Saturday, April 12, 2003
Terrible Tigers Now Historic
The historian in me gets a kick out of being able to say things like, "This hasn't happened in my lifetime," and hearing things like the Royals are off to the best start in a season since the Reds in 1990. Writing about baseball or talking about baseball with any significant amount of energy, you need to take these kinds of things seriously.
So there's a bit of fascination with the fact that the Detroit Tigers might be the worst major league team I've ever seen. And if you don't remember the 1962-63 New York Mets, it's fair to say you haven't seen anybody worse either. If you're bad enough in baseball, you stake a claim in history that isn't soon forgotten. Over a hundred years later, the name Cleveland Spiders has an almost comedic ring to it, something that owes itself to the team's historic level of ineptitude.
The '02-'03 Tigers might go down as another one we all remember, a team whose woes will be told with morbid fascination. The Tigers lost yesterday to the White Sox in Detroit to fall to 0-9 on the season. After starting 0-11 last year, they are now the only team to start back-to-back seasons losing their first nine games. The aforementioned Mets held the previous record, starting 0-9 in their inaugural season, and then going 0-8 in '63.
The Tigers were terrible last year (55-106), and I think most people figured they would be just as bad, but this is reaching absurdity, if not hilarity. You can cite their runs scored (14, which is two less than the number of RBI of league-leader Shea Hillenbrand), two home runs, and their mind-boggling .399 OPS (the next lowest is Cleveland at .579). Their pitching hasn't helped them much either, not that it would make much of a difference. Team ERA (5.31) is 11th in the AL, and their strikeout total of 38 is last.
But what drills home their offensive stagnation the most is strolling down the box score after yesterday's game and seeing these batting averages:
.000
.188
.182
.088
.130
.000
.148
.000
.238
Granted, some of these averages are by players like Bocachica (lead-off), Halter (2nd) and Paquette (6th) who have played in only a few games. But you get the point. The team average sits at .140.
I don't have the resource materials in front of me to check on this, but this not only has to rank among the worst starts ever, but also among the worst offensive displays in any nine-game stretch in a season. It is hard to conceive that a team could actually hit worse.
Quick Hits
I was scanning the Game Updates on ESPN.com last night, tracking some of the West Coast games. I got to this line, and was as shocked as anyone:
IP R ER H BB K ERA
4 2/3 10 10 10 2 4 8.31
That was Randy Johnson's night against the Brewers in an 11-7 Arizona loss. Before last night Johnson had beaten Milwaukee 14 times without a loss.
Just a couple hours before, I had watched a little of the Mets-Expos game, in which David Cone was making his second start. His slider to righties, which was darting and hitting the outside corner, was about the only thing that looked decent. His fastball was struggling to get over 85 mph. I thought about this 40-year old pitcher with guts and guile to spare, throwing against guys like Vidro and Guerrero, and how difficult it will be for him to be successful over the course of a season. There is so much pressure on every pitch, because he can't afford to make a mistake.
Then we have Greg Maddux who I mentioned on Thursday. I've only seen the highlights, but I'm sure his rough start is due to the fact that his stuff has "lost a little life." Maybe his fastball is losing that tailing action. Maybe he's not hitting his spots with consisentency.
And then there's 39-year old Randy Johnson, smacked around last night like he hasn't been in nearly a decade (April 10, 1994). Guile and guts and experience don't make up for missed locations and fastballs with no juice.
---------------
Baseball's international flavor was in full display in Puerto Rico last night. A Japanese pitcher took the mound for a Canadian team playing a home game in San Juan, and it didn't seem out of the ordinary.
--------------
The most exciting division in the early going is the NL Central, especially with the Pirates showing no signs of fading quickly. The only dud in the division is Milwaukee, and there already have been some memorable endings in inter-division games. A tough, tough loss for Matt Morris last night. He pitched well in a difficult ballpark to shut that offense down in.
-------------
The Royals are the most obvious topic to write about, so I'm trying to stay away from them for a little bit. However, the throw that Desi Relaford made in the 9th to nail Shane Spencer at third was the best throw I've seen from an outfielder this year, and certainly the most clutch throw so far, considering Spencer would've been the tying run with no outs.
Considering the Indians' offense is averaging less than three runs a game, and Kansas City starters are throwing at a 2.43 ERA, it's very possible, if not probable, that the Royals will win two of the next three of this four-game series. That would leave them at 10-1. While it's too early to really start getting too crazy, a start like that should keep team in the thick of the division until at least the All-Star break. And if the Royals don't hit that wall that we all expect they will, they will be around longer than that.
----------
Thanks to Dave Pinto for giving me a plug, and a permanent link, on his blog, Baseball Musings.
