The Detroit News’ Bob Wojnowski with one of those rare occasions when a lack of hustle is apparently considered excusable by scribe and manager alike.
By the end of the Tigers’ ugly, ugly 10-0 loss to the White Sox on Thursday, we weren’t sure what was more shocking. Was it that Sean Casey was thrown out at first on his line drive to the left fielder, or that the Tigers delivered a stinkin’ pile of baseball?
Casey’s mistake we can forgive. He thought third baseman Joe Crede had caught the ball so he stopped running and only started again when the crowd shrieked. By then it was too late to beat left fielder Pablo Ozuna’s throw, eliciting the loudest boos we’ve heard at Comerica Park in a long time.
The mighty Casey didn’t intentionally dog it, and neither did the Tigers, although at times against Jon Garland, they sure looked like they were content to take quick, tame cuts.
Manager Jimmy Leyland swatted away questions about Casey’s fifth-inning hiccup.
“Does anybody in their right mind think Sean Casey stands at home plate and says, ‘I’m not running?'” Leyland said. “Even Crede thought he caught the ball. That’s a real bad question, a terrible question, in fact, a brutal question. I don’t want to deal with that silly stuff. We stunk.”