Well, sort of.
The Tigers got through their long July road trip (minus the three at home against Kansas City) in first place. They started out quite well, splitting with the Mariners and then sweeping the Twins, but after that, they seemed to have come unglued.
After losing their only post-all-star-break home series against the lowly Royals, they then preceded to lose three of five against the White Sox. It got worse from there, after being swept by the Angels and giving up ten runs in three consecutive games, they seemed to wake up in winning the first game of a three game set at Oakland. However, they couldn't push any more runs across the plate after that and ended up losing the series.
I said before this all started that if they could win 10 or 11 of the 21 games they had post-break, they would be all right. Well, they only won nine, and they are still in first place, so they aren't in too bad of shape. However, their lead is only at one game, and the Yankees are only three behind them.
It is starting to look like the Yankees will win the wild card, or at least fight Detroit and Cleveland for the last playoff spot. What this does is makes the next two weeks at home of great importance. Starting tomorrow, they play eleven games in eleven days. They need to make a move on the Indians and the Yankees in this time. Because after that, they go to Cleveland for two and New York for four, without an off day. That's 17 games in 17 days.
I am not sure who made the schedule, but most teams seem to get a day off here and there. After the all star game, the Tigers got July 16, August 2 and August 20th off before September. This includes three trips to the West Coast. I don't know if I wrote it here, but I initially thought if they were in first place on August 2, they would be fine. Now, I think they need to make a move in August.
If they had a three or four game lead, the next three weeks wouldn't be as important. But with just the one game, they could wake up in three days and be out of the wild card. The Yankees are getting better every day, and the Tigers look tired. At least they spend the next two weeks at home, and they can get better rest. The Kansas City series wasn't long enough for them even to unpack.
The good news is that Fernando Rodney is looking strong in his rehab stint. Joel Zumaya is coming along faster than expected as well. If they can get these two players back, the bullpen woes that have kept them from running away with the AL Central will be all but over. Unfortunately, Gary Sheffield is now having shoulder problems that may keep him out of the lineup for a while. It's best to get him right as soon as possible so when Rodney, Zumaya, and hopefully Rogers, come back in a couple of weeks, the team can be firing on all cylinders.
Magglio is starting to come back to earth as well. Hopefully the homestand will bring him back to the greatness he showed in the first half. And hopefully Marcus Thames will come off the DL as hot as he went on it. Craig Monroe is showing nothing of late. Next time he comes up with a runner on third base, he might as well bunt, and to say that for a power hitter, is bad.
But the team is okay. They are in first place, and they are in the driver's seat for the playoffs. That's all you can ask for. Hopefully, they'll all get a rest, and come around a bit. Nate Robertson finally had a good major league outing, and Andrew Miller still looks pretty good as well. A little pressure off Chad Durbin would be great, though, because there is a spot start coming up against Texas next week, and it would be great to use him for that.
Miller vs. Buehrle on Friday. Hopefully we can get some runs and get six or seven out of Miller. He just needs the confidence to pitch to contact. His stuff is good enough to get good hitters out.
