2013 Red Wings Enjoying the Skate Being On the Other Foot

So this is how the other half lives, when it comes to playoff hockey.

This is what it’s like to be a low seed, prohibitive underdog.

This is what it’s like to have a goalie as hot as a firecracker, turning into Mr. Zero against a high-powered offense.

This is what it’s like to see the other team frustrated, angry and telling themselves that the breaks will eventually go their way.

This is what it’s like to squeak into the playoffs, flying under all the so-called experts’ radar.

This is what it’s like to upset a high seed in the first round and vex another high seed in the second round.

This is what it’s like to play loosey goosey while the other guys are gripping their sticks like they’re strangling a chicken.

This is what it’s like to watch the other coach juggle lines as frantically as a circus performer.

This is what it’s like to actually have fun, instead of carrying the weight of Stanley Cup-or-bust expectations on the shoulders.

This is what it’s like to have a team short on talent but long on spunk.

This is what it’s like to be Cinderella on skates.

For 22 straight springs, the Red Wings have qualified for the playoffs. In about 20 of those years, they were in the conversation about the Stanley Cup.

The 1990-91 season is when the streak began. The Red Wings were a playoff pretender that year, not a contender. They were 34-38-8 and considered easy first round fodder for the St. Louis Blues.

But the Red Wings kicked up their heels and took a 3-1 series lead over the Blues before collapsing into defeat, 4-3.

That was the last time—22 years ago—when the Red Wings didn’t have a team considered Stanley Cup worthy.

They didn’t always win it, of course. Sometimes they were blotted out in the very first round. But when those regular seasons ended, NHL observers pretty much threw the Red Wings into the mix of teams who had a shot at hoisting the Cup.

Not this year.

The string of playoff appearances continued this spring, but the streak of being a Cup contender ended.

The Red Wings had to hustle just to make the playoffs, number one. They had to win their final four games to nip the rest of the pack at the wire. Teams that do that can’t seriously be considered Cup-ish.

Going back even further, to the start of the season, hockey folks had the Red Wings’ grave dug and the team lowered three feet into it.

There was no Nicklas Lidstrom, most famously. The All-Universe defenseman retired last summer, and according to the puck brains, Lidstrom took with him any real chance that the Red Wings could continue to be a playoff team, much less one that could make a long run.

The Red Wings were as young and as inexperienced, heading into this season, as any Red Wings team in recent memory. In fact, you might have to go back further than that 1990-91 team to find a team this youthful wearing the Winged Wheel on its collective chests—certainly when it comes to playoff hockey.

Not that this team, which is on the verge of swatting the mighty Chicago Blackhawks out of the playoffs, doesn’t have its veterans.

There are still your Hank Zetterbergs and your Pavel Datsyuks and your Danny Clearys and your Todd Bertuzzis and your Johan Franzens.

But the list of recently retired Red Wings reads like a mini franchise Who’s Who.

Since 2009, the Red Wings have lost the following to retirement: Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski, Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby, Darren McCarty, Chris Chelios, Tomas Holmstrom and Chris Osgood. There are about 215 Stanley Cups in there.

This year’s squad?

It’s not exactly made up of a bunch of grizzled playoff veterans.

Beyond Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Cleary, Bertuzzi, Justin Abdelkader, Niklas Kronwall, Jonathan Ericsson and Johan Franzen, the Red Wings are made up of mostly rookies, second and third-year guys, and a few re-treads.

It’s a patchwork lineup—the likes of which have spoiled Red Wings playoff parties in years past, back in the days of 100+ point seasons and when anything less than a Stanley Cup was considered to be failure.

There’s another aspect of these playoffs that has often been played out by the Red Wings’ opponents over the years, and one that has spurred this spring’s surprise uprising.

That would be the goaltending of one Jimmy Howard.

Red Wings fans know this story, but it’s been told by the other team’s guy.

Remember New Jersey’s Marty Brodeur in the 1995 Cup Finals? J-F Giguere in the 2003 first round against Anaheim? Those are just two examples. There have been others—goalies whose feats have caused Hockeytown’s fans to wake up in a cold sweat.

This year, it’s Howard who’s “that guy.”

It’s Howard who is repelling shot after shot, scoring chance after scoring chance—turning a powerful opponent into a pile of frustrated rubble.

Howard made Anaheim’s Corey Perry look to the heavens more than once in the seven-game first round. Perry, a top goal scorer ever since he entered the league, went goal-less against Howard.

