Breaking news, Shane Greene is not perfect. I repeat, he is not perfect.

But on some nights, Miguel Cabrera is. If you haven’t watched the Cabrera HRs from yesterday, you gotta see them on MLB videos here.  The first one was crushed to the second deck, and then he followed that up with a no-doubter to straightaway center. They were awesome to watch. While you’re on that video page, make sure you watch McCann’s inside the park HR. One of the coolest things about those MLB replays is that they play the TV replay, then follow it up with the radio call over the TV replay. Dan D is such an amazing broadcaster. We’re lucky to have him.

So Green turns in his second complete clunker in as many starts, and we’re left understanding how we got him for Robbie Ray. Whatever, as a #4, he’s still aces in my books.

Anyway, a big four game set at KC this weekend pitting the top two teams in the AL. Good benchmark for the Tigers early in this 2015 season.

Simon v. Duffy tonight

Lobstein v. (Dallas native) Chris Young tomorrow (7:10 PM central)

Price v. Volquez on Sat (6:10 PM central)

Sanches v. Vargas on Sun (1:10 PM central)

Fun fact: The Tigers are 7-2 on the road this year. The Royals are 7-2 at home.

Tonight’s Baseball-Reference game preview here and lineup below:

1. Davis, CF
2. Kinsler, 2B
3. Cabrera, 1B
4. Martinez V, DH
5. Martinez J.D., LF
6. Cespedes RF
7. Casetellanos, 3B
8. McCann, C
9. Iglesias, SS

A last minute Trevor Bauer scratch worked out to the Tigers advantage as they jumped on a wild T.J. House for 3 runs, 4 hits and 4 walks in 3 innings, and then rode another outstanding performance from Alfredo Simon to a 4-1 win. Poor House, he’s now allowed 9 runs and 10 hits in 4 1/3 against the Tigers this year.

Simon allowed 8 baserunners in 6 2/3, and then turned the ball over to what is becoming a formidable bullpen, anchored by Joaquin Soria. Four starts into the season Simon is 4-0 with a minuscule .95 WHIP and .559 OPS against.

Lobstein takes the mound in the rubber match today; he’s in JV’s spot. Speaking of JV, is anyone else concerned about the lack of news? JV is still not pain free, but he’s still throwing and will go with the Tigers on their 10 game road trip, presumably so he can get some work in. If he’s not going to start I think I’d rather have him rehabbing with doctors at home. Once he does get to “pain free” it’s going to take a while to build up arm strength, so I really don’t see him pitching anytime in the next 2-3 weeks.

Baseball Reference Game Preview here.

1. Davis, CF
2. Kinsler, 2B
3. Cabrera, 1B
4. Martinez V, DH
5. Martinez J.D. RF
6. Cespedes, LF
7. Castellanos, 3B
8. McCann, C
9. Iglesias, SS

Well, you’re not going to win them all, but winning once every 5 days would be nice. After sprinting out of the gates to start the season with the best record in the Majors, the Tigers have slipped into the 4th best overall record, and 1.5 games behind KC in the Central. I would like to point out that the Tigers lost 4 or more games in a row 3 times last year and once in 2013, so remember that it happens. It’s a long season.

Alfredo Simon looks to right the ship this afternoon against Trevor Bauer. Bauer has been nearly flawless so far this year, allowing only 2 ER and 8 hits in 18 IP. He’s struck out 26 in that time for an eye-popping 13 K/9.

Baseball-Reference Game Preview here.

1. Davis, CF
2. Kinsler, 2B
3. Cabrera, 1B
4. Martinez V, DH
5. Martinez J.D., RF
6. Cespedes, LF
7. Avila, C
8. Castellanos, 3B
9. Iglesias, SS

Well, that sucked. Second place Tigers take on the Indians. Sorry for the short note. Someone please post the lineups when avail. Headed to the Mavs game.

