What an awesome weekend for Detroit sports. The Red Wings hosted there 2 day Hockeyfest at Joe Louis Arena, the Lions played there all important 3rd pre-season game, and the Tigers took 2 of 3 games from the Rays to maintain there lead.
The Tigers head into the stretch drive thru September in great shape with a very nice 4.5 games lead on the Twins and 6 game lead on the fading White Sox. I can't see the White Sox recovering from those 2 disastrous series against the Red Sox and Yankees and posing much of a threat down the stretch. Now don't get me wrong when I say "threat" I mean to take over 1st place but I still expect them to put up a fight in the games against the Tigers. I know the Twins have the duel threat of the M & M boys in Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer but I just don't see enough consistency in there pitching staff to take 1st place from us.
This weekend games just continue that good feeling and momentum that seems to be rolling more and more in our favor. Saturday's game being a perfect example because we lose but so do both teams behind us and no ground is lost. Then in the wins we get 2 great pitching performances one from our rookie sensation Rick Porcello and one from our stud number 1 Justin Verlander. Porcello continues to prove that he is up for the rigors of an entire season at the tender age of 20 and Verlander wraps up his 15th victory of the season tieing C.C. Sabathia for the league lead. Of course there is the matter of those big hits and home runs that keep on coming from unlikely power sources. Placido Polanco being the latest example with his 3-run barely made it blast in the 8th that put us ahead 4-3 and let Rodney come in and slam the door shut for his 29th save.
The Lions also won on Saturday beating the Colts 18-17 which isn't nearly as important as the players who finally got back on the field. It was great to see Calvin Johnson back out there in all his glory and rookie tight end Brandon Pettigrew seeing his first action all pre-season. The Offensive line played great against the Colts 1st team and opened up big holes for Kevin Smith and gave our QB's time to throw. Both Stafford and Culpepper had good outings and are making the decision very difficult on Jim Schwartz to name a starter. Even though a good offensive line and a healthy Calvin Johnson give Stafford all the tools to be successful, I still take the calm and poise of a savvy veteran like Culpepper who is looking more and more like his old self. I won't spoil things by bringing up anything about the Defense because this was a great weekend overall.
As Always feel free to post any comments good, bad, or otherwise
Jason
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This is very interesting Jason. Looks good to me.
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