Sports

Lengel: Tigers Season Reminds Me of The Stooges Episode, 'Disorder in the Court'

August 28, 2014, 7:23 AM by  Allan Lengel

The Tigers' up-and-down season reminds me all too much of the Three Stooges episode "Disorder in the Court."

Curly is being sworn as a witness in court and he can't seem to put his left hand on the bible, raise his right hand, keep his hat off and repeat an oath, all at the same time. When the judge, for instance, tells him to raise his right hand, he puts his hat on. When he tells him to take his hat off, he grabs it with his right hand. "Raise your right hand," the judge demands. That goes on and on. You get the picture.

It's an exercise in absurdity and Curly drives the judge nuts.

Too often this season the Tigers have bordered on the absurd and driven the fans nuts. They've often been unable to get all the pieces working together at once.

Either the bullpen sucks, the hitting is non-existent or the star starters just fold like David Price did Wednesday night when, in the third inning, he let up nine hits in a row and couldn't get an out. Manager Brad Ausmus finally had to yank the dejected Price, who said he pitched the worst game of his career.

Call 2014 one long episode of "Disorder on the Field."

Wednesday night the bullpen was great. The hitters drove in four runs. David Price was awful.

John Niyo of the Detroit News put it best:

Don’t count on any of this making much sense.

David Price turning into Vincent Price. Drew Smyly turning into David Price. Anibal Sanchez turning into a voodoo doll. The Kansas City Royals turning into the ’69 Mets.

That’s baseball, as they say.

But this? Two innings — “plus nine batters,” as the official scorer said — from the starter everyone calls a bulldog? Seven shutout innings from the bullpen everyone calls this team’s weak link?

Yeah, go figure. And if you figure it out, you might want to let Brad Ausmus know.

As Tigers fans, we can only bring down our expectations, hope for the best and enjoy the pennant race.

And if the Tigers really get you down, just click on the Stooges video below and sit back and smile. 



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