The stretch is over

The brutal 16-game stretch that we all talked about has finally ended with a 7-9 record. Regardless of what Jim Leyland and others have said about every game being important, if you believe this was a key stretch that would teach us a thing or two about how authentic the Tigers' hot start is, this was the time to take stock.

Among the things I thought I learned, at least:

• While Tigers starting pitchers can't regularly dominate the AL's top offensive teams like they did to the Royals and Twins, they showed they can make the pitch they needed to avoid disastrous innings and practice damage control. If you don't believe that's a sign of an improved team, consider how many jams Tigers pitchers couldn't escape last year. They're going to give up hits, but sometimes one pitch proved the difference between giving up three or four runs over seven innings versus leaving after five innings with five or six runs allowed.
• Detroit can't solely rely on the trio of Todd Jones, Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya for all the late innings. Leyland has talked all season about every reliever having to get big outs at some point in the season, but he has managed to make Jones, Rodney and Zumaya into his top-tier guys while mixing in Jamie Walker against lefties. This stretch showed that's not always going to work every night. Whether for fatigue or ineffectiveness, the Tigers will need to be able to mix in at least one other arm for the seventh inning, especially later this summer once starters aren't lasting so deep into games. It could be Roman Colon or Jason Grilli, Chris Spurling or some summer acquisition, but they'll need somebody.
• For all its effectiveness, this is still an offensive attack that will chase pitches. Leyland and Don Slaught have done wonders with hitters' confidence and approach, but they will still chase pitches when things aren't going well. These hitters, even patient ones like Curtis Granderson and Marcus Thames, will strike out, and there's only so much that coaching can do about it. Should the Tigers go out and trade for another hitter, it will not be a free swinger.
• If teams still believe they can wait out the Tigers and count on them to make mistakes in the field when it counts, they'll have to change their minds. Gomez's fielding miscue aside, the fundamentals on defense have dramatically changed, and these guys are now making the little plays to at least force opponents to earn their offense. It's especially true in the outfield, but it generally includes the corners on the infield.

All in all, for a sub-.500 stretch, it couldn't have gone much better. They began the stretch a game and a half up on the White Sox in the AL Central, and they end it with the same lead. Same with the Tigers' gap on Cleveland in third place. There were a lot of close losses and a lot of rebounds from them, none bigger than the last two wins at Toronto. They can feel pretty good about where they stand, whether they're seen as for real or otherwise.