Sometimes it isn’t necessarily winning games, but how you win them that breeds confidence.
You can sense it is growing with the Tigers. Among the players. With their fans.
A turning point was when Curtis Granderson made that great catch in Cleveland early in the season. The Tigers were at a crossroad at the time - and took the right path.
Tuesday’s victory over the Cubs was particularly meaningful because the Tigers rallied a couple times and won it with a walk-off home run by Ryan Raburn.
Contending teams not only have contributions from role players such as Raburn, but also these certain magical moments. The two elements combined Tuesday
Come on. Raburn was a right-handed baitter, pinch-hitting for a left-handed hitter, Josh Anderson, against a right-handed pitcher, Kevin Gregg. Logically, the move made no sense at all. Raburn was hitting .225 at the time. It’s not like he has displayed a lot of power. It was a pure "feel" move by manager Jim Leyland. Raburn made him look like a genius by crushing the ball. It was an awful pitch from Gregg. And he paid for it.
The Tigers are a flawed team. They lack punch. Their bullpen is being held together on the whims of Fernando Rodney’s effectiveness, They don’t really have a fifth starter. Armando Galarraga hasn’t been much of a fourth one lately, either.
But the Tigers aren’t beating themselves with fielding blunders and a lack of range like last season. The top three in their starting rotation has pitched as well as any trio in baseball. And the Tigers are getting far more than expected from role players.
This is a team that is essentially in first place with virtually no contribution from Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Guillen or Jeremy Bonderman.
How can that be? Somehow they have developed an intangible quality that keeps building. It’s almost July, you know. This team seems in it for the long haul.

Random Thoughts

- Best move of the season so far by the Tigers: Calling up Donald Kelly and sending Clete Thomas to Toledo. Thought it was a curious move at the time, but it turned out to be the right decision, didn’t it?

- Not going to miss Donald Fehr as head of baseball’s Players Association? Me neither. He was as big a part of the steroids scandal as Bud Selig, as far as I’m concerned.

My column in Wednesday Oakland Press on Lions minicamp: http://tinyurl.com/kmlntj