Earlier this season I posted some snarky tweet about how few things in life have ever lived up to the hype as much as the Tigers’ terrible defense, which predictably led to tons of Tigers fans telling me that defense hadn’t actually hurt the team very much. Or something, I mostly just remember that there was a lot name-calling involved.
Now that we’re at the halfway point of the season and the Tigers are one of the most disappointing teams in baseball at 40-42 that whole “their defense isn’t that bad” stuff has quieted down, it seems. After all, among AL teams they rank 10th in errors and dead last in both turning balls in play into outs and Ultimate Zone Rating. In other words, the Tigers’ defense has been every bit as bad as everyone expected.
Anyway, today I’ve been watching the Tigers-Twins game and it featured this beauty from Detroit’s defense:
And not to be outdone, the umpires called that a foul ball even though Rick Porcello clearly touched it (and Prince Fielder and Gerald Laird) in fair territory.
Note: If you’d like to send me angry messages on Twitter--about the Tigers’ defense or just life in general--feel free to follow me @AaronGleeman.