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With a tough schedule, Tigers could go down in history
I had to share this with the Board this was in the paper yesterday. The best is the last paragraph
Also I'm going tomorrow night to watch them get beat down by the Twins. The only reason they won today is because of this artical.
DETROIT--Don't look now, but the Tigers have a chance, a real good chance, to make history.
The major-league record for most losses in a season is within reach. Just look at the schedule the Tigers face the final two months of the season. It's so tough the Tigers probably won't have any say in trying not to lose more than 120 games. (The expansion New York Mets set a record for futility in 1962, going 40-120.)
Although the Tigers are on pace to go 42-120, the importance of the late-season games they're playing changes all of that.
The Tigers (29-81) will face an endless number of teams that have postseason dreams. Of the nine opponents they play from here on out, only three don't have a shot at the postseason: Texas, Cleveland and the defending World Series champion Anaheim Angels.
And the Angels will be playing for pride. As for those in the hunt, the last thing a team can afford to do is lose to a bad team like the Tigers.
The goal will be the same for every opponent in August and September -- sweep the Tigers. Three games, four games, it doesn't matter. Allowing the Tigers to win a single game will be regarded as a failure. That's how the Twins felt after winning just two of three this past weekend in Minneapolis.
That's not to say that the Tigers won't get a well-pitched game, or a clutch hit, or that an opponent might have an off-night. Anything can happen in baseball.
Still, the gut feeling isn't good. There isn't one weak link, as far as the Tigers are concerned, left to play. Even the Cleveland Indians, in next-to-last place in the American League Central just above the Tigers, have dominated the Tigers, winning nine of the first 12 meetings. Enter the Oakland A's. They came into Tuesday night's game at Comerica Park in the thick of the American League West race with front-running Seattle. They are in the wild-card race, too. This is a chance for the pitching-rich A's to get fat off the Tigers.
Look what happened in Chicago right after the All-Star break. After the White Sox lost the first game of a series against the Tigers, Manager Jerry Manuel pulled a Joe Namath, predicting his team wouldn't lose another game to the Tigers the rest of the season. The White Sox won the final three games of that four-game series and have three more games here at the end of the month.
If, somehow, the Tigers can turn the sad tide of this season, Manager Alan Trammell will deserve a lot of credit.
Tram can show people that he can keep a sinking ship together and not experience what happened last season, when the Tigers basically threw in the towel and won six of the final 36 games.
Granted, Trammell has little to work with. Still, everything promised never materialized. This was supposed to be about the kids, seeing who could play and who couldn't. That was supposed to help the Tigers for next season. Instead, journeymen such as Warren Morris, Alex Sanchez and Kevin Witt are playing and the stars of the future are in the minors.
Many thought it would be bad, but not this bad. Tram and his staff thought they would be able at least to restore some pride and dignity to the Tigers.
Instead, they face a date with history. Mark your calendars. You just might want to be at Comerica Park Sept. 25-28 as the Tigers go for the record in a four-game series against the Twins.
Also I'm going tomorrow night to watch them get beat down by the Twins. The only reason they won today is because of this artical.
DETROIT--Don't look now, but the Tigers have a chance, a real good chance, to make history.
The major-league record for most losses in a season is within reach. Just look at the schedule the Tigers face the final two months of the season. It's so tough the Tigers probably won't have any say in trying not to lose more than 120 games. (The expansion New York Mets set a record for futility in 1962, going 40-120.)
Although the Tigers are on pace to go 42-120, the importance of the late-season games they're playing changes all of that.
The Tigers (29-81) will face an endless number of teams that have postseason dreams. Of the nine opponents they play from here on out, only three don't have a shot at the postseason: Texas, Cleveland and the defending World Series champion Anaheim Angels.
And the Angels will be playing for pride. As for those in the hunt, the last thing a team can afford to do is lose to a bad team like the Tigers.
The goal will be the same for every opponent in August and September -- sweep the Tigers. Three games, four games, it doesn't matter. Allowing the Tigers to win a single game will be regarded as a failure. That's how the Twins felt after winning just two of three this past weekend in Minneapolis.
That's not to say that the Tigers won't get a well-pitched game, or a clutch hit, or that an opponent might have an off-night. Anything can happen in baseball.
Still, the gut feeling isn't good. There isn't one weak link, as far as the Tigers are concerned, left to play. Even the Cleveland Indians, in next-to-last place in the American League Central just above the Tigers, have dominated the Tigers, winning nine of the first 12 meetings. Enter the Oakland A's. They came into Tuesday night's game at Comerica Park in the thick of the American League West race with front-running Seattle. They are in the wild-card race, too. This is a chance for the pitching-rich A's to get fat off the Tigers.
Look what happened in Chicago right after the All-Star break. After the White Sox lost the first game of a series against the Tigers, Manager Jerry Manuel pulled a Joe Namath, predicting his team wouldn't lose another game to the Tigers the rest of the season. The White Sox won the final three games of that four-game series and have three more games here at the end of the month.
If, somehow, the Tigers can turn the sad tide of this season, Manager Alan Trammell will deserve a lot of credit.
Tram can show people that he can keep a sinking ship together and not experience what happened last season, when the Tigers basically threw in the towel and won six of the final 36 games.
Granted, Trammell has little to work with. Still, everything promised never materialized. This was supposed to be about the kids, seeing who could play and who couldn't. That was supposed to help the Tigers for next season. Instead, journeymen such as Warren Morris, Alex Sanchez and Kevin Witt are playing and the stars of the future are in the minors.
Many thought it would be bad, but not this bad. Tram and his staff thought they would be able at least to restore some pride and dignity to the Tigers.
Instead, they face a date with history. Mark your calendars. You just might want to be at Comerica Park Sept. 25-28 as the Tigers go for the record in a four-game series against the Twins.
