I was just turning this possibility over in my mind - is the bullpen possibly not as bad as previously thought? Maybe it's just because the Tigers are putting up high run totals and hitting the shit out of the ball on a daily basis, but I haven't wanted to cry when Jim Leyland walks to the mound to pull the starter in quite a few games.
Without Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya, it was widely assumed that the pen would struggle until they returned. For the beginning of the year, they weren't exactly perfect but they didn't really get helped out by the starters at all either. The pitching was just all around awful. Of course, there were a few outings that were just absolutely abysmal (see: Grilli, Jason) but that is to be expected with a team that was playing the way the Tigers were playing a few weeks ago.
But, the emergence of Aquilino Lopez, Denny Bautista, and Clay Rapada has given the pen a new core of guys to rely on. Add that to the consistent performance of Bobby Seay and Todd Jones (consistently getting the job done in frightening fashion, in Jonesy's case) and that leaves five guys pulling their weight in the bullpen. That's a pretty solid number considering the last two guys are Jason Grilli and Zach Miner-Grilli, who have morphed into one massive gas can to incite massive explosions from small fires left by the starters.
But, even Miner had a good outing yesterday with three innings of hitless ball. And Jason Grilli pitched a perfect ninth on Tuesday, punctuated with a strike out. Is it possible that the momentum generated by the bats is contagious and is spreading competence among the most gassiest of gas cans?
If this team ever gets healthy (probably not) and keeps the bats going as hot as they are right now (probably will), the winning will keep coming. Four games in a row right now, blasting opposing pitchers out of the park and holding onto leads that are given - these are things that good ball teams do. It still isn't May yet and the Tigers are sitting just three games below .500. Crazy things are possibly with this team, and if they can put more stretches like this together, things just might be OK.
Without Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya, it was widely assumed that the pen would struggle until they returned. For the beginning of the year, they weren't exactly perfect but they didn't really get helped out by the starters at all either. The pitching was just all around awful. Of course, there were a few outings that were just absolutely abysmal (see: Grilli, Jason) but that is to be expected with a team that was playing the way the Tigers were playing a few weeks ago.
But, the emergence of Aquilino Lopez, Denny Bautista, and Clay Rapada has given the pen a new core of guys to rely on. Add that to the consistent performance of Bobby Seay and Todd Jones (consistently getting the job done in frightening fashion, in Jonesy's case) and that leaves five guys pulling their weight in the bullpen. That's a pretty solid number considering the last two guys are Jason Grilli and Zach Miner-Grilli, who have morphed into one massive gas can to incite massive explosions from small fires left by the starters.
But, even Miner had a good outing yesterday with three innings of hitless ball. And Jason Grilli pitched a perfect ninth on Tuesday, punctuated with a strike out. Is it possible that the momentum generated by the bats is contagious and is spreading competence among the most gassiest of gas cans?
If this team ever gets healthy (probably not) and keeps the bats going as hot as they are right now (probably will), the winning will keep coming. Four games in a row right now, blasting opposing pitchers out of the park and holding onto leads that are given - these are things that good ball teams do. It still isn't May yet and the Tigers are sitting just three games below .500. Crazy things are possibly with this team, and if they can put more stretches like this together, things just might be OK.