showing. At times, the Pistons contended for the lead, or even had the lead, but it looked bad pretty much the entire night. The Pistons shot a poor 37.8% from the field, lead by Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamiltons combined 15/41 shooting effort. The one thing about this Pistons team that everyone likes is that every night during the regular season, someone would step up, be it Rasheed Wallace, Chancey, Rip, Tayshaun Prince, or Antonio McDyess (you can't really put Ben Wallace here, as he's not really a huge scoring threat). In the playoffs, they haven't had a lot of that, where one guy picks up the slack for the other guys that aren't playing as well in that game. For the Pistons to win this series, they're going to need to get some better performances from their starting five. They have been a team that relied on their starting five, and should continue to do so if they want to reach the NBA Finals. Game 2 of the series is Thursday night, and it is a must win for the Pistons. If they go back to Miami down 0-2, it's going to be a hard climb back to evening the series.


Briefs:

*The Detroit Red Wings have re-signed 44-year old Chris Chelios to a one year deal. I couldn't be happier about this. During the albeit short playoffs for the Wings, Chelios was a great stay at home defenseman, which the Wings need with the loss of Jiri Fischer. I remeber a particular penalty kill where Chelios cleared the puck from deep in the Detroit zone three times, essentially killing the penalty all by himself. I don't care how old the man is, he's still tough, he can still play defense. I'm happy he's going to be back. Now, on to Shanahan and Yzerman.

*Dmitri Young continues to suck. This is not news, but it's an indication that the Tigers are going to be looking for someone else to DH for them, perhaps Marcus Thames, who has made the most of his limited time at the plate. He's on the DL now as well. John Hannahan, 3B, was called up from Toledo

*Dmitri Young also has been charged with domestic abuse, after allegedly strangling his 21-year old ex-girlfriend at a Birmingham, MI hotel. Not only is this guy high paid, and not performing, but he's also a woman beater. Detroit has the best .169 avg DH in the league, that's for sure.

*Detroit Lions let Dan Wilkinson go. He had a good run with the team, helping Shawn Rogers become the two-time pro bowl player that he is today. Shawn Cody is expected to start at Nose Tackle in the coming season.

*Still no Steve Yzerman news. My feeling is the longer it takes, the more likely he is coming back.

Articles:

Wade's Hot Hand Helps Heat Steal Home-Court Advantage - NBA.com

Heat's Energy Rolls Pistons - ESPN.com

Oh So Cold! - freep.com

Wings re-sign Chelios - freep.com

Leyland's Message Hitting Home - detnews.com

Current Music: Alkaline Trio - Clavicle

Posted on Wednesday, May 24, 8:48am in Sports by wezzul