FanHouse

While the failures of Dontrelle Willis in 2008 have been well documented here at FanHouse the last couple of days, it turns out not everything is going horribly awry in Detroit for the Tigers. After all, Willis was basically just a throw-in (a $27 million throw-in, but a throw-in nonetheless) in the deal the Tigers made to bring in Miguel Cabrera, and after he got off to a slow start to the season, his bat has been catching fire as of late, as have been the other bats in Detroit's lineup.

Cabrera hit a walk-off home run in the ninth inning to give the Tigers a 2-1 win over the White Sox this afternoon, and help complete a sweep of the AL Central division leaders. The win was Detroit's fifth victory in their last six games, and they've crept to within striking distance of the White Sox, moving to within eight games.

Of course, even though the Tigers offense is starting to come to life now that the weather is warming up, the real key to whether or not the Tigers are going to make a run is still, and always will be, their pitching staff. Which is why they have to be happy with what they saw in their three games against the White Sox.

The trio of Nate Robertson, Justin Verlander, and Kenny Rogers combined to go 23.1 innings while allowing only five runs, 16 hits, and three walks (Verlander's performance being a work of art on Wednesday night). This against a team that had been averaging over eight runs a game during a seven-game win streak. It's only been six games, and the loss of Jeremy Bonderman isn't going to help, but if the Tigers pitching can keep this up, their offense will put runs on the board (it's just too talented not to) and Detroit may just get back into this thing after all.