Brent's Sports Blog

So I guess the 162-0 season isn't going to happen. While everybody wants to place blame on the bullpen, I don't think you can do that when looking at yesterday's opening day loss. Jason Grilli inherited a runners-on-the-corners with nobody out situation from Justin Verlander in the 6th inning.That run from 3rd was going to score no matter what. In my opinion, Denny Bautista pitched very well in his appearance. He came one pitch from getting out of the 11th inning. If you're going to place blame, put it on the hitters.Tigers stranded ten runners in the opener, with the most important runner (Clete Thomas) left at 3rd base in the bottom of the 11th inning. Thomas doubles, Inge sacrifices him to 3rd base. That put the tying run 90 feet away with less than two outs. I hang the loss on Edgar Renteria. Striking out in that situation is unacceptable. An All-Star player of his caliber MUST put the ball in play in that situation, even if it's a grounder to the right side. That would've created a plat-at-the-plate situation and, who knows, Thomas might have been safe and the outcome would've been different. It's easy to blame the bullpen for every Tigers' loss, because that's what we were conditioned to do down the stretch of last season, but this loss wasn't on the bullpen.

Four runs in 20 innings. That's what this much-heralded Tigers' batting order has accomplished in two games. More stats you ask? The Tigers moved only one runner into scoring position today and, as a team, are hitting .191 with 19 strikeouts through their two games. Yes, I know it's early, and if this were happening in mid September during a pennant race, the panic button would be pressed. But come on! Tigers hitters made Brian Bannister look like Sandy Koufax today. The Tigers have now allowed the Royals to open a season 2-0 for just the second time in 28 years!! Jeremy Bonderman goes tomorrow. Let's all hope he can avoid his patented first inning disasters, and get some run support. I know it's early, but people will be scrambling if this $138 million dollar Tigers team gets swept by the Kansas City Royals at home to start the season.

Did you ever think that after the first three games of the regular season the $138 million dollar Detroit Tigers would be the only team in Major League Baseball still without a win? Well, that's the reality. This vaunted offense managed only 5 runs in the entire series with the Royals, including just one run in the last 21 innings. As a team, the Tigers are batting .206 with 24 strikeouts in their three losses. Now we hear of two pretty big injuries; Miguel Cabrera is day-to-day with a quad strain and Gary Sheffield says he tore a finger tendon sliding into second base during the series finale with KC. These two guys could both be headed to the DH. There were two moments in this game that really frustrated me. Bottom of the 6th, Magglio Ordonez hit a lead-off double to center. Perfect chance to get a run, right? Wrong! Carlos Guillen and Ivan Rodriguez each followed with infield pop ups, before Edgar Renteria grounded out to end the inning. Then in the 8th inning, the Tigers had a runner on 3rd with two outs. Pudge strikes out and strands him there. Brandon Inge is the best player on the team after three games. How much do you think he's laughing inside.

On a side note, Placido Polanco's errorless streak remains in tact. He had four more assists Thursday, giving him 900 consecutive chances without committing an error at second base. That's just flat out amazing! Personally, I think all it will take is one win for this team and they will rip off six or seven straight, but if you can't beat the Royals, how can we feel confident about their chances againt a much improved White Sox team?

Four games, four losses. It's still early but the 2008 Tigers are now being compared to other teams who started a season 0-4. According to Elias Sports Bureau, no team has ever won the World Series after starting a season 0-4, with all four games at home. In fact, few teams have even made the playoffs after starting a season 0-4. None have done it since the 1999 Arizona Diamondbacks. Of the ten teams that have started 0-4 since the '99 D'backs, nine of them finished with losing records.

Here's a compilation several teams who started 0-4, thanks to Danny Knobler at Booth Newspapers:

In the division play era, which began in 1969, there have been just six:

• The 1999 Arizona Diamondbacks lost their first four games, three in extra innings. They were in first place by May 15 with a 21-16 record, and they won the National League West before losing in the playoffs.

• The 1995 Cincinnati Reds lost their first six games, in a season that began late because of a lockout. The Reds got to first place by May 30 with a 19-11 record, then lost in the National League Championship Series to Atlanta.

• The 1985 St. Louis Cardinals (featuring Tigers first-base coach Andy Van Slyke) lost their first four games, two in extra innings. They were in first place by June 21 at 37-27, and went on to win the World Series.

• The 1977 Philadelphia Phillies started 0-4, at home, just as the Tigers have done. They didn't make it to first place until August, but they won the National League East and then lost to Los Angeles in the playoffs.

• The 1974 Pittsburgh Pirates lost their first six games, three in extra innings. They didn't get to .500 until Aug. 12, and didn't get to first place until Aug. 25. They lost to Los Angeles in the playoffs.

