Don't expect Tigers to be what they aren't

[Tigertowner68]

I get that people are frustrated. I read many fan postings on the Detroit News site (link provided).I agree with some comments, do not agree with others.

Number one, this is baseball. Not football, basketball or hockey. No team looks good when they are not hitting. Sure, a team that had some speedy players can manufacture runs. The Tigers are a team that is built to hit, but they are miscast by anyone that believes that Jim Leyland can start bunting guys over, or stealing bases. This is a classic "wait for a 3-run homer" team. The excellent Orioles teams under Earl Weaver in the 1970s come to mind. Some teams that can't hit much, but bunt and steal bases have done fine.

People writing on the News' site want the Tigers to be the San Francisco Giants of last year. They were a scrappy team. But they are not even the San Francisco Giants of last year. They are the Giants of THIS year. They have a pop gun attack. Their record of 39-42 at the halfway point is five games worse than our team.

And when you don't hit (like the Giants haven't this year), things go poorly, scrappy or not. The Tigers can throw a lot of lumber at you. But teams like this kind of Tigers team go into slumps. Guess what? If you did not notice, the Tigers are in one now. And they don't look good.

They will look fine when three-run home runs fly again.

As for Dotel's comment made late in last year's World Series that the team doesn't seem to have "enough fight in it", he is there everyday so you cannot discount what he says about "fight" in them. Again though, this is baseball and he quickly recanted what he said shortly thereafter.

Seemingly everyone wants to bag on Leyland. He does not have a team that you can really make any moves on offense with. I do agree that his handling of pitchers leaves a lot to be desired, but then again look at what he has to run out there. One "gas can" (Jose Valverde) is already gone. The other "gas can" that everyone was seemingly everybody's darling in last year's postseason (Phil Coke) should be next.

At the end of the day (or season), everyone that is whining on there will be rooting like mad if the team gets in the postseason again this year.

Or if they do not, everybody will want Leyland gone (they may want that even if we win the Series!)...or bellyache about Verlander's contract, or say that there is no enthusiasm, etc, etc, etc.

I remember 2003 (43-119). I'll take this, even if my club is underachieving.

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/.../Tigers-offense-feeble-again-Rays-take-series

 

[themuzzer]

I agree with everything you said. The big problem is spending the kind of money we have into this team and yet still glaring holes. I can even get on board with JL not having the personel in the pen. It sounds very fair to say that.

I still think help is coming in a big way. Illitch is a business man. He's not going to spend over 200 mil to come up short because the bullpen (cheapest part of the team to upgrade) could possibly lose him a WS.

 

[Howie115]

Agreed. The Tigers are a team built on starting pitching (draft and acquisitions) and hitting extra-base hits. Their fielding isn't outstanding, but has improved over last year. They seem to be short the intangible of "clutch" hitting, in evidence when you look at their 2-21 record when trailing after 6 innings and 2-9 record in extra inning games. Some of that is on the bullpen, which has at times quickly turned a 1-run deficit into a 3- or 4-run deficit, but most is on the lack of clutch hitting.

Hopefully, this is just a current lull, and we start seeing some big hits again in the second half.