Well, I tuned in just in time to hear Abreu’s grand slam (man was Dan defeated the minute the ball hit the bat), which really was the icing on the cake for the White Sox. Sanchez was bad from the get go, barely getting through the 1st unscathed after stranding runners on 2nd and 3rd. He was beat up for 4 earned in the 3rd, and plastered for another 5 in the 4th while only recording 1 out. It was a throw-away game for Sanchez, and he’s going to have a few this season. On the positive side, the Tigers are rolling even in spite of his two terrible starts.

But the season marches on and the Tigers are still primed to take a series from a division foe, which is always the goal.

Someone please post the lineups in the morning.

Was he safe? According to Dan & Jim, the tag was there ahead of Castellanos. According to the White Sox dugout coaches, they weren’t sure. Not before the time to appeal the play had expired and the call was finalized, anyway. But the White Sox internal replay system not moving quick enough is not the real issue, it’s that Ventura should have challenged the play no matter what, considering the circumstances. Let’s hope that Ausmus learned something.

Well, the Tigers are now off to the same 9-1 start as the ’11, ’68, and ’84 Tigers. In case you’re not thinking clearly this morning, the ’68 and ’84 seasons ended with a World Series championship.

So things are going as well as the could, let’s just enjoy the ride. There was a little chatter on yesterday’s thread expressing displeasure with situational hitting. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. The Tigers are first in the Majors in OPS with RISP at .975, 8th in RISP with two outs (.849), and 6th in R3L2o (1.016). TL;DR: The Tigers are mashing the ball right now.

Sale v. Sanchez today, don’t expect too many runs on the board. Perez gets his first start of the season. Baseball Reference Game Preview here.

1. Davis, CF
2. Kinsler, 2B
3. Cabrera, 1B
4. Martinez, V DH
5. Marinez, J.D. RF
6. Cespedes, LF
7. McCann, C
8. Perez, 3B
9. Iglesias, SS

Not a lot of time this morning, but I’ll just say that so far so good. Hard to find fault with any part of the Tigers club so far, everything is going our way. Even the calls seem to be. But good teams will have streaks like this, just don’t get too down when we lose a few in a row. It’s a long season.

No update on Verlander…I don’t think he’s coming off of the DL anytime soon.

Here are the weekend probables.

(all times Eastern)

Friday 1:08 PM: Samardzija v. Price

Saturday 1:08 PM: Sale v. Sanchez

Sunday 1:08 PM: TBD v. Greene

It certainly didn’t make much of a splash when the Tigers shipped Robbie Ray off to the Diamondbacks, and in return got Shane Greene from the Yankees (who got Didi Gregorius from Arizona). But if his first two starts are any indication, Shane Greene may turn out to be an absolute steal, not to mention the fact that he is not free agent eligible until 2021 and pulling in all of $515,000.

It would be hard to exaggerate how thoroughly Greene dominated the Pirates last night. There were only three base runners in eight innings, all on singles (no walks), and none of them reached 2nd base. Greene breezed through eight with only 81 pitches only 25 of which were balls (that’s 3 balls per inning)–and this after pitching eight his first start with only 85 pitches. If it were not an Interleague game (did I mention…yes, I did), Greene looked all set for a complete game shutout.

Ausmus said that he considered letting Greene bat in the 8th, until Iglesias made it to 2nd with a double, which was more like a single plus inadvertent defensive indifference. Ausmus’ logic was that scoring a 2nd run in that situation increased the probability of winning more than keeping a dominant pitcher in with a one-run lead. What do you think?

At any rate, the extra base taken by Iglesias may turn out to be one of those hidden pivotal plays, since it brought Soria into the game, which he closed like…a closer, which could possibly turn into something good.

Of course Greene didn’t do it all himself: there were a whole lot of good defensive plays: Kinsler robbed a single with a diving stop; Cespedes, Davis, and Martinez all made good running catches in the outfield, and Iglesias was a one game highlight reel–even the play he didn’t make was worth several replays, as he somehow managed to fling a cross-body throw to first while on his back. With an improved Castellanos at 3rd, dare I say the Tigers may actually have a good team defensively now?