• The 1969 Minnesota Twins lost their first four games, including one that went 17 innings. They were in first place a week later, at 5-4, and led most of the season before losing to Baltimore in the playoffs.

Is it time to press the panic button? If they don't stop the bleeding soon, yes. Baseball is not a game where you can just decide to win 12 straight games and hope the team you're chasing in the standings responds by losing 12 straight. If the Tigers are to climb out of this early hole, it may be August before they claim first place in the A.L. Central. Let's hope they start winning today or we'll be pulling stats tomorrow about teams who made it to the World Series after they started a season 0-5. I would be there aren't too many.

There aren't many words to describe this anymore. The only thing to discuss is that the Tigers now have to battle against baseball history if they want to live up to all their pre-season expectations. Here ate the two most sobering stats I came across while preparing for my sportscast today:

1. No team in Major League Baseball history has ever started a season 0-6 and played in a World Series.

2. Only two teams in Major League Baseball history - the '74 Pirates and the '95 Reds - have ever recovered from an 0-6 start to make the playoffs.

Somebody in Detroit needs to get angry. Somebody in that clubhouse needs to kick a water cooler or grab a sack of rosin bags and slam it up against a wall. I have seen no life in this team for a week, and the scary thing is that they may not have hit rock-bottom yet. I think apathy has started to settle in with this ball club already. If you looked at the Tigers' players faces, as ESPN did a camera-pan in the dugout Sunday night, you can see they're starting to feel numb. I'm not saying they don't care, because there's no doubt they do, but this losing skid has now taken on a life of its own. It's rattling around in their heads.

Clete Thomas leads the team in hittin (.467) and backup Brandon Inge leads the team in home runs (2) and RBI (4). The irony in that is neither player should be in the everyday lineup. Inge is playing 3rd base because Miguel Cabrera has a sore quad and Clete Thomas is playing in center because Curtis Granderson is still on the DL with a broken hand.

Now it's on to Boston. The 0-6 Tigers seeking their first win against the defending world champion Red Sox. Detroit now begins a stretch where it will play 12 of their next 14 games on the road. This losing streak cannot continue. It must end tomorrow night in Boston.

Monday's NCAA men's basketball championship game was the best in quite some time. Kansas overcoming a 9 point deficit with 2:10 to go in regulation to force overtime and eventually go on to clip the nets. The 3-pointer that Mario Chalmers hit with :02 left in regulation was amazing. In fact, all day it's being compared to the final basket that NC State made back in 1983. Personally, I still think the NC State play was bigger because that bucket actually won the championship as time expired. Chalmers' shot tied the game and sent it to overtime.

Plenty of blame will be handed around at Memphis for its collapse. I point the finger at the top. John Calipari should've called a time out to set his defense after the Tigers' last free throw made. Furthermore, only being up by 3, you have to foul in that situation, forcing Kansas to the free throw line. Had Memphis fouled, Kansas would've had two free throws instead of a desperation 3-point shot to tie the game. Several scenarios still had to play out for Memphis to win the title, but a foul in that situation would've increased their chances. Calipari mis-managed the final :10 of that game. Memphis should've been the team clipping the nets at the Alamo Dome instead of Kansas.

I will begin this entry by saying it's time for the Tigers to fire somebody. No, that somebody shouldn't be Jim Leyland. But that somebody could be Lloyd McCLendon if this team doesn't start hitting. Maybe a firing of McCLendon would send the appropriate message to this Tigers team. What's been happening through seven games this season has been grotesque and unacceptable for a team that has the second highest payroll in baseball. Red Sox blanked the Tigers today, 5-0. The Tigers were only shutout three times last season. They've now been blanked twice inside of a week this year. Being 0-7 has brought about a whole new set of stats Tigers fans don't want to hear. Check this out. No team that has started 0-7 has ever made the playoffs. In fact, since the 1983 Houston Astros went from an 0-7 start to an 85-77 finish, only seven major league teams have started 0-7, and each one has gone on to lose at least 90 games.

It's that bad, folks. Don't kid yourselves. Something's really broke on this team, which has shown no signs of snapping out of this funk. Lloyd McClendon, don't get too comfy in the Tigers clubhouse because if this streak continues, you're gonna be left without a chair when the music stops.

