What a great day for Detroit sports. Not only does the surprising Lions get a 10 point win over their fellow NFC North foes the Chicago Bears, but the Tigers close out a disappointing season win a 10 run rout of the Chicago White Sox. I don't know which is more impressive. Wait, yes I do. I'll explain that later on.
Since Derek started with the Lions, I'll start with the Tigers. After losing the first two at 'The Cell' (U.S. Cellular Field for those of you who don't follow baseball) the Tigers came out looking great today. I'm not sure if it was because it was the final game or they felt they needed to prove something. Shoot, maybe it was a combination of both, because they surely finished off the season in a strong fashion. Their pitching, their hitting - it all clicked today. Hell, even Jason Grilli looked good. Here are few news and notes that made today's game more important than it should have been:
- The biggest of them all: Magglio Ordonez captured the American League batting crown. The guy had an incredible year, and if it wasn't for Alex Rodriguez's offensively sickening year, he would easily have been named AL MVP. I'm almost willing to bet the White Sox were regretting letting him go today. He proved last year and even more this year he's worth the money we're paying him.
- Placido Polanco's 200th hit. The guy is one of the most pure hitters in baseball and it seemed like every time he came up to the plate he would get a hit. And top of it, he went an entire year at second base without making an error! Another great pick-up that the Tigers have made the most with.
- Curtis Granderson finishes the season with a .300 batting average. The guy was a triples-hitting machine at the lead-off position this year and if he could cut down on the amount of strikeouts, I think he could eventually become one of the best lead-off hitters of all time.
- Carlos Guillen reaches 100 RBIs. I know it's not really up there in status with the ones previously mentioned but it shows you how much production he really gives us. The guy is a vastly under-rated hitter who is consistent year in and year out. I guarantee he'll have similar looking numbers next year.
After looking and realizing all of these offensive milestones, it's hard to believe we missed the postseason. But when you look at the most important component of any baseball team - pitching - you come to a conclusion why we missed the playoffs. Last year's savior turned into this year's downfall. Kenny Rogers' injury early on put pressure on the starting rotation to fill the void, and for a while they did. Then the injury to Joel Zumaya went down and everything with the Tigers pitching staff suddenly deflated. When the starting pitching performed well the bullpen was a major letdown. It's time we correct that for next season, otherwise we may see similar results. Zumaya needs to come back 100% healthy or his stock falls greatly and all of sudden he becomes just another reliever rather than the fireball pitcher many know and love him to be.
All in all I thought the final game of the season was a really productive one for the Tigers. They finished on a high note, which is a positive. It's just too bad they could've have played like this for a majority of their games down the stretch.
Now that the Tigers aren't in the playoffs, I thought I'd take this space to say this: Go Yankees! I'm sure Derek's shaking his head right about now.
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If before the NFL season started you told me the Detroit Lions would start 3-1, I would've told you to jump off a bridge. Sure, we drafted Calvin Johnson as our number one pick, but how many times in the past few years have we drafted a top rated wide receiver that turned out to be a bust? The Lions started the season winning their first two games, but I wasn't ready to jump on the bandwagon yet. Then last week, they travel to Philadelphia and lost a game I would call a downright abortion. Quite frankly, they looked like the Lions of the past.
Then this week's game: the Chicago Bears. The first three quarters was some really boring football, a defensive duel if you wish. The Lions' offense couldn't muster up a touchdown and the defense only gave up 13 points, allowing them to stay in the game. The fourth quarter was a completely different story. I'll save from mentioning all of the details since Derek already did, but that's the Lions team that should show up for all four quarters. The Chicago Bears team they played today was not a very good one, suffering from quarterback problems and a complete lack of offensive in their first three weeks, and yet they allowed them to lead much of the game.
The Lions have beat three mediocre teams at best and have been exposed by a team better than them. Their next game is at Washington. If they don't work on establishing a decent run game, which should be improving with Kevin Jones back from injury, they are going to get run over next weekend. You can't expect to pass the whole game and win. At this point I think that's their only thing holding them back from becoming a good team. Establish a run game, win more games and have a legitimate shot at the playoffs; it's that simple.
Oh, and a memo to whomever the Bears play next: do not kick to Devin Hester. The guy is amazing, plain and simple.
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Well, that's it for now from me. It's the end of the season so I thought I'd spend a little bit more time on the Tigers than Lions. I mean, after all, we still have 12 more weeks to watch the Lions tank.
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