When is this saga going to end in Detroit? The Tigers are a team that made the biggest noise in the off-season and a team that is just two years removed from the World Series and yet, here we stand a week and a day into the 2008 season and Detroit is still winless. “One of the greatest offenses ever compiled” is hitting a mammoth .235 collectively and the Tigers have been outscored 44-15 in their seven games with Boston, Chicago, and Kansas Freaking City.

It certainly won’t take hours of research to find the groping I did on this team before the season began. I spoiled myself with thoughts like “Top to bottom, the Tigers boast arguably the best lineup in baseball” and “Theres no reason this team shouldn’t take this division, if not the AL crown or even the World Series.” Given that only two teams in the history of baseball have rebounded from being the last team to win a game to making the playoffs, my wagers on this team’s success have began churning nervousness and anger into my mind.

This team isn’t going to be stuck in the cellar for the whole year. There’s entirely too much talent for that to happen. If Detroit doesn’t get with the program in the near future, however, they could be looking at a steep climb to the top of the division. Keep in mind Kansas City and Chicago are the two teams currently leading the division while the Marlins and Orioles also lead their respective divisions so….maybe hell has frozen over after all. Or maybe, in two months when the Tigers and Indians are seperated by a handful of games atop the division, I’ll look back on this and realize it was just overreaction after one week of bad baseball. The baseball season isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon.

Hosts: Sonny and Ryan. In this episode, Sonny and I discussed the American League Central, one of baseball’s deepest divisions. After blowing a 3-1 lead in the ALCS, can the Cleveland Indians ride their two Cy Young Award candidates back into the postseason? Or will the new-look Tigers, bolstered by the acquisition of Miguel Cabrera, return to the playoffs after a one-year absence? Also, how will the Twins fare after losing the two faces of their franchise? All of this and more on the Sportable Spot!

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Tigers looking to restore the roar in 2008. Just two years removed from a World Series birth, the Detroit Tigers have reloaded and are taking aim at another title run. After missing the playoffs in 2007, Detroit made the biggest off-season splash by acquiring Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis from the Marlins. In addition, the Tigers also acquired shortstop Edgar Renteria from the Braves to bolster their defense and team batting average.

Bats. Top to bottom, the Tigers boast arguably the best lineup in baseball. Up the middle, Edgar Renteria and Placido Polanco hit .332 and .341 respectively last year as well as each bringing a solid glove to the yard every day. The leader of this team still remains behind the plate in Pudge Rodriguez. Pudge brings the entire package; possessing a howitzer of a right arm, being a consistent hitter, and being the ultimate leader of the team through example. Year in and year out Pudge brings consistency and a competitive spirit to the field, something that the Rangers are probably wishing they had kept around instead of letting walk in 2003. At the hot corner is the new addition, Miguel Cabrera. At the unbelievably young age of 24, Cabrera has already earned his stripes in the Majors. No longer the skinny teenager that we saw in the 2003 World Series, Cabrera has added a belly to his body and a seemingly endless amount of potential to his bat. Last year he hit .320 while hitting 34 home runs and driving in 119 RBI’s. Adding Cabrera to a den of bats that include Gary Sheffield, Pudge, Magglio Ordonez, and Curtis Granderson make the middle of the Tigers order downright scary.

Granderson and Ordonez are the anchors in the outfield, each having phenomenal seasons last year with hopes of duplicating this season. While Ordonez may need a haircut, he won’t need any lessons on how to tear the cover off the ball for a full season at a very pitcher friendly park in Comerica. The runner-up in the AL MVP race hit an astounding .363 last season while hitting 28 long balls and driving in 139 runs. Is your brain spinning from all these video game-esque numbers yet? Granderson, meanwhile, has solidified his spot as the leadoff hitter and catalyst for the entire lineup. Another .300 hitter, Granderson had an on base percentage of .361 last season, stole 26 bases, hit 23 home runs, and scored 122 runs. He brings an unbelievable combination of speed and power to the lineup as well as gold glove range in the open pastures of center field at Comerica. Read the rest of this entry »

With 2007 marking the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball’s color barrier, much has been made about the constantly declining number of African Americans in the game. Only 8.5% of players are African-American and Tigers outfielder/theorist Gary Sheffield thinks he knows why.

