Tonight seemed like coming back home from a long trip, only to open the front door and find out that your house has been trashed. Of course, that probably would've brought the surprise of the unexpected, and losing games to the Chicago White Sox can't really be called surprising. As others have pointed out, some opponents are just a bad match-up for particular teams, and for whatever reason, the guys in the black jerseys have something over the guys wearing the Olde English D.
In what's officially become a disturbing trend, the starting pitching once again knocked the Tigers out of the game before they even had a chance to settle in and enjoy being back at home. Andrew Miller was probably still getting used to wearing his home jersey again when Jermaine Dye hit a home run, and gave his team a lead they'd never give back.
Giving up six runs was obviously a big problem with his performance, but a problem that could have longer-term consequences for the weekend was his inability to give his team six solid innings. Miller felt some tightness in his hamstring while warming up for the fourth inning, and the Tigers didn't take any chances in playing with his health. In his post-game interview, however, Jim Leyland didn't seem too concerned that a major injury had taken place. Miller didn't feel any kind of pop or pull, but Leyland snatched him out of the game before the hamstring got to that point or caused some other kind of injury by throwing his mechanics off.
Leyland touched on another reason for the loss when he pointed out that his hitters didn't make Mark Buehrle work to get outs and - with the exception of the fourth inning - let him cruise along until Ehren Wassermann took over for the ninth. And Buehrle's a guy who's usually around the plate, letting batters hit the ball. For one night, maybe you can pin that on the team relaxing upon returning home, but the Tigers will need a much more patient approach against Javier Vazquez tomorrow night. Or as Todd Jones said, maybe they just need to start playing "pissed off."
And it really doesn't need to be said, but Detroit could also use a quality start from Jeremy Bonderman. Although a spectacular one would be nice.