The Tigers have defined mediocre through the first 42 games. They are 20-22. They are 10-13 at home and 10-9 on the road. They are 4-5 vs. the East, 10-11 vs. the Central and 5-4 vs. the West. They were 11-11 in April, and 9-11 in May. They are 5-5 in their last 10.
Surprisingly, it's been the bats that have let the Tigers down in recent games. They lost 1-0 to Arizona on Sunday and have scored more than 4 runs in just 4 of their last 24 contests. They rank 9th in the AL in runs scored for the season and they are last in the league over the past 7 days. They are batting .231 over the past week, also last.
Fortunately, Detroit's 3.66 team ERA is 4th best in the AL and the Tigers have posted a 2.95 ERA over the last week. Detroit's starters have a 3.88 ERA and average 6.1 innings per outing, 6th best.
A trip to NY might be a tough task now, but it would be great to see the Tigers take at least 2 of 3. The match-up tonight favors the Yanks (Ledezma vs. Mussina) but Maroth and Bonderman follow. Those are games Detroit must win to take that next step. Maroth tossed a shutout in his only start last year against the Yanks and Bonderman is rapidly moving toward "ace" status.
The bullpen has picked up after a slow start, and even overcome the loss of Percival. This team is capable of being exciting. If the bats return to life, and pitching remains strong, it could be a fun summer.
Right now, it's just time to cool the Yanks (if they can make it there, they can make it anywhere) and help out Stanley's Orioles.
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The O's need help. The entire starting outfield has been out for 2 weeks although Sosa was activated yesterday and did DH.
On the day Sosa returned to the lineup, Javy Lopez went on the DL with a broken right hand (hit by a foul tip) and Brian Roberts left the game with a bruised knee (hit by a wicked fastball).
O's pitching remains inconsistent and the hitting has diminished from "bashers" to merely above average in recent weeks. With Matos already on the DL (broken finger), if Roberts can't play the O's have no leadoff hitter.
Of course, all the bashing in April and early May led to victories regardless of inconsistent pitching. With the bashing seemingly over for now, the offense is going to have to tighten it's game and start doing the "little" things like advancing runners, etc... The O's offense has been ineffective in this regard (although in last night's game, down 2-1 in the 7th, the O's loaded the bases with a walk and 2 sac bunts opening the door for a Sosa SAC fly to score the tying run).
So, the O's are crippled, the pitching is inconsistent and they are headed for more interleague play in which the O's have the worst record in all of MLB.
The O's can't win a postseason berth over the next 4-6 weeks, but it appears that they could lose it.
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