Rumblings and grumblings

Anybody noticed the DOW lately? Me neither. It isn't a particularly helpful measure of the economy anyway.

It is too cold for October. Highs in the forties in the middle of the month? Such would be lovely in December or January but are simply uncomfortable at this time of year. Global warming my antimacassar.

How many folks have I sent scrambling now to find out what an antimacassar is? The raw power I feel now is amazing.

The Tigers were ripped off. Sorry to revisit that, but it's true and will not be forgotten around here for a long time.

And Leyland should have started Porcello against Minnesota the last Saturday of the regular season. Sending an almost complete greenhorn in in a crucial game rather than someone who had proved his mettle.

But Porcello would have pitched on only three days rest! It wouldn't have killed him or his career, but it did drive a nail in the Tigers' coffin for him not to pitch. Leyland overmanages.

That is, until the one game playoff. Then he lets Rodney stay in because 'he wanted to'. The one time that maybe you should have made a move and you don't. Sheesh.

Not that I'm bitter. Me? never!

Well, this kind of strayed from a mix and match entry. I'll try harder next time.

The Final Indignity.

As I opened my morning newspaper today, I shot to the sports section as usual. It reported to me that what I had known for weeks was now a mathematical certainty: the Detroit Tigers were eliminated from playoff contention. The bulllpen, again, could not hold a lead.

It was supposed to be our year; many pundits saw an easy ride to a World Series triumph for the club. But as with many sure things, this wasn't such a great call in the end. Injuries hurt us, but lack of execution and poor management hurt too.

I'm no fan of Jim Leyland; he overmanages. Sure, most managers do nowadays, but his actions are particularly galling: taking out a fresh pitcher in the tenth inning of a game against Cleveland, a pitcher who had only faced one batter and got him out, Grady Sizemore no less, only to see the replacement allow a winning homer. To a .235 hitter. Nice move, Skip.

Sure, the book mave had called for that. Ever think that maybe you're reading the wrong book?

Ah well. At least they aren't the Lions. Tiger losses are frustrating, but Lions losses are embarrassing.