Post Season Baseball

Well, the regular baseball season is over and I for one, was disappointed that the Detroit Tigers did not fare better in their quest to repeat as American League Champions. What my feeling is, the Tigers 2007 showing was disappointing due to injuries. Kenny Rogers gone for most of the year, Fernando Rodney out for a month and a half and Joel Zumaya missing more than half the season, cost the Tigers 10 or 12 wins in my opinion and you add those 10 or 12 wins onto their final season win total of 88 and the Tigers are Central Division champions and in the playoffs. On other Tiger issues, nice to see Jim Leyland get a contract extension and I think that will be the route the Tigers use with Pudge Rodriguez. Rather than picking up his 13 million dollar option for 2008, I think they'll extend him 3 years at around 9 or 10 million a year, keeping him in a Detroit uniform thru 2010, if Pudge will accept that. What the Tigers need more than anything now is a left handed thumper to play leftfield, a new shortstop, preferably with a great glove more than a big stick and a veteran starting pitcher even if Rogers comes back.

As for the post season, in my opinion, the best team I saw the Tigers play all year was the California Angels. They have a great combination of speed, hitting and pitching and they looked more like a National League style team, whenever the Tigers played them . I really think the Angels will take the American League Championship and I have a feeling Lou Piniella will work his magic with the 2007 Cubs, as he did with the 1990 Cincinnati Reds and lead them into the World Series. It's my belief that the Angels will prevail in a 6 game Series, to bring home the bacon to Los Angeles for the second time in 6 years. I just wish the ol' singing cowboy, Gene Autry, could have lived to have seen his Angels win a title. He meant so much to the game over the years. The Cubs will give the Angels a battle in the series, but California has to much veteran experience when it comes to the playoffs.

As for real estate, an agent asked me in the office today, how many homes were for sale in Troy right now. Well, a check on the multiple listing service on my trusty computer, revealed 607. Before the Michigan recession began a couple of years ago, that figure in late September/early October would have been in the 350 homes range. Another agent asked, well if there are currently 607 Troy homes on the market, how many Troy homes have sold this year. Another check turned up the figure of 515 home sales in Troy since January 1, 2007. At the rate of 607 sales a year, that's enough real estate inventory to last thru next July! By the way, a third agent told me that 68 of the homes for sale in Troy are foreclosures, clearly 11% plus of the 607 homes available. Don't believe we're in a statewide recession? Well, those real estate figures speak the truth more than anything else speaks about our current Michigan economy!!