Detroit Tigers News: The entire dang team has the flu

Good Monday morning, reader. After a Sunday where the Detroit Tigers dropped their series-deciding game to the Kansas City Royals and it seemed like half the roster was battling the flu, Detroit works its way to the next stop on the road trip, Arlington Texas.

Although the Tigers dropped the series, the weekend wasn’t a total wash. We saw catcher Grayson Greiner record his first major league hit. Even though the Tigers dropped three of four in Kansas City, this team remains 2 ¹⁄₂ games out of first in the AL Central, a division full of teams that seem unable to get out of their own way.

The Gardy Effect is strong

The product on the field as of late has left much to be desired, but despite some rough stretches, it would seem that manager Ron Gardenhire has things dialed in in the clubhouse. In what is being referred to as the Gardy effect, the players are impressed with the message from their new manager, which seems to focus mainly on playing hard and brushing off losses. That seems just about right for the season the Tigers are expecting to have.

Issues with Iggy

It’s probably fair to say Jose Iglesias is not having the best start to the season. That was on display on Friday night in his at-bat in the fifth inning. Chris McCosky of The Detroit News gives a good rundown of what went wrong in that at-bat. When you’re a guy who doesn’t do everything well when you aren’t struggling, being able to execute in moments like Iglesias saw on Friday is pretty important.

The MLB draft is a crapshoot

As we move closer to the MLB draft in June, it would appear that the light at the end of the tunnel for Detroit is the freight train that is Auburn’s Casey Mize. As he continues to dismantle college hitters he looks more and more like an assured ace, but beware history shows us that no one is ever a sure thing. For every Justin Verlander (a second overall pick), there is a Matt Anderson (the first overall pick in 1997). Remember Matt Anderson? Nobody else does either.

Pujols goes for three

Albert Pujols stepped into the history books over thee weekend and became the 32nd player in the history of Major League Baseball to reach the 3,000 hit mark. It only took him 18 seasons. Regardless of the time it took, it’s an impressive feat. Let’s hope the next closest guy in line, Miguel Cabrera (2,666), joins the club soon.

Buehler. Buehler. Buehler.

The Los Angeles Dodgers called up one of their best young arms for a few spot starts over the last couple of weeks, and Walker Buehler (80-grade name) has impressed. In his most recent attempt, he worked the first six innings of combined no-hitter. Now, I’m sure it was fun to be a part of, but I’ve always looked at combined no-hitters like winning a NASCAR race under caution, winning a game because the other team didn’t show, or finding out you won gold at the Olympics months later when the guy who beat you gets busted for doping. It’s great to win, but not exactly how you would prefer to do it.

Buehler was pulled after 93 pitches, and while I understand protecting a young arm not too far out from Tommy John surgery, the less pragmatic fan in me wants to institute a rule that says if a guy is pitching a no-no his manager has to be chained to the bench and gagged until the pitcher gets to 120 pitches. Before that point, it’s on the pitcher.

Around the horn

Country singer Jason Isbell swaps concert tickets for hank Aaron baseball cards. Florida State’s coach breaks the record for the most wins in NCAA history. Have big swings, big flies, and big whiffs broken baseball?

Baseball is awesome

Sunday was the 20th anniversary of Kerry Wood’s 20 strikeout game. Enjoy some highlights.