Home Sweet Home

Rob Sanford

Even tho the Tigers were gone for just a 6 game road trip....after going 2-4 it seemed alot longer. Now 2 members of the "84" Chammpionship team are back in town, Kirk Gibson and Alan Trammell. I've always thought Trammell got the short end of the stick when he managed the Tigers. The club had zero chances of winning many games and most of his players had little or no major league experience. Gibson has the Arizona Diamondbacks playing well...first in the NL west division, after a slow start. The D-Backs are also a very impressive 23-15 against teams that are .500 or better this season. You can add to that Arizona has the 3rd fewest losses in the National League. You have to believe that if the chance ever presented itself...Gibby would love to come home to manage the Tigers.

The Tigers Victor Martinez and Brennan Boesch are the hottest hitters in the line up right now. Boesch has been incredible over his past 19 games, hitting .412...with 6 homers and 12 RBI's. Now Brandon Inge is coming back along with Ryan Perry..let's hope they can step right in and do the job. While down in Toledo, both players looked ready to comeback to play with the "big boys." Inge hit 2 home runs this week, showing the strength he lost while fighting Monucleosis is back.

This week end the Tigers officially honor  the memory of the late Sparky Anderson. There's not much I can say about Sparky that hasn't already been said a thousand times...but one thing I can say, he was the most influencial Tiger manager in my lifetime. I'm happy the ceremonies are being held at a time when 2 of the most important players under Anderson can attend, Gibby and Tram. Both had a very close bond with Sparky, especially Gibson, who he considered his 2nd father. When I was PD at WXYT at the time "The Locker Room" was on the air...Gibby would tell me about all of the lessons about baseball he recieved from Sparky, but maybe more importantly..the lessons about being a better person.