Pretty simple, wasn't it? Tigers bats came alive. They got home runs from Marcus Thames and Carlos Guillen. The bullpen pitched four scoreless innings. Add water, and you get a 7-2 win over the Red Sox, and can take solice in the fact that there's no chance they'll ever be 0-8. Now, maybe the Tigers will string together a 155 game win streak and finish 155-7?! Okay, that's a tad unrealistic, but this win feels like 20 wins, doesn't it? Brandon Inge added a 2-run single in the late innings. I expect the bats to come through on this team, so I don't want to talk about the hitting. I do want to talk about the pitching. Jeremy Bonderman couldn't get an out in the 6th inning last night. Once again, he wasn't even close to be dominating, only striking out two batters. Tigers MUST have their starters pitch into the 7th inning of games so the bullpen doesn't get exposed. Speaking of the bullpen, it was outstanding in this game. Bobby Seay is the unsung-hero in my humble opinion. He got some big outs in the middle innings. Seay was then relieved by Francis Beltran who was solid. Beltran gave way to Denny Bautista who proved why the Tigers named him their 8th inning guy before spring training broke in Lakeland. Todd Jones made things interesting in the 9th, but I'm gonna give him a 'hall-pass' for this outing because he hasn't had one single chance to pitch in that situation all season. I'm sure he had a few extra things rattling around in his dome, causing him to walk a few Red Sox batters. Bottom line, he got out of it and the Tigers won. Now, where can they go from here? Can this team begin stringing together some wins and hopefully get back to .500 by the end of April? Or, will the bats go silent again, and the starting pitching continue to not go deep enough into games? Let's hope it's the former, because the schedule from now through mid May is far from forgiving.

Okay, I took a few days off from this blog to give the Tigers a chance. To see if they could leave Boston, head into Chicago's south side and at least take two out of three from the first place White Sox. Friday night was amazing. Dontrelle Willis forced to leave in the first inning with a hyper-extended knee. The bullpen than thrust into a position where it had to hold the White Sox bats at bay the rest of the way. And by gosh, it did! An impressive win by Detroit. Even Todd Jones looked great in the 9th inning. Then came Saturday and Sunday. Sox pitcher, Gavin Floyd holds the Tigers hitless for seven and a third innings before Edgar Renteria singles to spoil the no-hit bid. Tigers lose, 7-0. Then Sunday happens. Kenny Rogers was grossly ineffective, allowing 5 earned runs in less than 5 innings of work. Rogers is 0-3 for the first time since 1991!

Sunday's 11-0 loss was lifeless. That's the only word I can find to describe it. After Joe Crede's 6th inning grand slam, which gave the Sox the 11-0 lead, the Tigers made the next nine outs on just 24 pitches. They simply quit. That's right, the Tigers quit Sunday.

Here's some numbers to chew over heading into this upcoming homestand..

- Magglio Ordonez is batting .234 with just 3 RBI. He was 1-for-10 against the White Sox
- The Tigers as a team are hitting .235 with a MLB worst 33 runs scored.
- The Tigers team ERA is a whopping 6.38 - also a MLB worst

Remember how excited we all were when the Tigers signed all those players to contract extensions? Well, let's take a moment and examine how those investments have paid off so far:

Dontrelle Willis, who signed for $29 million over three years, is on the disabled list with a 7.20 ERA. Nate Robertson, who signed for $21.25 million over three years, is 0-1 with a 7.84 ERA. Curtis Granderson, who signed for $29.8 million over five years, is on the DL and hasn't yet played. And Miguel Cabrera, who got the big $152.3 million, eight-year contract, is hitting .175 with two RBIs.

Jim Leyland finally blew up at his team Sunday. He's avoided doing that up to this point but Sunday was the last straw. He had a front row seat and saw his team flat out quit over the final three innings.

In my parting shot Sunday night on the Sports Ticket I said Lloyd McClendon needs to be fired. I still believe that needs to happen. He's the hitting coach and the hitting has been beyond brutal this season. Somebody needs to be the sacrificial lamb. The toxic culture needs to go, and something needs to rock this team's world before apathy truely starts to set in and nobody can find a reason to care anymore. Some may argue that happened Sunday. I'll bet Jim Leyland saw that and decided this was the time to lay into his underachieving team.

It's time to stop looking at this team on paper and saying they're not as bad as their record indicates. The fact is, they are that bad. The Detroit Tigers are the worst team in baseball and, until they can find a way to start playing better and winning, they will continue to be the worst team in baseball.

The Yankees try to buy a championship every year. Yet they haven't won the World Series since 2000. The Tigers are trying to tear a page out of the Yankee's playbook this season and so far it's backfired bigtime!

I guess when Jim Leyland screams, people listen.. and teams win. Perhaps the skipper should've offered up his screaming tirade a week ago. It took the Tigers six innings last night for Leyland's rant to sink in, but it finally did. Tigers scored four runs in the 6th inning with two outs. Then exploded for six runs in the 8th inning to take the 11-9 lead, which they wouldn't give back.

Tigers appeared lifeless again for the first five innings again, as the Twins took a 5-0 lead. I thought the team was going to quit again.

