If you told me two years ago this September that the Tigers would be within 5 games of first place in September 2007, I'd have been ecstatic. But after last year's shocking run to the World Series, seeing a good team that will probably miss the playoffs altogether this year is a let down.
It's a shame that injuries have played such a big role this year - and although you'll never hear manager Jim Leyland use that as an excuse, I can't remember a baseball season where so many games have been lost by "starters". It looks like Joel Zumaya has recovered and that's a good thing, but the team really hasn't recovered from the loss of Kenny Rogers. And unfortunately, the search for good starting pitching might have taken its toll on Andrew Miller who looked completely overwhelmed last night. It's a good thing that the team pulled the plug on him now - hopefully he'll be able to get some confidence by next year. In my opinion, it's always been painful to watch him labor through his starts. You could really see this blowup coming weeks ago.
There have been a lot more boos from fans at Comerica park than I would have expected this year, but that's what comes with higher expectations, both from the fans and the team itself.
It's nice not to be the team that everyone is laughing at. Right now that team appears to be the Chicago White Sox who will probably need to find a new manager for 2008 after they completely collapsed just 2 years after winning the whole thing.
With the month of September left, the Tigers still have a shot - and hopefully they can get themselves closer to Cleveland to make the last couple of weeks of the season matter. But hey - at least they got the fans through to the start of the new football season!!
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