It took me a couple of weeks, but I’m now completely caught up on both the 1935 Tigers and 1975 Reds diaries. If the old teams are your bag, be sure to check them out. And just as a little teaser, the 1935 Tigers season is about to get really interesting.

Now I just have to make sure that I don’t fall behind again. Or even better, I need to try to get ahead.

In some ways I was wrong about my initial analysis of the Placido Polanco trade. He’s helped the team a lot more then I thought he would, and in that respect, I was wrong. Since starting with the Tigers on June 10, the Tigers are 9-6, which for the Tigers at this point really isn’t bad. What I was correct about was whether he’d put us into contention because since June 10, the White Sox are 10-5, so we’ve actually dropped a half game in the standings.

Just to put our deficit in perspective, say the Tigers sweep the Sox to end the month. At that point, they’ll turn a thirteen game deficit into a ten game deficit. Then lets say the Sox hit a soft patch and finish the rest of the season going .500. That would put them at 92 or 93 wins. For the Tigers to catch up to the Sox, they’d have to go 53-34. And that’s assuming the Twins and Indians are equally apathetic.

I hate to give up on the boys at this point, but I honestly think they should be looking to next year. I know there’s the wild card, but even for that we’re 4.5 games back with four teams ahead of us (and the Yankees tied with us). And while I’m sure they won’t start retooling for 2006 right now, by the trade deadline it’ll all be pretty apparant.

If you’ve been a reader of this site, you’ll know how much I hate the save statistic. In my personal opinion, Goose Gossage is the all time best reliever ever. Jose Mesa saved his nineteenth game of the season today, and he passed Gossage on the all time saves list with number 311. Those in the “know” are aware that Mesa isn’t even close to being in Gossage’s league, but 50 years from now, who will know what people will think when they see the all time list.

White Sox are on deck. Be sure to check out Black Sox Blog to get a feel for how well these guys have been playing.

Permalink | Posted in 2005 Tigers