On Friday, things were looking up.  The team won their fourth straight game and pushed their record to an even 7-7 on the season.  Two games (and only three runs) later, and the Tigers are back to two games below .500 where they sit in fourth place in the AL Central.  Probably the only good news is, misery loves company because the fifth place team is the Minnesota Twins at 5-10.

At least lately, offense has been the problem.  The Tigers sit near the middle of the American League with a .240 batting average and while that’s something they can recover from, the fact that they’re second to last in ERA doesn’t make for a great combination.  It seems like every game brings a different challenge and so far, they haven’t quite been able to put it all together.

Yesterday’s game was the perfect example.  Brad Penny was solid through four innings then he got knocked around in the fifth and probably pitched an inning too long and gave up another in the sixth.  The pen (Brad Thomas in this case) gave up an inherited run but for the most part, held on.  Then of course the offense laid an egg with just a single run off of a Casper Wells homer and five total hits.  And this isn’t the Yankees, because the A’s sit at 8-8.

Even the Tiger hitters that were getting it done early are now struggling.  After starting out 11 for 29 in his first eight games, Jhonny Peralta has gone one for eighteen in his last seven.  The only guy hitting above .300 is Miguel Cabrera at (.304) and since April 9, Magglio Ordonez has played in just two games.

Some good news, and that’s the fact that the Tigers now head to Seattle for three games before coming home.  The only team in the American League with a worse record then the Mariners is the Boston Red Sox.  They have a MLB worst .214 batting average so if the Tiger hurlers can’t get back on track against these guys, you wonder who they can get back on track with.  Max Scherzer gets the nod in the series opener tonight and Jason Vargas goes for the Mariners.  Game time is 10:05.

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