After predicting the Tigers would win in five games I feel absolutely crushed to see them lose in four games. The Tigers were on fire, the hottest I’ve ever seen them especially for the post all-star break Tigers. They swept the Yankees for goodness sake yet they couldn’t win a single game against the Giants. An offensive power house struggled scoring in only two of the four games. The Tigers racked up only six runs in the two games they did score and the Giants scored a stunning 16 runs in all four games put together.
The Tigers flipped the script and for the most part only the pitchers showed up and the batters didn’t. The problem is a shocker, too. The Tigers as a team batted .159, but that problem comes from our monsters at the three and four spot. Miguel Cabrera batted .231 and Prince Fielder batted .071. A .231 is awful but .071 is a whole new kind of horrendous. All series he was committing his hands too soon and swinging at everything, good or bad. These are the leaders of the Tigers, for that team to go down in four games those two hitters should be batting excellently and the other team just plain out played the Tigers. The problem should have been them, they should have stepped up on such a big stage and they didn’t.
They aren’t the only ones to blame, however. Justin Verlander the defending MVP and Cy Young award winner didn’t really shine in his outing against the Giants. Although he only pitched once he gave up six hits and five earned runs in just four innings which earned him his first loss since Sept. 8. The pitching did get better, however, in the next three losses so pinning the blame on pitching wouldn’t really add up.
I do nevertheless have a thought lingering in the back of my head. I feel that if the injured and forgotten Victor Martinez would have been healthy and available for the World Series the game would have been way different. The Tigers would have lost some fielding because we would have had to put Delmon Young in the outfield but our bats which were our biggest problem in the series would have gotten super charged with another .300 plus batter that can hit for homers in the lineup. He is a clutch hitter and the whole series would have been different but sadly that wasn’t the case.
A little part in me died when Cabrera watched that fastball go right through the strike zone and the final out of what I thought was the Tigers year ended the season short of being champions once again. But hey, there is always next season.
