Time to worry?
John Donovan, SI.com

    I am now, officially, worried about the Tigers. I'm sure that concerns the Tigers, that I'm losing sleep over their situation. I'm sure all the good, nail-biting fans in Motown really want to hear that I feel their pain too.

    But somebody outside of Detroit has to worry. I mean, this four-game series against the Twins in Minneapolis that starts Thursday is huger than huge. It's a season-maker. Or a season-breaker. The damn Twins are only four back, for crying out loud. And the White Sox are only 4½ behind.

    The Tigers suddenly are losing games that they won so easily just a month ago. They're absolutely painful to watch at the plate. They're a little beat up, and their starters ... they're still good, aren't they, the starters?

    Are the Tigers about to choke away the postseason?

    Can things get any worse?

    What's wrong?

    1. Is that an apple in your throat?

    You know the pressure of a pennant race is getting to the Tigers when the Tigers admit that the pressure is getting to them.

    "I think it's good to be nervous. And I am," manager Jim Leyland told reporters. "I think it's bad to be scared, and I'm not. There's a major difference."

    Just a month ago the Tigers had a seemingly insurmountable 10-game lead in the American League Central. Since then they are 9-19.

    They just lost a series to the Mariners. They've won exactly one series in the last month's worth of games, when they took two out of three in Boston. Their pitching is starting to fray, their hitters are slumping and there are signs that the Tigers are beginning to grasp at straws.

    On Wednesday, Leyland asked his coaches for some dummy lineups, and his guys gave him six to choose from. It's not a patently bad idea. New thinking always should be welcome.

    But a confident team doesn't do that. Plus, it sure would have been better if the lineup had actually worked.

    After the loss Wednesday to Seattle, the Tigers came back into the clubhouse to learn that popular DH Dmitri Young had been released for "performance reasons." That may or may not be the case -- it sure seems awfully fishy -- but Young was hitting .292 with a .504 slugging percentage since his comeback from alcohol rehab in July. If the whole team was hitting that way, nobody would be nervous. Me included.

    The Tigers insist that they have things under control, that they're approaching their jobs as they always have, that this is just a blip. But ...

    "It would be stupid to say we don't feel the pressure," backup catcher Vance Wilson told The Detroit News, "because that would be a lie."

    2. Where did the middle infield go?

    Second baseman Placido Polanco, who fit nicely into the No. 2 slot in the lineup, knocked out his shoulder during the series win in Boston on Aug. 15. He won't be back until later this month. And shortstop Carlos Guillen has been out since last weekend after straining a hamstring.

    To be fair, the Tigers were having problems even when these guys were healthy. The team had just suffered through a season-high five-game losing streak when Polanco was hurt diving for a ball in short right field in Boston. And the team was well into its tailspin by the time Guillen tweaked his hamstring.

    Still, finding replacements for Polanco and Guillen has proven tricky. Since Polanco's injury, left fielder Craig Monroe is hitting just .257, with a .317 on-base percentage out of Polanco's No. 2 spot in the lineup. Polanco's main replacement at second base, Omar Infante, actually is hitting much better than anyone should expect (.327, .365 on-base in 14 starts). For some reason, though, the Tigers remain intent on playing Neifi Perez, and Ramon Santiago on occasion. Neither is as capable at the plate as Polanco, Guillen or Infante.

    The disruption clearly hasn't helped matters over the last 28 games. But the truth is, this was a faulty lineup in a lot of ways before any injuries.

    3. Can anyone here hit left-handed? I mean with some power?

    Once he returned from his drug rehab, Young, a switch-hitter, was supposed to be the team's answer for its lack of left-handed pop. Now the Tigers are back to where they were in July.

    First baseman Sean Casey is a lefty swinger with a .300 lifetime average. But he's hitting only .236 since his trade from the Pirates, and after a decent start with Detroit, he's driven in only four runs since Aug. 16. Casey, never known as a power hitter, hasn't hit a home run since Aug. 12.

    And he's the team's best middle-of-the-order, healthy left-handed power hitter.

    The only other notable guys who can swing from that side are switch-hitter Perez (.271 slugging against right-handers), switch-hitter Guillen (a .544 slugging percentage against righties this year, but he's hurt) and Curtis Granderson (he's slugging .430 against righties, but he's a leadoff man and in a terrible slump).

    The Tigers, overall, rank fifth in the AL in slugging percentage against right-handed pitchers (.450). But in their last 28 games the Tigers, as a team, are slugging only .345 against righties. Their lefties, the guys who are supposed to hit righties, during that skid? Just .239 with a .353 slugging percentage.

    4. So can anyone around here hit?

    Here are some ugly numbers, all during this 9-19 dive. Skip this part unless you really want to get nauseous:

    Granderson: a .177 batting average, .225 on-base percentage, .302 slugging percentage with eight runs scored in 26 games. And this is the team's leadoff hitter?

    Marcus Thames: .209/.277/.512, seven runs scored.

    Magglio Ordoñez: The team's cleanup hitter is hitting .267, with a lame .300 on-base, a weak .410 slugging and just three homers and nine RBIs in all 28 games.

    Ivan Rodriguez: The No. 3 hitter is in a .242/.273/.305 slump with only one home run and six RBIs in 26 games.

    Casey: .250/.290/.330, one homer, 15 RBIs.

    Overall, in this 9-19 nightmare, the Tigers are hitting .246 as a team with a .294 on-base percentage -- that is not good -- and a .386 slugging percentage. That's pretty terrible too.

    So, to answer the question: No. No one on this team can hit right now.

    One of the biggest criticisms of the '06 Tigers, even when they were 30 games over .500, was that they were too free-swinging. Before they embarked on this lost month of games, they struck out nearly 2.7 times for every walk they took. During the stretch, they've struck out almost three times for every walk they've taken.

    They, like many of their fans in Detroit, are getting less patient by the pitch.

    5. And what about those starters?

    Kenny Rogers, the old man in the rotation, has been the rock of it, too. In the last 28 games, the 41-year-old lefty has started six, gone 4-1 with a 1.57 ERA and made it through seven innings in five of those starts. Rogers, clearly, is not the problem.

    The fear, as has been well documented, is that the young pitchers in the Tigers' rotation -- mainly 23-year-olds Jeremy Bonderman and Justin Verlander -- would tire under the strain of added innings and the pennant race. During the 9-19 stretch, the two youngsters have done nothing to quell the rumblings.

    When you add in Nate Robertson's efforts, some rough outings from 24-year-old deposed starter Zach Miner (0-3, 8.53 in the three starts he made) and Wilfredo Ledezma's starts, the Detroit rotation, minus ol' man Rogers, is 3-13 with a 5.04 ERA in the last 28 games.

    Who would've figured that we could use more of Kenny Rogers?

    So as not to get too doomy and gloomy about this, the Tigers still are sitting relatively pretty. Even if they continue playing as poorly as they have in the last 28 games, they'd still win 92 games. Baseball Prospectus says they still have an almost 87 percent chance of winning the AL Central, and a nearly 98 percent chance of making the playoffs (although those numbers are both dropping).

    They still have six games remaining against the Royals (Detroit is 11-1 this season against K.C.). And they finish up with six games at home (three against Toronto, three against the Royals).

    So maybe Leyland's right. Nervous, not scared. Not even now, with the huge series against the Twins upon us, in the Metrodome.

    Nervous. Not scared.

    So why am I still sweating?

giant picture