Prepare for a postseason without Detroit

I went into last night’s game fully expecting the Tigers to lose. There was no way, I reasoned, that Detroit could go to Minnesota, against a red-hot team and win this one-game playoff; especially with rookie Rick Porcello on the mound.

It was a self-defense mechanism. Emotionally, it was better for me to be pleasantly surprised than terribly disappointed.

But any sports fan can tell you that no matter how low you set your expectations, when the game begins that bar is still as high as the clouds. And after the Tigers took an early 3-0 lead, I was walking on cloud nine, 10 11 and 12.

Then Porcello’s error allowed one run to come in. Jason Kubel hit a 2-out homerun to close the deficit to one. And Orlando Cabrera, arguably the Twins’ best trade deadline move in ten years, slaps a two-run homerun off my least favorites Tiger.

4-3 Twins and I’m about ready to swear off religion forever because no caring God would have the heart to crush my excitement and enthusiasm so swiftly.

A Magglio Ordonez 8th-inning homerun restored my belief that this crazy world we live in isn’t, in fact, anarchy but that some forces of good exist out there.

And after Brandon Inge gave Detroit a 5-4 lead in the 10th I was ready to believe in just about anything. The moon landings were staged, there was a shooter in the grassy knoll and Bobby Thompson knew exactly what pitch Ralph Branca was going to throw him.

Of course this game was in Minnesota, Fernando Rodney was pitching for a second inning and Ryan Rabun isn’t Willie Mays. I don’t even want to talk about the rest of the game from that point because women and children do occasionally read this blog and I’d probably give the Supreme Court reason to believe free speech isn’t a great idea for everyone.

Let’s just say once Carlos Gomez crossed home for the game-winning run I was released from a psychological torture that made the Saw movies look like double dutch. All of it left me depressed for investing so much energy into a single game that really should’ve never happened.

With an entire off season staring me in the face I have plenty of time to wonder what went wrong on Tuesday night. Did Leyland take Porcello out too early? Did he leave Fernando Rodney out too long? Why did Ryan Raburn drive for that ball in the 11th? How did that umpire miss the hit by pitch with the bases load in the 12th?

Plenty of fans will wonder that this morning and for the next few weeks. I’m just going to drop it all because debating those points and more won’t put the Tigers into the playoffs.

What makes this loss so tough is that now I have no reason to gnash my teeth, toss my pillows or throw the remote control into the ground. No reason to emotionally wreck myself or walk around my house with unadulterated rage built up inside of me for a purposeless child’s game. No reason to spend three hours watching my favorite sport and then feel like absolute crap. All because Detroit won’t be in the playoffs.

And that just sucks.

Cabrera's off field troubles present problems for Tigers, fans

Now that Cabrera’s issues have been aired (and the audio of the 911 call released) the issue at hand is this: How should the Tigers respond because they certainly can’t ignore it at this point. It’s been reported on by all kinds of media.

Here are several solutions:

Dave Dombrowski or Jim Leyland address it briefly and swiftly, spit out the standard “we’ll discuss it in the off season” response and then prepare for the one-game playoff.

Positive: For the team’s sake, it keeps focus on the game, which is the most important thing right now. This is their job, ladies and gents; it should be the most important thing in the world.

Negative: The rest of the world really doesn’t take sports seriously and doesn’t like spousal abuse (for good reason). A response like this will really piss off people.
Release a statement “written” by Cabrera apologizing for his transgressions.

Positive: While some wouldn’t be satisfied, the Tigers can cling to the idea that Cabrera took responsibility and they can get back to the task at hand — beating the Twins.

Negative: Very similar to above. There will be people not satisfied with the response because it won’t seem genuine.

Cabrera himself addresses the media and gives an apology.

Positive: Once again, not everyone would be satisfied but this would be a step more than just releasing a statement. It would also take his teammates off the hook from having to answer a bunch of questions.

Negative: Depending on how he looks when he apologizes, it could be worse than releasing a statement. Ask Michael Vick.

Suspend Cabrera for the game.

Positive: No one could claim the Tigers weren’t taking this seriously.

Negative: The implications for the game are obvious. Detroit would be losing its best hitter.

Final say: I’d be shocked if Detroit suspended Cabrera for the game. Let’s remember this: He’s an adult who was drinking legally; he didn’t drive home and no charges have actually been pressed. That doesn’t mean it’s an issue that should be ignored but considering the gravity of this game, Cabrera’s wife would’ve had to press charges or have been hospitalized for something to happen.

Sad, but true.

As a fan, it's a little tricky because our reaction to the incident bears no consequences on the team. So, should we root for Cabrera? Support him on and off the field? Or should he be dead to us for "letting his team down."

