DETROIT (AP) -Edgar Renteria joked that he didn’t know English when asked if he had a moment to talk about the struggling Detroit Tigers.
The reporter then replied in broken Spanish: “You said this was like a Dream Team in Lakeland. Why are the Tigers 2-10?”
In any language, the team with baseball’s worst record and second-highest payroll is stumped for answers.
“I don’t know,” Renteria said Monday before Detroit hosted the Minnesota Twins.
The Tigers were a popular pick during spring training not only to play in the postseason, but to win their first World Series title since 1984.
History is not on their side.
No team that started 2-10, as Detroit did, has won a World Series and just three rallied from such a rough start to even be in the playoffs: the 1951 New York Giants, 1974 Pittsburgh Pirates and 2001 Oakland Athletics.
“All of baseball is surprised and alarmed at what’s going on with the Tigers,” Twins outfielder Michael Cuddyer said. “But nobody in this clubhouse and nobody in this league is writing them off.
“When you know the type of players they have, you know they’re not going to stay down for long.”
That’s what the Tigers are hoping because their payroll is nearly $139 million.
Detroit’s top acquisition – Miguel Cabrera – is not the only one off to a poor start, but his lack of production stands out because the team decided to pay him $152 million-plus over the next eight seasons.
Cabrera averaged 32 homers, 115 RBIs while hitting .318 the previous four seasons in Florida, sensational statistics that just Albert Pujols and Vladimir Guerrero matched in those categories since 2004.
But entering Monday’s game, the third baseman was hitting just .175 with a homer – on opening day – with only one RBI since his Detroit debut.
Cabrera declined comment before facing the Twins, but told reporters Sunday he was embarrassed and felt like everybody was laughing at him.
Detroit manager Jim Leyland said he told Cabrera to just be himself and not to worry.
“He’s obviously pressing,” Leyland said. “A lot of times, not just Miguel Cabrera, but anybody that signs a big contract and gets off to a slow start people get on them.”
“But we haven’t hit as a team. Miguel Cabrera isn’t the one that hasn’t hit.”
Leyland’s right.
Reigning AL batting champion Magglio Ordonez is hitting .234. Placido Polanco, Gary Sheffield and Ivan Rodriguez all had sub-.200 batting averages through Sunday.
Entering Monday, despite a lineup with seven All-Stars, Detroit ranked last in the majors in runs, hits, slugging percentage. The Tigers tied for the most double-play groundouts and were next to last in batting average and extra-base hits.
The pitching has been bad, too.
Detroit has the worst ERA in the majors – about six runs a game – and had matched the baseball high for walks going into the series opener against the Twins.
Ace Justin Verlander is 0-2 with a 6.52 ERA, a stunning start for the only pitcher in baseball history to throw a no-hitter, start a World Series game, be a Rookie of the Year and an All-Star in his first two full seasons.
Three other starters – Kenny Rogers, Nate Robertson and Dontrelle Willis – are a combined 0-4 with ERAs ranging from 6.52 to 7.84 after a combined seven starts.
The Tigers’ defense has been average, ranking in the middle of the pack in errors, but a miscue Sunday seemed symbolic as Cabrera tripped on the third-base umpire’s foot to foil his shot at an easy catch.
“That tells you how bad it’s been going for us,” Leyland said Sunday after the Chicago White Sox shut out Detroit for the second straight game.
The Tigers have been held scoreless four times, a total that doubles any other team entering Monday and is one more than they were last season.
They have grounded into double plays with the bases loaded four times this year – twice as many times as last season.
Put it all together, and it’s not difficult to understand why Detroit’s last five losses were by at least five runs – the franchise’s worst such stretch since losing six straight by that many runs late in the 2002 season.
It also added up to Leyland’s postgame rant, which was loud enough for reporters outside the clubhouse to hear after Sunday’s 11-0 rout in Chicago.
Leyland refused to say what he screamed at his players about, but it might’ve been the way they seemed to give in over the last three innings when the White Sox needed just seven, six and 16 pitches to put the Tigers away.
“I don’t know how they feel, but I got it off my chest and I feel better,” Leyland said. “You don’t yell at somebody thinking it’s going to turn things around. You yell at somebody when you’ve had enough.”
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