The historian in me gets a kick out of being able to say things like, "This hasn't happened in my lifetime," and hearing things like the Royals are off to the best start in a season since the Reds in 1990. Writing about baseball or talking about baseball with any significant amount of energy, you need to take these kinds of things seriously.
So there's a bit of fascination with the fact that the Detroit Tigers might be the worst major league team I've ever seen. And if you don't remember the 1962-63 New York Mets, it's fair to say you haven't seen anybody worse either. If you're bad enough in baseball, you stake a claim in history that isn't soon forgotten. Over a hundred years later, the name Cleveland Spiders has an almost comedic ring to it, something that owes itself to the team's historic level of ineptitude.
The '02-'03 Tigers might go down as another one we all remember, a team whose woes will be told with morbid fascination. The Tigers lost yesterday to the White Sox in Detroit to fall to 0-9 on the season. After starting 0-11 last year, they are now the only team to start back-to-back seasons losing their first nine games. The aforementioned Mets held the previous record, starting 0-9 in their inaugural season, and then going 0-8 in '63.
The Tigers were terrible last year (55-106), and I think most people figured they would be just as bad, but this is reaching absurdity, if not hilarity. You can cite their runs scored (14, which is two less than the number of RBI of league-leader Shea Hillenbrand), two home runs, and their mind-boggling .399 OPS (the next lowest is Cleveland at .579). Their pitching hasn't helped them much either, not that it would make much of a difference. Team ERA (5.31) is 11th in the AL, and their strikeout total of 38 is last.
But what drills home their offensive stagnation the most is strolling down the box score after yesterday's game and seeing these batting averages:
.000
.188
.182
.088
.130
.000
.148
.000
.238
Granted, some of these averages are by players like Bocachica (lead-off), Halter (2nd) and Paquette (6th) who have played in only a few games. But you get the point. The team average sits at .140.
I don't have the resource materials in front of me to check on this, but this not only has to rank among the worst starts ever, but also among the worst offensive displays in any nine-game stretch in a season. It is hard to conceive that a team could actually hit worse.
Quick Hits
I was scanning the Game Updates on ESPN.com last night, tracking some of the West Coast games. I got to this line, and was as shocked as anyone:
IP R ER H BB K ERA
4 2/3 10 10 10 2 4 8.31
That was Randy Johnson's night against the Brewers in an 11-7 Arizona loss. Before last night Johnson had beaten Milwaukee 14 times without a loss.
Just a couple hours before, I had watched a little of the Mets-Expos game, in which David Cone was making his second start. His slider to righties, which was darting and hitting the outside corner, was about the only thing that looked decent. His fastball was struggling to get over 85 mph. I thought about this 40-year old pitcher with guts and guile to spare, throwing against guys like Vidro and Guerrero, and how difficult it will be for him to be successful over the course of a season. There is so much pressure on every pitch, because he can't afford to make a mistake.
Then we have Greg Maddux who I mentioned on Thursday. I've only seen the highlights, but I'm sure his rough start is due to the fact that his stuff has "lost a little life." Maybe his fastball is losing that tailing action. Maybe he's not hitting his spots with consisentency.
And then there's 39-year old Randy Johnson, smacked around last night like he hasn't been in nearly a decade (April 10, 1994). Guile and guts and experience don't make up for missed locations and fastballs with no juice.
---------------
Baseball's international flavor was in full display in Puerto Rico last night. A Japanese pitcher took the mound for a Canadian team playing a home game in San Juan, and it didn't seem out of the ordinary.
--------------
The most exciting division in the early going is the NL Central, especially with the Pirates showing no signs of fading quickly. The only dud in the division is Milwaukee, and there already have been some memorable endings in inter-division games. A tough, tough loss for Matt Morris last night. He pitched well in a difficult ballpark to shut that offense down in.
-------------
The Royals are the most obvious topic to write about, so I'm trying to stay away from them for a little bit. However, the throw that Desi Relaford made in the 9th to nail Shane Spencer at third was the best throw I've seen from an outfielder this year, and certainly the most clutch throw so far, considering Spencer would've been the tying run with no outs.
Considering the Indians' offense is averaging less than three runs a game, and Kansas City starters are throwing at a 2.43 ERA, it's very possible, if not probable, that the Royals will win two of the next three of this four-game series. That would leave them at 10-1. While it's too early to really start getting too crazy, a start like that should keep team in the thick of the division until at least the All-Star break. And if the Royals don't hit that wall that we all expect they will, they will be around longer than that.
----------
Thanks to Dave Pinto for giving me a plug, and a permanent link, on his blog, Baseball Musings.
