Thursday's Have Become...Hard Hittin'

Your Thursday's will never be the same! Gimme the rock son! From this Thursday forward I will be contributing to the all mighty UMTailgate.com website. Hope you enjoy! Let's get started...

The Detroit Tigers have the best record in baseball and as we near the last two months of the season that statement actually holds some weight. And this is no fluke either, as their pitching has been dominant. They've allowed the fewest runs in the big leagues and it's not even close. Tigers - 396, Twins - 443, Rockies - 451...Their defense has also been solid, allowing for the team to stay in close games. (They're 17-10 in one run games this year) However, the most impressive story for the team to this point is starter Justin Verlander, who is one of the front runners for the AL Cy Young award. Verlander struck out a season high eight against Cleveland Wednesday while winning his 13th game. The Tigers increased their record to 31-13 against the central division. Impressive run boys!

However, when talking about rookie pitchers and the Cy Young the name Francisco Liriano needs to top the list. The Twins rookie has been lights out! He's 12-2 with a 1.93 ERA and 125 k's in only 107 innings. The kid is no joke. Look for his domination to continue as the Twins catch the White Sox for the wild card and potentially represent the AL in the World Series...

What does this mean to you, the Wolverine fan? Defense wins championships. Maybe not so much in baseball but the Tigers have been the best defensive team this season and in order for our valiant Wolverines to have a shot at the Big Ten title we need to play exceptional defense. Shocking, I know. But the Wolverines gave up fourth quarter leads in four of their five losses. Terrible...Next week I'll drop "the hammer" on how are defense should stack up in the Big Ten and whether we'll have a shot at the big ten championship. Road games in Happy Valley and Columbus will surely provide a challenge! See you next Thursday when we drop the hammer!