Boy the patting on the back was in full bloom after the Tigers swept the New York Yankees last week. Only thing is, that now seems like a lifetime ago following five straight losses to the Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox. The scariest part of this losing streak is that it looks exactly like the funk the Tigers were in to start the season. Pitching- stinks. Defense- stinks. Hitting- non-existent.
A blog entry I wrote on March 28, Are the Tigers ready for prime time?, unfortunately seems to have been accurate in a couple of areas. First, the Tigers are not going to be a .500 team after 40 games unless they snap out of this current funk and win the next 6 straight. I'm not banking on that. Next, the pitching has stunk, not only the expected troubles from the bullpen but the starters have been way too inconsistent (other than when it comes to giving up runs). I didn't address team defense in March - but that has suffered and now Leyland has Sheffield playing left field and moved Guillen to the everyday 3rd base spot. Ugh. Finally the hitting has been atrocious, except for Curtis Granderson. Most of the Tigers hits have come at non-key times in these losing streaks - and if I don't see another double play for a month it'll still be too soon.
So what to expect next? My fear is that these losing streaks are going to be an all-too common thing for this team, completely destroying any momentum they build up. Just like what we've seen this week after the miracle in the Bronx.
There have been plenty of calls to move Inge back to 3rd base and have Guillen be the teams DH. That lineup tonight produced all of 3 hits and 0 runs. Not quite a success.
On May 6 the talk has already started... wait 'til next year. While I don't totally agree - yet - someone has to find something to wake this team up, and quickly. Being a baseball fan in Detroit this year is maddening.
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