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First of all, a disclaimer: A Tiger crush is not sexual. A Tiger crush is when you get overly excited to see a man come to the plate, take the mound, or roam his position in the field. You know something big is going to happen because he has been on a tear lately, or he has "that look" in his eye, or you stop whatever you happen to be doing at that moment because he's on TV. To give you a point of reference, my first Tiger crush was Cecil Fielder in his 50 home run season. He was a huge coney dog eating, womanizing, tax evading, home run machine. I coulnd't stop looking up his box scores, watching his segments on TV and trying to evade my taxes so that I could be just like my crush. For me, a Tiger crush is most powerful when I originally had no or low expectations for the Tiger in question.

That brings us to my new Tiger crush: Mr. Gerald "I'm so ugly it hurts" Laird.

If you can look me in the eye and tell me honestly that you were excited when the Tiger's signed Laird this offseason, I'll be forced to give you a cup check, because I know that you're a liar. (Also, if you are the kind of guy who got excited about the Laird signing in more than a "solid catcher who won't screw up TOO much" sort of a way, you may also be the kind of guy who wears a cup 24/7) When the Tiggys announced this signing, I had little to no clue who Gerald Laird was. When I did my Google, ESPN, Rangers team reports and my drunk uncle's opinion research, I was happy that we had a catcher who could at the very least stop a ball and not strike out as much as Inge. Inge could barely see through the tears that came from missing third base so much, so hitting and catching an effective game were out of the question.

****In the interest of full disclosure, I am not an Inge fan. He REALLY soured me last year with all of his pouting and kicking the dirt and crying when he found out that he wasn't going to be playing third over one of the best players of our time. If I'm hard on Inge, this is probably why. The image of him behind Leyland, pouting with his leg up against the wall like AC Slater on Saved by The Bell, will always be in my head and I can't shake it.*****

To my delight , Laird has been eating everything up so far this year. Maybe it was my low expectations. Maybe it was the fact that I knew he was way too ugly to steal my girlfriend. Maybe it was his Robo-Cop chest protector, but he started to grow on me. He has been handling this young Tigers staff like a pro. Having them pitch to their strengths, stay away from the weaknesses and mixing up the pitches WHEN NECCESARY has been a site to see. When Pudge started hating his life as a Tiger and giving up on the team, he had the pitchers all over the place. It drove me nuts when Verlander was struggling with off speed and Pudge would force him to throw off speed after off speed while he got spanked.

I had an idea that Laird would be a solid catcher, but his presence at the plate has been what has really made me crush hard. I'm at the point where when he steps up with ducks on the pond, I get as giddy as a tween watching Zac Efron wash a car. I was to drink from a milkshake with two straws with Laird. Last night put me over the top. His 2 Run shot into the seats at Kauffman Stadium really let me know that he was comfortable in the line up, and more importantly, I'm comfortable with him there. I know that he will come through when needed. Moving up a runner, hitting a sharp single, taking a long at bat to make the pitcher work for his out. I'm starting to get that feeling that I got when Polanco would come up in 07. I knew that we were in good hands.

For the naysayers: I know that Laird has just one homer. I know that he has 5 RBIs in 14 games. I know that neither of these numbers make you fall off of your seat. Please understand that I'm not saying he is in position to take Cabrera's clean up role, but given what I thought he would be, and what he has turned into, I have been very pleased about the signing. .340 BA and .426 OBP look even better when you consider Treanor his back up is still hitless in '09.