Comments on: Game 55: Tigers at Mariners

By: Kurt

Kurt — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 14:38:23 +0000

Honestly I don’t think firing anyone will help, nor should anyone be fired. Figure out what went wrong, what if anything can fix it for 2009, sure. Review performances at the end of the year, sure. But I’ve done a 180 on firing Leyland. He’s shown a willingness to try things, shown his has the fire in his belly, he should stay.

By: ron

ron — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 13:46:06 +0000

Illitch must be waiting for the Red Wings to finish off the Penguins before he deals with the baseball issue. At his age, it’s hard to multi-task. Go Red Wings.

By: ron

ron — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 13:12:07 +0000

He has fiddled as Rome burned, starting with that 2006 celebration. He should have told the players to get their asses back in the dugout, we haven’t won anything yet. That would have been a nice button to push at the time. He was asleep at the wheel last August. This year is more of the same. If he doesn’t know what buttons to push to a team of all stars at this point in his career, then he has to go.

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 05:10:30 +0000

I understand the sentiment about firing Leyland. And I’ve expressed that as a wish myself. But really. What has he not done to try to turn this thing around? He’s tried just about everything. It isn’t like he just fiddled as Rome burned. And I have a hard time blaming Leyland for this mess.

By: ron

ron — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 05:00:54 +0000

If they don’t come around, this will be the biggest bust ever in the history of all the professional sports in Detroit. Fire Leyland.

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 04:58:51 +0000

Yes you are right Dave. In the grand scheme of things, there performance or the results of the season doesn’t mean anything.

By: Dave BW

Dave BW — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 04:20:06 +0000

“That will be the point in which I’ll stop worrying about this season and look to the future”

But why are you “worried” about their performance at all? That doesn’t sound very fun. Watching the Tigers isn’t a job, Chris.

…hmm, perhaps I should reconsider that statement.

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 03:00:33 +0000

I’m not professing any kind of certainty at all. Part of the usefulness of extrapolation is it gives a perspective on past sample size.

How bad is an offense that gets shutout 9 times in 55 games? Well, at this rate they are due to be shutout 27 times this season. How bad is a 23-32 record? Well, at this pace they will lose 94 games… That is goddamn awful, isn’t it?

Of course I’m not certain that the rest of the season will remain as crappy. That’s why I keep waiting and watching and hoping that there is at least a sign that they are going to turn this thing around and start playing like they were supposed to. The frustration comes when there is no sign.

Pretty soon, if they don’t start playing better and start winning they are going to be so far out of it then their fate will be sealed. That will be the point in which I’ll stop worrying about this season and look to the future. If they have another month like this, then we will easily be able to say for sure that this team was a huge bust.

And that, BTW, will be worth commenting on.

By: Dave BW

Dave BW — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 02:26:15 +0000

“Because it’s what we do on sport fan forums”

It is certainly what you do, at any rate, so perhaps you’re right. I apologize for taking up your valuable complaining time.

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 02:11:44 +0000

“Regardless, constantly predicting worst case scenarios with absolute certainty won’t change anything one way or the other, so why bother?”

Because it’s what we do on sport fan forums when worst case scenarios are playing themselves out. Otherwise, what else is there to talk about, other than the performance or issues regarding the team? Should we just discus how green the grass is in Seattle?

Anyway, I wasn’t making any kind of irrational prediction here. All I was doing was looking at the box scores of the past 55 games and extrapolating that for the other two-thirds of the season.

By: Dave BW

Dave BW — Sat, 31 May 2008 23:48:12 +0000

Oh, and congratulations, cib!

By: Dave BW

Dave BW — Sat, 31 May 2008 23:47:15 +0000

“This is what we are going to see all year”

Maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t. Regardless, constantly predicting worst case scenarios with absolute certainty won’t change anything one way or the other, so why bother?

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 31 May 2008 23:06:51 +0000

WOW! 9 shutouts so far. We’re on pace to get 27 for the season. That is absolutely unbelievable.

I just keep waiting and waiting for this offense to start producing with some level of consistency, but this is truly bewildering. For a while I’ve been hoping that this is some kind of fluke, that the Tigers have had the misfortune of running into hot pitchers, or that they are going through a team-wide hitting slump and that eventually things would get on track.

But now I’m at the point to where I think that this is it. This is what we are going to see all year. 55 games into the season is enough to know that this team and this hitting lineup really, really stinks. And that both Miguel Cabrera and Edgar Rentara are monster disappointments who have added nothing to the offense.

By: Kevin in Austin

Kevin in Austin — Sat, 31 May 2008 22:27:03 +0000

Congrats cib, job well done.

I don’t mind losing the game, we won’t win ‘em all (or even 1/2 of them), and the shutout is annoying, but JV really pitched much better than 4 ER in 7 IPs. Pudge and Renteria cost him 2 runs and likely another inning (when you consider pitch count).

League leading 9 shutouts. 3 more than Kansas City…

By: cib

cib — Sat, 31 May 2008 22:11:09 +0000

Eww I came back hoping something might have happened but UGH.
Well congratulate me, gang, my firstborn graduates from High School tomorrow. I should be able to check in and catch most of the game however, between the ceremony and dinner out!