BACK ON THE ROAD

ROB SANFORD

What a homestand. The Tigers could find no offensive spark, and all of those mental mistakes is depressing. Whenever my favorite team loses and hear people critizing their play, I usually say "you're not giving any credit to their oposition." But over the past week, none of the teams were clearly at the top of their game and it was the Bengals who beat themselves most of the time. Fire Leyland??? Ha..If I were him I would have to be led away in a straight jacket, or erupted like Mt St Helens. He always says outbursts are generally counter productive...but some players need to get a charge in the rump.

Brennan Boesch. It's time for him to maybe spend a few weeks in Toledo. Not as a punishment, but rather a chance for him to regain his confidence and maybe find the stroke he has seemingly lost. However, his problem is the same one suffered by many of the Tigers. They just can't lay off the "high cheese." There isn't a fastball above the waist they can't resist, and most times it's not even close to the strike zone. Just about every pitcher they face know it, and constantly use it against them.....Inge, Boesch, Santiago, Rayburn, I could go on.

Now the Windy City is in the Tigers crosshairs. If the Bengals want to somehow crawl back into the pennant race, they have to find a way to beat the White Sox. With hot and humid weather.....the Sox ballpark becomes a launching pad..so look for some home runs this week end.