Casey Fossum was having an excellent season with Toledo and now with the Tigers, he has an ERA of 135.00 after two relief appearances.  Still, the four runs he gave up were icing on the cake after a tough start by Nate Robertson.  The lefthander gave up five runs on eight hits and three walks with five strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.

The Tigers were held in check at the plate and they picked up just four hits.  Marcus Thames and Ramon Santiago both reached base twice with singles and walks and none of the hits were for extra bases.

Since the Tigers finished a three game sweep over the Yankees on June 1, the Tigers are a less then stellar 10-20.  Even worse, the Tigers have a no win situation with the White Sox and Royals playing each other tonight.  If the Sox win, the Tigers will be nine back in the loss column for first place.  If the Royals win, the Tigers will be back in a tie for last place. 

This weekend is big.  The Tigers start a four game series with the Indians beginning Friday and I like the Justin Verlander versus Paul Byrd matchup.  We’ll miss Cliff Lee, who’s throwing tonight.  If the Tigers want to start making up some ground, they’re going to have to take three games in the Indians series and two of three against the White Sox after that.  At this point, .500 ball isn’t good enough.

Permalink | Posted in 2008 Tigers