Instant (Bad) Karma!

John Lennon's principle of "instant karma" is understood to violate fundamental rules of Buddhist understanding of karma. The Tigers may have disproved over 2,000 years of that way of thinking tonight.

Bases loaded, bottom of the tenth inning, 40,000 screaming people, a .320 hitter up, two opportunities to win the game. A pop out and a ground out later, the score remains tied and the winning run is still ninety feet away. Carlos Guillen and, to a lesser extent, Pudge Rodriguez dropped the ball when it could least afford to be dropped and that right there sealed the Tigers fate. Casey Blake's monstrous home run to put the Tribe up 5-4 seemed like a mere formality, as did the Tigers' automatic 1-2-3 plate appearances in the bottom of the 11th.

The bad karma from having the bases loading and not being able to knock in the winning run with just one out is overwhelming. There was no way the Tigers were going to win after that, the Baseball Gods simply do not let teams have third chances. The Tigs wasted their first two in fabulous fashion, why would they deserve a third?

This game was the closest thing to a playoff game the Tigers have seen in early July in a longtime. Fans of both teams screaming at each other, at the players, at the umpires. The atmosphere was electric and each pitch seemed like a big time play. And the Tigers choked. Badly.

The tone was set early when Nate Roberston allowed Casey Blake to get a base hit when he had him down 0-2 with Grady Sizemore on first with the fourth pitch of the game. It's a stupid mistake that led to an early Indians lead.

Nate worked his ass off tonight to leave the game with a lead, and he did that. It was a questionable decision by Leyland, in my mind, to even put Nate out for the fifth inning after he had already thrown over 100 pitches. Luckily, he didn't make my fears warranted. Zach Miner pitched well in two innings of scoreless relief, even though the guy gives me a fucking heart attack some times.

Indians fans should be thankful that the world's worst umpire, Darryl Cousin, even allowed their third run to be on base. Travis Hafner nearly stands directly behind home plate when he bats. He rubs out the back of the batter's box and is about a full-step towards the catcher. Now there's a weak ground ball to first and, SURPRISE, Cousin rules it Catcher Interference, when the runner at third was tagged out on the play trying to score. So, instead of runners on first and second with two outs, Hafner singles in the runner and the game is tied. Bullshit.

In Part Two of the "Darryl Cousin Is The World's Worst Umpire" series, comes the third out of hte bottom of the fifth. The Tigs take the lead on Guillen's single to left that scores Polanco, but Gary Sheffield is called out at home plate when he slides into Kelly "I have a girl's name" Slobbach or whatever the fuck his name was. I'm pretty sure WTFHNW (Whatever The Fuck His Name Was) dropped the ball, but that's without seeing a replay yet seeing as I just got back from the game, so correct me if I'm wrong. But, Sheff slid over the plate. Without a doubt. And was called out. And then he and Placido nearly murdered Cousin. So I'm thinking I'm justified in my belief that he was safe.

In episode nine million and thirty-three of the Tiger bullpen blowing a game, the 4-3 that the Tigers had was blown on the very first pitch from Chad Durbin in the eighth. Seriously, one pitch. Durbs has now ruined my trust in him, running the count of Tiger Relievers I Believe In to a grand total of 1. Number of healthy Tiger relievers I trust- 0. Zoom Zoom come back soon.

Finally, part three of "Darryl Cousin Is The World's Worst Umpire"- WGAFWHNI (Who Gives A Fuck What His Name Is) Betancourt's repeated balks in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. When he came set, Betancourt's leg would have a seizure. This is a balk. Cousin WARNED Cleveland manager Eric Wedge about it. What is this, fucking Little League? IT'S THE DAMN BIG LEAGUES! IF HE BALKS, CALL IT. But does Cousin ever call the balk on Betancourt? No, the second base umpire does, WHO CAN'T EVEN SEE THE LEG FROM WHERE HE IS! He just knew it was going on! Why isn't Cousin making that call?

So after all that, what else are we left with for me to bitch about?

Oh yes, Jose Capellan will fit right in with the Tigers' bullpen. One very, very impressive inning and then two thirds of a good inning, and then one HUGE mistake. Sounds about par for the course. I think that bullpen is just fucking cursed.

Craig Monroe is becoming the equivalent of Chris Shelton. He needs to go down to Toledo and figure out what the hell is wrong with him. He looks awful. Butt Fucking Awful. I love C-Mo as much as any Tiger fan, but he's killing the team right now. The bottom part of that order was always, always a strength last year. Now, not so much. Craig needs to get right, and needs it in the worst way.

Speaking of Monroe, is Marcus Thames dead? Did he leave the team between Sunday and tonight? Does Marcus just not pinch hit late in ball games? Forgive me if I'm mistaken, but he did hit the winning home run in the eighth inning on Sunday right? Now, you're Jim Leyland and you've got a guy who hasn't hit jack shit in a month or a guy who's coming off one of the biggest home runs of his life and also happens to play the same position. WHY, WHY, WHY DON'T YOU PINCH HIT THAMES FOR MONROE? Is there not a spot on this team for Marcus?!

Brandon Inge continues to cause me to loathe his existence. What other Tiger looks at a called third strike fastball that's knee-high and over the plate and then argues with the home plate umpire about it? Seriously, what the fuck Inge.

Magglio Ordonez, Placido Polanco, and Gary Sheffield might be the only hitters worth having on this team in a clutch situation. Why? They aren't trying to hit home runs. Every other Tiger was looking to smack the ball out of the park to get that walk-off, whereas Polanco and Sheff started the should-have-been-game-winning rally in the tenth by hitting the ball on the ground and taking what they were given. Mags was walked, but he was putting good swings on the ball as well. Everyone else looked like shit.

This loss hurts way more than it should. It's going to take a while before I can speak sanely about this team again.