Bounce Back?

Hopefully the darkest part of the baseball season is behind the Detroit Tigers.  After a miserable month of baseball and a horrible series that saw their top two pitchers get knocked around by the Kansas City Royals, they seem to have righted the ship for the moment.  Maybe all it took was a few days in second place and everyone that is interested in the sport to question what the hell was happening to the team that was predicted by most to make it to the World Series.  After salvaging one of the four games played against the Royals, the Tigers slunk away from Detroit to play against the team that seemed to have sent them on their month long downward spiral:  the Cleveland Indians. 

As many fans recall, it was a sweep at the hands of the Indians that started the Tigers' month to forget.  At the series start, I was hoping for at least one win of the three game series (optimistic, no?).  And what they came away with made me very happy, a three game sweep.  But more importantly, the Royals were also swept at the same time.  The tables turned and the Tigers reclaimed first in the division for a little bit.  There are still issues that need to be addressed.  The bullpen is still giving up runs and throwing too many pitches.  The starters though, were firing on all cylinders for at least one series.

Is this the turning point?  Can the Tigers bounce back from a horrible month and start to create space between them and whatever team is in second place for the rest of the year?  We are closing in on the halfway point of the season.  While you don't want to put the team on cruise control early on, it would be nice to see more than just a two or three game lead.  I would prefer five or six (not too greedy is it?) game lead heading into the second half of the season.  They have a tough series ahead against the Rangers, but on the flip side to that, they do play the Astros right after that.  Then, the series that every fan of the sport should be interested in:  a three game set against the Oakland A's.  The best team in baseball right now.  They come to Detroit and nothing would be better than to take the series from them.

The next ten games for the Tigers should tell the fans more about them.  Can they continue in the right direction after the sweep in Cleveland?  Can they forget about the month that was?  Can they defend Comerica against the unwashed mass that is the Oakland Athletic baseball club?  I surely hope so.  That would be a statement series win.  Only then will I truly believe that the Tigers are going the right direction.

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