Couple of big errors led to several unearned runs for the Twins. There were two outs in the second inning when Minnesota's Brendan Harris hit a pop fly behind home plate. All Pudge Rodriguez had to do was make the catch to end the inning, but the 13-time Gold Glover dropped the ball. That gave Harris new life and, on the very next pitch from Jeremy Bonderman, he ripped a base hit to left field scoring the game's first run. Pudge's error extended the inning and allowed the next hitter, Mike Lamb, to double off the right field wall, plating Harris. Pudge's error put the Tigers in an early 2-0 hole. Later in the game, rookie Clete Thomas had his head in the stars while charging a ball in centerfield. He scooped down to get the ball, but it scooted under his glove. Clete's embarrassing error allowed another unearned run to score. Tigers committed three errors behind Bonderman in this game, causing me to have gut-rot by the end of the 5th inning. The good news about Bonderman was even though he got a no-decision in this game, he pitched into the 7th inning. That's what the Tigers need from their starters every game so the bullpen doesn't get exposed. Verlander, Willis, Robertson and Rogers please take note.

Then the bats came alive. Magglio Ordonez was 3/4, Carlos Guillen was 3/4, Pudge made up for his costly error by having a great night at the plate. He went 2/4 with 2 runs scored and 3 RBI, including his first home run of the season.

Watching the Tigers these past two weeks has been like looking after a sick child. They've been lethargic, tired, lifeless, no strength... then the fever breaks and the child feels better again. The first half of Monday's game the Tigers were still "sick" but in the 6th inning, their fever broke and the team started to resemble it's preseason expectations.

Maybe the sickness is over. Then again, maybe they'll respond by getting shutout in tonight's game for the 5th time this season. It was a nice way for the Tigers to win their first home game of the season.

Just before I went on the air last night, reports started surfacing that Curtis Granderson will take batting practice for the first time before Tonight's game. This is excellent news and means Granderson is closer to returning. Clete Thomas, start cleaning out your locker in the clubhouse because you're gonna be sent down when Granderson is activated.

Now, some bad news. It appears Fernando Rodney has had another setback. According to reports, he felt something wrong while pitching. The Tigers are concerned enough now that they are sending Rodney to famed orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews to have his injured right shoulder examined Wednesday. Don't be surprised if Rodney is placed on the 60-day DL before this weekend, meaning we'll be without both he & Zumaya for most of the season, if they even become available at all.

Enjoy this win, but don't put too much stock into it. The Tigers need to maintain this for people to start believing in them again.

You should have been in our newsroom last night when Miguel Cabrera hit that two-out, two-run game-winning homer in the 8th inning. I was in the sports office already thinking I have to re-cut my highlights because Magglio Ordonez just doubled in a run to tie the game at four. Once Cabrera swung, and the ball was heading into the dark Detroit sky, at least four people in our newsroom started screaming, "get outa here! get outa here!. Mind you, at 9:30 at night, most of those people probably should've been focussing more on building our newcast than this Tigers' game. I joined in the celebration with my newsroom bretheren. Producers were up walking around with their hands in the air. Reporters, who probably were still putting the finishing touches on their stories, were clapping and engaged in the frenzy. It's like everybody was doing their job but, at the same time, keeping an eye on this baseball game. Usually I'm the only one at the station screaming when the Tigers make a bad play or when they hit a home run. It was just refreshing and entertaining for me to see my colleagues celebrating and dancing around like kids on Christmas morning.

It was only a matter of time that this team start hitting. Back-to-back wins for the first time this season for the Tigers will hopefully be the start of something good. It's not just that they'e won two straight, it's how they've won two straight. A pair of 8th inning come-from-behind wins, and the rallies are starting when there's two outs.

Cabrera was the hero last night but Magglio Ordonez is still the straw that stirs the drink on this team. The reigning A.L. batting champ has struggled this season up until the last two nights against Minnesota. A year ago at this time, Maggs was hitting .234 with 1 HR and 5 RBI. After the past two nights, he's now hitting .291 with 2 HRs and 6 RBI, so now he's ahead of last year's pace.

The cold weather may have something to do with the Tigers season-opening slump as well. Take a look at Maggs' numbers in colder weather versus warmer weather. The Tigers have played five games this season where it was 47 degrees or colder at first pitch. Ordonez went 3-for-19 in those games.

At 48 degrees or better, Ordonez has been a .361 hitter, just about what he was when he won the American League batting title a year ago.

I'll bet Miguel Caberea will admit the cold weather has something to do with it too. He lives in Venezuela and has played his entire big league career in south Florida before this year. The guy's probably never experienced winter weather in his life, let alone playing baseball in it!