Castellanos did provide one of the lowlights of the game, stranding another two on base, as did Alex “Shift Bait” Avila hitting ’em where they are. The real lowlight though had to be the weak pinch-hit at bat by Victor Martinez, who (shhhhh) does not look very good at all so far this season.

In other news, Justin Verlander pitched a simulation game today (I’m pretty sure he’s pitched a bunch of those the last two seasons), although it was cut short at three innings instead of the schedule four.

Today’s Undefeated at Night Lineup:

1. Rajai Davis, CF
2. Ian Kinsler, 2B
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
4. JD Martinez, RF
5. Yoenis Cespedes, LF
6. Nick Castellanos, 3B
7. James McCann, C
8. Jose Iglesias, SS
9. Alfredo Simon, P

Francisco Liriano goes for the guys with the yellow P on their hats, and he has bedeviled both Cespedes (1-for-10) and Kinsler (3-for-17, yikes). The Pirates should be familiar with Simon from his time on the Reds, but none of them have hit him particularly well.

Oh, and everybody is #42 today, to honor Jackie Robinson.

5-0! What do you know!

Though that’s only good enough for tied in the AL Central as the Royals also won yesterday to stay unbeaten.

The offense was relentless last night, coming back once from behind, and then putting up 4 huge runs in the top of the 9th. We could definitely empathize with the Indians fans in the top of the 9th. Allen may not have another inning like that all season. But give credit to the Tigers’ hitters as they worked counts, went the opposite way, and rescued the staff. Price was probably good enough to win, though the runs did come after his error.

Kyle Lobstein takes the ball today for the Tigers. He was called up on April 8th when JV was placed on the DL. Speaking of JV, he felt “fine” after a throwing session yesterday, so hopefully he’ll be ready to go when his spot comes up on the 22nd at home against the Yankees.

In other news:

– VMart said that the knee wasn’t really an issue and he’s not concerned.He’s still in today’s lineup. Remember that he won’t be starting over the next three in Pittsburgh.

– Derek Holland was placed on the 60 day DL down here in Texas. After what happened last year, and then losing Darvish for the season in Spring Training, I guess nothing is unexpected.

– Braves are the only 5-0 team in the NL.

– Adrian Gonzalez is on pace for 162 HR and 227 RBIs.

Today’s Lineup against lefty TJ House:

1) Davis, CF
2) Kinsler, 2B
3) Cabrera, 1B
4) Martinez, V DH
5) Martinez, J RF
6) Cespedes LF
7) Castellanos, 3B
8) McCann, C
9) Iglesias, SS

Baseball Reference Game Preview here.:

The Tigers doubled up the Indians last night to move to 4-0, which is becoming custom around here. This marks the third time in four years that the Tigers have started off 4-0. Can’t really complain about that.

Now, again, it is early, but there is a lot to like about this history-making 4-0 start. The pitching has been tremendous, the hitting has been awesome, and yesterday afternoon, the Tigers faced staved off the club’s first bit of adversity. After buidling a 5-0 lead, the Indians rattled off 5 straight hits with one out in the 6th to get as close as 5-3. Al Al came in with runners on 1st and 2nd, and after starting the count 1-2, saw Gomes work the count to 3-2. Walking Gomes would have put the go ahead run on 1st and sent the home crowd into an opening day frenzy. But Gomes bounced into a not so routine double play on the next pitch, and then the Tigers took advantage of Indians’ miscues in the top of the 7th to get to 8-3. The Indians got another in the 8th to get to the final of 8-4.

Every game has a critical moment or two which serves as a pivot point for the outcome. I believe that the Alburquerque pitch on 3-2 to induce a double play was the one yesterday.

The Indians moved up Kluber, so we get a matchup of Price v. Kluber this afternoon. Should be great.

Hope you’re enjoying your Saturday.

For behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.

–Song of Solomon 2:14, preferably read in the voice of Ernie Harwell.

