Tigers: Ready to leap forward
Posted: Thursday March 04, 1999 12:38 PM
By Mark Bechtel, Sports Illustrated
LAKELAND, Fla. -- Greetings from Tigertown. Few teams were as optimistic
as Detroit entering last season. After losing 109 games in 1996, the Tigers
cut that number down to 83 in '97, and began thinking wild card. Then they
just got spanked last season, barely avoiding 100 losses again.
This year the Tigers are optimistic once more, but far more cautiously. I
think they've got a decent shot of at least being in the running for the
wild-card spot. Look at how weak the AL is: New York and Cleveland are
locks, and either Anaheim or Texas will win the West. Whichever team
doesn't will have the inside track on the wild card, and Baltimore will be
in the hunt, too. After that, there's not a whole lot. So a few breaks here
and a few injuries there, and Detroit could stick within sniffing distance
of the playoffs.
One area in which the Tigers will be especially strong is the bullpen.
Watching 22-year-old Matt Anderson throw has been mind-numbing.
The kid has been clocked at 103 mph, and his pitches are nothing more than
blurs. He'll be pushing Todd Jones
for the closer's role. I'd like to see Jones hold onto his job. He is one
of the best talkers in the game, and a pretty good writer, too. He does a
weekly column for The Birmingham (Ala.) News. I read some of
his columns from last year, and he doesn't just give you fluff. He does a
really nice job getting inside the game and letting you know what life in
the bigs is like.
Jones is not the only Tigers reliever to dabble in the affairs of the
fourth estate. C.J. Nitkowski has a website (members.aol.com/cnitkowski)
that is full of news, pictures and a diary. If these guys pitch as well as
they write, it could be a good year.
On a personal note: Last Sunday, as Jeff Maggert was beating
Andrew Magee in the Match Play Championship at La Costa, I
accepted a challenge from colleague Jeff Pearlman. And I am proud
to report that during our round at Ruins de El Dorado in St. Pete Beach, I
defeated him 5 and 4 to win the unofficial SI miniature-golf championship.
If you're planning on taking in some Grapefruit League action and your
travels take you down I-4, which runs from Tampa to Orlando, look out for
the law. I haven't seen this many highway patrolmen since TNT played that
CHiPs '99 movie
every night for a month.
Sports Illustrated writer-reporter Mark Bechtel will check in with
periodic Postcards from his tour of spring camps.
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