Well, the forecast for tonight's game in Cleveland is 58 degrees at first pitch. If that holds true, and the Tigers bats remain red hot, they could score 25 runs tonight! They need to keep this momentum going. The Tigers will face the Indians 18 times this season, and even though it's still only April, the outcomes of these head-to-head battles will matter come September.

Another Red Wings first round playoff failure is forcing me to put the Tigers impressive 13-2 drubbing of the Indians on the back burner for this entry. Believe me, I'd rather discuss Miguel Cabrera's big night at the plate and how the Indians hitters made Armondo Galarraga look like Nolan Ryan. But no, the Red Wings had to go and blow a 2-0 series lead to the 8th seeded Predators.

Let's see, something about a one seed losing to an eight seed sounds vaguely familiar. It's because it happened two years ago. The Wings won the President's Trophy and got eliminated in the first round by the Edmonton Oilers. It was Steve Yzerman's last season wearing the winged wheel. The Oilers did go on to the Stanley Cup Finals that season, so they did catch fire at the right time, but c'mon! Is this going to happen to the Wings again?

Four times in this series with Nashville the Predators have scored two goals with barely two minutes passing on the game-clock. Last night it happened in the first period. Nashville scored a pair of goals :32 seconds apart. That coming on the heals of what happened in the third period of game 3 when the Preds tallied two goals in 9 seconds, giving them the lead and the win.

It's not like the Wings aren't getting chances. They had 39 shots on Dan Ellis in Game 4. This was Ellis' fourth playoff game of his career and he stood tall. Meantime, his counterpart Dominik Hasek, a 6-time Vezina Trophy winner, is allowing long slap-shot goals, and now may find himself being replaced between the pipes by Chris Osgood indefinitely.

The Predators are scoring in flurries while the Red Wings seem to be too patient and are waiting for somebody else to be the hero. Pavel Datsyuk has had a great playoff series, but where is everybody else? Henrik Zetterberg needs to create more chances. Nicklas Lidstrom needs to shoot more instead of giving it up. Defensively, the Wings need to be more physical. Guys like Brad Stuart, Nick Kronwall, Darren McCarty and event the old man Chris Chelios need to throw their bodys around more. Rub some dudes into the boards. Make the Preds have fear when the pucks deep in the Red Wings end.

Nashville may be the 8th seed in these playoffs but the Preds were the NHL's third best team, during the regular season, when leading games after two periods. They're not a bad team, folks, and now they find themselves in a series with the mighty Red Wings.

Is it time to worry? Yes! We've seen this bad movie play out before. Should Mike Babcock replace Hasek with Osgood in game 5? Yes! Osgood had a great regular season for the Wings and, let's face it, Hasek will NOT be back in Detroit next season. Osgood was inked to the big contract, during the season, and the Wings need to elevate Jimmy Howard from the Griffins anyways to see if he has the chops. If Babcock decides to go with Osgood, then he has to stay committed to him the rest of the way - all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals, should Detroit advance that far. The playoffs is no time to play "musical goalie".

Wings have won the President's Trophy 6 times in the last 13 years. They have 3 Cups during that span, but in my humble opinion they should have won more. Red Wings are a great regular season team but they just can't seem to beat one team in a 7-game series. They always struggle and live on the edge.

Nashville has guaranteed itself a game 6 back in music city, so the Wings must win game 5. If not, we could be seeing the '94 Sharks and the '06 Oilers playing out before our eyes all over again.

I'm certainly not happy that the Tigers lost 11-1 last night to the Indians, but for some reason I'm not as upset as I thought I'd be. I never expected Detroit to rip off 20 straight wins and dig themselves out of this early-season hole by mid May. The Tigers have never been successful against Fausto Carmona. He owned us last year and it appears that trend will continue this year. Tigers had him on the ropes for a fleeting moment during the middle innings. Carmona hit the first two batters of, I believe, the 6th inning. A base hit followed, loading the bases with nobody out at the time. The Tribe was only leading 5-0 so this situation had 'big-inning' written all over it, especially with Miguel Cabrera stepping up to the plate. Cabrera hit a sac fly to center, scoring the Tigers only run of the night. But, the potential for a big inning was still there. Gary Sheffield was then waived around 3rd on a base hit, but chose not to slide into home plate. Had he slid, he would've definitely been safe, cutting the Indians lead to 5-2. The decision by Sheffield to slide or not to slide might have changed the dynamic of that entire inning. Of course, Cleveland ended up scoring 5 runs in their half of the 6th inning, so Sheffield's play at the plate probably would've been moot, but still... he had to score that run.