Well, here we are, it’s Monday, and one of the great days in sports, Opening Day in Major League Baseball (we won’t count that thing in Chicago last night), topped off by a nitecap of NCAA basketball finals.

I was actually out walking around a local lake yesterday, and saw hundreds of turtles out sunning. Didn’t hear any singing though; perhaps I didn’t listen closely enough, or perhaps they wait until the first pitch.

The Tigers will look familiar enough; despite a few changes in the starting lineup, they are still a team of strong bats, a strong arm on the mound, not much on the bench, and a prayer for the bullpen.

For the first time in 8 years, that arm on the mound will not be in a jersey with Verlander on the back, although Justin Verlander has not actually been put on the DL as was previously announced. He threw 40 pitches off the mound yesterday; Ausmus said he “felt good” (yay!) until the last couple pitches (ohhh). Stay tuned.

And speaking of familiar faces, that guy with a big grin in the Twins jersey is Mr. Torii Hunter, making his 17th consecutive Opening Day start. He is also batting 4th, which says a thing or two about the Twins lineup.

* * * * * * * * * *

For those interested in Opening Day festivities, the Tigers front office has their own blog which I will be checking regularly this season, because how else to know who is throwing out the ceremonial first pitches?

Today that honor belongs to Oscar Winner and and Tiger fan J.K. Simmons, who will spend the remainder of the game in the bullpen yelling “encouragement” to the relievers. (That last part has yet to be verified).

There are also important notices there about new food at Comerica, such as “bacon on a stick topped with deviled eggs and fried jalapeños.” Oh dear.

OK, I’m back. I just spend an hour trying to get bacon on a stick. I was going to try to put eggs on top too, but I don’t want to miss the game.

The Four Tops will be singing the National Anthem. The Tigers are 0-0 in games opened by the Four Tops.

* * * * * * * * * *

Today’s Opening Day Lineup:

1. Rajai Davis, CF
2. Ian Kinsler, 2B
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
4. Victor Martinez, DH
5. J.D. Martinez, RF
6. Yoenis Cespedes, LF
7. Nick Castellanos, 3B
8. Alex Avila, C
9. Jose Iglesias, SS

Pitching: David Price vs. Phil Hughes

The only real surprise in the lineup is the right-handed Davis batting against the right-handed Hughes, but Ausmus is playing past history here: Gose is 1-for-11 lifetime against Hughes. Speaking of history, Cabrera is hitting a fat 16-for-34 with 5 HRs off of Hughes, so he is the unsurprising pick for Opening Day Player of the Game.

The key hitter for the season though will be Cespedes. Assuming everyone stays healthy (I’m looking at you, Victor), the Cabrera-Martinez-Martinez triad should be as good as last season. Cespedes keeps knocking on the door of greatness, only to nap on the doorstep when nobody answers. It’s time for him to force his way in.

We would never have marched so far to be food… food… for an Oriole?

So the Detroit Tigers will finish their season 72% of who they were to begin with:

SP Scherzer
SP Verlander
SP Price
SP Porcello
RP Sanchez
RP Nathan
RP Chamberlain
RP Soria
RP Alburquerque
RP Coke
RP Lobstein
C Avila
C Holaday
1B-DH Cabrera
2B Kinsler
SS Suarez
3B Castellanos
IF Romine
IF Perez
IF-OF Kelly
LF J. Martinez
CF-LF Davis
RF Hunter
OF Carrera
DH-1B V. Martinez

Detroit goes into the ALDS with a couple dark clouds overhead. The old one is the ever-shaky bullpen. Being able to include starter Anibal Sanchez in it seems like a curse (his late-season injury) turned into a blessing. The new one is the health of Rajai Davis, who is far from 100% with a pelvic strain. The decision to stick with Davis on a day to day basis tips the balance in favor of 14 position players and Hernan Perez as 25th man rather than Tyler Collins or Steven Moya. Blaine Hardy’s late season struggles, along with Sanchez’s inclusion and Kyle Lobstein’s utility as both lefty and long man, make him the odd man out on the 11-man staff.

