I'm Back and the Wings are too

Sorry it's been so long everybody (and by everybody I mean the four people that might actually read this). You can attribute my long break from writing to forgetfulness and laziness. From now on I'm going to try to keep my posts shorter, as opposed to writing the 6 page anti-Bettman manifestos that make up my previous work.

First - gotta talk about the no goal call. I was so mad I couldn't sleep for hours, but after some thought and watching the replay in the morning, I'm not as upset. The ref was in the right position, and made the right call to blow it dead. What really burns a hole in my pantyhose is that the call was not reviewable. The other on ice official should be able to overrule such a call if he had a better angle, and all those cameras should have been put to use in Toronto. I still think hockey is the most difficult game to officiate, so much respect to the refs. However they're human, they make mistakes, and they should be able to review goal calls like this (for the love of God though, do not use replay for penalties and other stuff, just goals.)

Second - glad to see the Wings finally show up and start playing hockey again for three periods. I saw glimmers of hope in that third period in game three, but for the first time the Winged Wheelers had their foot on the gas the whole game. They finished their checks, set the tone for the game, and more importantly they crashed the net. During the past couple games, the Wings turned into the hockey equivalent of a jumpshooting basketball team. Sure they got a bunch of shots on Hiller, but they were weak and easy for him to see.

Third - really happy to have Marian Hossa going now. You could see the "about time" look of relief on his face while he celebrated his first goal. In Rod Allen terms, he had been scuffeling all series, and maybe was starting to press a bit. It's good that he got the scoreless in this series monkey off his back, and I hope Datsyuk with his eyes by Dr. Rahmani gets it going soon too.

Quick Hits - So most of the actors from the Mighty Ducks have not gone on to win Oscars, but you still see them around. The Captain Charlie Conway, played by Joshua Jackson, has gone on to play Pacy in Dawsons Creek and now has a part on Fringe. Jesse Hall, played by Brandon Quintin Adams, also appeared in one of the greatest baseball movies ever, The Sandlot (he's the pitcher that throws the heater.) You even see Goldberg in that Castrol commercial where he orders fries and a shit ton of oil falls on his car. However, the imdb connection that stunned me was realizing that my beloved Connie Moreau, played by Marguerite Moreau, grew up to play the call girl Vicky in Mad Men (Season 2, ep. 4, Three Sundays.) Connie got hot.

The Cure for Rabies

In the past, I have always been a fan of Ryan Raburn, but unfortunately, my man-love for Rabies burns no longer. He needs to go back to Toledo. Now.

Raburn doesn't have much talent in terms of raw power, speed, or athleticism, but he was useful in the past because although he didn't bring a whole lot to the table, he never took anything off of it. Quick aside, Rod Allen just quoted MC Hammer, I feel that it is necessary to point this out. Anyway, Raburn is now removing items from the table faster than Wojo (I miss WDFN...) at an all-you-can-eat buffet. He isn't hitting, which would be acceptable if he was providing his usual steady defense in the infield and outfield, but he has been nothing short of atrocious this season on the defensive side of the ball. He has cost the Tigers at least one game so far by simply dropping routine fly balls and in a division that will almost certainly come down to a few games in October, you can't afford to give away games in April. Raburn used to be valuable because of his ability to play in the infield and the outfield, but with Gary Sheffield gone, the Tigers have room to keep both a strong defensive outfielder, Josh Anderson, and a strong defensive infielder, Ramon Santiago, on their bench, which significantly cuts down the value of Raburn's versatility. With his defensive usefullness accounted for by other players (who are both outhitting him by the way), Raburn must earn his keep with his bat. Excuse me for impugning somebody's job performance in this tough economy, but 1/11 with 4 strikeouts is just not going to get it done.

This whole discussion might seem like a moot point, because Marcus Thames will eventually take this spot back when he recovers from his injury, but with so many divisional games coming up in the next couple of weeks, it is absolutely paramount that the Tigers send their best 25 on to the field every night. Until Thames gets healthy, wouldn't Jeff Larish be a hell of a lot more useful for the Tigers? Assuming that he can at least equal the job that Raburn has done defensively, which at this point I think could be handled by a drunk chimpanzee, Larish provides left-handed power off the the Tigers' bench, something that the Tigers really lack with their current team. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see Rabies succeed, but that this point, he looks like the definition of a 4A player and somebody who is not capable of helping a big league club.

Why I'm not worried about Justin Verlander

Quick Note: I'm pretty sure I'm wasting my time because nobody reads this fella anyway, but I am going to write more often. I promise. Pete will write more too. Right Pete? Also, we might rename the blog, but that probably won't happen anytime soon. Ok, on to the delicious content...

First of all, Justin Verlander needs a nickname. Power pitchers are not great until they are referred to as "The Rocket" or "The Express", and at this point, all Verlander has is JV, which is a pitiful intersection of unoriginality and general teribbleness (which Firefox kindly just told me isn't a word, but I'm going to keep it in here anyway). The point is, we Tiger fans can no longer go on referring to our ace by the same initials that we use to categorize 5'2" unathletic 15 year-olds. My idea: "Mustang". I know it's not great and I welcome any suggestions, but the basic idea is that a power pitcher in the city that created the American muscle car had better have an nickname that can burn up a set of steel-belted radials. Mustang captures this and also has the added bonus of being easliy shortened to 'Stang, and it's always nice to have a one-syllable nickname option. For the record, the rest of my top 5 was "The Vette", "Camaro", "Model V", and "GT". From now on I will refer to Mr. Verlander as Mustang in this space.

The Mustang hasn't exactly sprinted out of the starting gate this year, as evidenced by his not-so-stellar 9.00 ERA and 1.71 WHIP through three starts. These numbers paint a pretty terrible picture, but there are certainly some mitigating circumstances. Last night, Kendry Morales' 3-run homer never would have happened, but Ryan Raburn horribly misplayed a routine line drive a couple of batters earlier. Even then, Raburn's misplay was scored as a hit, and Verlander was charged with 3 earned runs in the inning. Overall, the Tigers have played poor defense behind Verlander, leading to his bloated ERA. Look at his periferals, 10.71 K/9, 2.73 K/BB. This guy is missing bats and pounding the strike zone at the best rates of his career. His opposing BABIP is an absurd .387, which is nearly 100 points higher than his career average. Over the course of the season, it's going to even out.

But for the most convincing argument in favor of a Verlander comeback, just watch the dude pitch. Last night, Rod Allen was mistifyed by how well opposing hitters were doing against the "stuff that Verlander was featuring" and rightly so. Mustang's fastball was consistently in the 93-95 mph range, and he touched 96-97 mph when he needed it. Uncle Charlie was definitely in the house, especially for one knee-buckling strikeout that made Torii Hunter look like a young Carlos Pena. I know it sounds crazy to say that the starter in a 12-10 game pitched well, but Mustang really did.

Anyway, I'm not worried. This is not a Chien-Ming Wang situation in which a pitcher just loses his stuff, Verlander has simply been unlucky. 'Stang is ready to be an ace, believe it.