Tigers Fans Have A Right To Be Confused

By: Eric Thomas

I think a caller put it best last night. Another Tiger game in the books, another result. This season has been a whipsaw. I'm exhausted. My blogs, when laid end to end, probably look like the chicken scrawl of a manic depressive teenager. Some weeks, the Tigers look like a bazooka of offense and 100mph fastballs. Sometimes they get shelled by the Minnesota Twins. They spend entire weeks looking feckless. Last night a caller, searching for words, blurted out a one word sentence, "Inconsistent!"

He's right. You can take all the words you want, run your hands through them, and form them into a mound. The single word will do. It doesn't make a lot of sense. Outside of Doug Fister, Austin Jackson and Andy Dirks, the team has been healthy this year. Three players spending only a moderate amount of time in the infirmary would be mana for most teams. The Tigers inconsistent play is like duck duck goose, happening and vanishing at random. There doesn't seem to be a lack of effort, lack of passion or lack of commitment. Usually baseball teams ebb and flow at different times. One player is struggling while others are raking. The Tigers are the opposite; they develop struggling synchrony in both the dugout and the bullpen.

I will concede that the Anibal Sanchez acquisition looks a little more like a lump of coal now. The guy has looked terrible in all of his starts, the lone exception being one where he settled down in the second inning. I understand how some fans are nauseated, standing on their plastic chairs and shouting them hoarse because the Tigers gave up Jacob Turner for this guy. I understand why fans think that, but I don't think it's true. The Tigers gave up Turner for Infante, a trade I'm still fine with. Tigers fans have a lot of legitimate bones to pick this year, so don't worry about the Turner trade. Pick your battles.

I for one don't understand the outfield rotation. It hasn't worked at all, yet the Tigers are sticking to it. Quintin Berry has absolutely shown enough that he should be part of the everyday lineup. Trotting out Delmon Young and Brennan Boesch to consistently bounce balls into double plays only makes fans legitimately angrier. The everyday outfield should be Dirks, Jackson and Berry. Keep Quintin Berry in left until Castellanos is ready, and then make the easy transition. Berry was best when he got to the plate every day, and he got a lot more done than Boesch or Young have all year. I understand that Quintin Berry's popularity in this town rose to a step below messianic this summer, so if Leyland is tired of answering questions about him, you can sympathize. Berry has struggled a bit when hitting in the middle of the lineup, so bat him 9th. Give Jackson someone to bring home.

There's nothing you can do as a fan at this point. There are the good Tigers and the bad Tigers. They are capable of turning pitchers into sausage. Then there are games where they commit 3 errors in the same inning. If you are a fan, what to do? You never know if you are booing the good Tigers or the bad. They look like the same people. I guess our only option is to hold on and hope for the best. Grab the handles on the Gravitron, and hope the kid next to you didn't eat the funnel cake with cream frosting. The Tigers are going to be a ride for the rest of the year, and there is nothing you can really do other than watch.