August 1, 2010 – If you happen to entertain loyalties to Detroit you are well used to the wags condemning the pro sports teams like so many of the neighborhoods and businesses of the Motor City. The Pistons are for sale and have crashed from their once heady heights. The Red Wings have grown old. Say what you want about the Lions prospects for 2010, they still are fifty years removed from a championship and not really any closer now.

The Tigers were also supposed to fall. Many prescient prophets of baseball wouldn’t forgive them for their 2009 swoon. According to the “sources,” the economy didn’t provide the Tigers with the ability to improve. Their trade of Curtis Granderson to the Yankees was a sign of surrender.

President/GM Dave Dombrowski tried to get younger. He brought in four less-expensive young players with upside — starter Max Scherzer, Yankees top prospect CF Austin Jackson, and two left handed pitchers, Phil Coke and Dan Schlereth — for what amounted to starter Edwin Jackson and Granderson. He signed Johhny Damon to add a bat and Jose Valverde to close. Dombrowski’s off-season plan was nothing like the critics predicted. The Tigers were in first place a day before the All Star break.

But before we could crown Dombrowski as a genius. Before we could list Jim Leyland among the best managers. Before we could give Miguel Cabrera the triple crown, the Tigers became the worst road team in baseball, a Red Cross unit for the ages (Brandon Inge, Magglio Ordonez, Joel Zumaya, and Carlos Guillen are all out), and a motley crue of feeble hitters and pitchers spinning down the eddy of the toilet.

The Tigers have been in double figures as far as utilizing rookies this year. One of their starters, Rick Porcello, has the sophomore jinx. Another threw a 28-out perfect game but hasn’t got anyone out for the past couple of years. The rookie enhancements are cheap and so are the lineup reinforcements. Damon has expense associated with him but not longterm staying power. Valverde is almost perfect with save opportunities, trouble is, he gets fewer and fewer.

So Dombrowski, who was hailed as a hero a short time ago, committed the cardinal sin. He made the writers and critics right by moving to inexpensive solutions, by saving money, by filling his holes with hope and not loading up. Instead of being honest and critical of his team, DD preached the glass was half full.

Dombrowski would have us believe that even though Gerald Laird couldn’t hit, he was a great catcher. That even though Brandon Inge was incredibly inconsistent, he was a great fielder. That even though there was no one to play second base, a rookie would step up. That even though his shortstop couldn’t hit, he could field so well that he improved the pitching. Four guys who couldn’t hit. Almost half his batting order. Throw in a rookie centerfielder, an aging rightfielder with bad knees, an aging leftfielder with eroding skills and a revolving door of nobody DHs and the Tigers had ONE hitter. As soon as Ordonez’s ankle broke, no one had to pitch to Cabrera again.

The bullpen was effective in the first half, then Zumaya broke his elbow. The rotation is beatable and even ace, Justin Verlander, isn’t a sure thing to stop a tailspin, which the Tiger’s have been in at least four times this season. They went 10-10 over a string in April. Two and seven for a time in May. They had a 3-6 spell in June and were 3 of 12 to finish July. They flat out can’t win on the road, although they do have wins against New York, Boston and Los Angeles to dispel their penchant for not being able to beat anyone good.

So when they should have added a bat to help Cabrera (Jermaine Dye, Johnny Gomes, etc.), they looked to Ordonez and Damon. When they should have punched up their rotation with an innings eater, (Carl Pavano, Bronson Arroyo, etc.) they were convinced “Perfecto” Galarraga was the guy. When they should have shopped for a shortstop who could hit a little, they stayed with Adam Everett and Ramon Santiago when Cesar Izturis or Orlando Cabrera were available. The result has been spinning down the drain. The pitcher they needed became rookie Andrew Oliver (0-4). The middle relief came from a nameless chain of pitchers who spent more time on I-75 to Toledo and back, than holding leads. The shortstop became Danny Worth (.238), that extra hitter was Brennan Boesch, a rookie out of nowhere who got hot for a short time.

The trouble isn’t that Dombrowski got lazy and cheap, it was that the critics were right from the start and he should have known better..