2. Ricky Porcello takes his turn in Toledo. Like Scherzer and Gallaraga before him, Ricky will spend the next several weeks in Toledo. I applaud the move just as I did when Dumbrowski cut Dontrelle and Everett. Championships are won when the best available players are on the field and the Tigers are finally making the tough decisions to ensure our competitiveness. In Everett's place, Santiago has blossomed and is hitting a full .100 points higher than Adam before he was cut. Our pitching coach in Toledo is strong and will help Ricky's mechanics as he is not fooling big league hitters relying on an average fastball because his off-speed stuff is not accurate enough to throw in a tough count. I expect Ricky will be back with the club just after the All Star break and in much better form.
3. Sunday was second straight sell-out at Comerica Park and third this season. The Tigers sold nearly 120,000 tickets over the weekend series with the Diamondbacks. Hard to argue the passion of Detroit fans given that turnout amidst a decimating job market with unemployment approaching testing 20%. Kudos to the best people on Earth - the good folks in Michigan.
4. The Tigers have fourteen wins when once trailing by at least two runs. They have come from behind in 21 games total, including today when Kennedy was looking more like Koufax until he made several mistakes to the wrong guys in the 7th inning. Brennan Boesch's two-run, go-ahead shot was impressive given how strong Kennedy had pitched thus far and the pitch that he hit. Kennedy served up a hanging breaking ball and Boesch had to supply all the power which is not difficult given his farmboy frame. Boesch's stats have been silly this year. He is second on the team with ten home runs and third in RBI's, though he has only played in little more than a month's worth of big league games. He also has the most majestic home run swing in the bigs now that Griffey has retired. The Tigers may have the best 3-4-5 combination in the league right now, with Maggs, Cabrera and Boesch all hitting over .330.
5. My boy Giovani Soto continues to roll for Class A West Michigan. He just fired his second complete game shutout and has allowed zero earned runs in four of his last six starts. He is averaging one strikeout per inning and his 2.01 ERA is among the best in Class A for starters. This 19-year old is high voltage and should be moving up to AA or AAA in 2011. Our other phenom in West Michigan, Jacob Turner, has been turning the corner, allowing two earned runs or less in four of his last five starts. He is also leading the club with a WHIP of 1.15 and should move up the system in 2011 as well.
6. With men on first and third base today in the third inning, Diamonback pitcher Ian Kennedy tried the old "fake to third and turn back to first pick-off play". Are you crapping me? That didn't work in my little league with 12-year olds and you're trying that in the bigs? That's just Bush League Kennedy. Go shame yourself in the corner. You deserved to be booed by the home fans for that nonsense.
7. Scherzer was solid on Sunday, battling almost every inning and finishing the day by striking out the side just before the Tigers rally in the 7th inning. Since being recalled from Toledo, Scherzer is 3-2 and has struck out 41 batters in 30 innings of work. Mad Max is finding his stroke at a good time with a tough road trip ahead.
8. About that road trip . . . the Tigers now travel to face the Mets, Braves and Twins in a nine-game road trip. I'm scared. The concern for most Tiger fans is our 8-1 home stand was built against the league's weakest teams (no offense Baltimore). We'll learn much more about the Tigers in the next ten days than we did in the last, especially against the Twins who understand how to bury league opponents head to head and just took two impressive wins from the Phillies on the road.
9. Diamondback third baseman Mark Reynolds is my kind of ballplayer and hearkens back to one of my all-time favorite Tigers, Rob Deer. Like Deer, Reynolds has ridiculous power and also like Deer, he swings and misses more than anyone in the league. Reynolds has 16 strikeouts in his last 21 at-bats. He led the league in strikeouts in 2008 and 2009 with 204 and 223 strikeouts, the latter being an AL record. That wouldn't keep most in the league but Reynolds pairs his glorious K's with some raw power. He hit 44 home runs in 2009 and currently ranks 2nd in the NL with 16 home runs, including a bomb in the Dbacks win on Saturday. Rob Deer posted 150+ strikeouts in seven seasons, leading the league four times. My favorite year was 1991 in which his strikeouts almost eclipsed his batting average (175 SO, .179 BA). In that campaign, Deer was punched out in 39% of his at-bats. Why would a guy like this be one of my favorites? He swung like a softball player all 25 of his home runs that year were of the tape measure variety. In fact, Deer has the longest home run in the majors in 1992 with a 483-foot shot at Tiger Stadium, as measured by the "IBM Tale of the Tape".
10. The White Sox are making a case for a three-team race. The South Siders have put together win streaks of four and six in June, winning ten of their last eleven games. Sox pitching has been lights out and they've had some timely hitting. It is entirely way too early to count out the White Sox, who were favored to win more games than the Tigers in pre-season and have clawed their way back to a .500 record. I hate you White Sox - I hope a swarm of fire ants find their way into Ozzie Guillen's jock strap during their upcoming series with the Braves.
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