The worst thing to ccome out of this game were the outings of both Justin Verlander and Zach Miner. Verlander is now 0-3 on the season with an ERA over seven. He's hit an American League leading six batters and walked 12 in his four outings this season. There is definitely something wrong with him to the point where Jim Leyland may want to consider skipping his next start in the rotation. The Tigers need him healthy and right if they are to turn this thing around. He's the ace of the staff and he's been brutal so far. Speaking of brutal, Zach Miner is getting closer to being optioned back to Toledo. Miner pitched one inning in relief last night, allowed 5 earned runs on 5 hits, bulging his ERA to a robust 15.75!! Once Dontrelle Willis comes off the DL, I say Miner gets sent down and Armando Galarraga becomes the Tigers' new long-relief guy. Galarraga was spectacular in Wednesday's game in Cleveland, allowing 1 run on 1 hit over 6.2 innings of work and struck out 6.

In better news, Grand Rapids is about to become home to Granderson for one night, possibly two. Tigers center fielder, Curtis Granderson will be making a rehab appearance for the West Michigan Whitecaps tonight at Fifth Third Ballpark. The Whitecaps told me, just before I went on the air Thursday night, that Granderson will play in the outfield and he'll play the entire game! So unlike last summer, when Kenny Rogers made his rebab stint here, and only pitched 3 innings, Whitecaps fans will get to see Granderson all night long!! Here's how Granderson's weekend will shake out. He'll rehab with the Whitecaps Friday, then play at Toledo for the Mud Hens both Saturday and Sunday. According to some reports in Detroit (I don't have this confirmed, mind you), if Granderson doesn't have at least 25 at-bats through Sunday's game in Toledo, he could be sent back to the Whitecaps for next Monday's game here in Grand Rapids against Beloit! That means local Tigers fans COULD see the future super-star play for the Whitecaps twice in the next four days! Regardless, Granderson playing for the Whitecaps is huge news for this part of the state.

I have met and interviewed Curtis Granderson many times in my career, most recently two months ago when I was in Lakeland covering Tigers' Spring Training. When he sees me, he knows I need an interview with him and always hops up and accomodates. He may be one of the nicest human beings I've ever met in my life. The Tigers are lucky to have this kid and need him back desperately.

Granderson heads to Grand Rapids while the Tigers head to Toronto for the first of four with the Blue Jays. Let's hope they can get back on the right track north of the border. Maybe take three out of four from the Jays. They got to get back to .500 before we can start thinking big again.

I thought first-round playoff stress was only reserved for the Red Wings and their fans. Kudos to the Wings for finally putting away those pesky Predators and advancing. But on the same day the Wings close out their series with Nashville, the Pistons decide they want to make things interesting with the Sixers. This veteran Pistons team has no business blowing a 15 point lead at home, no matter if it's game one of the playoffs or game one of the regular season.

Here's the numbers to prove my point. The Pistons starters entered this series with a combined 493 playoff games under their belts. The Sixers starters had a combined 30 playoff games on their resume. Simply put, the Pistons have no excuse for their lack-luster performance in the second half on Sunday. Chauncey Billups, the league's second best free throw shooters during the season, misses 3-of-4 at the charity stripe in the 4th quarter. Mister big shot, as he's affectionately known, was just 3-of-7 from the field in game one with only 14 points. Rip Hamilton was worse, with only 13 points on 5-of-17 shooting.

While the Pistons went ice cold, Philly players Andre Miller and Detroit native, Willie Green started heating up. Pistons got rattled, out of sinc, and were never able to right the ship.

Wednesday night had better be different. Pistons must come out and dominate this game from start to finish. The All-Star backcourt has to start playing like it and, if they get up by 15 again, they'd better go for the kill and win by 25.

Philadelphia is a decent young team, and they've already shown that they have no fear in this series. After all, they're not supposed to win.

The Pistons had better realize fast that their window of winning another title is quickly closing. There are too many other good teams in the NBA who want a ring. Up-and-comers like New Orleans. Don't think for a minute the Hornets won't start building around Chris Paul. The Lakers with Pau Gasol look unbeatable. The Cavs were there last year and head into these playoffs knowing what it takes. The Spurs are still very good and built to win titles for years to come.

Flip can't be blamed for Sunday's loss. He didn't have two high percentage shots to tie the game, like Tayshaun Prince and Rasheed had, in the final minute ot regulation. The shots were there but they were missed. Flip, however, needs to find a way to motivate this team and get them to stop playing-down to their competition. That happened in the Cleveland series a year ago, and it happened Sunday.

No question, Wednesday's game 2 is a must-win for the Pistons. And in my humble opinion, the game had better not be close.

Zach Miner needs a demotion. He needs to get sent down to Triple-A Toledo for several months to get things figured out. Tuesday night, he had yet another bad outing. Miner pitched one-third of an inning, alowed a run on two hits. That's just flat out unacceptable, in my humbe opinion. Bad pitching has become a trend for Miner, who last week pitched one inning against the Indians and allowed five earned runs on five hits. His ERA is still bulging around 15.00.

