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And the schizophrenic baseball summer in Detroit continues.
The Tigers marched into the Bronx flying high, feeling good, looking strong. They had just demolished the Colorado Rockies in three straight, and were all set to unleash their flurry of Cy Young victors on the mediocre Yankees.
Only, that’s not quite how it went.
True to form in this up-down-up-down season, the Tigers’ offense went silent, scratching out a total of six runs in the four-game set. In only one of the contests did they register more than a single tally.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. The Tigers were supposed to be running away with this thing by now. In the most recent move to bring in superstar lefty David Price, the franchise was announcing loud and clear that THIS was going to be THE year.
Yet, with exactly 50 games to go, the Tigers sit at a moderately impressive 62-50, a scant 2.5 games in front of the hard-charging Royals.
It’s only because of Bud Selig’s relentless quest over the last 20+ years to make the baseball regular season less and less meaningful that the Tigers are even in this position. For the first 100 or so years in the game’s history, you had to be excellent to call yourself a champion.
And for too many extended periods this season, the Tigers have been downright average.
Torri Hunter
On Thursday afternoon, the team looked punchless and tired.
On the hill for the Yankees was rookie right-hander Shane Greene. He had surrendered a total of 10 runs in his last three starts, not once getting through six innings. Against the Tigers, he went eight strong and allowed nothing at all.
And it’s not just the players that are struggling.
It's Not Just the Players
In one of the more peculiar decisions of the year, greenhorn skipper Brad Ausmus elected to pinch hit Miguel Cabrera for J.D. Martinez with two on and none out in the game’s final inning, despite having the fairly harmless Don Kelly due up next.
The rally soon fizzled and the Tigers were handed one final goose egg in a series already overly stuffed with them.To be fair, Martinez is not red-hot like he was earlier in the summer, but even so, he wields a much more powerful bat than that of Kelly. He has been one of the top three or four run producers on the team in 2014, and with the offense so desperately in search of a jolt, Ausmus simply could not afford to suddenly become Mr. Creative in this spot.
Having said all that, it’s not time to hit the panic button. Yet.
The team is still in first place. The starting pitching is still the best in all of baseball. Of the 50 remaining games, 18 are against the hapless White Sox and Twins.
A lot of things would have to go wrong for this team to still not capture the Central flag by a handful of games.
But this offense is a real problem.
What About Avila?
Alex Avila can’t seem to find his stroke, or even put the ball in play. He is striking out about a third of the time he comes to the plate, and his batting average has plunged to a paltry .219.
Alex Avila
Nick Castellanos has been steady in the field, but as the summer has progressed, his power has all but disappeared. Since July 1, the young Floridian has socked just one home run while hitting around .200 and striking out at an alarming rate. He’s posted five straight games with multiple Ks.
The squad has received solid production out of the outfield for the most part, but it remains to be seen if Ezequiel Carrera can be a consistent contributor on offense in place of Austin Jackson.
Shortstop has been an offensive weak spot ever since the needle-toting Jhonny Peralta was kicked to the curb in the off-season. Team defense improved as a result, but the Tigers could also sorely use the 15 bombs Peralta has whacked this year in St. Louis.
The saving grace is that the team awaiting them in Toronto this weekend has been similarly inept of late. The Blue Jays run totals over the last six games (five losses) look like this: 1, 2, 1, 3, 5, 1. The intimidating trio of Anibal Sanchez, Max Scherzer, and
David Price will show not an ounce of sympathy.
But if it’s been said once, it’s been said a million times.
You can’t win a baseball game on defense. You can help your cause, sure. Pitching and fielding are two critical components of the game.
But the game’s final outcome will always be decided by the number of times your group crosses home plate.
The Tigers haven’t been doing much of that, lately. And it needs to change.
Or else this army of Cy Young winners will be home in October with nothing more to do than polish their hardware and curse the ineptitude of their offensive brethren.
