Brooms Ahoy

Confidence isn't a word I would really use too often when talking about the 2008 Detroit Tigers. But going into Thursday's finale in KC, it was pretty safe to assume that the Tigers were probably pretty confident in their chances. They wouldn't be swept by the lowly Kansas City Royals. Kenny Rogers was taking the hill, on a roll with three consecutive quality starts. And they were facing a starter that they victimized in the season opener.

All that came to a screeching halt as the Gambler fell victim to a three run first inning, and a two run second shortly thereafter. By the time he'd exited after the fourth inning, KC had a seven-spot on the board, and fourteen men had reached base.

Gil Meche gave one back in the second inning, but looked nothing like the man Detroit had seen the first go round. It was just another day at the office for a Kansas City pitcher, going seven strong and keeping the foot on the Tigers' throat all day.

You know there is something seriously wrong when Matt Joyce (not really trying to slight the man too hard here) is seemingly the entire offense. Another home run was crushed to the right field grass, and he also added a sac fly.

The AL Central is still a jumbled mess, with first place and fourth place only 2.5 games apart. But the Tigers aren't even in that discussion because they're sitting in dead last, 3.5 games away from the nearest team (the Royals). The Indians have claimed first place, already have a six game cushion to work with, and all of their pitchers throwing zeros.

If Detroit doesn't make some sort of adjustment soon (cough, Gary Sheffield DL, cough), they could be in severe trouble. A visit to arguably the best team in the NL (the Snakes) is not going to help matters at all, and interleague play as a whole is not going to be a laugher for the AL this season.