For the 2nd time in a month The Tigers have put up 19 runs in a game. Of course, there weren’t a whole lot of victories between those two games…but when the bats are on, it’s exciting.

Magglio was pulled early out of respect for the MLB record books (and more likely, a need to have him fresh for tomorrow’s game) after going 3 for 3 with 2 home runs and 6 RBI. Since Leyland went bat-shit crazy, Detroit has gone 4-1 putting up 53 runs in 5 games. Here’s to your bat-shit craziness, Jim!

But the most impressive thing for me was the sell-out crowd. This was on a day where The Detroit Red Wings were playing in game 1 of The Stanley Cup Finals, and The Detroit Pistons were playing in game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals – all in Detroit! The fact that The Tigers could sell out a night game with all of these things going on in Detroit is a true testament to this city being the sports capital of the world! Of course – it’s also the murder capital, the city with the lowest graduation rate in a non-third world country, has the highest level of unemployment this side of Mogadishu, and the highest rate of foreclosures in the world…but how ’bout our sports teams! It’s….really something to be #1 in so many areas.

But back to the game. Boof Bonser got tagged for 9 runs, getting pulled in the 4th with bases loaded. His relief didn’t do much better. It was an offensive onslaught. all 19 runs came in the first 5 innings, and The Tigers looked like they lost interest after that – probably went to the clubhouse to watch the Wings beat Pittsburgh in game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals. It didn’t matter.

So let’s see where the batting averages are now

As a team, The Tigers are 7th in the MLB with a team batting average of .270 and 6th in the MLB in runs scored at 245. Individually, here’s how they stack up:

*Ramon Santiago .353 (*only 34 AB)
Magglio Ordonez .330
Placido Polanco .294 (amazing, after that horrendous start)
Carlos Guillen .288
Edgar Renteria .284
Miguel Cabrera .282
Ivan Rodriguez .275
Ryan Raburn .257
Matt Joyce .256
Marcus Thames .254
Curtis Granderson .245 (WTF!)
Brandon Inge .229
Gary Sheffield .208 (improving, but has a looong way to go)

But before we get excited, let’s look at the pitching. Team ERA is 2nd to last in the MLB at 4.90 and have served up the 2nd fewest strikeouts in all of baseball. The Pirates hold the distinction of being #1 in both of those categories. So although the hitting seems to be turning around, the pitching hasn’t. There is still a long way to go.

They eked out 6-5 win in what we may look back on as the turning point of the season. After digging themselves into an almost insurmountable hole, hopefully they are starting to put things together.

But pitching is still an issue. Less than a week after Dontrelle Willis went out with a hyper-extended knee, Nate Robertson left with lat issues. When you take an already weak starting rotation and two of those five starters are already battling injuries, one has to worry. Where are the Tigers going to get quality innings from?

A win is a win though, and for now – we celebrate. But one has to wonder….

Well at least we know they can score some runs. Who would have ever thought that would be in question, but it’s been a rough couple of weeks for this team thus far. Losing 9-5 going into the 8th, things weren’t looking good. But the bats finally came alive, scoring 6 runs in the 8th inning and holding on to win 11-9.

This is the way we expected most games to go this year. We knew the pitching was weak, but figured the bats would overcome it on most nights, and we would win a lot of games just like this – 11 to 9. I don’t think anybody figured they would be shut out in 25% of their games 12 games into the year.

Now can we please see some consistency…please, please, please!