Detroit Red Wing Playoffs Round 1

In the first round of the NHL playoffs this year the Detroit Red Wings will play the Phoenix Coyotes.  This is a rematch of the first round from last year.  A big question mark this series will be the health of Henrik Zetterberg.  It has already been stated that he will miss the beginning of the series.  I think that he will probably be back for game 3 which is the first game in Phoenix.  Another thing we have found out is that Niklas Kronwall will be ready for game once which is very good since he is a really good penalty killer.  Another key to the series for the Wings will be the play of Jimmy Howard.  In my opinion he has really picked up his game lately and should continue to play well.
The Coyotes are a team that struggle offensively and don't have many big time point producers.  That said they are a scrappy team that will always find a way to stay in the game and be close at the end.  They also have one of the best goalies in the league and it will be no easy task for the wings to score on him.
In the end I believe the wings will be too much for the Coyotes.  They have too much offensive depth, and a solid group of D men.  I also think Jimmy will play well and will always give the Wings a chance to win.  Even with Zetterberg out for the beginning of the series I see the Wings winning the series in five games.

Detroit Tigers Week 1 Review

I believe that Fu needs to be one of the
lefties in the Tigers pen this year.

After the first 10 games of the season I notice a lot of troubling signs about the Detroit Tigers this year.  First off with the exception of Verlander, Scherzer, Benoit, and Valverde the pitching staff has been terrible so far.  In Phil Coke's first start of the season he pitched really well, but also gave up a home run to Granderson in his first appearance out of the pen.  The rest of the starters and middle relief pitchers have just not been getting the job done.  As a team they have a 6.19 ERA which is 29th in MLB, a 1.53 WHIP which is 28th in MLB, and an opponents batting average of .276 which is 27th in MLB.  If this continues the Tigers will just not win games this year.  The biggest mystery to me is why Brad Thomas is on the major league roster.  He has been terrible in every appearance this season and Fu Te Ni looked great during spring training posting a .90 ERA over 10 innings.  I believe that Thomas should be sent down and Fu Te Ni should be called up right away.  Fu has shown in the past that he can pitch at this level and I believe he is ready to be called up from the minors.
Another thing  that troubles me about the Detroit Tigers is the fact that their hitting has really not shown up to some games this season.  In the few games where the pitching staff has pitched well the hitting just hasn't helped them out.  To no ones surprise Cabrera is leading the team in all the major offensive categories, and even though Victor Martinez has gotten off to a little bit of a slow start I think in the end he will put up his typical numbers.  The two hitters that really worry me are Austin Jackson and Will Rhymes.  Jackson is hitting just over .200 at .205 and Rhymes is under .200 at .182.  This isn't good for the numbers 1 and 2 hitters in the batting order.   These guys need to get on base for the big boys.  I had a feeling that jackson's numbers would slip a little from last season but I think that we need him somewhere around the .270 mark if not a little higher.  Rhymes definitely needs to get him average up.  After hitting above .300 in the spring and hitting well last year hitting under .200 right now is just unacceptable.  The fact that Scott Sizemore is off to a hot start in Toledo means that Will needs to turn it around quickly or he might just lose his job.
Tigers will continue to look for their first series win with the rest of the series against the Rangers and then they head out west to face the A's and the Mariners.  I have a feeling that they will start playing better once they had out west and that by my next Tigers review blog they will be around the .500 line.  My next Tigers blog will be out after they finish off the west coast trip.