Unlike Detroit Free Press columnist Mark Rosenberg, I’m not going to claim that Cabrera has a problem and that he's evil. (OK, he never called Cabrera evil, but his tone makes it seem Cabrera is the only one to blame for the Tigers' woes.)

I want to see proof. If he’s out till 6 a.m. after every game, drinking, then he has a problem. But I know many players go out to unwind after games and usually aren't out that late every night. And unless someone gives me proof, I'm going to assume this is the first time Cabrera has gone this nuts with alcohol.

This could be proof of the season’s pressure getting to Cabrera.

I mean, he’s 26, three years older than me. I get stressed writing blog posts; I can’t imagine being the star player on a Major League team in the middle of an epic pennant race collapse.

Does it excuse him? Absolutely not, at least not the domestic abuse part. But if everything was the same and he didn’t beat his wife, I’d have no problems with it. I don't even care that he drank with White Sox players.

I don’t care how much money he’s making, I don’t care how much the Tigers gave up for him. He’s been the team’s best player more often than not and as long as he produces he can stick firecrackers up his butt and light them a la the show Jackass for all I care.

His 0-11 slump against the White Sox probably wasn't caused by any drinking. If anything, he's probably letting himself get loose because he's struggling at the plate.

Miguel Cabrera's brusied face mystery solved!

I could care less if players fraternize with the opposing team.

These guys are adults and, especially in the case of baseball, sometimes you need to hang out with people you don’t work alongside.

But Miguel Cabrera’s Saturday night is pretty pathetic.

Deadspin lays it all out:

"Early Saturday morning, police were called to the Cabrera home in the Detroit suburb of Birmingham on a "family trouble" incident. Cabrera's wife was upset because her husband apparently came home late, drunk, and loud and woke up their sleeping daughter. Obviously, that did not go over well. When police arrived, Miguel had scratches on his face and a broken necklace and his wife had a fat lip, but neither would say what happened. The cops took Miguel to the police station, gave him a blood alcohol test—which he failed miserably—and released to (sic) him to the custody of the Tigers."

Oh yeah, and he was out late drinking with member of the Chicago White Sox. Nice.

Listen, if you’re going to stay out late the night before a must-win game and drink with the opposing team , at least be productive. He could've done body shots off of Ozzie Guillen for all I care, as long as he drove in a run or two.

He was 0-11 over the weekend.

The Tigers' collapse should come as no surprise

Today I have a splitting headache and I’m not sure if it’s because I might have swine flu or because the Tigers epically failed to seal the division championship over the weekend.

To be honest, I’d rather have the swine flu.

The Tigers 5-3 win yesterday afternoon, a win that forced a one-game playoff tomorrow evening, only proves the point that no Tigers fan should be surprised about this late season collapse.

Detroit has been the most consistent, inconsistent team in baseball all season long. One day they play like the hapless Tigers of the mid to late 90s and the next day they look good enough to beat the Yankees.

What hurt the Tigers is that they never embraced their true identity. Not that a team needs a true identity to play well, but when a team has a certain identity, it’s built in a certain way which helps the team play more consistently.

The Twins have had the same identity for years. They’re low budget, concentrate on developing players, particularly pitchers, and they play small ball well. The team is built for this. They have players up and down the roster who have come up through the farm system. They have players who can make productive outs and they’ve always been amongst the best in the league in pitching.

They’re not always pretty during the regular season, but they’re always good enough to be dangerous in August and September.

Add all those together and it’s no wonder the Twins clawed their way back to force a playoff.

Detroit, on the other hand, hasn’t fully embraced its new identity. Being a slugging team didn’t work last season, so management decided to focus on pitching and defense—a great idea considering the team plays in Comerica Park. Unfortunately the line up still features elements of a slugging team, despite improvements in small ball categories, like sacrifice flies and sacrifice hits.

Curtis Granderson and Placido Polanco had off years, hurting the production of Miguel Cabrera, albeit not by much. Magglio Ordonez had zero pop in the bat most of the year as did Carlos Guillen, when he played. Marcus Thames, who was supposed to be a great power hitter, had an awful season and after a fast start, Brandon Inge fell back down to his base level, which is a terrible hitter.

A lot of these guys aren’t small ball type players but sluggers, only none of them slugged. So when the Tigers actually did try to play small ball — 92 sacrifice at bats compared to 74 last season — they couldn’t score runs.
I think part of that comes from Detroit still relying on the big inning rather than chipping away at the opposing pitcher with a few runs sprinkled throughout the game. This type of mentality essentially breeds hot and cold hitting which, in turn, produces a hot and cold team.

Put that up against a hot team like Minnesota and it’s a recipe for disaster.

This post also appears at the Sports Bank.