Poor discipline at plate hurting Tigers
By Michael Rosenberg
Detroit Free Press
(MCT)
NEW YORK - As the Detroit Tigers took batting practice Wednesday morning, Jim
Leyland toured Monument Park, the open-air museum just beyond the leftfield
fence in Yankee Stadium. I wondered what Leyland would do if one of his guys
hit him with a home-run ball. As it turned out, Leyland was in the safest
possible place.
In the first game of a day-night doubleheader, the Tigers had 33 plate
appearances and hit three fly balls. That's partly because Yankees starter
Chien-Ming Wang throws a sinker that falls off a table when it gets to home
plate, and we all know how hard it is to hit with a table in your way.
Oops. Sorry. The table was imaginary. If I seem confused by Wang, well, so
did the Tigers.
By now, Nate Robertson is used to the routine: he pitches well and the Tigers
don't score. His teammates have said they're sorry so many times, they might
as well send flowers.
"What else can they say?" Robertson said. "I know they're trying."
Nobody doubts their effort. But right now, the Tigers don't have a single
hitter who scares the other team on a daily basis. If you don't believe me,
let's look at the most-maligned player on the other team in this series.
Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez is having the worst season of his
career. He strikes out too much. He says his problem isn't mental, but he
seems like he's trying to hit while translating "The Iliad."
Yankee fans, a fickle bunch, booed him regularly earlier this season. But
then they realized that would only make A-Rod a bigger head case, so now they
have taken to giving him a huge, overly supportive cheer when he steps in the
batter's box, like he's a Little Leaguer. When A-Rod swings and misses, I
expect all of Yankee Stadium to yell, "Good cut!"
Wednesday afternoon, A-Rod grounded into a double play, then hit a roller
that went about three feet. For a while, it looked like Wang would throw a
one-hitter_and the only hit had bounced off of A-Rod's glove. It's been that
kind of year.
Here's the point: A-Rod has more home runs and RBIs than any Tiger. Carlos
Guillen is the only Tiger with a higher on-base percentage and slugging
percentage than A-Rod. And Rodriguez might actually be a better fielder,
though the way he and Guillen are bobbling ground balls these days, I
wouldn't ask either of them to hold a baby.
If Rodriguez had the exact same season for the Tigers that he is having for
the Yankees, he would be the team MVP, at least among position players.
Now, the Yankees have the best lineup in baseball, so maybe this is an unfair
comparison. But then again, maybe it's not: If the Tigers are serious about
winning the World Series, they must hit good pitching.
The Tigers are a notoriously free-swinging bunch. That rarely works in the
playoffs. The Tigers actually laid off a bunch of pitches against Wang, but
this isn't just about taking pitches. It's about knowing which pitches to
take, a tough skill to learn in the middle of a pennant race.
"I don't like us being patient, to be honest with you," third baseman Brandon
Inge said. "There is a difference between patience and just being passive. We
cross the line from time to time. Some of the balls we were smoking earlier,
we take for strikes instead of just whacking it. I like when we're aggressive.
"
Robertson would just like it if they scored. He doesn't care how. Afterward,
Robertson seemed fairly pleased for a guy who had an "L" next to his name in
the box score. That sounds selfish. It is not selfish. It is necessary. Why
should Robertson wonder why he keeps losing when he knows the answer? Then he
would try to be perfect, and that would backfire.
"You have to learn how to check that thought at the door when you leave this
clubhouse," Robertson said. "You have to learn to believe that is obviously
something you can't control."
No, Nate Robertson can't control the Tigers' bats. But too often, neither can
his teammates.
---
c 2006, Detroit Free Press.
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