Tigers Trying to Avoid the Cellar
By Blake VandeBunte • Sep 22nd, 2008 • Category: 2008 seasonThe Tigers and the Royals start a three game series tonight in Detroit. The Tigers lead the last place Royals by three games in the loss column. A Royals sweep at Comerica Park (I don’t consider anything impossible) would put the teams in a tie as teams head to the finish line. Not good.
Remember when it seemed like the Tigers had a great shot at making the playoffs? When we realized that wasn’t going to happen we said that second place would be acceptable. After that we compromised a little more by accepting a .500 season. Right around the same time we lowered the standards a little more by thinking that a third place finish would be acceptable. None of those things seem possible now. The club will have to get white hot to reach third place and everything else listed above is impossible. Here we are now trying to fight off the perennially pathetic Kansas City Royals. Yuck.
Here are the pitching match ups for the series:
- Tonight: Zach Miner vs. Gil Meche
- Tuesday: Freddy Garcia vs. Zach Greinke
- Wednesday: Nate Robertson vs. Brian Bannister
All three guys going for the Royals have completely dominated the Tigers at one point or another in their careers so this series could definitely suck for Detroit. The potential is always there with this club.
Why should you bother watching this pathetic series:
- Watch the Tigers try to avoid a last place finish with one of the highest payrolls in baseball. It is a pretty interesting story, even though it is depressing.
- Watch to see if Nate Robertson and Freddy Garcia can help their causes for being in the Tigers rotation to start the 2009 season.
- Check in to watch Miguel Cabrera drive for the league lead in home runs and RBIs. His second half tear has each of those titles within his grasp.
- See if Magglio Ordonez can win his second consecutive batting title.
- If you are going to any of the games the weather is looking like it’s going to be very nice.
Share
Blake VandeBunte is a posting fiend.
Email this author | All posts by Blake VandeBunte
oh i’ll be watching. why does it seem like now i’m lumping the tigers w/ the lions? ok…that’s a bit too extreme. i mean, i actually care about the tigers and watch them…can’t say the same about our neighbors across the street.
but my question is this - would it be good for guys like ordonez and cabrera to win batting titles / hr/rbi stats this year? i guess it’s more internally…but would that give them almost a false sense of success this year, instead of giving them more of a drive to succeed next year? maybe that doesn’t make sense / doesn’t matter much at all… but i’d almost rather them not get titles this year so that it serves as a potential motivator for next season.
I’d like to see Cabrera win the HR/RBI titles and seems like he’s got a really good shot at it (if his backs not too messed up). I would also like to see Magglio win the batting title (less likely). I think as a fan I have to take any nugget of success I can and be happy with it. I think that those two players are plenty motivated to play well and that the awful season the team had should provide ample motivation for next season.