Shake up in the Central?

Going into the weekend series with the Twins, currently the second place team in the AL Central, the Tigers find themselves only four games a head going into this three game series. This is just coming off of a losing series of the worst team in the division, The Kansas City Royals. But realistically the Tigers have a chance to put away the season this weekend with a series win over the twins. If they fail to do so they might find themselves sitting on the couch at home watching the playoffs. So here are my keys to the Tigers making it to the playoffs and beyond.

First off- Our hitting is games has been spotty. They should be trying to create more offense by playing a bit more small ball, aka hit and runs stealing bases. The Tigers are statistically the worst team at stealing bases. Other teams know that. Right now the only player that jim really feels comfortable giving that sign is granderson. I really don't blame him, a few games ago maglio got caught by a mile oh a called hit and run.

Give your work horses a rest- It almost looks as though edwin jackson has caught Josh Beckett syndrome. His homeruns have gone up a whole lot in the past month and at 195 innings pitched he is already over the amount of innings he has pitched the past few seasons. Also the past few starts Verlander has not been himself, giving up 1 inning or so where he has been vunerable. I believe it was 5 straight hits in 7 or so pitches. Zach Miner is an nice asset to have this time of year.

Bullpen- some might argue that the Tigers have had one of the best bullpens in the game right now. But what has astonished me is the ability to locate pitches in a jam by Brandon Lyon. Lyon came on in the 8th inning, Tigers were up by one. Runners at first and third. Lyon managed to get 3 straight outs while stranding both runners. That Ladies and gentleman was closer quality pitching. It can be very relaxing to Jim Leyland knowing he has closer quality pitchers in his bullpen. Rodney with the Excellent changeup right around 85Mph and being able to come back with a 97-98Mph fastball out of the same arm slot. Lyon with a cut fastball right around 93Mph has around just as much movement as a fastball can have on a pitch.

Also, Ryan Raburn has secretly been one of the tigers best hitters over the past month or so. Over the past 10 games when Raburn gets at least 3 at bats, he has been hitting an astonishing .391 average(9/23) with 5RBI, and 5 runs scored. Also Raburn has the third highest season total batting average, with the Tigers, for players with 200AB or more.

I am a Detroit sports fan and would love to see the Tigers take it to the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs. According to yahoo sports a combination of 13 Tiger wins or 13 Twins losses or anywhere in between(ex. 7 Tiger wins and 6 Twin losses) Will have the Detroit Tigers in the playoffs baby.

-Mike Wheat