Monday, May 08, 2006

MONDAY MORNING MANAGER: Week 5

Last Week: 4-3
This Week: (5/9-11; at Bal; 5/12-14; at Cle)

Friday, on this blog's daddy, Out of Bounds, I wrote that if the Tigers were truly to get my last foot onto their bandwagon, they'd have to win two out of three against the Twins in that house of horrors, the Metrodome. Never mind that the Tigers emasculated the Twins, 33-1, in the previous weekend's series. Beating them in Minnesota would be the true test.

Well, they weren't able to do it, though they probably should have. Todd Jones suffered his first blown save of the season Saturday, and Johan Santana took care of them Sunday -- no-hitting the Tigers through six innings.

Now we'll see a little bit more of what the Tigers are made of, having lost three of four and continuing on the road for six more games.

Saturday's blown game happens, and the Tigers haven't had too many of those this season. Still, will the team respond favorably? They did after manager Jim Leyland's tirade when the Tigers fell to 7-6 with a listless loss to Cleveland. They ripped off a 12-3 streak, including the destruction of the Twins in Detroit.

No butt-chewing is needed this time, but how well the Tigers are able to survive this minor turbulence will give us yet one more indication of how a team that isn't used to winning will handle adversity. Learning to win is largely made up of how you respond to losing.

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