With all due disrespect to the 5-6 New York Mets — who managed to hit into something approaching 300 double plays during Sunday’s 9-7 defeat at the hands of Brewers — there’s no more disappointing a bunch of underachieving zillionaires than the 2-10 (!) Detroit Tigers. Yahoo’s Jeff Passan was on hand for yesterday’s drubbing in Chicago and reports that as the day began, skipper Jimmy Leyland promised to remain calm. Which, I suppose, is kind of like his promising to see out his contract in Florida. (Link swiped from Repoz and Baseball Think Factory)
œTake it easy, Leyland said. œThere™s no sense in yelling and screaming at people. Let™s just wait and see what happens.
What happened was another shutout, the second blanking in a row and fourth the mighty Tigers have suffered this season, and the establishment, too, of Leyland™s official breaking point. Off he went following the 11-0 loss that dropped the Tigers to 2-10, his voice permeating the brick walls at U.S. Cellular Field and ricocheting off the doors that tried their best to insulate Detroit™s clubhouse from the rest of the world.
Actually, it was quite like a fallout shelter, the Tigers trying to isolate themselves from Leyland™s nuclear meltdown. No one dared explain how a lineup that threatened to cross the 1,000-run barrier has been shut out four times, just as no one could answer how a team with a $138.7 million payroll could start 0-7, just as no one knew what to say when Leyland yelled and screamed and refused any longer to watch his team potentially send its season sewer-bound in the first month.
œIf I wanted you guys to know what I said to the team, Leyland told reporters, œI™d invite you in here.
œThat™s what I love about my skip, man, Tigers DH Gary Sheffield said before Sunday™s game. œHe™ll tell you that you suck. That™s what I appreciate him for. I know I suck. We know we suck. But I don™t see nobody in there hanging their head and feeling sorry for themselves. Yeah, we suck. But we™ll see who sucks at the end.
That™s been the rallying cry since the opening-series sweep against Kansas City. The losses mounted, the injuries piled up, the embarrassment broadened and the Tigers did their best Bobby McFerrin, not worrying and being happy, or at least trying to give themselves reasons to be.
œYou™ve seen teams start off horribly and end up fine after everyone has written them off, said Tigers center fielder Curtis Granderson, the sparkplug who hasn™t played this season because of a broken finger. œLook at the Yankees last year.
Well, sure. And the Tigers don’t have the benefit of playing a third of their schedule against the 2007 Orioles, Blue Jays and Rays.
I’m certain the Tigers are talented enough to win at least 70 games between now and the rest of the year. But in the event they are already finished, perhaps Leyland can take a tip from Pat Riley and spend June scouting the College World Series?
Every sports pundit who picked the Tigers to win the A.L. because it became trendy should heed Sheffield’s suck quotes.
This is just my own observation, but have you noticed that Sheff has shaved off his little mustache? Hello?!? He needs to grow that tiny thing back and get his team back into this race.
I agree with Rog’s second point. I also think most other players in baseball should grow a mustache, big or small. There’s a reason the sport was so popular in the ’70s, after all.
Also, I would’ve picked the Tigers to win their division because of their INSANE LINEUP. That they almost got no-hit by Gavin “Fucking” Floyd is honestly impossible for me to understand. Either their bullpen is somehow the worst of all time ever ever ever, or they’ll eventually be fine once things start breaking their way. No way do I see that team finishing at or below .500.
Rilly? See, I thought that their lineup was one-dimensional and overrated. Yes, lots of potential power but also an older lineup that doesn’t get on base as much as it should. Here is said insane lineup:
7 Ivan Rodriguez –old
24 Miguel Cabrera –too early to call this fat guy a HOF’er; he’s lucky that corn syrup isn’t a PED…yet.
9 Carlos Guillen –good hitter; underrated
15 Brandon Inge –eh
14 Placido Polanco –good fantasy states; kinda eh
8 Edgar Renteria –there’s no way this guy’s 3 years younger than me. The man could be my uncle.
39 Ramon Santiago –eh
19 Jacque Jones –rilly? this is your OF stud? ok…
30 Magglio Ordonez –awesome, solid, no complaints
25 Ryan Raburn –who?
33 Marcus Thames –somewhere between eh and ok…
36 Clete Thomas –seriously? Clete? I’d prefer the OPS of Jockstrap Smith, myself.
3 Gary Sheffield –needs to re-grow mustache. Notorious malcontent. Hasn’t been totally healthy in a while. Can probably still rake but needs guys who get on base a lot for him to do damage. Needs to re-grow mustache.
Obviously, Curtis Granderson would change the lineup in many ways but I still think it started to become too much of a trendy pick. I’m pretty sure that Steve Philips said nice things about them so that alone should throw up a huge caution flag.
Batting order wise, I’d be cool with Granderson-Renteria-Cabrera-Ordonez-Sheffield-Guillen-Pudge plus whoever else, honestly. There’s a lot of power in there, but Renteria, Ordonez, Pudge and Cabrera are all locks to hit over .300, even if only one of them is really a big home run hitter. (And if Pudge is one of the most selfish players and impatient hitters in baseball: look at his OBP relative to his BA, and you’ll figure out why he should be hitting eighth, average be damned)
The pitching staff, in retrospect, is really a problem, but I can understand what they’re thinking and also think it’s going to get better once they figure out something with their bullpen. I don’t think that Ryan Raburn or “Clete Thomas” (I don’t believe he’s real, so the quotes are staying until I see otherwise) is going to affect the outcome of the season overmuch, so those guys names don’t mean much to me. The real problem will be if Pudge is done and Sheff can’t play 140 games. Do they still have Vance Wilson on the roster?
That said, I agree with you on Phillips. NOthing bad anyone says about him is ever going to draw argument from me.