So Detroit heads to Baltimore and the madhouse of an Orioles Park filled with screaming throngs of orange…

Game 1: Scherzer v. Tillman. ORIOLES 12, Tigers 3. Never ahead, down 9.
NICE PLAYS: CASTELLANOS-CABRERA, LF J. MARTINEZ-KINSLER, SS Hardy-1B Pearce, J. MARTINEZ-AVILA, ROMINE-CABRERA, CF DAVIS
MISPLAYS: ROMINE, CASTELLANOS, AVILA
BASERUNNING NEWS: The Orioles were certainly more dynamic, in part because they had more opportunities to be. Not much in the way of SB attempts for either side, but the Jones swipe of 2B in the 8th did play a part in changing the complexion of that inning. Aggressive at precisely the wrong moment, Detroit was badly burned in the 8th by KINSLER taking off on the 2-2 pitch to HUNTER that resulted in the lineout (to SS) double play. Next up, CABRERA hits a home run. Ay yi yi.
THE BIG HIT: Man on 3rd, 2 out, 0-0 in the first, Cruz 2-run HR off SCHERZER.
THE BIG OUT: Bases loaded, 2 out, Tigers down 3-2 in the 5th, Tillman retires HUNTER on a groundout to SS, force at 2B.
GOOD HITTING: Cruz, De Aza, Schoop
BAD HITTING: HUNTER
GOOD PITCHING: Miller
BAD PITCHING: CHAMBERLAIN, SORIA, COKE
OBVIOUSLY: You had the feeling they were going to pull it out, right up to that 8th inning sucker punch to the gut.
AND, BUT, ALSO: Although SCHERZER would strut some stuff later, he was not sharp early, while Tillman most assuredly was (5 K through 2). Back to back jacks by the MARTINEZ brothers took the crowd out of it, but only briefly, because SCHERZER was unable to shut the door at this opportune moment. The Tigers did make Tillman work and hasten his exit; KINSLER alone saw 30 pitches. Miller the ex-Tiger was instrumental in keeping the Tigers on ice. Detroit made almost every standout defensive play – CASTELLANOS-CABRERA made a brilliant play on a good bunt, and J. MARTINEZ-KINSLER killed a Pearce double – and yet the few misplays were devastating. It doesn’t exonerate the bullpen, but ROMINE’s bungling of a playable groundball and CASTELLANOS’s inability to handle a perfectly good throw from DAVIS (who was charged with the error, ridiculously) played a sizable part in the 8th inning nightmare. Still, more than anything, the Tigers pitching was not up to the task, and that includes SCHERZER and his gopher balls.

Max Scherzer:  “Just frustrated with how I pitched tonight. Walking off the mound, just felt like I didn’t quite do my job to the fullest. You’ve got to bring your ‘A’ game here in these situations every single time you step on the mound in a playoff game. Even though I was fully prepared to face their lineup, I just didn’t feel like I executed pitches at the highest level I could, and that’s the frustrating part.” *** Brad Ausmus: “It’s a team effort, and in baseball, team effort is if someone makes an error, you hope the pitcher picks ’em up. If a pitcher struggles, you hope the lineup picks him up. Tonight, we just didn’t get it done. It’s as simple as that.” *** The Nelson Cruz HR was his 7th career vs. Detroit in the postseason alone.

