00:06Got some ticket techs coming in on a variety of topics we brought up today.
00:10Gentlemen, I don't think the issue is so much the 3 p.m. start for the Pistons
00:14as it is the day of the week.
00:15If this were a Friday, I think you'd get an opening day type atmosphere.
00:19A Tuesday really takes a lot of wind out of the sails.
00:23It's the beginning of the week, Sean in a truck.
00:26I think there might be some credit.
00:30I'll give some credit to that.
00:31But I guess as a fan, I get excited about the start of any season.
00:36If it's going to be a Tuesday, I'm cool with a Tuesday.
00:40I recognize it is part of the beginning of the week, but we're also adults here.
00:44We don't have to get completely out of control where the next day is going to be a hangover day.
00:48But we've seen opening day where the Tigers happen on a Thursday.
00:51Yeah, I mean, his text is saying the NBA is not a big deal.
00:54That's what he's saying.
00:55You're not big enough to schedule something in the middle of the day.
00:59And the NBA wants to challenge that.
01:01The NBA does not have anything, does not have any territory it can claim as its own anymore.
01:07The NFL has taken away Christmas from them.
01:09So this is the NBA trying to make an event around opening night.
01:15Well, and they've done it for years.
01:16What I'm suggesting is that the Pistons just branch off from this and from here on forth
01:24to go ahead and use the opening, the home opener, as an opportunity to have a party.
01:30Let's do it during the day every year.
01:32No matter if it's a Monday or a Friday, if it's during the week, let's have a party around it
01:36and treat it like it's opening day in the spring with the Tigers.
01:40Do the same thing in the fall with the Pistons.
01:42I think it's a great opportunity to really, you know, it's a jumping off point.
01:46Let's do this from here on forward.
01:48I think it would be a great idea.
01:50Native Detroiter who's lived in Atlanta and Philadelphia in the past,
01:53there are few, if any, major cities with a riverfront and cool downtown.
01:58We have both, and we have four major teams with stadiums within walking distance from the downtown.
02:04As you mentioned, let's leverage what we have.
02:07Let's support Pistons and integrate fan activity in their great arena.
02:12Go Detroit.
02:13That's Mookie in Northville.
02:15Look, and I keep saying, LCA was built with an outdoor plaza area,
02:21presumably to embrace moments like this.
02:26when you start a season or when you get to the postseason.
02:30That's what it's for.
02:31You've got this huge plaza out there with this giant screen
02:35that you could have outdoor viewing parties at.
02:38Heck, if that's the playoffs, you can get a nice long run in the playoffs.
02:41Wouldn't it be great to have that scene downtown for a road game?
02:45Like we see with Toronto or what happens in Tampa or wherever.
02:50Detroit and Philadelphia are the only two major American cities
02:53that have all of their stadiums within a block or two or one another.
02:57What better way to celebrate the revitalization of Detroit
03:01than to build events like this around your sporting events,
03:06bring people out there as a celebration of what this city
03:10and what this team is all about.
03:11You've got one of the top ten players in the world,
03:14which is principally why you are the first game of the season.
03:18And they're telling you, Pistons fans,
03:21that you are now deserving of being on the marquee.
03:24And part of the advantage that Detroit has over Philadelphia
03:28when it comes to the stadiums
03:29is that the stadiums for the Detroit teams are actually in downtown.
03:33It's not just a few miles away from downtown where it's separate.
03:36They're all together, but they're not in the downtown atmosphere
03:40like we have here, which really makes it cool.
03:44Another text coming in, Jim Leland often said
03:46that it's not who you're playing, it's more about when you're playing them.
03:50I don't see the Tigers dropping the series to Cleveland.
03:53The Tigers are not the same team that has lost the first six games to Cleveland.
03:56That's Brett McComb.
03:58I agree with you.
03:59Now's the time to change the narrative that Cleveland just has their number.
04:02I don't buy it.
04:03I think that they've been, that they certainly had some advantages.
04:07And obviously the month of May was devastatingly bad for this team.
04:11But this team was so banged up with injuries,
04:14the lineup into the rotation that, you know,
04:18you understand why they didn't have a good May.
04:21They should not have had a god-awful May.
04:23But they should have won more than just six games.
04:26But again, and you hate to make this the, you know, six degrees to Tarek Skubal.
04:30If he's forthcoming about his injury in January, gets the procedure done in the offseason,
04:35has six starts in the month of May, wins four of them,
04:39you're 10-18 in May instead of 6-22.
04:42And guess where you are right now?
04:43You're leading your division.
04:44Yeah, exactly.
04:45I mean, a lot of things happen in May that were just shaking your head.
04:49And this is why when you see crazy things go the other way,
04:52like what we saw in San Francisco, where they couldn't field,
04:55the Giants couldn't field the baseball, couldn't see the baseball.
04:58Oh, yeah, in center fielder, blinded by the sun.
05:00Oh, maybe your sunglasses might help.
05:02Oh, should I put those on?
05:03Didn't do that.
05:04You know, all types of things are just weird.
05:06But they went the Tigers' way.
05:08Good.
05:08Tigers need some luck every once in a while because they had no luck when it came to May.
05:13Hey, guys, hoping for the best.
