No Time For Losers

Where's Pete Mackanin? The Tigers coaching staff is seeminly comprised of everyone else associated with 14 years of losing baseball in the 'burgh, including 3 of the last 4 skippers (Jim Leyland, Gene Lamont, this blog's namesake Lloyd McClendon) and a couple of guys who stuck around after the glow from the Bonds era wore off (Andy Van Slyke and Don Slaught). Likeable fellows, all. Throw in a resurgent Sean Casey and the spectral presence of an infamous Rule 5 loss (Chris Shelton), and you've got a whole lot of unhappy Pirates fans playing a game of "What If?"

But what works in Detroit -- excuse me: what makes the Tigers amazing in '06 -- would've amounted to another 66 win season in Pittsburgh. The key to this team, as has already been written everywhere and become a part of its mythology, is Mike Illitch's bold move with signing Pudge to a fat 4-year contract. The Tigers took a couple of players labeled as damaged goods (Ivan Rodriguez and Magglio Ordonez), burned off some terrible contracts and got really lucky as the aging cornerstones (Dmitri Young) held value and some long-in-development prospects (Marcus Thames) finally found a groove. Plus, you can't touch that pitching staff: Justin Verlander and Joel Zumaya on the 1-2, vaporizing memories of the Adam Bernero dark ages.

Won't be around to watch the first game of this World Series (in fact, I'll probably miss the whole thing), which sucks. It usually takes a few weeks for me to pull of the Pirates fan hat and trade up for the MLB fan hat after the regular season has ended. Which is to say: I never pay much attention to the respective League Championship Series but turn on a dime and bark like a rabid dog when its World Series time. Props to the Cardinals for going the distance against the hated Mets, but the Mets were smoke and mirrors after the All-Star Break. Detroit looks invinvible this year. 4-2 seems like a reasonable prediction. And fellas, send me some YouTube links for all of the highlight reel-worthy plays, a'ight?