Game 2: Verlander v. Chen. ORIOLES 7, Tigers 6. Up 3, down 1.
NICE PLAYS: P Chen, 3B Flaherty-2B Schoop-1B Pearce, CABRERA-SANCHEZ, ROMINE-CABRERA, CF Jones-Schoop-C Joseph, LF J. MARTINEZ-KINSLER-AVILA
MISPLAYS: CF CARRERA
BASERUNNING NEWS: It was nice to see CARRERA come in for DAVIS and steal 2B just as well, and it could have made a difference, but again Baltimore just does better on the bases, case in point being Hardy scoring the winning run from 1B while CABRERA was thrown out trying to do the same (and much less advisedly).
THE BIG HIT: Bases loaded, 1 out, Tigers up 6-4 in the 8th, Young 3-run triple off SORIA.
THE BIG OUT: Runners on 1st and 2nd, none out, Tigers up 5-3 in the 8th, V. MARTINEZ doubles off Gausman to score HUNTER, but CABRERA is thrown out at home (Jones-Schoop-Joseph) trying to score from 1B.
GOOD HITTING: Young, Markakis
BAD HITTING:
GOOD PITCHING: Gausman, SANCHEZ
BAD PITCHING: Chen, CHAMBERLAIN, SORIA
OBVIOUSLY: Unbelievable. This one was in the bag! Unbelievable.
AND, BUT, ALSO: Detroit starts to whale on Chen in the 4th, 4 batters, 4 runs, and once again back to back jacks, J. MARTINEZ and CASTELLANOS going oppo big-time. But in comes Gausman, and out go the lights – for a while. VERLANDER holds the line but can only last 5+. SANCHEZ comes in and allows nothing out of the infield (nor any hits) for 2 innings. The Tigers get to Gausman at last, but a bigger inning is stunted by CABRERA needlessly running into an out. (A fair measure of Gausman’s good pitching was *great* Baltimore defense behind him.) We are astonished to see SANCHEZ leave the game and then livid to see CHAMBERLAIN and SORIA replay yesterday’s bullpen meltdown. The come-from-behind hope for the Detroit 9th is represented by PEREZ-ROMINE-SUAREZ. There is no unexpected magic.

Ausmus on the whole 8th inning debacle: “I don’t know that I necessarily have an answer for that, but if we have a lead in the eighth inning on Sunday, we’re going to have to find somebody… When you have a three-run lead going into the last couple innings, you feel like you should get the job done. But we didn’t.” On removing Anibal Sanchez with a pitch count limit in mind: “It’s more about [Sanchez] not being stretched out. He was hurt — what was he out? six weeks? — and he threw one inning [plus] one simulated game.” *** Rajai Davis had to come out of the game in the 4th, having hit a double that he had to settle for a single on when his injury tightened up. *** For the second game in a row, another ex-Tiger (this time Delmon Young) plays a heroic role. *** Nelson Cruz: “They are a great team. They have a good lineup and pretty good starting pitchers. So, the main thing for us is to stay focused and hopefully in late innings like today we can do damage.” *** Joba Chamberlain: “This one’s on me. If I don’t put us in that situation, Soria doesn’t have to come into that situation. Obviously, this one’s on me and I’ll wear it.” *** The Tigers head into Game 3 facing 5 in 44 odds of a happy ending to this ALDS.

