See, this is why last night's loss really hurts.  Besides the obvious part of it - losing a game - the Tigers just can't afford to cough up a win when it's there for the taking.  Because there will be games like tonight's, when your ace just doesn't have it working and you're never really in the game.

After pitching well in his last seven starts, Justin Verlander was probably due for a bad outing.  Especially facing the White Sox, against whom he had a 2-6 record and 5.45 ERA.  Verlander's streak of allowing two runs or less ended dramatically in the third inning on back-to-back homers by Carlos Quentin and Jermaine Dye.  The Tigers played catch-up valiantly, but just couldn't recover from that initial onslaught.

And how do we feel about Bobby Seay's outing tonight?  Does he get kudos for pitching three innings of shutout ball and keeping Detroit in the ballgame?  Or should he be knocked for crumpling in the pressure situation he was brought in to diffuse?  The two runs allowed were charged to Verlander, and Seay was brought into a difficult two-on, no-out situation, but he couldn't get the big out.  When was the last time he did?

Seven-and-a-half games behind the White Sox?  And left to try and salvage a win to keep the damage to a minimum?  Not entirely a lost weekend, but definitely a fumbled one.

Roll Call

These are the people who were willing to have their hearts broken and come back with hope the next night.  A shaky internet connection kept me from joining them through most of the game.  Or was my modem trying to spare me the pain?

Thanks to explosivo2k2, MikeMcClary, BigAl, wepri31, MackAveKurt, Oost, rock n rye, Zappatista, dettigionswings'stons, Wingz, ahtrap, rook34, densogirl, and ThaWalrus9 for trying to pick themselves up again after falling.

Pardon me if I stay on the floor after this one.  I can't get up.  It feels safer down here.  With my face pressed against the carpet, and my eyes clenched shut.  It hurts to look.  At anything. 

Words are hard to come by.  Especially clean ones.  There will certainly be no effort to defend a pitcher who no longer can be defended.  Todd Jones has one job.  To close out ballgames.  And he is absolutely, undeniably terrible at it.

If coffee is for closers, Jones deserves to drink nothing but motor oil.

No other major league team has to tolerate this.  No other fan base suffers like this in the ninth inning.  As I said in tonight's GameThread, this would almost be funny if it weren't so painfully sad.  Jones giving up a two-run homer to Jermaine Dye after retiring the first two batters in the inning is exactly the result Tigers fans joke about.  And they joke because it's the only way to deny the nauseating, soul-crushing truth.  Jones doesn't just blow saves, he obliterates them.  Wins become losses far too often in his hands.

A team with intentions to compete for a division title cannot continue to employ a pitcher like Jones in its closer role and expect to be taken seriously. 

To make matters even worse, I don't think the guy everyone would like to see take Jones's job is ready for it, either.  Joel Zumaya hardly put out a fire tonight.

Several in the GameThread said this overtakes last Saturday's loss in Baltimore as the worst of the season.  Given what was at stake and how a win disintegrated in one pitch, it's difficult to argue.

Roll Call

Here are 22 poor souls who had their Friday night vomited upon.

Condolences to spotstarters, ThaWalrus9, rock n rye, MSU4LIF, BigAl, pfuhrmeister, rook34, ahtrap, dettigionswings'stons, Wingz, Oost, MackAveKurt, ReichardZ, Jerkwheat, densogirl, LosTigres, bradm, Iamthewa1rus, explosivo2k2, Tigsfan, wepri31, and Zappatista for finding out there is no Santa Claus tonight.