...he hadn't hit a home run in two months. Yes, it was a 75 mph hanging breaking ball that my cousin Joey could have knocked out of the park, but still. Casey is supposed to be a contact hitter.
And what about Brent Clevlen? The guy is hitting .243 at AA Erie, but gets called up anyway. In his first three games ever at the major league level, he pops two home runs, hits .625, and throws out two baserunners from the outfield (which quite easily could have been four).
Is this the be-all, end-all to Tiger doubting? Could these two seemingly innocent additions put the Tigers over the top where we can all finally relax and just put the team with the best record in baseball in the World Series? Well, absolutely not.
But it has been fun to watch.
It's nice to get Granderson and Ordonez some rest for a change. Save for a home run in the "Homer Dome," he has all but lost his power stroke. In July, he had only five extra base hits of any kind, and though he is a leadoff hitter, and his job is more to get on base than drive in runs with doubles and homers, he had the worst on-base month of the year as well.
Ordonez, on the other hand, hit .247 in July and has only homered in 3 of his last 54 games--a third of a season. Magglio wasn't signed to hit 9 home runs a year. He was signed to get into the high 20s with 110 RBI's. Though his RBI totals didn't dwindle too glaringly over the last month, he needs to pick it up in the next two months to assure Detroit of its first postseason in 19 years.
Is Clevlen the answer? Most likely, no. Maybin is likely the answer, but he is not ready, and it is nice to see Clevlen hitting the ball. When a .243 guy is called up for August rush, people expected him to go 0 for 9 like Jack Hannahan did earlier this season, not go 5 for 8 with two home runs. If Clevlen can at least keep throwing runners out and keeping them from getting the extra base, any hit is gravy when he is inserted into the line up. He already has as many outfield assists as Granderson.
Casey, on the other hand, is a well-known hitter. His first game could be a catalyst for the rest of his season, or it could be a fluke. It is likely somewhere in between. He made some good plays at first after two straight days of Shelton and Young looking like little leaguers out there. There are over 50 games left, and he's not going to hit a home run every day. He may not hit another one this month, but sometimes having a good pitcher on your team and some runs take the pressure off. He's not going to hit .400 the rest of the way, but if he can hit .300 and contribute, it was well worth the trade.
So where will these two newcomers take the Tigers? Probably nowhere different than the group that was there a week ago would have taken us. We'll never know. If Clevlen throws out a couple of guys here and there, and Casey doesn't make an error the rest of the way, we all will say that they don't look different. If they win 104 games, we'll say "Shelton could've done that." If they win 99 games, we'll say "Shelton would've done that." The team is going to be fun to watch in September, though, when these guys come back, and Nook Logan starts pinch running late in games.