Zach Miner has one option left. That means the Tigers can demote him to Toledo and he doesn't have to clear waivers first. I know Francisco Cruceta just arrived in Toldeo but I'm certain he'd be more effective than Miner in the big leagues.

Curtis Granderson will probably be activated at some point today. The Tigers should send Miner down and Keep Clete Thomas. I know Thomas was the last player selected to the 25-man roster when the team left Lakeland but he's hitting .300 and he's a lefty stick. He's proven after a month that he can play in the major leagues. Is he a great center fielder? No, but he's serviceable, and did I mention he's a lefty stick?

Zach Miner should be the player demoted when Granderson is activated.

Dontrelle Willis is still a week or so away from returning. He threw a bullpen session Monday and says he felt fine. That means he'll soon be sent to the monorsn for a few rehab starts. Get ready Whitecaps fans, the D-Train could be making a B-Line to Grand Rapids very soon!

Interesting news coming from Jim Leyland after Tuesday's 10-2 win over Texas. Miguel Cabrera is moving to first base and Carlos Guillen is shifting to third base. From Leyland's tone, this is an indefinite move. Are the Tigers admitting that moving Guillen to first base was a mistake? So far it has been. Guillen has been brutal at first. I'm not convinced that Cabrera will be any better. I'm beginning to think the Tigers underestimated Sean Casey and wish they had him back. Sure, Casey's power numbers and batting average were down last year but how many times did he 'pick-it' at first base? He was an outstanding defensive first baseman, and the Tigers are now scrambling to put a band aid on a bad decision.

Maybe Guillen will play better at third. It's sort of like shortstop, but hell have to show more range. I don't see Guillen diving for balls hit hard down the line, though.

If Guillen wasn't a switch-hitting power guy, he'd be the odd man out and Brandon Inge would still be at third base. The good news in all this is that Cabrera didn't throw a diva fit and complain about the change. He welcomed it with open arms.

Here's to hoping it doesn't backfire.

See what happens when the Tigers get their true leadoff hitter back? Curtis Granderson gets activated right before he helped his team hang 19 on the Rangers. Clete Thomas was optioned back to Toledo to create the roster spot for Granderson. Curtis did what a leadoff hitter is supposed to do - get on base and let the 'heavy-lifters' do the work. He was on base four times last night and scored 3 runs in his season debut. You may be thinking that wasn't a big accomplishment. Well, it is a big accomplishment when you consider that all the leadoff replacements for Granderson scored just three runs in the Tigers' first 21 games!

Heck, he scored twice in the 6th inning alone! That's what he does. He even worked two walks last night. Working counts was something Curtis told me was one of his main focusses in Lakeland two months ago. Having Granderson back at the top of that lineup just flat out feels right. It allows Jim Leyland to manage differently as well. Now it sounds like both Gary Sheffield and Placido Polanco will be back Friday. If those two guys can return, Friday's game will be the Tigers' first gane this season with all the pieces in place. Think about that for a minute. The Tigers will virtually play the first month of the season short-handed. Once they become 'whole', look out.

The Tigers' bullpen could be getting a huge lift very soon. Francisco Cruceta pitched in relief against the Columbus Clippers, who beat Toledo, 5-3, and did not allow a hit or a run in a 41-pitch outing, featuring command of three impressive pitches.

He struck out the side on 10 pitches in the sixth and retired the Clippers 1-2-3 in the seventh on two ground balls and a fourth strikeout. In the seventh, he added two more strikeouts.

Cruceta will likely be added to the Tigers' 25-man roster well ahead of the May 10 deadline the team faces in deciding Cruceta's future. He's out of big-league options and cannot be returned to the minors without being exposed to waivers. He was granted a 30-day extension on Major League Baseball's restricted list because of his visa holdup.

I hope when Cruceta is added, Zach Miner will be sent down. Miner still has talent. He proved that in 2006 when he was fairly effective in spot starts and in long relief scenarios, but this season he has nothing. Cruceta was the guy Leyland and Dombrowski raved about in Lakeland two months ago but couldn't get into the country due to visa problems.

All that's solved now and the Tigers will be monitoring his minor league appearances very, very closely over the course of the next week or so.

Kenny Rogers concerns me a bit. He may just no longer have it. Maybe at 43 he's just spent. He barely pitched past the 3rd inning last night.

Wednesday's 19-6 outburst is a sign of things to come.

I normally don't do blog entries on the weekend, but I just can't resist this one.

