Year of the Tigers?
Expectations high for 2008 bengals
By JIM HAWKINS
The 2008 Tigers’ projected starting infield includes third
baseman Miguel Cabrera (left), first baseman Carlos Guillen,
second baseman Placido Polanco and shortstop Edgar Renteria.
Kenny Rogers
Can he shake injury bug and recapture 2006’s magic? Rogers was
Detroit’s No. 1 pitcher two years ago when the Tigers won the
American League pennant and got to the World Series, but
injuries held him to only 11 games last year, when he was
eventually shutdown in the second half by elbow problems. Rogers
has been solid this spring, and joins what may be a potent
starting fivesome that also includes Justin Verlander, Jeremy
Bonderman, Nate Robertson and Dontrelle Willis.
When Jim Leyland arrived in town two years ago, his first job was to teach
the Tigers how to win.
This year, Leyland’s challenge is to make sure they do exactly that.
For “The Best Team That Mike Ilitch’s Money Could Buy,” anything less than
another trip to the World Series will be a letdown. Missing the postseason
completely with this talent-laden team would mean a major failure.
In 2006, Leyland’s goal was to snap the Tigers out of the doldrums that had
haunted the once-proud franchise for more than a decade. To finally win more
ballgames than they lost, that was their objective — as minor as it may now
seem.
Last year, Leyland’s mission was to prove that the team’s 2006 postseason
adventure had not been a fluke.
This season, their already-formidable roster bolstered by the addition of
Miguel Cabrera, Dontrelle Willis, Edgar Renteria and Jacque Jones, Leyland’s
job is to win it all — whether the Tigers’ crusty manager wants to hear that
kind of hoopla or not.
“We haven’t had any forfeits yet,” Leyland declares, trying to keep the lid
on such lofty expectations for now. “Nobody has canceled any games against
us. Cleveland isn’t over there sweating, I can tell you that.”
Former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Walter Alston used to say, “The hardest
thing in sports is winning when you are supposed to.”
That is the task Leyland and the Tigers now face. They are supposed to win.
They are certainly talented enough to win.
The trick will be to actually do it.
It is a lot to ask — even of a lineup as loaded as the 2008 Tigers, with
their 11 All-Stars and one batting champ, surely are.
And the loss of Curtis Granderson, even if it is only for two weeks, won’t
make things any easier.
“I’ve never been around four hitters who hit .320,” says Willis, the
left-handed newcomer to the Tigers’ starting rotation who will now have
batting champion Magglio Ordonez, Placido Polanco, Gary Sheffield,
Granderson, Carlos Guillen, Pudge Rodriguez, Cabrera and Renteria all
hitting on his behalf.
The Tigers have, indeed, come a long way from 2003, when they lost 119 times
and had to battle to the wire not to become baseball’s all-time poster boys
for ineptitude and failure.
“Wow!” exclaims Polanco, summing of the feelings of Tiger fans and savvy
baseball watchers everywhere. “We had a good team and now it’s even better.”
The team that scored 887 runs last year — third most in baseball — is now
expected to touch home plate as often as 1,000 times this summer.
“We’ve got good hitters in all our spots — we just hope they all have good
years,” Leyland cautions.
When Leyland showed up two years ago, he said the Tigers smelled like “Old
Spice.”
That was not meant as a compliment.
Before Leyland, the Tigers accepted mediocrity. In fact, they expected it.
They wanted to win, sure. They hoped to win. But they weren’t surprised when
they didn’t.
They were nice guys. And remember what Leo Durocher said about nice guys and
last place.
Leyland wanted “swagger.”
Not arrogance, mind you. Not cockiness. Confidence.
“I think we’ve done a pretty good job of learning how to keep our mouths
shut and go about our business,” Leyland says. “I really like professional
people who go about their business.”
In the Tiger manager’s mind, that is the right way to play the game.
While the media refers to the Tigers’ batting order as “Murderers’ Row,”
Leyland merely concedes, “We’ve got a nice lineup.
“We’ve got to be careful, because people are gonna be talking about us,” he
cautioned his players when they arrived in camp in February. “I don’t want
us falling into the excuse trap.
“I have to attack that stuff as manager,” Leyland admitted when he addressed
the same subject with the press. “This is no slam dunk. This is a very
delicate situation. How will we handle it if we go into a slump and have a
little adversity? How will we handle it if we do well?
“We can’t help what other people say. You have to take that with a grain of
salt, because those same people are going to be all over our butts if we
don’t do well.
They’re going to say we’re the biggest fluke of the year and all that kind
of stuff. I’ve been down this road before. So I don’t pay much attention to
that.”
Having said that, holding those emotions in check won’t be easy.
If advance ticket sales are any indication, interest in the 2008 Tigers is
at an all-time high.
If the Tigers get off to a quick start, the media front-runners and the
bandwagon-jumpers will be all over this team.
You can’t blame them.
Tiger fans finally got a taste of winning two years ago.
Now they want more. They want it all.
The Tiger players sense it, too.
If they can all stay healthy — and that is a huge if — they see no reason
why they can’t go all the way.
That opinion is widespread.
In an informal poll this spring, mlb.com, the Internet arm of Major League
Baseball, asked scouts, coaches, players and members of the media to name
the best lineup in the game.
They picked the Tigers No. 1 — ahead of the Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies and
Mets.
Take that, Cleveland.
But Leyland doesn’t want to hear that kind of talk. After all, he has been
down that road before.
A year ago, the Tigers, as the defending American League champs, were the
team to beat.
And the Cleveland Indians did exactly that.
In case you have forgotten, the Tigers were 18 games over .500 and in first
place at the All-Star break last summer. They went 36-40 the rest of the way
and wound up eight lengths behind the aforementioned Tribe.
“I’m a baseball person,” the Tigers manager says. “Fans and baseball people
are different.
“I don’t think we’re the favorite. I think the Boston Red Sox are the
favorites. I think the Cleveland Indians are the favorites. They’re the
champions.”
However, even Leyland admits, “I think we’re very talented. If we play well,
we should have a great year.
“Am I excited? Yes, because I think we really have a good team. But does it
mean anything? No. Not unless you go out and prove it.
“This is a real good team, there’s no question about that,” he concedes.
“But it’s not a perfect team.
“I like to talk about my team after the season — not before. Then I’ll tell
you what kind of team it was. When the umpire says, ‘Play Ball!’ we’ll see.”
Leyland also knows such presumptuous expectations come with a hefty price
tag.
“Hopefully, they (the Tiger players) are going to do things right,” Leyland
said. “If not, these guys are going to have to answer to me a little bit —
and I’ve got to answer to Dave (Dombrowski) and Mr. Ilitch.
“This is a dangerous year because you don’t want to curb the excitement —
but you do want to make sure you control it,” Leyland says. “We’re a good
team, but some people get crazy, calling us another Murderers’ Row. The only
thing I worry about is, with so many good hitters, you might start counting
on the next guy instead of bearing down.
“If we play up to our potential, I’ll be happy,” Leyland insists. “If we
finish third, but we play good, I’ll be happy.”
Maybe so. But if that happens, Leyland may be the only one who is.
The pressure is on.
