Nine Innings Later....

Before last night's game, even some diehard fans had to wonder if the Detroit Tigers were in a total free fall. In the wake of the club's latest losing spell, which included a painful sweep by division leading Chicago, the club announced that hitting coach Bruce Fields and bench coach Kirk Gibson were going to swap positions. The Tigers also announced that Magglio Ordonez was being recalled from his Toledo rehab assignment and put in Friday night's starting lineup. Finally, as if the previous two announcements didn't raise enough eyebrows, the Tigers announced that prized prospect Justin Verlander was going to start the second game of Monday's doubleheader with Cleveland.

Any one of those moves, in light of the losing skid, could have been seen as a panic decision. However, bundled together, they looked like something George Steinbrenner might pull off when he didn't get enough sleep the night before.

The citizens of Tigertown had to wonder what the motivation was to rush Maggs back into the lineup (he wasn't exactly tearing up AAA nor was he down there long) and bring Verlander north so quickly? (How many Double A starts did Verlander have under his belt? Three?) Of course, I pondered what real benefit the Fields/Gibson title change would bring and if it was indicative of a bigger issue, as well.

Couple all of these changes with the fact that the Yankees were Friday night's opponent, Randy Johnson was starting for N.Y. and Jeremy Bonderman, the Tigers starter, was coming off his worst outing of the year and I think it's safe to say that a few of us who watch this team regularly were concerned about where this ballclub was headed.

That all changed nine innings later. The Tigers pounded Big Unit and the Bronx Bombers, 10-2. Ordonez returned to bat clean-up and hit a two-run homer. Placido Polanco homered and drove in five runs. Chris Shelton hit a bomb, too. Oh, and Bonderman? He pitched a compete game allowing only eight hits while fanning five.

Remember all the pre-game paranoia? Gone. Clearly, Maggs wasn't rushed back. Bonderman was back in form. Shelton was starting to look like the all-star caliber hitter the Tigers hoped he would become. Polanco just keeps paying dividends. The Tigers looked like a playoff team and the guys from NY looked like, well, like the Tigers usually do.

What if Verlander can come up and pitch well? The Tigers could be a playoff contender! How could more quality pitching do anything less?. An eight run triumph over New York makes everyone an optimist. For a while, anyway.

Then along came another nine innings Saturday night. Tonight's tilt was a Tiger lovefest early, with Ordonez doubling to drive in a run and Dmitri Young homering to spot the Tigers a three run cushion, only to see the Yankees beat up the Tigers' bullpen and win 8-4.

Kyle Farnsworth pitching an ugly eighth (although escaping without allowing a run) and Troy Percival pitched a terrible, terrible ninth.

The supposedly good Tigers bullpen looked really bad tonight. Even with Ordonez back, the Tigers couldn't muster any offense after their one big inning. They blew a pretty darn good start from Sean Douglass, to boot.

Saturday's Tigers performance more closely resembled their early week losses against the White Sox than Friday's feel good story. The question is which team is the real Tigers? The answer seems to be-both. As the Tigers appear to be a .500 team. However, I am going to reserve judgment for at least nine more innings.