it is 17 games into the young season. and i am just now posting. we improved to 7-10 with tonight's win in minnesota. our first two games were good. then there were 13 games in which we only won 3. now we have won our last 2, ending this blogless period the same way the it started it, with two straight victories. in that stretch of seeming doom,; c.c. and the bullpen were mostly to blame pitching wise. the offense as a whole mostly struggled. loss number 10 might just have been the slap-in-their-face blow that awakens the bats. a 25 year old rookie armando gallaraga was making his '08 debut for the tigers in the inaugural game in the cleveland series. every series we play against detroit is critical. no one in the division is better than these two teams. we are the two heavyweights in a division that is tough.

as it stands, the two teams that figured to be the worst are battling it out for first place.

the starting pitching is much better for chicago this year. john danks and gavin floyd are living up to their potentials, so far. contreras is better. javier isn't any worse. and the offense is bailing out a very bad buehrle. the offense and defense is boosted by joe crede, who looks like he just had a year of rest, not a year of surgery and rehab. and their bullpen doesn't absolutely suck anymore, so far.

and the royals are right there too. and they are doing it the legitimate way. with pitching and defense! bannister is the ace of the staff right now, although he stands to be the loser tonight as the royals are down 2 - 5 in 7th inning as i type. zack g is his ace co-pilot. meche is not doing anything surprising either way. tomko has been a solid veteran. and bale is the weak link. but the defense has sparkled too. except in LF. alex gordon is playing superb D at third base. and hitting too. but behind gordon in the outfield is teahan. the bullpen has been solid too, just like it was last year. their closer soria looks to be a nathan-like force. mahay and yobuta have been good acquisitions, so far. they should be tough all year. they are even missing dejesus right now.

and minnesota looks alright. carlos gomez is adjusting fairly well to life in the bigs. liriano is back on the mound. he still is trying to work his way back to his '06 dominant form. if he does so, all of baseball will notice. the offense should get better when mauer and morneau get hot.

regardless, neither of these teams has the combined talent that cleveland and detroit possess. so to get bombed 11-2 in our first game against them with our ace on the mound against a rook that pitching starved texas traded away seemed like a death bell toll. that rook one hit us through 6 plus innings. our ace had his worst start of the year. and that was no small accomplishment, as all of his starts have been bad, so far.

but we responded superbly! we turned the tables on them. our number two ace beat their ace by the exact same tally, 11-1. the two games were mirror images of each other. total dominance by the winning team. this is not a coincidence. it speaks the obvious. these two teams are equals. there offense is better than ours by the same difference that our pitching is better than theirs. when these two teams face each other, anything is possible. this is always true with any team. even more so with detroit.

but after 15 games, my worst case fears of '08 being an equal of '06 seemed to be coming to fruition. the bullpen was alot to blame that year. now that joe b is down, i am worried. raffy b has not looked sharp this year, now he is the closer. raffy perez and jensen lewis look great at times, look terrible at times. these are most likely the new set up men. masa looks like joe b, which is scary. these four men are crucial to the bullpens success, and to tribe's success as well.

at least fausto quickly recovered in this key spot. he must have been up late celebrating after signing his long term contract. he has had three awesome starts, and that one bad one. so far, no sophomore slump for him.

jake has been very good. and cliff has been oustanding! i think jake peavy might be the only pitcher in all of baseball who has been better than cliff. what a way for him to respond. and if anything happens to any of the starting five, then we have two solid experienced options just waiting for a chance in buffalo in laffey and sowers. it does sorta suck that adam miller is hurt again.

so far, not so good for us. 13 was a bad number that overshadows all else. hopefully we are getting out of it. if c.c. turns things around, and the offense stays consistent, and the bullpen 'botom' doesn't fall out; we should be alright. lets hope we are on the start of something good.

go tribe!