Play Ball!
Baseball season starts this weekend, and unlike last year, this year I've much more excited. This is, of course, because the team I follow, the Detroit Tigers, are defending American League champions.In their pursuit of defending their title, the Tigers didn't change their roster much. The only significant addition is much-traveled slugger Gary Sheffield. I've never been much of a fan of his, as he strikes me as a malcontent and laid a big egg in the playoffs last year while a Yankee. He does hit, though, and when he previously played for manager Jim Leyland, they won a World Series in Florida. If he can be a steady presence in the lineup as DH and hit 40 home runs, that will be a huge addition.
Everywhere else things are status quo. The lineup is solid, but a few problems were not addressed. As good a player as Curtis Granderson is, he is not a good lead-off hitter. Carlos Guillen is probably getting too old to play shortstop, so hopefully he won't be a liability in the field. Fingers must be kept crossed for another healthy season from Magglio Ordonez.
As for the pitching, this is a nervous area. The Tigers success last year was built on a pitching staff that was mostly youth. Whether Justin Verlander, Jeremy Bonderman, and Nate Robertson can build on last season and improve, or whether they are one-year wonders, is the question of the year. Kenny Rogers, the forty-one-year-old who anchored the staff last year and was brilliant in the playoffs, is another year older and starts the season on the disabled list. A Tiger fan can not expect him to repeat his success. Mike Maroth, who missed most of the last year with injury, could be key.
Detroit plays in a tough division, with the Twins, White Sox, and Indians all challengers. I would expect the Tigers to be competitive, but to put together the magic they did last year may be asking for too much. But in early April, all the teams start at 0-0, and hope springs eternal!
Didn't know you were a baseball fan, and certainly didn't know you were a Tigers fan. Last year must have been fun, even more so because of the low expectations.
ReplyDeleteBig Cubs fan myself. Was skeptical about Lou Piniella at first, but find myself getting sucked in as the season draws near.
God, I love/hate baseball.
Ah, to be a fan of a team that suddenly shines! I haven't had that feeling in more than a decade because I'm a Reds fan. Every year is a new chance. I kind of enjoy seeing how far in the season they will go before they completely self-destruct. I can't wait!
ReplyDeleteYeah, last year was pretty sweet, given the low expectations. But it was kind of like a great movie that had a very bad last five minutes.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Cubs, well, I admire Cub Nation's continuing optimism. George Will just wrote a review of a new book called Crazy '08, which is about the 1908 season, the last year the Cubs won it all. As he puts it, they are now entering their 99th year of rebuilding.
As he puts it, they are now entering their 99th year of rebuilding.
ReplyDeleteUgh, that's such an old joke.
As for the Reds ... I don't hate the Reds, but for the last few years I've hated playing the Reds, especially in Cinci. It always seems to result in 3 straight 8-6 games. Sometimes the Cubs win those, sometimes they don't, but regardless, it leaves a crater in their bullpen for the next week.
On that note, the Cubs open at Cinci tomorrow. Have a good season, all.
I love/hate baseball, too. I'm a Yankees fan (by way of the A's and Catfish Hunter in my formative years). I hate George Steinbrenner. I love it when they promote homegrown talent. I hate it when they go and hire free agents that I think are going to be a bad fit or are a potential good fit that they then squander (recent examples: Giambi, A-Rod, Randy Johnson, etc.). I wish they had kept Soriano and Nick Johnson. After suffering through much of the '80's, I loved their run of championships in the '90's. Their loss to Arizona in game 7 of the 2001 World Series was one of the most crushing defeats I have experienced in any sport.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, this is unfortunately the time of year when I pig out on baseball. I get a week of MLB Extra Innings for free. I'll watch as many games as I can, ESPN will continue to run lots of games through the end of the month, and then their attention will veer towards some other sport in May, I will duly note games available through all the outlets all summer, and I will manage to watch very few, and then suddenly post-season will be here. It was better when I had to hope that the Saturday afternoon game on over-the-air network TV was going to be a good one (I have barely spent any time in a local MLB market). It was better when I didn't have TiVo and could just keep a game on and let it pass by, rather than feeling like I can watch every moment by recording it (for if I let it pass by with TiVo, I may find that if I leave the room it has decided to change channels and start recording something I told it I'm interested in).
So I will enjoy it while I can, and pledge to try to watch some more Nationals games (or any games) this summer, and maybe even go to a real game in DC (or, more likely because of friends who live there, Baltimore).
I will be at a Durham Bulls game Friday night. But minor league ball never manages to hold my attention in person the way an MLB game would, probably because the crowd tends to view it more as a diversion, especially since they paid about 1/6th what they'd pay for a major league ticket.
Jaydro, as a Detroit fan, I'm sure you won't be shocked to learn I am also a Yankee-hater. When Detroit was bad (and it was for a looooong time) and they were out of the race, my interest in baseball was focused on the Yankees losing. The most satisfying game I've ever seen, aside from a Detroit game, is game seven of the 2004 LCS, when Damon hit a granny off of Kevin Brown. Of course, last year's Tiger victory over the Yankees was almost as good as sex.
ReplyDeletePretty much my whole family are Tiger fans (even my 92-year-old grandmother, who even stays up to watch games played on the West Coast), except for my sister, who is a Yankee fan (we moved to New Jersey when she was 10, and she developed a huge crush on Bucky Dent). When your team has only been to the Series three times in your whole life, you learn how to savor the good times.
Go ahead and hate the Yankees. It doesn't really bother me. Some people might say I'm not a true Yankee fan, since my second favorite team (along with the A's) is the Red Sox. How can that be? It's not too hard when you grow up several hundred miles outside of either team's diehard culture.
ReplyDeleteDetroit is okay. I never liked Kirk Gibson, though. There are a lot of AL teams I think are okay (Angels, Indians, in addition to above) and a lot of NL teams I tend to hate (Mets, Phillies, Marlins, Diamondbacks).