Some Story Lines for the Tigers

I was all set to write about the Tigers' great weekend (and maybe mention the Wings' terrible weekend), and then that got derailed. Sports writers (and bloggers) are always looking for angles, and a guy on Grantland wrote on one of the worst angles I've ever heard of - rooting against a team because they're good. He advocates rooting against the Tigers because they look like they'll dominate their division. Yeah, the Miami Heat's regular season dominance was so boring, people stopped following the NBA. Oh wait, they didn't. I get rooting against good teams because you don't like how they were assembled (the Heat, the Yankees), or you think that team's star is a jerk (the Lakers), or maybe you don't like the owner (the Cowboys), but the idea that a winning team is bad for story lines?

You want story lines? How about Cabrera's follow up campaign to the first Triple Crown in over 40 years? Or the possibility that he could break an 83 year-old RBI record? What about Verlander's weekly potential to go for another no-hitter? Here are a few things from Buster Olney's blog:

Miguel Cabrera: on pace to drive in 201 runs. He had six more RBIs Saturday night against the Astros, and now has 36 in 29 games. Because this is a statistic based on the performance of teammates, many things could prevent Cabrera from beating Hack Wilson's all-time record of 191 RBIs: slumps by the hitters in front of him, injuries or opposing pitchers choosing to work around Cabrera. There is bound to be some regression in how Cabrera is hitting with runners in scoring position, because he's hitting at an absurd pace: 23 hits in 42 at-bats, for a .548 average. He has a 1.472 OPS in those situations.

Cabrera: on pace for 256 hits. That would be the most ever in a single season for a right-handed hitter.

Austin Jackson: on pace to score 167 runs. It's not like Jackson is off to a terrific start at the plate -- he's hitting a very solid .297, with a .357 on-base percentage. But that Cabrera guy hits two spots behind him, and that helps. A season of 167 runs would rank in the top 10 all time, and would be the most since 1936.

Going back to Verlander, he nearly turned in a no-no yesterday (got broken up in the 7th). He's got a lights out fastball and a rubberband curve, and they all look like the same pitch coming out of his hand:

The above is an overlay of 4 different pitches Verlander throws with the same motion. $ different locations, 4 different speeds, same motion. What the heck are you supposed to do with that? Anyway, he was on form yesterday, and he got some help in the field too:

My favorite reaction was from the Astros' color guy, "No way did that just happen." Unfortunately Verlander couldn't keep the no-hitter going, but the Tigers managed to scrape by, 9-0, and swept the series 37-8.

Forget it, I'm not talking about the Wings. We'll talk about them tomorrow.