By Punch N. Judy
BaseballBigMouth.com baseball news

Free fall- A decline, a sudden or rapid decline, as in value or prestige that appears to be endless or bottomless.

Out of the three definitions found at AllWords.com, this particular one seemed to best fit the scenario unfolding in the Motor City, as the Tigers head towards an epic collapse in a pennant race that looked decided just a few short weeks ago. After upping their lead in early August to an almost gaudy 101/2 games, Detroit has since gone 10- 33, leaving fans like Punch and The Heckler in a state of panic that may have reached its apex on Sunday afternoon when the Twins laid a 12-1 drubbing on our boys in the old English D.

Ever the optimist, I still think the Tigs are in the driver seat, provided they show some semblance of a fighting spirit down the stretch. In early April as the team closed out a home stand, Jim Leyland went off on the club as they prepared to embark on a western swing that would in retrospect set the tone for the season up to this point. Having mailed it in on get-away-day, (a 10-2 loss to Cleveland) Leyland, in between puffs of smoke that either came from his ears or mouth, let his players know that he would not except the poor lackadaisical effort that had been the club’s hallmark for the previous decade.

The ensuing trip included some nail-biting, character building victories that sent them home 6-3 for the junket, and well on their way to the position they still find themselves in today: First place. Though yesterday was in fact a rarity in that the fellas got absolutely blown out, the lack of offence demonstrated against Cy Young hopeful Johan Santana is nothing new; it very well could have been Carlos Santana throwing up bagels the way our team’s been swinging it lately.

During this month long funk Leyland has been quick to point out that the season is a 162 game grind, and that the injury bug should not be used as an excuse for poor execution. I couldn’t agree more. After all, it wasn’t long ago that Minnesota themselves were suffering through the loss of both Tori Hunter and Shannon Stewart at the same time. Throw in the arm woes of Francisco Liriano, who looked like Fernando Valenzuala circa 1981, and you have a team that has staved of adversity all year long. The loss of Placido Polanco was certainly significant, ( if only because he is the one regular not prone to striking out more than twice per game) but let’s face it here, Detroit was well on their way to this budding disaster before Polanco went down making a game saving grab at Fenway.

As I cross my fingers and close my eyes the rest of the way, I can’t help but think that Leyland should spew a little turpentine in that clubhouse and take a strip or two off a team that needs something, anything to shake itself out of the doldrums it finds itself in at this time. It’s like old Wyatt Earp once said to an outlaw cowboy that he had just roughed up: “Are you guys gonna fight or are you just gonna stand there and bleed?”

Go ahead Tiger fans, join in and let BBM know what you think as the Tigers seem about ready to f-f-f-ade away in the pressure–packed month of September. Vent one and all; it’s almost as stress relieving as one of Jim Leyland’s cigarettes.

image appears courtesy of www.iband.com

This entry was posted on Monday, September 11th, 2006 at 2:47 pm and is filed under Punch N. Judy Pinch-hits, Baseball News and Views, Baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.