After taking the series opener against the Angels, the Tigers have now lost three straight. They’re 4-13 in September, but we’re not here to look at the bad. I’m putting on my rose colored glasses and looking for things to build on.

Unfortunately, I have to look really, really hard.

Let’s start with Friday. The Tigers came back from a 4-2 deficit to take the lead. Yes, they eventually allowed the Angels to tie the game back up and summarily win it in extra frames, but the team didn’t lie down. In that game, Fernando Rodney threw 1 1/3 shutout innings. Which leads us too…….

Positive number two. Fernando Rodney’s very solid season has been lost in the Tigers recent rut. Yeah, he blew a save the next day, but he’s thrown 38 innings and he has 39 strikeouts agaisnt only 11 walks. He has a .227 batting average against and while the five blown saves look bad, he’s better then anyone else we have and would make a nice cheap alternative as the closer for the entire season next year. I’m hoping Dombrowski doesn’t go shopping. I’d just as soon pick up a couple of good quality long guys then spend a large chunk of money on next year’s Troy Percival.

Curtis Granderson went five for five today and he’s now hitting .318 through 107 at bats. Positive number three is we now have our starting center fielder for 2006 and hopefully beyond. He also has three fielding runs above average in the short amount of time he’s played, so the fielding ability is definitely there as well.

I’ll throw in one more. Magglio Ordonez has quietly put together a nice second half (the only half for him) of the season. While the power isn’t there, we all expected his homer total to go down. But he has a rock solid .379 OBP and has 29 walks vs. 31 strikeouts. Expect him to improve on his numbers next year.

It’s tough being an optimist and a Tiger fan. But the good points are definitely there if you dig deep enough.

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