Are the Tigers in a death spiral?
If Friday's loss to the A's was any indication, you'd have to say yes. I don't things are yet that dire for the Tigers, but my confidence that they have to ability to turn their season around is waning.
At least I didn't have to watch the latest debacle,a 16-10 loss to the A's.
Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, as it turned out, I was unable to watch tonight's Tigers game as my Charter cable had some sort of bizarre satellite issues. For some reason, they had the feed of Fox Sports South (Huh?) at 7 pm, and had a blank screen after 8. Go figure.
I guess Charter was trying to do me a solid, considering how awful the game turned out to be. I was stuck listening to, for the 2nd day in a row, the heavy nose breathing of Jim Price.
I almost decided to say the Hell with it, as the Tigers found themselves 7 runs down, and the season opener for "Survivorman" was going to air shortly. Watching Les Stroud dodge starvation and dehydration in the Kalahari Desert HAD to be more entertaining than listening to Price's heavy breathing, and the Tigers rolling over and playing dead. Right?
But wonder of wonders, the Tigers came back from 7 runs down, and actually had the lead. Holy shit, maybe this was the game that the Tigers turn around their near month long slide! Hope srings eternal!
Hope quickly turned into disgust. Again.
But their season long Achilles heel, the bullpen, gave it all back, and then some, in Oakland's 8 run 6th inning. Game over, man. Game over.
You'd be tempted to say season over, after such a nightmarish loss. But it's still August, and Detroit's only a 1.5 games out of 1st place. There's time to turn things around. So, as a fan, I'm not going to panic. But the urge is definitely there, trust me.
I just can't figure the Tigers out. They aren't this bad. They can't be this bad. Yet, you can't ignore the fact that the Tigers have been like the worst team in baseball for over 3 weeks.
It's something different every game. Thursday the starting pitching and offense were putrid. Friday, it was the pitching as a whole that stunk up Comerica. Tomorrow, who knows?
I'm at a loss, and I think Jim Leyland is as well.
We all have more questions than answers. If the Marlboro Man can't come up with a few solutions, pronto, come September the Lions will be playing more important games.
You know, I hear the guys at work asking the same questions. They get pissed off, yell at the TV (reminder, they can't hear you) and use the term "They Suck" more often then I care to count. I love baseball, and I love my Tigers (especially you, Polly /wink/), but not so long ago, everyone expected the Tigs to be this bad and nobody cared. They have a great 2006, and everyone got a taste for winning and when they don't, those same "die hards" (term used lightly) are ready to toss in the towel. GET REAL!!
ReplyDeleteMy two cent donation to the explanation is this: They were in first place all last season and tanked the last few weeks of September (do I need to remind you of the last game of the regular season?). I personally believe they are getting that crap out of their system now, and will be THE TEAM to BEAT come September, when it really matters.
If not, there is always next year.
Captain,
ReplyDeleteYou can wish, hope, or believe that they are getting the crap out of their system now, but there is no way of knowing how much more crap there is to come.
The season is a marathon, not a sprint, but as a marathon runner I can tell you that if you stop too many times at the porta-johns during a race, you can't make up the time.
Chief,
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that you see my point. I was afraid it would be lost in translation.
While I am not a marathon runner, I am a HS softball coach and I understand the frustrations of: playing a great game and losing; playing a horrible game and winning; watching your best players wilt before your eyes..the list goes on.
Like I said, there is always next year.