(Image from "Heart of the City" © 2006 Mark Tatulli)
You don't really want to read a recap of that game, do you? Because I sure as hell don't feel like writing it.
Just two pitches in, it became clear what kind of night it was going to be for the Tigers when Nick Swisher blasted a Justin Verlander pitch down the right field line. And even though Detroit came back to tie the game, it was all downhill from there. The White Sox blew the game open in the sixth after Carlos Guillen (future Gold Glove first baseman, according to Joe Morgan) dropped the ball at first base (and again on Carlos Quentin's three-run triple in the ninth), but the tone was set from the very beginning. Right away, the Tigers had to play catch up, just as they have throughout these first six games of the season.
Oh, and they hit into five double plays. Nothing like helping Mark Buehrle - the type of soft-tossing lefty the Tigers pounded last year - look like a pitching magician. And if not for a couple of Joe Crede errors, he might have thrown a shutout.
This team definitely need an off-day and a road trip right now. Get away from the booing fans and home crowd expectations. Huddle up together, without the comforts of home and family. Have the routine shaken up, and maybe it'll make these guys a little mean and cranky.
Is that wishful thinking? Probably, but after that kind of nationally televised humiliation, there's not much else to work with.