The baseball Gods continue to pile on, as the Tigers sleepwalked their way through another ugly loss. The Angels took the lead in the top of the 1st inning, never giving it up in 10-1 blowout win over the Tigers.
This was a loss everyone on the on the roster could take blame, The Tigers couldn't hit, pitch or catch the ball against the Angels.
The Tigers could only muster a measly three hits against Scott Kazmir, who came into tonight's game with a 6.92 ERA. Worse, they could only manage one hit against the Angels' bullpen. The Tigers only "rally" was as follows: Austin Jackson infield single, advance to 2nd on a throwing error, 3rd on a wild pitch, score on a Ryan Raburn ground out. The was the extent of the Tigers' offense for the evening.
Starting on short rest, Jeremy Bonderman couldn't get out of the 5th inning, having reached a pitch limit (he threw 87) set before the game (it was 85, according to Jim Leyland in the post game). Leyland cleared the long and middle relief arms out of the bullpen, using Brad Thomas, Eddie Bonine and Enrique González. They weren't any better than Bonderman, allowing six runs, five earned, along with nine hits, in 4 2/3 innings.
How bad is the outlook for the Tigers?
Both the 1st place White Sox and 2nd place Twins won tonight, leaving the Tigers 10 games out of 1st and 8 1/2 out of 2nd. They are only 6 1/2 games ahead of the tied for 4th place Royals and Indians, both outright bad teams, something the Tigers are on their way to becoming...if they aren't already.
In just one month, the Tigers have gone from having a one game lead in the Central, to double digits behind. They've lost 20 of their last 25 games in the process. Once near unbeatable at home, the Tigers have lost 10 of 14 at Comerica.
Before the All-Star break, the Tigers were only a bad team on the road, but had a league best record at home.
Now? The Tigers are bad everywhere.
When does the 2011 season start?