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Punchless Tigers somehow still in first

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Jon Paul Morosi

Jon Paul Morosi is a national MLB writer for FOXSports.com. He previously covered baseball for the Detroit Free Press and Seattle Post-Intelligencer. He began his journalism career at the Bay City Times in his native Michigan. Follow him on Twitter.

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Updated Aug 5, 2009 1:44 AM ET
     
 

DETROIT

The Tigers were a last-place team in 2008. They lead the American League Central now. If they maintain this pace, they will be baseball's latest worst-to-first phenomenon, right beside last year's lovable Tampa Bay Rays.
But this might be the goofiest-looking Cinderella we've seen in some time. Can anyone really perceive this Detroit team as an underdog? At the moment, according to Major League Baseball calculations, the Tigers have the fourth-highest payroll in baseball, at roughly $136 million. Last year, they also had the fourth-highest payroll. At roughly $136 million. Yet this spring, plenty of people figured the Tigers were destined for a second straight finish among the also-rans in one of the game's weaker divisions. Jim Leyland's team was dismissed as roundly as it had been exalted the previous year, when many pundits forecasted a world title. For those who haven't been watching, this has been their season in brief: The pitching has been strong, despite Jarrod Washburn's disappointing Detroit debut in an 8-2 loss to Baltimore on Tuesday. The defense, particularly around the infield, has improved since last year. But the offense has been mystifying, with outputs of three runs or fewer in 10 of 18 games since the All-Star break. In the end, the Tigers have done just enough to maintain a precarious hold on first place. But let's not disparage them too much. A first-place team is a first-place team. "Up until the trade deadline, everybody kept saying we needed this, we needed that," center fielder Curtis Granderson said. "Yet, from the start of the season until the trade deadline, we'd been in first for the majority of (the time). So, our team was pretty good. "The change we made (acquiring Washburn from Seattle) was a great one. I don't think we had to restructure our team — a lot of people were saying we had to. ... As long as I've played the game, everyone keeps saying, 'Pitching and defense, pitching and defense.' Well, we've got that." Yes, but that doesn't make nights like Tuesday any easier for Leyland to endure. The Tigers scored one run against star prospect Brian Matusz in his big league debut, while Washburn surrendered six in 5 1/3 innings. Leyland said repeatedly that he isn't worried about Washburn. And he shouldn't be. The Tigers identified Washburn as a good fit for their staff "awhile ago," according to team president/general manager Dave Dombrowski. The veteran left-hander, Leyland said, is "the least of my problems." The hitters are another matter entirely. Of the 11 position players who appeared in Tuesday's game, only Miguel Cabrera is hitting better than .270 this season. Lousy swings. Bad at-bats with runners in scoring position. You know, the works. Leyland hasn't singled out individuals, because, well, pretty much all of them are culpable. "When players have those kinds of at-bats, they need to look and say, 'You know what? Something's not right here. My concentration cannot possibly be what it needs to be,'" Leyland said after Tuesday's loss. "That's just the way it is. That's how I feel. ... When you're taking strikes and swinging at balls, it usually does not work." How disappointing has the offense been? Well, Cabrera leads the team with 61 RBIs. Entering Tuesday, he was tied for 43rd in the majors — with David Ortiz, among others — in that category. The team made three pairs of roster moves on Tuesday — generally not an indicator of stability — including a quick call-up/send-down of Class AAA outfielder Wilkin Ramirez. He started in left field, batted leadoff, went 0-for-3 and was given the unpleasant news afterward. Good thing Toledo is only an hour away. Reliever Casey Fien and backup catcher Dusty Ryan are out. Reliever Chris Lambert and backup catcher Alex Avila are in. And Leyland acknowledged that the Tigers expect to "tinker with our roster for the next month or so." To repeat: This team is in first place. "That's what pitching and defense can do for you," said Al Kaline, the Hall of Famer who works as an adviser to the team. "We're struggling a little with the bat, but pitching and defense keep you in games." On some level, it's remarkable that the Tigers are fielding a contender this year at all. With a projected decrease in revenues due to the recession, it would have been easy for owner Mike Ilitch to order a dramatic reduction in the team's payroll. He didn't. The opening-day figure was not far below where it was in 2008, and Friday's addition of Washburn made the numbers almost equivalent. Think about it: At a time when other teams were forced to shed contracts or keep payrolls static, the Tigers, despite playing in the city most ravaged by the economic turbulence, added about $3.5 million at the trade deadline. It was the kind of move that engenders confidence in ownership and management from within the clubhouse. As All-Star pitcher Justin Verlander put it: "We definitely notice that." "Mr. Ilitch is probably one of the best owners there is," Kaline said. "He said, 'Do what you have to do to win.' That's his motto: Whatever it takes to win. In a way, I wish I would have played for an owner like that. He'll probably lose money this year, but he's willing to go the extra mile for the team and the city. He's a unique individual. We're lucky to have him." Unfortunately for the Tigers, Ilitch won't drive in 100 runs this year. It doesn't look like any of his players will, either, unless Cabrera slugs like a prizefighter over the final two months. Care to guess how many teams reached the postseason last year without a 100-RBI man on the roster? That's right. Zero. And anyone willing to do the grade-school arithmetic can crunch the numbers on another storyline that won't go away for the rest of the season: The team's $18 million option on Magglio Ordoñez, now a part-timer, would vest automatically with 117 additional plate appearances. Ordoñez actually went 2-for-5 and drove in a run on Tuesday. It was only his second multi-hit game since the Fourth of July. "We all sit down and think: Why? What? How?" Kaline said. "It just looks like it's one of those years. He's trying as hard as he can. Mentally, you get exhausted. You try to do everything you possibly can. You change this. You change that. ... It's just one of those years that nobody can explain." So, these are the 2009 Tigers. On their best days, you wonder how Verlander, Washburn and Edwin Jackson would look starting the first three games of a postseason series. On their worst, you start counting all the money owed this year to injured/aching players ... and lose interest at around $40 million. Yet, if the season ended today, they would be champions of the American League Central. Cinderella with a bruised foot.
Tagged: David Ortiz, Brian Matusz, Red Sox, Curtis Granderson, Wilkin Ramirez, Miguel Cabrera, Tigers, Justin Verlander, Edwin Jackson

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