Pfft.

There's no such thing as a good loss. There are only different levels of bad losses. As far as regular season games in April go, this was probably the worst one of the season so far. On every level- the Tigs were leading and then let a lead slip away, after putting the game in the hands of someone who's supposed to be the team's most reliable reliever. And there was absolutely no chance for a comeback with Juan Rincon and Joe Nathan jumping out of the Twins pen to slam the door shut.

First off, the positives from the first seven innings of this game. Aside from one pitch, Nate Robertson threw another great game. Sean Casey and Craig Monroe broke out of their respective slumps, with Craig going 3-4 with two doubles and a single, and Casey going 2-4 with a double and a single. Oh and Bobby Seay looked decent.

And now the negatives. Actually, there's really only one negative, but it's a big one and it really scares me- Joel Zumaya looked visibly shaken after being pulled from the game in the eighth. Zoom Zoom had a rough game on Wednesday in Chicago, and, according to Rod and Mario to "show confidence in him", Leyland put him on the mound during crunch time after Robertson allowed two base runners. But instead of rising to the challenge, Zumaya buckled. He didn't top out above 99 mph, which is rare for him, and allowed four runs to score.

The worst is his reaction afterwards though. He returned to the bench and looked absolutely defeated. He wasn't angry, he wasn't pissed off- he was sad and depressed. Being a set-up man that's going to come in more important situations than this one, Zoom needs to have the demeanor of a stone cold killer. Killers get angry, they don't get sad. The Tigers NEED Zoom Zoom to go out there and believe he can get it done, and after the last two nights, he seems shaken. That's a scary thought.

I'm also going to question the moves by Jim Leyland to put Zoomer in, both Wednesday and tonight. In Chicago, there was no reason for him to put the number one bullpen guy out in a decided game that was cold and rainy. And after that crappy performance, it was an even bigger mistake to go right back to Zumaya today. Give him a night off, let him recover, push it to the back of his mind. Now he's got two failures sitting heavily on his brain. Questionable moves, Jimmy.

Maybe the bullpen virus is getting to Zumaya now. This bullpen thing has me straight scared of becoming the Cleveland Indians of last year. Seriously, we need at least one guy to rely on to get a hold every time he comes out of that pen. I guess it's better to have these problems in April than it is to have them in July, August, and September.

Quick turnaround with the day game tomorrow. The Tigs need to stomp these guys out tomorrow, get the taste of this game out of everyone's mouth.