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White Sox-Tigers rivalry brewing
The good news is that the Tigers have been incredible lately. The bad news is that the Chicago White Sox just won't go away. Even while losing to the Houston Astros Sunday night, the defending world champion White Sox displayed just how impressive they are. Tadahito Iguchi's seven RBI on a three-run homer and a grand slam in the last two innings to force extra innings was unbelievable. That's a great baseball team, and it points out just how good the Tigers have been to manage to stay ahead of the White Sox, who have beaten the Tigers in five of the six meetings between the teams this season, in the American League Central. Yeah, if you take the White Sox out of the equation, the Tigers are 50-20 this season. You get the sense the past can just be thrown out the window, and that the Tigers are going to be in this thing for the long haul. Yes, I still believe their best chance to make the postseason is through the wildcard spot, but I'm starting to get a feeling a dramatic race is brewing between the Tigers and the White Sox. They play 13 more times this season. And those games are going to be exceedingly important and possibly epic.
Random thoughts
- We've heard so much about English soccer star David Beckham that it's kind of cool to see him live up to his considerable reputation during the World Cup. He sure "Bent it Like Beckham" for that goal he scored Sunday.
- The White Sox inadvertently helped the Tigers Sunday night by taking the Astros to 13 innings. Houston visits Comerica Park for three games starting tonight and their bullpen has been depleted. What happened to Astro closer Brad Lidge? He seems like a shell of the pitcher he was last season.
- Still holding your breath waiting for Red Wings general manager Ken Holland to make a significant deal? Me, too. Wonder why he hasn't. Hope it's not because he isn't being aggressive. The Red Wings need to shake up the deck more than a little bit.
- What happened to the National League? The American League is totally dominating interleague play. Also, the American League has won three of the last four World Series - and eight of the last nine World Series games. Oh, and the National League hasn't won the All-Star Game since 1996.
Random thoughts
- We've heard so much about English soccer star David Beckham that it's kind of cool to see him live up to his considerable reputation during the World Cup. He sure "Bent it Like Beckham" for that goal he scored Sunday.
- The White Sox inadvertently helped the Tigers Sunday night by taking the Astros to 13 innings. Houston visits Comerica Park for three games starting tonight and their bullpen has been depleted. What happened to Astro closer Brad Lidge? He seems like a shell of the pitcher he was last season.
- Still holding your breath waiting for Red Wings general manager Ken Holland to make a significant deal? Me, too. Wonder why he hasn't. Hope it's not because he isn't being aggressive. The Red Wings need to shake up the deck more than a little bit.
- What happened to the National League? The American League is totally dominating interleague play. Also, the American League has won three of the last four World Series - and eight of the last nine World Series games. Oh, and the National League hasn't won the All-Star Game since 1996.
posted by Pat Caputo at
6:25 AM
3 Comments:
hey Book
I couldn't agree more, we definately have a great race shaping up. One thing you didn't mention is the Twins. Playing very good ball, big time staff with Santana Liriano and Radke. While would be hard for them to catch the division leader, they could make the wild card interesting, especially since they will be playing the tigers/whitesox a ton.
Nick,
I agree about the Twins. Everybody is making such a big deal about the Tigers having a schedule advantage because of the supposedly weaker A.L. Central, but I'd rather be seeing the a team like Toronto with great hitting than one like Minnesota with great pitching. Pitching is the Tigers strength and it usually beats good hitting. The Twins might be able to shutdown the Tigers with that rotation and Joe Nathan closing.
caputo
jd,
You're right about the Tigers having to take some games from the White Sox to really get the rivalry going. They have 13 more games with the White Sox, though, so the Tigers fate is in in their own hands to a large degree. Obviously, they can't depend on other teams to beat the White Sox. So if they want to win the AL Central, they have to take matters into their hands.
caputo
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