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First of all, Dan Dickerson continues to be arguably the best and most honest play-by-play broadcaster in baseball. On reviews, he always take a position on whether the play should be upheld or overturned, which I really appreciate, because I do, too. So many other broadcasters would look at the same play, even when it's totally obvious, and still be like, "ooooh, that's so close, can't really tell", as if they can't bring themselves to come down on the side of the play itself when it looks as though their employer might come out on the short end of the review. Secondly, Andy Dirks is becoming a favorite analyst of mine, not only because he's good at analysis and also good at talking about it, but also because he's got a terrific rapport with Dan. They just went through a comic thing where Dan said he thought Ibanez was out as the play was going on, the replay showed Dan was right, and Andy started joking how Dan is always 100% right on these, and they maybe don't even need a crew in New York to confirm the call, they should just call Dan. It doesn't read very fun when I type it out, but it sounded very fun while they doing going through it on air. I think I would be quite happy if Andy Dirks were to become the new permanent radio analyst for the Detroit Tigers.

Also note how "shoulda kept Chafin and Fulmer" has now been trimmed down to just Chafin, since Fulmer now sucks? We really don't know the degree to which Chafin was open to coming back here... for some reason, people act as if this is the same as rolling down to Meijer and buying a rump roast - maaaaybe free agency a little more complicated than that.

This clip popped up on my Twitter feed. I will never forget this shift.

In the past, we have had many unpleasant events with respect to Tigers baseball to discuss. There are four pleasant events so far I did not expect and leave me astonished. 1. The emergence of Zach McKinstry is unexpected. At best, I thought he would be just a passing shiny bauble that would vanish like the morning dew. He has shown plate patience and played far better than I expected. 2. So far, controlling the strike zone appears to be more of a reality than expected. The improvement in getting walks is far better than I hope. 3. The bullpen has been almost as good as it gets. 4. General plate patience has been completely different than recent years. The approach at the plate has been one of improved patience and is resulting in players getting good pitches to hit. This team is fun to watch again.

Bases loaded no outs—too many innings of late when they do not score when they get here. Let's break that cycle here.

Baddoo has found himself. He is hitting and running very well. Another plus from last year.

Dress that line! That rifle should not be at an angle, Army! Marine dude has it right.

It may have had as much to do with the opportunity to close as well. The BP in Ari was wide open coming into this season, and Chafin has been able to at least share the closers role. In Det he had been behind Soto last season and could see Lange as the favorite son this season and maybe figured Ariz was a much better shot to build closer credentials toward a bigger 2024 payday. That's not anybody's failure, (and it's not some knock on Detroit as a city to play in either) it's a measure of organization's BP strength if the guy saw a better shot at the closer's role somewhere else.

The Meijer patch is second to that pointy "D" as the worse parts of the home uni.

sox message boards this week have been GLORIOUS!

I will never get used to the zombie baserunner.

Hey, dummy, shut up and let the games play out.