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Seriously. Fire him. Now.

Tigers lead, 3-1, in the 7th. Bonderman walks the lead off, gets the second batter to hit a pop fly that drops in foul territory between Renteria and Guillen (Inge would have caught the damn ball) - then walks him.

Bottom of the 7th, you lead 3-1, with 2 on, nobody out.

So what does Jim Leyland do? HE BRINGS IN THE WORST FUCKING PITCHER ON THE TEAM, ZACH MINER. 8.00+ ERA. THE MOP UP GUY. Miner promptly gets shelled for 2 runs and leaves. Bobby Seay omes in, and gets a ground ball to third, that Carlos Guillen, who was a shortstop, then a first baseman, and now a third baseman, makes an error and throws the ball (and the game) away. On a routine play THAT BRANDON INGE WOULD HAVE MADE.

Meanwhile, decent relievers like Aquilino Lopez and good relievers like Fransisco Cruceta aren't used (though Cruceta later pitched a scoreless 8th.

Jim Leyland has completely lost it.

How to fix the Tigers:
+ Release Gary Sheffield. He's hurt, hitting .186, and Leyland keeps batting him third.
+ Trade Sludge for a backup Catcher. I don't care if it's Rod Barajas, get Sludge out of there. (I'm talking about Ivan Rodriguez, who has now earned the nick name SLUDGE.)
+ Move Miguel Cabrera to Left Field. He's got a cannon of an arm, and he's not a good third baseman, or a good first baseman. He is, however, a decent outfielder.
+ Call up Mike Hessman. 17 HR already in Toledo. Can't be worse than Sheffield at this point.
+ Move Carlos Guillen to DH, and put Brandon Inge at third.
+ FIRE JIM LEYLAND. Hire Diamondbacks Bench Coach Kirk Gibson, or promote Tom Brookens to the show from Double-A.


10 games under .500. No hustle. No life. They're mailing it in, and they have a manager that consistently gives away games on days where they DO show a little life (Ordonez 3-4 today).


2008: Stick a fork in the Tigers, they're done. As long as Sheffield is in Detroit, and Leyland is managing, this team will not improve.

I just hope they don't lose 100 games this year. Actually, I do hope the lose 100 games, so Leyland will either quit or get fired. I haven't been this pissed off about the Tigers since Phil Garner was the manager.

In 2003: The Tigers went 43-119. But you know what? They weren't expected to be any good, they went with a youth movement with a depleted farm system, but you know what? They gave it 100 percent. This 2008 team is pathetic.

It's clear to me that the reason the Tigers made it to the World Series is that Jim Layland was able to ride the wave of momentum that former Manager Alan Trammell had built. Under Trammell, Craig Monroe hit the cover off the ball, Chris Shelton his the cover off the ball, Bonderman and Robertson improved... under Leyland: Shelton was ruined, Monroe was ruined, and Bonderman, Robertson, and now Verlander are seriously regressing.

Leyland must go.