Energized play has sparked recent run

[redsrbetter]

Monday, August 22, 2005

Burning Questions

Energized play has sparked recent run


By Lynn Henning / The Detroit News


Morris Richardson II / The Detroit News


Burning questions as the Tigers try to keep August's fires blazing with Oakland coming to town ...

Q: Why is this team playing so well when 10 days ago things -- on and off the field --seemed so chaotic?

A: You can look at a handful of reasons: A team that looked pretty good on paper at the start of the season is finally together (Carlos Guillen aside) and playing a surprisingly energized brand of ball for the dead of August.

Another plus is the fill-in players have been amazing: Curtis Granderson, Carlos Pena, Omar Infante, John McDonald -- even Vance Wilson, who has done nicely when replacing Pudge Rodriguez.

If you want to look at emotional or psychological reasons for things having improved, you can't ignore the big clubhouse meeting in Kansas City nine days ago. Although it was sparked by a bad act -- Rodriguez's trip to Colombia and a missed game -- it seemed to clear the air and relax the players.

You could sense it in the clubhouse minutes after the session had ended. There wasn't any distress or anger on the players' faces. They were cool about the meeting, glad they had a discussion that was overdue.

It might be no coincidence this team has played dramatically better since everyone -- manager Alan Trammell, players, coaches -- got some things off their chests.

Q: What has the past week's revival meant for Trammell and his job status?

A: As much on the plus side as last month's bad West Coast trip, and a subsequent weekend collapse against Cleveland, seemed to set the stage for a change of managers.

This isn't a case of overfocusing on a couple of weeks of baseball. Trammell's problem after the disastrous Seattle-Oakland swing is that the Tigers' worst baseball in two years came at a point when the team was obliged to play like a playoff contender.

Throw in the next weekend's sweep at home by the Indians and it's no wonder the front office was staying tight-lipped about the manager's status for 2006.

If that was to be any indicator things were going to plod along for the remainder of the season, Dave Dombrowski would have little choice but to make a change. But what has happened during the past eight days is significant.

The Tigers haven't played this well -- this convincingly-- in a long, long while.

Everyone seems transformed by the seven-of-eight string, probably because the team is winning for all the right reasons: The pitching has calmed down and the hitters --Trammell now has a batch of them -- have hit their stride.

It might be that fifth gear on this team didn't engage until August.

Q: What should we make of Carlos Pena's three-homer show this weekend?

A: That, with Pena, it has never been a question of talent or ability.

For whatever reasons, Pena's skills and psychology seem not always to be on the same circuit board. But when body and mind mesh, he always has had top-shelf capabilities.

Keep in mind he nearly had a second home run Sunday before the wind and right-center-field's dropoff converged to rob him in the fourth inning. Also be sure to keep Pena on your radar screen this week. There are a couple of emotional factors potentially working in his favor.

His old team, Oakland, comes to Comerica Park for three games. There's some incentive there.

The Tigers then follow with a trip to Pena's stomping grounds, Boston, where he grew up and went to college and where his family lives. These are the types of things that, in the past, have tended to make Pena a more dangerous hitter.

If he can somehow manage to find a steady plane -- it might be asking for too much, given his history -- he could yet become the player so many scouts always said he could be.

Q: What if he hits well the rest of the season?

A: You had to ask ... Chris Shelton still figures to be the first baseman, if only because the Tigers don't have another spot for him when Dmitri Young is plugged in as the designated hitter. Young, as everyone knows, still has a lot of expensive time remaining in Detroit (next year, plus an option season for 2007). But the Tigers would welcome a jam-up here. If nothing else, a big finish by Pena would boost his trade value.

http://www.detnews.com/2005/tigers/0...D04-288376.htm

[RockSports17]

Carlos Pena has always play well at first, but his problem has been consistenly playing well. I'm a big fan of Pena as any, but until he plays consistently he's going to be nothing better than a backup 1B to Shelton.