Reasons Why The Tigers Flopped In The World Series

With the wind howling and the Tigers down to their final strike, Santiago Casilla gathered himself on the mound and ran a fastball down the heart of the plate ending the Tigers season. Miguel Cabrera was simply froze on a pitch he figured was going to nip the outside corner like the last three. As the Giants celebrated their second championship in three years and Buster Posey starting his career in Jeter-like fashion with two rings, I began to wonder why my beloved Tigers fell so hard. It was a fellow friend that told me via Facebook that I should blog my dismay. Well Colin, here it is. My reasons why the Tigers stunk worse than when someone steps in dog s**t and wonders where the smell is coming from.

The most obvious answer is that the bats went cold. But when you analyze the situation a bit further you see an imperfect relationship of how great pitching can only carry you so far. Aside from Justin Verlander getting lit up in Game #1, the pitching from Doug Fister, Anabal Sanchez and Max Scherzer was quite impressive. If the bats stayed even half as hot as they did against the Yankees, the Tigers are probably still playing. Along with the bats doing nothing, the big guns did not show up to play. Cabrera and Prince Fielder were nowhere to be found in the first three games and aside from a two run jack from Miggy, they might as well not even been there. For f**k's sake, Jeremy Affeldt, who's career ERA is above 4, struck out the side to end any threat in the 7th. And through all this, the guy that people couldn't stop ripping in the regular season was the one guy who kept hitting. Delmon Young, accused of being a racist and a waste of a roster spot, was hot throughout the playoffs and eventually led to him capturing the American League Championship Series MVP. I am sure that every Tiger fan who watched the game last night knew if the Tigers could get a win, the series could change drastically.  With Verlander going tonight and momentum in our favour, the road to getting back to San Francisco seemed a lot shorter. But when you can't hit it becomes a large problem.

Another large factor in the playoffs has been Jim Leyland. I want to clear up that this is not entirely his fault but a few things are. First off, people keep talking how he is a winner and how he makes the Tigers better. Well if one win in two World Series appearances along with a seven game losing streak in the Series is considered winning than this guy is Charlie Sheen. He once again failed to keep his players ready after a long layoff and did not correct the problem that plagued  the Tigers in 2006. The bullpen was rocky at times but barely kept it together. Valverde was a complete disaster and took up a roster spot that might have burnt Leyland if the Tigers would've won last night. He continues to trust  an incompetent third base coach in Gene Lamont and turns his nose to people with logical questioning to his lineup cards throughout the entire season. If Lamont holds Fielder and the Tigers score in the inning, the series is changed completely. I am sick of the lack of responsibility that Leyland holds his players accountable for and how he always pushes issues aside and say that they are part of the game. If part of the game is to get your ass handed to you on the national stage, then Leyland accomplished it. When Omar Infante was hit in the hand last night and left the ball game, Danny Worth was the backup. It was then I realized that with Valverde using up a roster spot and Infante now a no go, the Tigers are running thin on bodies. Who is to blame if the Tigers trot out Worth at second tonight if there was a game 5? It's Jim Leyland. Same ole problems and no answers. That is Jim Leyland's MO. Tony La Russa anyone?!

I will tip my hat to the San Francisco Giants to exposing the reasons as to why the Tigers were seriously over achievers even though the goal the entire year was to win the World Series. The Tigers got to the show by playing mediocre baseball for nine tenths of the season and then watch Chicago collapse like a house of cards. Once in, they took on an Oakland A's team that used the Moneyball approach better than the actual movie and took the Tigers the distance. The A's had over-achieved themselves and watched Texas blow the AL West to miss the playoffs. The Tigers then drew the Yankees who are a bunch of overpaid and washed up ballplayers with problems internally. This reminded me of the Lakers and Pistons in 2004, where Shaq and Kobe couldn't get along and handed the trophy to the Pistons. With the sweep, the Tigers drew a San Francisco team that was hot after coming off a seven game series that saw them overcome a 3-1 series deficit. A team that battled at the plate, had very good pitching and a closer that was lights out. I said it before the series and now my worst fears are confirmed, the Tigers have lost but not in a sweep. This is what happens when to many things go wrong and a great team does what they are suppose to do.

Congrats San Fran, and to all Tiger fans, lets take some time and rebound from this and watch a little hockey... oh wait!

Cheers,

a very irate italian!