It's almost silly, really, when you think about it. The Tigers' hitting was supposed to carry the pitching. Scoring runs in bunches, the Tigers were supposed to be able to cover for a suspect pitching staff. After all, this Murderer's Row appeared as lethal as the 1927 Yankees, right?
It hasn't happened, and yesterday's victory -- 2-1 over Seattle in 15 innings -- showed again that the Tigers' real weakness is what we all perceived to be their strength. This is a bad offensive team, by major-league standards.
They struggled in losing their last two in Minnesota, before moving west to Seattle. Then they struggled in the last two games vs. the lowly Mariners. In the last 24 innings vs. Seattle pitching, the Tigers had three runs. And one of those runs came against a third-string catcher who was pitching because the Mariners couldn't figure out how to use their bullpen.
Too often the Tigers seem to be running in quicksand at the offensive end of things.
Once again, they are at .500 (44-44). I confess I did not see them getting to this mark this early. I expected they would reach .500 much later in the season, closer to 120 games. But, no matter. They still trail the ChiSox by seven games and second-place Minnesota by six. Those are large margins, even this early in the season. They have the Indians and the Twins, six straight games vs. Central Division foes, this week, before the All-Star break.
The Tigers are 11-21 vs. the Central, and therein lies the problem. When you can't beat the teams in your division, it's unlikely you'll be the team to win it.
The Tigers need five of six or four of six here to make another bit of noise. If they can pull to within five back at the break, you might sense hope.
The problems, however, are two-fold. I don't expect the ChiSox or the Twinkies to fold. I expect them to stay in this thing. Through 88 games apiece, these two teams have shown they have some consistent features.
And the other issue is the the Tigers. When your strength actually is a weakness, you've really got problems.
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