I don't really see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Since putting forth my grand plan for the Tigers to win the Central, they've proceeded to lose five in a row. These aren't pretty games either. Last night, the Tigers lost to the Rangers, an otherwise very good team. But the Tigers brought the Rangers down to their level. The teams combined for a whopping 5 errors and 29 LOBs. On this night, the Rangers were just slightly less crappy than the Tigers.
The play that summed up everything occurred in the 11th. With one out, Boesch came up to bat with Damon on second base and Cabrera on first. Boesch hit a single to right field - his only hit of the night. Damon should've scored, but the right fielder, Nelson Cruz, acted like he was going to catch the ball. Damon held up. As the ball dropped, Cruz couldn't believe that the deke actually worked. Damon only had time to get to 3rd base. With the bases loaded, Carlos Guillen hit into an inning-ending double play.
Cruz later hit a 2-run homer to win the game. Yay, Tigers!
The truly sad thing about this game was that many aspects of the game actually went according to plan. Maggs hit a homer. Cabrera hit two. Papa Grande pitched out of a jam in the 9th. Yet, the supporting players did not shoulder their load. To compete, I postulated the Tiger starting pitchers had to average a 4.00 ERA. That didn't happen. And the big bats would have to stay hot. Maggs and Cabrera held up their end of the bargain, but Boesch continued his slump. 1 for 7 last night.
And now Inge is out for 4-6 weeks with a broken hand. It'll be interesting to see if Dombrowski takes on more payroll by trading for a 3rd baseman... or if he continues with Don Kelly. My guess is he'll make a trade, and that new guy will proceed to hit .125.
That's just how things go with this team. Predicted final record - 78-84.
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