Looks to be a special year for Tigers ace

Recently, I published an article on positive things in Detroit sports. On that very list, Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander was highlighted, oh, I don't know, about six times in a 17-item list.

Couldn't help it.

The way the season has gone so far, it's hard not to love Verlander. For one thing, the Tigers ace has always been a fan favorite. From the moment he made his debut in 2006 and hurled a 100 mph (102 at its best) fastball, Verlander was the symbol of awe for this team.

Now, from a statistical and psychological standpoint, the franchise player for the Tigers at the time was probably either Pudge Rodriguez or Magglio Ordonez. Now one can make the case that it is Miguel Cabrera. After all, he's the slugger, the top bat, the guy who gets it done. And it is certainly fair to argue that Cabrera is Detroit's most valuable player right now.

But Verlander is the exclamation point.

Verlander is capable of creating more hype than Cabrera. I think it would also be correct to say that Cabrera has, at this point, lost some approval. Granted, fans are starting to grow accustomed to player misbehavior. Getting pulled over while sipping whiskey, after already being drunk before and beating one's wife isn't something everyone just magically forgets. Respect was certainly lost.

How's that for a stat?

Ah, the quality start. In an age of statistical jargon (what's OPS again?), this stat sounds surprisingly, well, simple.

A quality start entails that a starter pitch for six innings or more and allow three runs or less. Pretty good, right? Well, if you are Verlander, that's your everyday stuff this year.

I'm not kidding. And neither is the stat. In Verlander's 9 starts this year, he has 9 quality starts. That was not a typo. 9 for 9. Perfect.

And it doesn't stop there. Verlander's also averaging less than 4 1/2 hits per game. In fact, one's odds of striking out against Verlander are much better than getting a hit. In only two games did he surrender more hits than strikeouts, and he's averaging nearly a strikeout an inning (62 in 65).

Really, it's the quality starts that get you. Consistency in baseball isn't very common. And consistency for pitchers in baseball is even less common. But for Verlander, it's no problem. Really, he set the tone on Opening Day. On a cold day, facing a tough Yankee lineup, and, as he admitted later, being fairly unprepared, disaster struck and Verlander allowed a unthinkable THREE RUNS. As columnist Michael Rosenberg would reason, if that's as bad as it gets for Verlander this year, the rest of the American League is in serious trouble.

Now his theory is starting to appear correct.

Oh, that too

And, oh yeah, Justin also threw the second no-hitter of his career this year.

The no-no just goes to show that, as I said earlier, Verlander is this team's exclamation point. Home runs are nice. Big home runs are nicer. But even big home runs are rarely remembered as long as a no-hitter. That may seem unfair to the hitters, but since when is being a pitcher easy? Hit a walk-off and the crowd loves you for maybe the rest of the week. Throw a no-hitter and the crowd is with you the whole game, goes berserk when you finish, and keeps talking about it long after it happens.

With Cabrera, good hitting is a nice thing. But overall, it's hard to get behind the guy. Too many harsh thoughts. Fans support him, but most support him while feeling somewhat reluctant to do so. Cabrera gave us something to worry about, but Verlander gave us something to get behind, something to feel good about. He gave us a good conflict; he gave us good things to wonder about.

Like, how many more no-nos does this kid have in him?

Silly me, though, I almost forgot the disclaimer. It is after all, still early in the season, so things are unclear a lot can change, blah, blah, blah.

Glad that's out of the way.

Now I can get back to enjoying the season that #35 is having.

Look out Sports! There's a New Sherrif in Town!

Well, they voted and... wow. All of a sudden I am in charge of pro sports. And my first action as universal commissioner is a reform in rules. Here goes:

• Playoff beards must be REAL beards (sorry, Sidney Crosby)
  


• If after 6 innings, a pitcher has a perfect game, or even a no-hitter intact, replay is fair game for ALL plays.



• If you knock down Joe Thornton, you get a cherry pie and a pat on the back.



• NFL players who whine about safety rules will be blindfolded and placed in a junkyard with at least ten angry dogs with no exit, then asked for their opinion on safety.
  


• If a manger leaves the pitcher in after he lets up 6 runs or more, the fans get to storm the field and take him out themselves.



• Good-bye Lebron James.



• When ESPN talks about baseball they MUST spend at least half of the time talking about something other than the Yankees.



• If a soccer player takes a fall, you get to hang him from the net by his shorts.



• Every athlete must take a large dose of truth serum, then appear before the press and admit to whether or not they used steroids.



• Slam dunks cannot be part of ESPN's top 10.



• And there goes Michael Vick



• If a hockey ref gives a team three power plays in a row, all on blown, easy calls, he has to fight with one of the players he put in the box for 20 seconds.



• All closers have to be as cool as Jose Valverde. Or at least almost as cool.



• If an analyst calls a certain athlete the "best player in the world" and that athlete hasn't won MVP or a championship within the past four years, it's a $500 fine.



• If a player takes a cheap shot while the ref's back is turned, he must tap the ref on the shoulder, admit what he did, and finish every sentence with, "And I'm a stinking coward" for the rest of the week.