“I called it years ago. What I called is that you’re going to see more black faces, but there ain’t no English going to be coming out. ? [It's about] being able to tell [Latin players] what to do — being able to control them,” he told the magazine.

“Where I’m from, you can’t control us. You might get a guy to do it that way for a while because he wants to benefit, but in the end, he is going to go back to being who he is. And that’s a person that you’re going to talk to with respect, you’re going to talk to like a man.

“These are the things my race demands. So, if you’re equally good as this Latin player, guess who’s going to get sent home? I know a lot of players that are home now can outplay a lot of these guys.”

By speaking about 8.5% of the game’s demographics, Sheffield angered a good 28.7% of its players. There’s lots of different reasons baseball has seen a decline in black players. While Sheffield’s theory may have some validity, he’s definitely not the guy to provide an end-all explanation. He’s a hothead and an egomaniac and by talking about this, he’s probably angered a good number of people, including teammates Ivan Rodriguez, Carlos Guillen, Wilfred Ledezma, Jose Mesa, Fernando Rodney, Omar Infante, Neifi Perez, Placido Polanco and Magglio Ordonez.

Is this a situation that should be looked into? Certainly. But Sheffield’s explanation will inevitably rub people the wrong way, regardless of what he intended. I would say the reasons include a lack of baseball facilities in inner-city areas, the development of baseball academies all over Latin America, and the options of playing other sports. Sheffield is portraying his entire race as volatile and hard-headed while blanketing every Hispanic player as weak-minded and soft.

Apparently Datsuke Matsuzaka isn’t just another pitcher. At least he’s not another pitcher in Jim Leyland’s eyes anymore. Leyland, who called out Matsuzaka a day before his start against the Tigers, watched as the Asian dazzled the defending AL Champs in a complete game victory.

“I don’t give a (expletive) about him,” Leyland said before Matsuzaka’s start on Monday. “I’m not getting into all that. I could give a (expletive) less. It’s another pitcher.”

Dice-K responded with brilliance. He allowed just six hits and one run while striking out five. Despite the fact that he threw complete games nearly every game he started in Japan, this was only his first with the Red Sox. Afterwards, Leyland not only ate his words, he showed some respect for the young Japanese star.

“I was very impressed,” Leyland said in a post game press conference “He’s the real deal.”

Talk about a full scale back pedal. Leyland, who is usually not wrong about anything and obviously not afraid to speak his mind, got shown up by Matsuzaka who at just 26 years old has plenty of years left in him to continue to own Leyland’s haggard ass. Despite his 4.17 ERA, Dice-K is the real deal. The more he beocmes accustomed to American League hitters, the more complete games we will see out of him. Lets just hope other American League managers don’t call him out and suffer the same fate as the Tigers did.

Joel Zumaya apologized yesterday and admitted to being a “jerk” after laying into an umpire during the Tigers game on Wednesday. Somehow profanity towards the umpire, Mark Wegner, didn’t result in him being ejected. Maybe Joey Crawford should take a lesson from Wegner.

It’s still amusing that Tim Duncan can get ejected from a basketball game for laughing, while Zumaya can drop an unknown obscenity and have nothing happened. Then again, Zumaya was leaving the game so I guess ejecting him would have just been a formality anyway. You can’t really blame Zumaya for blowing up though, he had hit a batter and then walked four batters in a row, allowing two runs to come in. Anyone who plunks an guy and then walks four straight batters has a right to be pissed off. You normally don’t see that lack of control even in little league. Zumaya, who had been rock solid, had to give way to Todd Jones who finished off the game.

Zumaya was very apologetic saying that he let his emotions get the best of him and that it won’t happen again. If I were his manager I would be afraid if this didn’t happen again. These actions, while they may be a bit immature show that he has emotions and a fiery temper and that he wants to win. If he wasn’t cussing at someone after walking four straight batters, he isn’t human.