If you had told me after the first weekend of the season that my beloved Minnesota Twins would be 3-4, I wouldn’t have been too shocked. Maybe surprised we were doing THAT well, but hey, it’s a long season yet. I may not even have been shocked that the Cardinals and Brewers would be co-leading the NL Central. But I would have been absolutely stunned if you would have told me that after the first week of the season, that the Detroit Tigers, the Sports Illustrated preseason pick to win it all (mine should be no shock: the Metropolitans, with some new left-handed pitcher from Minnesota by way of Tovar, Venezuela), would be 0-6, and even worse, averaging a paltry 2.5 runs per game. This was a team with an offense featuring, by my count, no less than 7 legit All-Stars (Miggy Cabrera, Pudge Rodriguez, Carlos Guillen, Placido Polanco, Edgar Renteria, Magglio Ordonez, and Gary Sheffield) and another soon to come back from the DL (Curtis Granderson). The only question mark was the left-field platoon (manned by the two-headed duo of suck that is Marcus Thames and Jacque Jones, no offense to either person-both are considered to be among the nicest guys in the league-intended) and the bottom half of the pitching staff (despite his funky throwing motion, Dontrelle Willis hasn’t even been a league-average pitcher since his otherworldly 2005 season). However, the best hitter the team has had so far is Brandon Inge, and the 2nd best very well may be rookie outfielder (and official cousin of ElGringoLoco) Clete Thomas.
Is it too early to panic in Detroit? Probably, although the road gets no easier, with trips to Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, and Toronto, with a two-game home series with the Twins sandwiched in between in the next two week for the Tigers, in addition to what looks to be a tough division (the White Sox look much improved, the Indians are still dangerous, and the Royals’ young talent may finally start to be maturing…even the Twins look somewhat feisty). If the Tigers don’t improve by the end of the month, the molehill that is their 0-6 start may turn into Mount Everest. Or Olympus Mons
3 Comments
April 7, 2008 at 12:21 pm
The Tiggers don’t have Rick “The Natural” Ankiel…that’s what’s wrong with them.
My beloved Cards’ fairy tale won’t last much longer, and neither will Detroit’s nightmare. We just can’t keep winning behind aces like Todd Wellemeyer and Kyle Lohse…
April 7, 2008 at 12:47 pm
No kiddin’…I can tell you straight up that Kyle Lohse sucks. If he gets pulled from a game, I’m putting $5 on him beating LaRussa’s door down with a bat.
April 18, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Are Cards fans holding their breath for the return of one Joel Piniero?