Game 1:
Game 2:
On Twitter, after the Austin Kearns' 11th inning, game ending single, our good friend Baroque97 summed up the long day and night and into the next day of baseball with this tweet:
NO BASEBALL TEAM SHOULD HAVE "THREATEN BUT FAIL TO SCORE" AS THEIR TEAM MOTTO FOR TRAVELING!!!
Word.
OK, what do you want first? The good news, or the bad news? Hell, after losing a doubleheader to the Tribe, and three straight to start the season's second half, it's ALL bad news. But humor me...
Good news: Rick Porcello pitched his best game of the season, allowing only 6 hits, 1 run, walking none, with 6 K's.
Bad News: Even Mother Nature hates the Tigers. The 8th inning rain delay ended Porcello's night one inning early, denying him a shot at a win. Kid Rick deserved a W, but the weather and the Tigers' anemic offense conspired against him.
Good news: Porcello will definitely make another start for the Tigers.
Bad news: There is no bad news in this case, as an effective Porcello will go a long way toward solving the Tigers' rotation issues. The question is, can Porcello hit with RISP?
Good news: In game two, the Tigers loaded the bases in the 1st inning against Mitch Talbot, the first 3 batters getting on base. Later on, in what was a 1-1- game, Johnny Damon led off the 9th with a double.
Bad News: You know the drill. In the 1st, the Tigers left the bases loaded, letting Talbot off the hook. In the 9th, Damon was sacrificed to 3rd....where he was left stranded. It's deja vu all over again, as the inability to get a hit with RISP reared it's ugly head. Palm, meet face.
Good news: Gerald Laird was only bruised after getting cracked on the side of the skull with a broken bat.
Bad news: It didn't knock him out of his season long slump. Laird went hitless in the second game, dropping his average to .188.
Good news: Pre All-Star break, the middle of the Tigers' batting order was an offensive explosion waiting to happen.
Bad news: We're still waiting for the explosion after the break, as Magglio Ordonez, Miguel Cabrera, and Brennan Boesch combined for all of three hits (two by Boesch) in the double dip.
Good news: Justin Verlander didn't lose the first game of the twin-bill.
Bad news: Verlander didn't get the win, and allowed the tying run to score thanks to a pair of wild pitches in the 6th. He was again inefficient (118 pitches in 6 innings), walked 5, and wasn't dominant against a team he should dominate. Not a very ace-like performance from someone paid to be an ace.
Good news: Tomorrow is another day, which means another game.
Bad news: Andrew Oliver, and his 6.38 ERA, is the Tigers' starter. You, me and the Indians have to be thinking, "Sweep!"
Good news: The season isn't over after losing three consecutive games to the last place Indians.
Bad news: A true playoff contender doesn't lose three consecutive games to the last place Indians. What was I thinking?
Good news: The Tigers haven't lost any ground in the Central. The Twins beat the 1st place White Sox tonight, and have taken two straight from the Sox.
Bad news: The Tigers failed to take advantage of the Twins beating the Sox, in losing three straight to the lousy, stinking, last place Indians. THREE STRAIGHT! The Tigers should be in 1st place...but they can't beat the damn Indians...or the Royals...or (enter name of any second division team here).
Bad news: There is no good news when you can only score four runs against the Indians, NONE coming against their awful and injury depleted bullpen.
As you can see, the bad news overwhelmed the good news.
If there's one thing we learned this weekend...if we didn't know it already...the Tigers are a bad baseball team on the road. Really damn bad. Blow goats kind of bad.
Even if the Tigers do come back and win tomorrow this afternoon, the events of this weekend will likely come back to bite the them on the ass. Then again, isn't this what we've come to expect from Jim Leyland's Tigers teams after the All-Star break? They've made a habit of playing their way out of contention in August and September.
I guess the swoon is starting early this season.
Why yes, this post is filled with caustic bitterness caused by the Tigers losing a pair of games to a last place team over an 11 hour span. But don't tell me you feel any different.