At least for the Tigers fans in Wrigley and watching on TV it was. A 12-3 victory over the Cubs today completed a sweep of the struggling Chicago squad and has once again cemented what you could call a "hot streak" for the Tigers.
It's really a tale of two teams right now. The Cubs have lost six straight, all being at home. They are now 26-42 and it seems they are continually sinking. Mark Prior returning today was a positive, but I don't know how much his line from today's game would show that. Prior pitched 3.2 innings, giving up 8 runs - including 4 homeruns. The first inning was awful for the Cubbies, with Prior giving up 3 homeruns as he continually pushed straight fastballs right over the middle to a hot Tigers lineup. And there was no relief once Prior exited, as former Tiger (involved in Farnsworth trade) Roberto Novoa came in for the Cubs and proceeded to give up another 4 long balls to the Tigers.
And then there is the Detroit Tigers, who by sweeping the Cubs have won 6 of their last 7 games against two sub-.500 teams (also including the D-Rays). If you go back to the Blue Jays series before this, the Tigers have won 8 of their last 9, another "hot streak" to add on to what is already a great season for this team. After going through a really tough stretch of games against the ALs powers - the Yanks, Red Sox, and White Sox - the Tigers have bounced back by beating the teams they should be beating. They have been beating weak competition with regularity all season (see Lee's post on this).
Finally, I just would like to say congrats to Kenny Rogers for picking up his 200th career win against the Cubs today. After the game I noticed his teammates congratulating him, and it seems like all of these guys really respect his presence on this team and enjoy seeing him doing so well out on the mound. Congrats Kenny.
The Tigers keep winning. I like it. Keep it up boys.