Saved by the baseball angel?

As troubling as last night's loss by the Pistons was, I wasn't quite as upset about it as, say, our friends The Sports Dude and K-Dog. (Wouldn't that be a great title for a sitcom? E-mail me, NBC.) What kept me from fully curling into the fetal position on my armchair? The future.

Thank you, Justin Verlander. Thank you.

Verlander went toe-to-toe with one of the best pitchers in baseball, Johan Santana, and was the last pitcher standing in a 2-0 win over the former Cy Young Award winner. (Here's an intriguing stat: Verlander didn't strike out any batters in his eight innings. Santana, meanwhile, notched 12 strikeouts.)

When switching to Tigers-Twins for commercial breaks during Pistons-Cavs, the kid made it pretty difficult to turn the channel back.

How charmed a baseball existence are the Tigers leading right now? Vance Wilson was the difference in the game. Vance Wilson. The back-up catcher who hit a sterling .197 last year hit a two-run homer off Santana - probably the best pitcher in the American League - in the eighth inning. Hell of a time for his first homer of the season, wouldn't you say?

(And the ball cleared Comerica Park's old left-field fence, past the bullpen, so it was hardly a cheapie. Actually, there's no such thing as a cheap home run at the CoPa, is there?)

After today, the Tigers will have passed Sparky Anderson's regular yard-marker for a team's success. Is the summer really going to be this fun for baseball in Detroit? Seriously?