Now Howard’s doing it to Chicago’s Jonathan Toews, who has yet to score a goal in this conference semi-final series against the Red Wings.

Toews did get a hat trick of sorts in Game 4—he took three straight penalties in the second period, all within a 5:34 time frame. The Red Wings scored on one of those three power plays, and it turned out to be the only goal they needed, as Howard was again stellar.

The Blackhawks hadn’t been shutout all season. They also hadn’t lost three straight games all season. Both those streaks ended Thursday night. Howard can’t be judged an innocent in making that happen.

Howard is playing the best hockey of his career, and in the process he is exorcising demons—the ones that said he isn’t a money goalie, and that he can’t be trusted in the playoffs.

Win me a playoff series and then we’ll talk, the Howard critics like to say about the goalie they hate to love.

Now, that might seem like an unfair measuring stick, but this is Detroit, whose fans have always had a fascination with the quarterbacks and goalies who were on the sidelines and on the bench, rather than supporting the ones actually playing.

The Red Wings haven’t won this series against the Blackhawks yet. The fourth win won’t be easily attained. Frankly, for it to happen, Howard has to continue to be red hot.

And, for it to happen, the Red Wings have to continue to be the team that they loathed to play against in so many of those aborted playoff runs.

They have to continue to experience how the other half has lived for the past 22 years.

The Astros’ Bid for 120

The 2013 Houston Astros were widely regarded, before the season, as being potentially the worst team in baseball—ever. They were picked by Sports Illustrated to seriously challenge the 1962 Mets (40-120) and the 2003 Tigers (43-119) for ineptitude.

In this space every Monday, I will chart the Astros pace versus those of the ’62 Mets and ’03 Tigers after the same amount of games.

2013 Astros: 12-32
1962 Mets: 12-32
2003 Tigers: 9-35

Monday Morning Manager: Week 7

Last Week: 3-4

This Week:  at Cle (5/21-22); MIN (5/23-26)

 

So, What Happened?

 

Toto, I don’t think the Tigers are playing Houston anymore.

 

The Tigers are 6-1 against the Astros, and 23-19 overall. MMM will save you the math. That’s 17-18 against the rest of baseball.

 

Not ridiculous, but maybe a little troubling?

 

Last week was a microcosm of sorts. The Tigers went 2-1 against Houston, 1-3 against the rest of baseball. Correction—the best of baseball.

 

Gee, those Texas Rangers can hit, eh?

 

The Rangers looked at the Tigers’ glorified starting rotation and gave a Texas-sized laugh.

 

The Rangers scored 29 runs against our boys last weekend, and that’s numbing, considering Justin Verlander, Anibal Sanchez and Doug Fister combined pitched about 11 innings in their starts.

 

That’s impressive hitting.

 

Before the horrid weekend in Texas, the Tigers beat down the Astros twice more before finally losing to Houston on Wednesday afternoon, when the Stros managed two runs in the top of the ninth to win, 7-5.

 

Oh, and some guy named Cabrera hit three home runs on Sunday night, each more impressive than the previous one. The Tigers still lost in one of the most frustrating games MMM has ever watched.

 

To make matters worse, the Tigers fell out of first place. The (gulp) Cleveland Indians are in the catbird’s seat, by two games.

 

Hero of the Week

MMM was struck by something FSD’s Rod Allen said during a recent broadcast.

 

Allen said he was chatting with Tigers legend and Hall of Famer Al Kaline. Allen asked Kaline if he’d seen anyone like Cabrera—whether teammate or someone Kaline played against. Now, we’re talking 60 years of MLB (Kaline debuted in 1953).

 

Kaline flatly told Rod that no, he’s never seen anyone who can do the things with the bat that Cabrera can do.

 

MMM thinks that if someone like Al Kaline puts you in a class by yourself, then that’s saying something.

 

MMM is making Miggy HotW largely for his three-homer effort on Sunday, but he had a good week other than that. Heck, Miggy always seems to have a good week, eh?

 

Cabrera went 12/28 (.429) with four homers, seven RBI and seven runs scored.

 

Just another week at the office.

 

Cabrera’s performance on Sunday night was amazing.

 

The third homer, especially—a pitch that jammed him near his wrists, yet was driven over the CF wall—was jaw-dropping. The ESPN announcers, Orel Hershiser and John Kruk, were beside themselves.

 

“Aw, heck, he’s just better than everyone else. Let’s just go with that,” Kruk said finally.

 

Miggy is, and he was again for the Tigers last week.