05:14But when it comes down to our bullpen, it's the same bullpen,
05:18which has blown over 20 leads, which doesn't bode well in close games.
05:22The so-called bullpen turnaround is likely more attributed to playing a bunch of crappy teams.
05:27Hope I'm wrong, Todd and Caledonia.
05:29I hope you're wrong, too.
05:31I think the numbers bear out that just look at Kenley Jansen and Tyler Holton in particular.
05:37These two guys have changed things around, as we like to say in the show, dramatically.
05:42They've been very, very good as of late.
05:46I think it might be 11 straight outings for Kenley Jansen where he hasn't given up a run.
05:53Tyler Holton has really gotten his act together and become the pitcher that we saw a couple years ago
05:58where he was so dependable.
06:01Those are two guys that you point to.
06:03I think the one guy that has really been disappointing is Kyle Finnegan.
06:08And, you know, you look at his splits, it's a different situation when he comes in with runners on base.
06:13He seems to be better than that than when he starts an inning clean, which is kind of weird, but
06:17whatever.
06:18But they need to get Kyle Finnegan going because he was a big part of the Tigers' bullpen last year
06:24when they traded for him, and he just has not been consistently good for the team this year.
06:30Oh, look, Kyle gave up a hit again.
06:32Kyle Finnegan.
06:34Look, this bullpen, ERA is an important statistic, right?
06:38They've essentially been 9th, 10th, or 11th in ERA all year.
06:42Now, it's a tangibly valid statement to say you don't have anybody in the bullpen you can rely on.
06:48You don't have the shutdown guy.
06:50But I think the bullpen got a lot of the blame for the offensive struggles coming in with zero margin
06:56for error.
06:57Yeah, the bullpen is not good enough to have zero margin for error.
07:00What bullpen is.
07:02Since July 1st, 8th in ERA, 4th in runs allowed, 3rd in hits, 7th in opposing batting average, 7th in
07:08whip, 11th in bases on balls.
07:10They're averaging top 10 in just about every significant bullpen category.
07:17It's just, I think it's becoming a lazy take to pin all the blame on the bullpen at this point.
07:22Well, I think it might be a safe take to say that that's been the biggest problem for the Tigers
07:27all season long.
07:28I don't know if I'd fight that too much.
07:29I think injuries and the bullpen both are probably key contributors to that.
07:35But since June, everything has changed.
07:38And there are guys that are trending in a great direction.
07:41Guys you never, I mean, who'd heard of Wagaspach before, right?
07:44And he's been outstanding for this team.
07:46Ty Madden is a guy that, okay, he's going to come in, give you a spot start every once in
07:50a while, but maybe he's going to be a yo-yo between here and Toledo.
07:52And, no, he's been asked to do a lot of things, and he's done them very well for this team,
07:56whether it be a spot start or come in in long relief or just give you a single innings worth
08:01of work.
08:02He's been very good.
08:04Like to see that.
08:05And, obviously, you mentioned already what Holton has done for this team.
08:11They have some other pitchers that are going to get some more opportunities, and we'll see how they do it.
08:17DeJesus is one.
08:18You want to see, can he be more formidable?
08:21He's got to have a high strikeout rate.
08:23Can he get that going?
08:26Grant Herter is going to come back to this team soon.
08:28Drew Summers has been great for this team.
08:30These aren't names you were counting on.
08:31And yet these guys are starting to turn the corner here.
08:34There's a lot to like with the Tigers, but to the texter's comments, maybe some of that is just attributed
08:40to playing some bad opponents and bad offenses, and I won't take too much against that.
08:45I mean, when you face a Seattle offense where last year Cal Raleigh was a stud and this year he's
08:52completely impotent, okay, I understand Seattle's not the team they were.
08:57Getting back to the Pistons, 3 p.m. on a Tuesday is an absolute slap on the face to season
09:01ticket holders.
09:02Oh, come on.
09:02I will have an eight-year tradition ended because my wife cannot take time off of work.
09:08But she would do it for opening day in baseball.
09:11But she would do it for Monday night football.
09:14Stop complaining about the Pistons making their events a big deal.
09:19Well, but the difference between Monday night football and the 3 p.m. start is, I mean, obviously Monday night
09:24football, you're going to go into work the next day and maybe not at your optimum best, right?
09:31You think?
09:32Yeah, but the problem with a 3 o'clock start on a random Tuesday is that it's not the middle
09:37of the day, it's towards the end of the work day, and you're going to have to take time off
09:40in order to get to that game.
09:41Correct.
09:41So you're working half a day.
09:44You know, for some people, it's going to be a problem.
09:45For other people, they're probably embracing it.
09:47I want the whole city to embrace it, and it becomes something that you don't even think twice about.
09:52I'm taking the day off, or I'm taking the second half of the day off because it's been such a
09:56great atmosphere in downtown Detroit for that home opener of the basketball season.
10:01I hope that Red Wings pay heed to this as well.
10:03They do the same thing.
10:04I want to have these events in the fall like we have opening day for the Tigers in the spring.
10:11248-539-9797, same number to text if you want to get through that way.
10:15Mark and Scott here at Lions Training Camp on 97.1.
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