Injured Tigers not lacking confidence, just wins

Injured Tigers not lacking confidence, just wins

Monday, April 21, 2008
Danny Knobler

[url]http://www.mlive.com/sports/statewide/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1208750712167740.xml&coll=6[/url]

TORONTO -- The words were the same ones Jim Leyland has been using all
along.

Even during the Detroit Tigers' 2-10 start, he almost always delivered
them with total confidence. Sunday, in the wake of a 5-3 loss to
Toronto that dropped the Tigers to 6-13, they were uttered quickly and
quietly.

"This is a good club,'' Leyland said. "And I expect it to roll at some
point.''

Some point may not be this point. The Tigers lost two more games over
the weekend, and they lost two more players, too.

Just when Curtis Granderson is nearing a return from the disabled
list, the Tigers had to play Sunday without Placido Polanco and Gary
Sheffield. Worse, they felt it necessary to send Polanco back home to
Detroit, to seek immediate attention for his ailing back.

The Tigers made no immediate move to put Polanco on the DL, but that
seems a real possibility. What was certain was that neither Polanco
nor Granderson would be available for Monday's final game of the road
trip.

The health problems aren't the Tigers' only concerns. The remaining
hitters still aren't consistently delivering big hits, and the
starting pitchers still aren't providing either enough innings or
enough wins.

Nate Robertson completed only five innings Sunday. Worse than that, he
gave up four fourth-inning runs, just after the Tigers had taken the
lead with a two-run top of the fourth.

Three weeks into the season, Tigers starters have combined for just
three wins, with an American League worst 6.11 ERA.

"I think we just need to graduate from this little funk,'' said
Robertson, now 0-2 with a 7.48 ERA. "We're better than this. Speaking
for myself, I'm better than this.''

You'd think this whole high-expectations, higher-payroll team was
better than this. But with the starting rotation underperforming and a
third of the regular lineup unavailable, maybe they're not.

Leyland spoke Sunday about the need for what he called a killer
instinct. The Tigers loaded the bases in both the third and the fourth
innings Sunday against Blue Jays starter A.J. Burnett, but they came
away with only two runs. They were 1-for-7 with runners in scoring
position, after going 0-for-6 in a 3-2 loss on Saturday.

"That little extra ingredient is the killer instinct,'' Leyland said.
"That's what you have to have when times are tough.''

What's certain now is the "times are tough" part. While Granderson
could be back by the middle of the week, it's much harder to say when
Polanco or even Sheffield will be able to play again.

"We play the games,'' Leyland said. "There's not going to be any games
canceled just because we have injuries.''

Notes

While Sheffield remained with the team in Toronto, he said that he too
wants to see a doctor before he plays again. The problem is his right
shoulder, and he believes the issue is related to scar tissue from the
surgery he had last fall. "I try to swing harder, but it slows it down
more,'' he said. "I want to get it looked at. I want to know what's in
there.''



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