Detroit Sports Review: What are the Tigers Doing Now?
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by Oneflydude
After a week off, I'm back with the Detroit Sports Review. I will give you a breif synopsis on what's is happening in Detroit Sports. Things have been getting very interesting in the city, so lets start off with the Tigers.
Detroit Tigers- This past week in Tigers news, Kenny Rogers will be back for another season. It looks like Kenny kept his priorities straight by agreeing to a one year deal on Friday. The terms of the deal haven't been released yet but it should be similar to Curt Schilling's deal. Over 19 seasons, Rogers is 210-143 with a 4.19 ERA and is a four-time All-Star and five-time Gold Glove winner.
This is great for the Tigers. They will need that veteran presence in the rotation to accompany Justin Verlander, Nate Robertson, Jeremy Bonderman and another pitcher, pending on the results of the remaining offseason.
Dave Dombrowski still might not be done with the pitching. Pitching is a main priority for this offseason and there is more to come from the bullpen and minor league prospects who could possibly take that fifth spot in the rotation. During the Winter Meetings, there has been a lot of talk with the Tigers. One deal that was starting to heat up is the Tigers talking about trading OF Cameron Maybin and P Andrew Miller to the Florida Marlins organization for P Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera (as reported from ESPN's Buster Olney). The Marlins were saying that it wasn't enough and that they didn't think that the Tigers were serious. I personally, hope that this deal would be made. The Tigers need a major upgrade at 3rd base and they still need to fill in that fifth slot in the rotation. Would the Marlins be willing to make that deal? I don't think so. Im sure they wouldn't be getting enough for those two, but if the Tigers were to send a bigger package, then it would definately be worth it for the Marlins.[1]
Detroit Lions- Do I really need to write a segment on these bums? It all goes downhill for the Lions from here on out. I would say they suffered another loss, but I don't feel they suffered it, so I' ll just say that they lost. But in all fairness, this team really blows. They went from being a very good playoff potential team, to a .500 team in a matter of four weeks.
They are now in the middle of a four game losing streak, and Jon Kitna is in jeporady of his 10 win season prediction. In the return of Adrian Peterson, I was surprised that he didn't set another NFL record on the Lions awful defense, but he did come out looking like the injury didn't bother him.
He ran for 116 yards and two touchdowns, only on 15 carries. Could you
imagine what he would've done to the Lions if they gave him the ball 25
times? Yeah, it would be horrible. They were the only team to give up
42 points this past week. The only team close to that was the [[New York
Jets]](40) in a game against the Miami Dolphins. The offensive "genius" in Mike Martz has not been showing lately. The Lions haven't converted a 3rd and 10 since September (true story). What that is telling me is that the Lions are slowly, but surely falling into the same playing level as the Fins.
But like I've said many times before, the Lions weren't really serious about making the playoffs. They received all that hype from the media, and they thought they were the s**t. Well guess what? They are s**t; not the s**t. So where do the Lions go from here? Coach Marinelli now has that same look from last year; the look of hopelesness, desperation and flopped sweat. I would say that it couldn't get worse for the Lions, but it still can. They still have to play the Green Bay Packers again, the San Diego Chargers and the Dallas Cowboys (and the [[Kansas City Cheifs]], if you consider them "good"). This team will be lucky if they even get seven wins. The Vikings were probably their only chance to get back on track, but instead, they kept Minnesota on track as they're now at a 6-6 record. Keep it up Detroit. This could be as bad of a collapse than the '07 New York Mets. Their next game is against Dallas, and it will probably be a mess. Expect for the Lions to play like crap again, and look for Dallas to put in their 2nd string offense around midway through the 2nd quarter.
Detroit Pistons- The Pistons have continued to impress me in these last few games. Sure they haven't played anybody major, but Flip Saunders is keeping his team in the right direction. He is starting to put trust in the bench and the starters are playing with a tremendous amount of effort. The bench has been heating up the floor these past couple of games. On Sunday night, they all combined for 49 points against the New Jersey Nets. Its great to see this bench able to come into the game and give the starters a chance to relax.
Jason Maxiell has really been standing out to me. He had a double-double in Sunday's game, with 18 points and 11 rebounds. On Saturday night, he scored 13 points and he had 9 rebounds. He could soon become a starter, but Antonio McDyess won'tlet it happen. He has been playing just as well, maybe even better than Maxiell. Dyess has turned it up a notch and has been shooting 60.3% from the field, averaging 11.1 PPG. I have been very pleased with his ability to hit that short jumper from about 15-20 feet. After I wrote that article when I was ripping him, he has proved me wrong by playing great basketball. Now I feel like a jerk.
The one thing I am not really impressed with is the inconsistency of Rip Hamilton. His numbers are better than they were earlier this season, but he continues to make mistakes at times. I've been watching him and he sometimes tries to force shots, cause bad plays and turn the ball over. His numbers are still godd offensively, but every year, his PPG average goes down. Since the 05-06 season, Rip has went from 20.1 to 19.8 and now he is at 16.7. Those are just little complaints for now because I'm pretty sure he will step it up later on down the line.
Detroit Red Wings- After the Wings struggled for a quick moment, they
have gotten back on track, improving to the best record in the NHL
(18-6). Saturday night, they capped off an amazing comeback in the 3rd
period against the Phoenix Coyotes, and won, 3-2. Henrik Zetterberg
chipped in a goal with 39 seconds left in the third, and he now has 35
points on the year. Kris Draper is still out with a knee injury and he
is expected to sit for another two weeks. But the way the Wings are
playing, they might not even need him for now.
Another clutch goal came from Pavel Datsyuk, who is really an underrated center in the NHL. He has scored eight points in the last nine games, and he now has 28 on the season. He is also clutch when it comes to the shootout. Right now, no one is as lethal in the shootout as Detroit's Datsyuk, who has scored on his past three attempts. He has nearly as many shootout goals this season (three) as regulation goals (five). He is one of the game's most patient scorers; he will wait until the absolute last second before committing to shoot or deke. Datsyuk is equally proficient on the backhand and forehand, which keeps goalies guessing.
Slumping Detroit Red wings backup goaltender Dominik Hasek has seen his playing time decrease in recent weeks. Hasek is going to start for the Red Wings tonight against the Montreal Canadiens; this will be his first start in 12 days. Hasek looks to earn his third straight shutout of the Canadiens when the teams meet tonight with both backup goalies expected to play. Hasek has lost three straight starts, posting a 4.26 goals-against average in that span, and has not played since allowing three goals in a loss to Nashville on Nov. 22. With top goalie Chris Osgood playing so well - 13-1-0, 1.79 GAA - Detroit (18-6-2) could afford to give Hasek a break.
