Thoughts from a dangerous day
We’ve given you more stats than you probably care to remember during the Tigers’ hot start, but here’s one that might yet surprise you: Tuesday’s win gave the Tigers their fourth winning streak of five games or more this season. Jim Leyland’s team has more five-game winning streaks in his first year managing the Tigers than Alan Trammell’s teams did in three years. Heck, Leyland has more five-game winning streaks than any Tigers manager since Sparky Anderson.
As I mentioned in my recap tonight, this win was big for Leyland, who was worried before the game about his team losing its intensity and called it a "dangerous day." They were coming back to the park from an off day during which many players had gone home, they were back in Detroit from a long road trip, they were stuck inside again thanks to the weather and they were facing a team they embarrassed last homestand.
Leyland was worried enough that he wanted to talk with his players before the game. Funny thing is, he also talked with them during their last homestand on a rainy night against Kansas City. The message: A lot of those games are won or lost before they’re played. While one team goes about its business expecting a rainout, the other team prepares expecting to play and works to get its work in. You get a feeling Leyland is trying whatever he can to try to maintain his team’s focus at this point, that he’s trying to ward off complacency.
The Tigers haven’t seemed to let up lately. And that’s how a team like this puts together so many winning streaks.
Jason Beck
Jason -
This might be better suited for your Mail Bag column, but I wanted to ask…
What are the chances the Tigers try to get into the mix for Dontrelle Willis? I know they have great young pitching already, of course, but maybe a move like that would send a message to the team, the rest of the division, and the fans, that this isn’t your Daddy’s Tigers no more.
Dan
http://danholmes.mlblogs.com
I know I won’t get a lot of agreement here but I am concerned about the seeming inability of Justin Verlander to strike people out. He has the obvious speed, a changeup and control. Why no strikeouts? It is exciting to see someone throw like that but it seems almost contradictory to not result in a better strikeout ratio.
Comment re Dmitri Young–I’d trade him for a left-hand bat. He is struggling and it looks like it might get worse.
dan_byrne:
I wouldn’t worry too much about Verlander’s K’s just yet. He’s young, and most young pitchers take time to develop into strikeout artists. Sure, every so often there’s a Dwight Gooden who comes along, but generally, it takes time. For example, Jack Morris fanned about one batter every two innings through his first two seasons, then in 1977, when he went 17-7 for the Tigers, he struck out 113 in nearly 200 innings. It wasn’t until he was about 26-27 that he started racking up the K’s. Eventually he led the league in strikeouts and topped the 200 mark a few times. Verlander has a better fastball than Morris ever did, but he has to learn to control it and he needs some better off-speed stuff and some time under his belt. I think he’ll be a 200-K guy someday. Ditto Bonderman.
I’m not entirely convinced yet that Dontrelle will be traded. Financially, it makes sense for the Marlins to dump him, but if there’s any hope left to get a stadium in South Florida — and the Marlins are still negotiating with Hialeah — I think they hold onto him until something is set. It’s the same motivation the Twins would have to keep guys like Torii Hunter and Shannon Stewart until their stadium situation is resolved. Selling off is a bad PR move, especially when you’re asking the public to help fund a new stadium, even if dealing makes sense in the long run.