Game 3: Norris v. Price. Orioles 2, TIGERS 1. Never ahead, down 2.
NICE PLAYS: KINSLER, KELLY, KINSLER-ROMINE, HOLADAY, PRICE-CABRERA
MISPLAYS: CASTELLANOS, KINSLER, LF Lough, C Hundley, 2B Schoop, SS Hardy-Schoop
BASERUNNING NEWS: Some great small ball in the 2nd with AVILA tagging to take 3rd and ROMINE almost nearly almost squeezing him in with a bunt. The Schoop SB was another very, very close play – hard to ask for a better throw by HOLADAY, ROMINE maybe a tad slow with the tag. The strange play of the game was where KELLY got caught too far off 2B on the HUNTER grounder to SS Hardy. KELLY was clearly out and didn’t help by hitting the deck far off the bag… except that Schoop dropped the ball and then blatantly interfered (think football tackle) with KELLY while recovering the ball and tagging KELLY again. AUSMUS came out to discuss, but it was a non-reviewable judgment call where the umpires clearly failed. Did it make a difference in the scoring? Maybe. PRICE’s pickoff of Cruz in the 8th was some small measure of revenge.
THE BIG HIT: Man on 1st, 1 out, 0-0 in the 6th, Cruz 2-run HR off PRICE.
THE BIG OUTS: Men on 1st and 2nd, 1 out, Tigers down 2-1 in the 9th, Britton retires PEREZ on a 5-4-3 DP.
GOOD HITTING: Cruz
BAD HITTING: KINSLER
GOOD PITCHING: Norris, PRICE
BAD PITCHING:
OBVIOUSLY: The offense chooses this as their day off, and the season flies away on the wings of a home run that was barely more than a long foul ball.
AND, BUT, ALSO: Despite the strong outing from Norris, Detroit didn’t go down quite as quietly as it appears. While PRICE was cruising (no unfortunate pun intended), the Tigers were within an eyelash of a run in the 2nd and had Norris on the ropes in the 3rd. The 9th inning last chance was exciting, and much too much is made of PEREZ grounding into the double play (which is something HUNTER, CABRERA, and V. MARTINEZ have been known to do.) V. MARTINEZ was, in fact, both big out and big hit, popping out to strand men at 2nd and 3rd, then doubling and scoring the Tigers only run. Gutsy call by AUSMUS and great bunt by ROMINE on the suicide squeeze in the 2nd. ROMINE was out by a mere eyelash and it was well worth the challenge. KELLY had a fine game filling in for DAVIS in CF (he was 3 of 9 total Detroit baserunners), the only caveat being the baserunning mistake. NATHAN pitched the 9th like a closer, and for the second time in three games, the Tigers were the better defenders. Despite a 1-7 RISP, the loss ending the season was less crushing than the two preceding it.

Ausmus: “It’s disappointing. You feel like you let the fans down and you feel like you let the organization down. You feel like you let [ownership] down. So it’s disappointing, no question. But there is nothing we can do about it now…  Norris pitched outstanding. I don’t know if our right-handers got a hit off him. To me, that was it.” *** Torii Hunter: “I still don’t understand how [Cruz] hit that ball out.” *** Scherzer: “We got beat. No other way to say it. We got outplayed in this series in every facet. It’s frustrating. I know how talented this group is. I’m not trying to take anything away from what they did. They outplayed us. They’re a great ballclub.” *** Alex Avila suffers a concussion (a lot of that going on over the past month) from a foul tip to the mask and comes out in the 6th.

So there you have it.

The Tigers put on their 93-player* (48 players during the regular season, including 13 making their MLB debut), 192-game, 7+ month show, and it was a good show. Having experienced it twice, I can tell you that the only truly disappointing thing about it was how it ended. But that’s how it goes for 90% of the top 10 teams in baseball every year now, doesn’t it?

*I was amazed to discover how many players had made Spring Training appearances.

The 2014 Detroit Tigers were a very good team, at least as good as any of the Leyland teams. What kept them from greatness, besides the Baltimore Orioles and chance (a lot of that in baseball, a lot of overlap between lucky and good)? You decide. While the post-2014 departures and arrivals are already well underway, it remains a relevant question. 2014 is the starting point for all the speculation about 2015.

If you feel the Tigers let you down overall during 2014 and wanted some examples to point to, look no further than the season series against the Minnesota Twins, Toronto Blue Jays, and Seattle Mariners. 12-19 only hints at it. For whatever reason, everything wrong with Detroit seemed to come to the fore against these teams.

If, on the other hand, you (like me) have a more positive take on this past season, have another look at some of the great wins (I’ve highlighted the best for each inning, though in keeping with my true nature, i haven’t neglected to also highlight the most aggravating losses).

A tip of the cap to Jason Beck & Co. for reportage and writing that helped bring the season back to life for me. A tip of the cap to Kevin in Dallas for his considerable efforts in bringing the appearance and functionality of this blog into the second decade of the 21st century at long last. Further tips of the cap to both Coleman and Kevin for keeping the lights on at DTW for so long in the absence of that remarkable one-man Detroit Guy show who got this whole thing rolling.

Over and out.

RESEARCH MADE POSSIBLE BY: MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL and BASEBALL REFERENCE. PHOTO CREDIT: AUSMUS: Elizabeth Conley/Detroit News