In the meantime, I haven't been living under a rock. Quick bullet thoughts, ho!
- RIP Harmon Killebrew This has been the big news, after his announcement that he was entering hospice care just last week. I saw him at an Autograph show in Baltimore a couple years ago and he seemed like a nice guy. That last half of the sentence sounds like the understatement of all time based on articles I've read about him since. Also, he had one of the nicest signatures in all of baseball.
- The Tigers are...good? I contemplated putting a post together to this point after their 40th game as they sat on a sweet 7 game win streak. Of course, there was that 7 game losing streak earlier, but that's in the past, obvs. It seems like the Tigers are, in fact, kind of good, but I expect them to play uneven, frustrating baseball for the entirety of this season as they seek a playoff spot. The best news for the Tigers is the apparent badness of the Twins.
- Benoit needs to be de-leveraged. He cannot be the 8th inning guy anymore. The Tigers need to Joe Nathan him pronto to see if he can get back on track.
- The Tigers starting rotation is money. Verlander and Scherzer are better than I thought they would be prior to the season. Porcello has pitched very well, and I have been impressed with Brad Penny in his last few starts. I don't really like Phil Coke, but maybe I'm just a grump. I wouldn't mind seeing him shift back to the bullpen to be replaced by one of the prospects. If the Tigers can sustain their starting pitching at even 80% of this level, they will be in the playoff hunt right to the end.
- Indians, man. They're not bad. Really, it's the former Indians that I'm interested in, right VMart and Jhonny? They've been excellent for the Tigers this year.
- Please don't slump Brennan Boesch
- On Cards: I think that I like Gypsy Queen but don't love it. It may be the first set to have the distinction of mini cards that look worse than the base. 2011 Bowman is ugly (what else is new) and has a crappy Tigers checklist. The more I look at it, the more I like 2011 Topps. Could go down as one of the best designed and executed sets in a long time. Diamond Parallels are money, and I hope they continue the Black Diamond redemptions into S2
- I have Baltimore City Jury Duty on Monday. I will be live tweeting my experience up until the point it becomes illegal for me to do so. Just FYI.
I hope to expand on some of these thoughts in future posts, and you know that I have the entirety of 2011 card galleries to catch up on. That's what summer is for, right?