 

Honorable mentions: Don Kelly (for filling in admirably in CF and knocking a homer); rookie RHP Evan Kelly (two strong outings in Texas).

 

Goat of the Week

Where would you like MMM to start?

 

There was suspect fielding, bad pitching, and questionable decisions—and most of that happened in the seventh inning on Sunday night alone.

 

It wasn’t the greatest of weeks.

 

MMM is going to name, as a trio, Verlander, Sanchez and Fister as co-Goats.

 

The Tigers’ Big Three of Four (don’t forget Mad Max Scherzer) simply didn’t get it done against Texas. They didn’t come close to slowing the Rangers down, and JV and Fister had leads with which to work and let their respective games slip away.

 

Ugly starts from those three guys.

 

The bullpen, as a result, got drained, and thank goodness for Monday’s off day, to allow those arms to rest.

 

Look, the big boys have to be the big boys and they have to take the heat when they don’t get the job done. Verlander, Sanchez and Fister let the Tigers down, big time, in a “measuring stick” series.

 

Under the Microscope

MMM is too lazy to pore over the archives, but this week may be a first.

 

Justin Verlander, meet the microscope.

 

Twitter and MLive’s comments section are aflutter with worries about JV. Is his velocity down for a reason? Why have his last two starts been so bad? Is he going south?

 

MMM would like everyone to exhale, but still thinks Verlander should be scrutinized.

 

Why?

 

Well, the last two starts have been rough. Thursday’s was downright ridiculous.

 

Plus, the storied fastball seems to have abandoned Verlander, mainly from a command standpoint.

 

MMM thinks that Verlander gets too amped up sometimes, and the much-ballyhooed match-up between JV and Texas’ Yu Darvish on Thursday qualifies as one of those “big games” that sometimes gets Verlander to do too much.

 

He overthrows. He walks guys (walked in TWO on Thursday). He throws too many pitches. He gives up hits on 0-2 counts. And so on.

 

That’s what happened on Thursday, and JV wasn’t all that sharp against Cleveland the start before that.

 

His ERA jumped from 1.93 to 3.17 after the debacle in Texas. He is 4-4.

 

MMM doesn’t think it’s necessarily alarming, but still enough to place JV’s start on Wednesday UtM.

 

Besides, MMM is curious to see how Verlander’s countenance is in his first start after his Texas-sized meltdown.

 

Upcoming: Indians, Twins

Back to the AL Central salt mines this week.

 

Wait—are those the Cleveland Indians in first place? Do MMM’s eyes deceive him?

 

Yes, the Tribe is hot. They are 17-4 in their past 21 games, and have surged from 8-13 and last place to 25-17 and first place.

 

But we’ve seen this before, haven’t we?

 

The Indians have been a pretty good April to June team in recent years. But when the temps get hotter, the Tribe gets colder.

 

Their second half collapses are well-noted.

 

But for now, with some new players, the Indians are enjoying a great run. And they host the Tigers in a two-game mini-series this week.

 

MMM doesn’t think Cleveland has the horses to stick around all summer, but who the heck knows?

 

Tigers starters: Scherzer, Verlander.

 

After the quick trip to Cleveland, it’s back to the good side of Lake Erie for four games against the slumping Twins at CoPa.

 

The Twinkies have lost five straight and have sunk to the depths of the division at 18-22.

 

Joe Mauer’s 15-game hitting streak was stopped Sunday against Boston.

 

The Twins were stopped several games prior to that.

 

For about 35 games, the Twins raised some eyebrows with their .500 play and their general nuisance they were causing in the division. Now, they are back to being the team most thought they were prior to the season.

 

Remember, this is a team that didn’t even settle on who was in their five-man rotation until AFTER spring training, and didn’t name an Opening Day starter until less than a week before the game.

 

But Mauer is back to the Mauer of old. He’s batting .342 and he has 17 doubles. But he is striking out once every four at-bats, which is not like the Mauer of old. Still, .342 is .342.

 

The Twins’ bugaboo is their starting pitching. No one in the rotation has an ERA lower than 4.66, and three of their starters have ERAs of 5.85-plus.

 

Tigers starters: Porcello, Sanchez, Fister, Scherzer.

 

The Tigers need a big week. Yes, it’s May, but the team is wobbly now. They are 4-8 in their last 12 games, and the Indians are feeling good about themselves. As Mickey Redmond would say, time to “get ‘er goin’.”

 

That’s all for this week’s MMM. See you next week!