• No sport can allow more than three timeouts (no more marathon college basketball games)



• If Rex Ryan talks smack before a game, then fails to back it up, he must spend five hours explaining to a press conference why his team is so much worse than the other team and how he is a terrible coach.



• SportsCenter must spend at least 10 minutes a day talking about the NHL during hockey season, 20 during the playoffs.



• If you get sucker punched by another player, you get to toss him in the bleachers, allowing the fans to discipline him.



• BOTH guys on PTI have to be at the studio for the same show at least three times a week.



• In baseball: ONE cup adjustment/glove tightening/digging of cleats per inning.



• Referees can no longer try to eliminate the Red Wings from the playoffs.



• The Norris trophy is now the Lidstrom trophy.



• 9 goals in a game really is an Ovechtrick



• NBA and NFL players must spend more time playing and practicing than shooting commercials.



• If a player or players hit/spray the goalie, the goalie can stuff him in an equipment back, zip it shut (with air holes), and drive around for four hours with the bag in the back of his pickup truck.

Not all is lost

So the Wings are out. But, hey, there's still plenty to be happy about.

Like:

1. The Chicago Blackhawks are out.

2. The Pittsburgh Penguins are out.

3. The Yzerman-led Lightning are still in.

4. The Sharks were forced into by far the shortest amount of rest time heading into the upcoming round.

5. Someone other than Niklas Kronwall was called "gutless" (Patrick Marleau)

6. We got to see Kris Draper's beard again.

7. Justin Verlander is incredible.

8. Justin Verlander's fastball is incredible.

9. Justin Verlander's other pitches are incredible.

10. Justin Verlander's beard is incredible.

11. Sidney Crosby is NOT an MVP finalist.

12. Neither are any Penguins, Blackhawks, or Sharks.

13. Pavel Datsyuk was actually talked about on Versus.

14. The Lions (hopefully) drafted very well.

15. Nicklas Lidstrom is a Norris Trophy finalist.

16. Red Wings players other than Datsyuk were actually talked about on Versus.

17. Justin Verlander's cleats are incredi... never mind.

And the Winner is.... (not who you thought)

Soooo, after all that riffraff, the Wings prolonging the series and losing anyway, who really won?

Was it the Wings, because they still made a statement and made it hard for the Sharks? Nope.

Was it the Sharks, since they pulled it off despite almost giving up the comeback? Nope.

The correct answer is the Boston Bruins. Yep, that's right, the Boston Bruins. Thanks to the extension of the series, their series against the Lightning will now be starting much later than was originally expected. And that means extra rest time for ailing defenseman Patrice Berrgeron.

Funny how sports works sometimes.

Big Bert was the Difference

Emotion.

Good or bad, that's what Todd Bertuzzi has always been about. Love him, hate him, you can't ignore the guy's presence. Whether he's impressing you with a fantastic goal or disgusting you with a gutless play, he can't be overlooked. Such was the case in the Detroit-San Jose series.

Bertuzzi's level of play has always been a big factor in games. The only thing Bertuzzi does more than work harder than anybody is slack off more than anybody.

So, in Game 4, with the Wings trailing 3-0 in the series and looking as if they were about to go quietly, Devin Setoguchi did the dumbest thing he could possibly do: ticked off Big Bert. And as they would later say during the intermission, you don't wanna make Todd Bertuzzi mad. After a hit, a broken up scrum, and an exchange while on benches, Bertuzzi responded with a spin-o-rama goal that, had the Red Wings pulled off a game 7 victory, would have likely been remembered as the turning point in the series.

Granted, it's not all that easy to see exactly where Bertuzzi helped from there. But we do know some things. Bertuzzi certainly showed a physical presence in the series from that point forward. His big hits changed a lot. In fact, the Red Wings suddenly appeared to shockingly be the physically dominant team. Clearly, Bertuzzi was fired up. And there's a funny thing about that kind of attitude.

It spreads really quickly.

All of a sudden, bang! It went from a Sharks series to a Red Wings series in the blink of an eye. The Red Wing Invincibility seemed to have returned. The Wings rallied back for three in a row, showing themselves to clearly be the better team. Heading into game 7, it looked like it was Detroit who had a stranglehold on the series.

And then came game 7. And in the first period, Big Bert was taken out of the game due to injury. All of sudden, bang! The Sharks came roaring back. Poor officiating and 1st period miscues by the Red Wings had their effect on the outcome. But consider: if Bertuzzi were in, he would've minimized the cheap shots taken by the Sharks in the first place. And it's likely that his departure was a big reason that the miscues occurred.

I'm not sure if any man in the NHL has ever attracted a larger combined amount of hate, liking, frustration (from both supporters and opponents), and awe than #44 of the Red Wings. In this series, Bert was the Red Wing hero, and his departure left them too crushed to carry on. Of course, with the series over, it's obvious that we are now going to hear more about whether "this is it" for the older Red Wing players. Bertuzzi is, in fact among that group in discussion.

Bertuzzi gone? Really? Well, I'm sure the only group of NHL fans larger than those who love him and want to see him continue are those who despise him and hope that he leaves.

Back In

As usual, my busy schedule has been getting in the way of my blogging. However, a recently pulled back has opened a lot of time up. Hope to blog a lot more as a result.