After letting the Cleveland Indians hand them a free 14-12 win at 12:30 Thursday morning, the Tigers couldn't run with any momentum, losing their series finale 9-4 Thursday afternoon.  Cleveland is a loosy goosy team going nowhere and a club that makes numerous mistakes-- but the Tigers, even with Cleveland slugger Kellie Shoppach out of the lineup resting Thursday, still couldn't win the series finale.  So they split four games and now it's on to Tampa Bay this week end and Chicago next week.

     The Tigers pitching gave up 21 runs in the last two games against an average team.  They need Kyle Farnsworth as fast as he can report and they better hope he maintains the momentum he had with the Yankees over the last six weeks.  The Tigers just have been so inconsistent with their pitching that you wonder how much longer they can hang in there.  Especially now that the White Sox have added Ken Griffey, Jr., for the stretch drive.  The Tigers will see him next week.

    Todd Jones went on the disabled list.  Who knows if he'll ever return.  You know he's not coming back next season.  He got lit up in relief again Wednesday night.  The Tigers called up Clay Rapada from Toledo to replace him, but will the newcomer offer much help?  The Tigers are now six games behind the White Sox with exactly one third of their season-- 54 games remaining.

     Scotty Bowman signs on Thursday with the Chicago Black Hawks as a senior consultant.  His son Stan is an assistant general manager.  Bowman is now 74 years old and has been a consultant with the Red Wings since stepping down as head coach.  He led the Red Wings to three Stanley Cup titles.

     Sam Vincent is back in coaching.  The former Spartan and Lansing Eastern High School star is back in the NBDL, this time as head coach of the Anaheim Arsenal.  He was fired after one season as head coach of the NBA's Charlotte Hornets.  Sam did well in his first NBDL go around.  He won't get paid the same, but the players might not drive him as crazy as the Hornets did either.

####