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Gage: Simon hasn't taken a turn for the worse, and can't afford to
DETROIT -- If he switches spots with Anibal Sanchez, that's fine.
No harm, no foul, no problem.
It doesn't really matter who ends up as the Tigers' second-best pitcher for 2015 and who ends up the third.
But for the Tigers to have a chance at winning the American League Central again, Alfredo Simon can't do what he did last year when he was with the Cincinnati Reds.
He doesn't necessarily have to be the second-best pitcher in the Tigers' rotation, as he has been so far -- stepping up while Sanchez has encountered ups and downs -- but he can't struggle as he did last year.
And with a rocky start on Thursday, to go with the extent to which he struggled the start before, it's not time yet to say uh-oh -- Simon deserves a longer leash than that -- but it's time to keep an "uh-oh" ready.
Just in case it's needed.
Through his first 12 starts this season, Simon was every bit as good -- if not better -- for the Tigers as he was for the Reds last year.
He was 7-3 with a 2.58 ERA after 12 starts, compared to being 8-3 with a 3.15 ERA for the Reds.
Despite a higher ERA, he had one more victory for Cincy, so let's call the comparison a draw.
For that matter, Simon continued being successful for the Reds through 18 starts -- what with a 12-3 record and a 2.70 ERA. By that point, he was guaranteed of having his best season.
Then he began to struggle.
And even when he didn't struggle, he didn't win. In his next 10 starts, Simon won just once.
He didn't pitch badly every time out, certainly, but his season took a U-turn all the same.
He went 1-7 with a 5.27 ERA in those 10 starts -- and worse yet, the Reds went 1-9.
Suffice to say, the Tigers can't afford to go 1-9 in any 10-start stretch of Simon's.
And maybe they won't.
But for just the second time this season, they've lost two consecutive starts of his.
Steering Simon toward quicksand last year was that when he was 12-3 for the Reds on July 9, they scored just one run in three of his next four starts. He allowed five runs twice and six once before winning again, but it wasn't as if he got pummeled every time out.
His drought, however either was one of the reasons the Reds went 27-44 after he was 12-3. . .
Or their bad record was one of the reasons for his -- probably a combination of both.
The point for the Tigers is that in his last two starts, Simon has allowed 12 runs on 14 hits in nine innings.
He gave up seven runs in 2 2/3 innings against the Yankees in New York, followed by five runs in 6 1/3 innings of Thursday's loss 8-7 defeat in 10 innings to the White Sox at Comerica Park.
It would have been huge for the Tigers to overcome Simon's bumpy outing -- in which he allowed three runs in the first two innings -- and it looked like they might when they tied the score in the eighth.
But a bases-loaded triple by Carlos Sanchez in the 10th off Joba Chamberlain decided the outcome by offsetting the two runs the Tigers answered with in the bottom of the inning.
Manager Brad Ausmus doesn't sound concerned about Simon, though -- preferring to focus on how he pitched before the last two starts.
"His last start was real rough," said Ausmus. "This one was a little inconsistent.
"But prior to that, he's been our most consistent starter, really, on a start-to-start basis -- in terms of giving us a chance to win."
Indeed, Simon has been that good.
And no one is saying he is taking a second annual turn for the worse.
It's just being emphasized that he can't afford to.