It's time for Gary Sheffield to hang it up. His shoulder injury is obviously not okay and he's an MLB-worst 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position. A perfect example of this was last night's game against the Angels. Instead of just trying to get a base hit, Sheff went for the grand slam. Admittedly, Sheff came about 3 feet from hitting a grand slam, which would've no doubt led to a 6th straight Tigers' victory, but a simple base hit in that situation would've scored two runs and given the Tigers a 5-4 lead. That might have been enough to win the game.

Cutting ties with Sheffield would also allow Jim Leyland to move his infield pieces around properly and give him a better designated hitter option. Leyland could keep Miguel Cabrera at first base, install Brandon Inge back to his regular position at third base and move the rangeless Carlos Guillen to be his everyday switch-hitting DH. In the process, Inge would become a starter again and that would certainly make him feel better about his situation.

Tigers have enough injuries right now. The jury is still out as to whether relief pitchers Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney will even be activated this season. Curtis Granderson is still not playing at 100%, and is one head-first slide away from probably re-injuring his hand, Placido Polanco's back is probably one tweak away from a trip to the DL, and I think the Tigers are hiding something with Kenny Rogers, who hasn't looked good at any point so far this season.

So, it's time for Sheffield to go. Can the Tigers trade him? Not sure. Probably not, because he's worthless with the shoulder problem. His next team would be inheriting the same problems the Tigers currently have with him. Plus, his days as an outfielder are done, so that means he can only play for American League teams. The Tigers simply don't need him with Cabrera now in the fold and, moving Guillen to the everyday DH would keep him healthy. Guillen is a liability defensively no matter where Leyland puts him. Sure, moving him to third base might improve things, but he's still going to commit 25 errors no matter which infield position he plays. The Tigers have gone from having Inge and Casey playing the corners, two excellent defensive players, to Guillen and Cabrera, who combined for nearly 50 errors last season. Casey's gone but Inge is not. Installing Inge back at third would at least solidify the left side of the infield. Cabrera will no doubt struggle for a while at first base, but in time hopefully he'll grow into the position.

I interviewed Gary Sheffield when I was in Lakeland two months ago. He was very nice to me and extrememly accomodating. But I think it's over for him. I doubt he will just retire because his ego won't let him, and because he's playing on a team that still could turn things around and make the postseason and possibly get to the World Series.

Releasing Sheffield will allow the Tigers to become a better team in many ways.

It's just time.

Gotta admit, anchoring sports Tuesday night was a true joy. Being able to watch the Pistons hammer the Sixers.. at the same time the Tigers held on to win at Yankee Stadium.. and knowing that game three between the Red Wings and Avalanche was still to come. It was an awesome night to be a Detroit sports fan.

The Pistons played with a sense of urgency for once. Chauncey Billups had his best game of the series, recording a double-double.. 21 points and 11 assists. In fact, Billups, Wallace and Rip Hamilton accounted for 58 of the Pistons 98 points. Now they have to go into Philly Thursday night and play with the same sense of urgency. I don't think Thursday's game will be easy at all, but if they can keep it close for three quarters, then Detroit will win. If the Pistons fall behind by double digits again early, this series may go seven games, allowing the Orlando Magic to continue to rest.

The Red Wings, Avalanche series is no contest. This series will be a sweep. The Avs just aren't as good as the Wings and, to add insult to injury, are just too banged up to compete. Remember when Pavel Datsyuk was ripped for not showing up in the playoffs? Well, I guess he's silenced those critics. Datsyuk has scored 13 goals in his last 27 playoff games. He only scored 3 goals in playoff games stretching between 2002-2006. Replacing Hasek with Osgood may go down as the greatest decision ever made by Mike Babcock. Of the five previous playoff meetings between the Wings and the Avs, the winner has always gone on to win the Stanley Cup.

Gary Sheffield finally snapped out of it. At least for one at-bat. Sheff's 2-run homer in Tuesday's 6-4 win over the Yankees broke his personal 0-for-17 slump, and it might've gotten him back on track at the plate. Placido Polanco was 4-for-5 with 2 runs scored, Curtis Granderson was on base all night and scored 3 runs. He also homered to the deepest part of Yankee Stadium. How important is Granderson to this Tigers' team? I don't think common words can describe his importance. He's noticeably a better hitter, he works counts and has no problem taking a walk. Granderson from two years ago, or even last year, wasn't this picky at the plate. He's learning how to work counts fro guys like Sheffield and Ordonez.

Anyways, all three Detroit teams win. And all three games were meaningful. The Tigers win over the Yankees matters because before it's all said and done, the Tigers could be battling the Yankees for the AL Wildcard. These head-to-head meetings will factor into the equation when late September rolls around.

April and May are the best times of the year if you're a Detroit sports fan. Tuesday night proved that, hands down!