Yep. The Tigers are back to their old, sucky ways.

I owe ultimate thanks and shout-outs to my boy, Babe Ruth, who saved me the completely unnecessary hassle of explaining to the anonymous postman that he was being completely ignorant while talking about the Tigers being "back to their same ole ways." But I'm going to explain it anyway.

I'm not exactly sure what was going on with that response. But please, don't question my knowledge of baseball when you're being completely ignorant. If you have something smart and well thought-out to post, please do so. I appreciate those posts very much, even if they aren't parallel with my own opinions.

What I said in my last blog was absolutely true in every respect. The Cardinals are playing much better baseball than any of the "experts" suggested they would. Across the board, the big guns who "know" baseball were picking the Cardinals to finish below Chicago, Milwaukee, and Cincinnati. As of now, we lead the Cubs by a game, the Brewers by 1.5, and the Reds by four.

To have the gut to suggest that the Cardinals were supposed to be playing as well as they are AND to say that the Tigers "suck," then to ask when they became a dominant baseball team is, well....gutsy. And uninformed.

It was also said that the true "shocking" story of the baseball season thus far is the Kansas City Royals. Your Royals have lost five of their last eight. Which is anything but shocking. It's true, it was a nice, kosher cup-of-tea story while it lasted. But everybody and their uncle Tom knew it wasn't going to last. Which is why I didn't call their start "shocking." It was luck. The 'Birds continue to play well, and will continue to play well. They're young and enthusiastic. They have proven Big-Leaguers in both the field and on the mound. They have a Hall of Fame coach, and one of the best pitching skippers in the game. We have good fans, strong support, and smart baseball people at the helm. The Royals have none of the above. Mark Grudzielanek doesn't count. Alex Gordon isn't proven. Mark Teahan is probably the most known name on that roster, and he's never batted over .300, never hit more than 20 homeruns, and never drove in more than 70 runs. They have Brett Tomko. We had Brett Tomko in 2003, he was old and decrepit and useless then.

I'm not a baseball expert, by any means. And I don't get paid big bucks to be accurate when I talk baseball. Or any other sport, for that matter. But I promise that I do my best to not just talk out of my ass. When I say the Tigers are supposed to be good, they're supposed to be good. It's not like I said the Royals were supposed to be good, or the Pirates. What I said was that the Royals are playing the way a team with Gary Sheffield, Magglio Ordonez, Edgar Renteria, Placido Polanco, Ivan Rodriguez, Carlos Guillen, Miguel Cabrera, and Brandon Inge should be playing.

That's eight "could-be" All-Stars batting in that lineup right now. And when "should-be" All-Star Curtis Granderson gets back, they'll move "could-be" All-Star Inge to the bench. That's a good ballclub. I don't need big bucks to know that this team isn't back "to their old ways" and they sure as hell don't suck.

But hey, I love getting burly about baseball.


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Here's a tidbit from Bryan Burwell in a recent column. The column concerns why we continue to talk about race in sports, and he uses many great examples. As many of you know, at least the ones who have been reading this blog since it's beginning, I'm not a big fan of Burwell. However, I think he made some great points in this column. I share this with you, because, in all honestly, who the hell doesn't respect Tyler Hansbrough:

"It's because Tyler Hansbrough — clearly fatigued by the intentional and unintentional insinuations that all his hustle and hard work cover up some glaring lack of athleticism — interrupted a questioner during the NCAA Tournament last month and asked him to talk to the opponents he outplays every night on his way to becoming national college basketball player of the year to see if they thought he was a good athlete."

Props to Hans.