In retrospect DD is right. I was bitter because I was looking forward to a meaningful game in late August with some old friends. Believe me..I stayed to the bitter end as I always do. The game lasted so long that I spent at least 40 dollars on beer by myself. 5 jumbos x 8 = 40 right?WTF at least I care enough to be angry now.
Actually if I may, I think you've grown into a much better fan just this year looking at your comments and reactions to things. Not that I'm the judge and jury but I am very much a baseball snob and I think I know a lot about my team even though I sometimes paint too rosy of a picture. That's why I have my guys skillz and whoknew to set me straight among others. But sometimes people (maybe your friends and some others) follow a team because it's the thing to do or they are experts and informed critics because they rediscovered the team or the game in 2006. That's ok by me, I want them to fill the stands and bring in revenue and they have the right to be pissed off that the team underperformed relative to payroll. However, if you stand back for a moment and view things in a big picture given the past 21 years (post 1987), then you will realize the franchise is in a pretty good place relative to where they have been and they aren't the Pirates or Reds. Illitch is an awesome owner, Dombrowski has a proven track record, and they have guys like Maggs, Miggy, and Verlander who are mentioned in season ending awards talk. ####, last season was wonderful IMO, they were in a pennant race for all but two weeks or so, Maggs was the second best player in baseball, and it was fun. Maybe the silver lining is that people are actually #####ing, booing, and raising a fuss. When I was working sports news in Detroit in July and August the focus was purely on the Lions, and I hated talking football in July. Now people are complaining about the Tigers in August, I guess I have to look at it in my glass is half full approach as that being a good thing.
Next year expectations will be much lower and I'm guessing the team will over-perform. The day Bonderman went down for the season they were done and when you have your #2 starter and your expected #3 throwing balls over the catcher's head, things will not go your way in baseball. For all the talk of Renteria and Sheffield the offense is 6th in runs (and within striking distance of 2nd) and 3rd in OPS in the AL. They haven't been what they were supposed to be but they haven't been bad either. When you get an unexpected season performance like they have from Galarraga and they still are 10th in ERA, 11th in OPS against and WHIP as starters, you aren't going to win. The bullpen needs to be retooled and catch some luck, and they need a healthy Bonderman, an effective Willis who can at least eat some innings, and Verlander to pitch like an ace. I have a ton of faith in Bonderman (possibly slanted to a degree because he's my favorite player but I do think he comes back better than ever next year), I know Verlander has ace stuff if he can throw strikes early in the count, and I think it's possible Willis will recover and be an innings eater with the occasional ace-like performance. Add a solid vet like Lowe, Burnett (unlikely), or Byrd and you have guys who can take you to the 7th inning with a chance to win and you can string together 5 or 6 wins in a row something they just haven't been able to do this year. Whatever, I get criticized for being too much of an optimist with the Tigers (not like me with sports teams) but I think there is a lot to like here. Before the season started...the day before I almost posted that I had a bad feeling this wasn't going to turn out well. I didn't, not becaue I was afraid of being wrong, but because there is no sense in it. The organization as it stands right now has a chance to win, might as well let it play out and hope I was wrong. I didn't proclaim they would win anything, but I expected them to be in a pennant race right now. So I just like the fans I cast criticism on are essentially in the same place. I'll just look at what went right this year and think about next year and a new season to get things right. Even when they were losing 90-100+ games every year I tried to find something to get excited about, for 2009 I think I have a lot to look forward to. It's the Detroit Tigers, Cobb, 1984, Heilmann, Crawford, Greenberg, Newhouser, Gehringer, Gates Brown buying a hot dog while riding the bench, blue laws, getting owned by a guy with Three Fingers, beating the Cubs, Whitaker to Tram (by far the most underrated double play combo in MLB history), bleacher seats at Michigan and Trumbull, Ernie effing Harwell. There is always next year, I'll be at Spring Training with my ####### bells on.
