Detroit Tigers Can't Seem To Find Their Next Big Motown Hit

This must be the hardest first place team to watch in baseball. The Detroit Tigers are writing their own tragedy.

There is the old adage that great pitching, defense, what have you, wins championships, but no matter how you want to spin it, that's only half of the equation.

The Detroit Tigers have two of the top five pitchers in the American League, two legitimate aces.

Both of those aces pitched outstanding games last Saturday and Sunday, and both of those pitchers took hard losses.

They were Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson.

Verlander entered Saturday's game against the New York Yankees with a 10-4 record, a 3.38 ERA, two complete games, and an AL leading 149 strikeouts.

He then pitched seven very strong innings, yielding only a solo home run from Alex Rodriguez and an RBI double. He hit 100 mph on his fastball in the sixth inning. He lowered his ERA to 3.34, he had six strikeouts and gave his team every chance to win.

The opposing pitcher that day was a far more inefficient CC Sabathia. In the fourth inning, Sabathia was already approaching 90 pitches, while Verlander had thrown just half that amount.

The Tigers had plenty of scoring opportunities but left runners in scoring position on base too many times. They mustered just a single run.

Verlander was seen hanging his head on the bench during the eighth inning. His body language seemed to say "just let me know if we get some runs."

He deserved better.

If that wasn't enough, on Sunday, Edwin Jackson came to the mound.

Entering the game, Jackson had the third best ERA in the American League with a sparkling 2.52, but had a record of just 7-4. That was because Jackson had the third worst run support in the major leagues.

Jackson came in and, like Verlander, pitched seven strong innings. He allowed just five hits and struck out four. Two of those five hits were solo home runs from Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira.

Those two runs would again be all New York needed to win. The Tigers, again, mustered only a single run.

Jackson took the loss and with it, a dubious distinction. Jackson now has the worst run support of any pitcher in the major leagues.

Despite a 2.52 ERA, he is 7-5 on the season.

How Detroit is still in first place baffles me sometimes, but it has a lot to do with their batting disparity in home and away games.

They scored 33 runs in a recent six game home stand. An average of 5.5 runs per game. That's not great, but when coupled with the excellent pitching Detroit has had, that's more than enough.

In the Tigers' last six road games, they've scored just 19 runs, an average of 3.16 runs per game. That's skewed because nine of those 19 runs came in one game. That's 10 runs in five games then, an average of two runs per game.

You aren't winning many games, if any, by only scoring twice per game on the road.

The Tigers' meager bats are cause for depression.

Miguel Cabrera is the only starting Detroit Tiger that is hitting over .300 this season. The second-best batters on the team aren't even close to that. Brandon Inge and Magglio Ordonez are each batting .260

Cabrera's average, at this point, is misleading because his bat has also quieted over the last month. His average is bolstered by his scorching April and May.

Detroit is expected to get Carlos Guillen back very soon. Many in the organization have said that Guillen's comeback could be as good as trading for a big bat.

Not likely.

Guillen hit .286 last season, which would sadly enough make him the second best batter on this team. However, he hit just .200 this past April. He had no home runs. Last season he had 10 home runs, the year before that he had 21.

I don't know if the Tigers plan on making a trade before the deadline, but the rumor mill around Detroit has been pretty quiet.

At this rate, they might make the playoffs in a flaw-filled AL Central, but they won't be going past the ALDS.

The Tigers do have one thing going for them. Although they are a division leader worst, 21-29 on the road, they are 27-13 at home.

Detroit has played fewer home games than anyone else in the major leagues. So they are primed to do well down the stretch.

The Tigers end their season with nine consecutive games against the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins, their only challengers for the division. Six of those games are at home.

What will happen the next time they embark on a road trip though? At some point Verlander and Jackson are going to become disenfranchised with this utter lack of support.

That would be the biggest tragedy of all.