Terry Foster: The Indians Are Inside The Tigers Heads
By Terry Foster
@TerryFoster971
***UPDATE***
Somebody pinch me. Did the Tigers actually beat the Cleveland Indians in a baseball game?
The Tigers got the molly wop sticks out and whipped the Indians 12-2 Wednesday afternoon in Cleveland. Let out a small cheer if you are a Tigers fan, but this is hardly anything to celebrate.
The losing streak to the Indians became so bad that we were talking about moral victories. However, there is no such thing as a moral victory in Major League Baseball.
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There is no such thing as a moral victory in Major League Baseball.
It is a very simple pass-fail system and the Tigers are failures when it comes to playing the Cleveland Indians. How do you lose 11 games in a row to one team? And why am I hearing and reading "close but no cigar" columns and commentaries after a 5-3 loss Monday night?
The Tigers were no closer to the Indians. That played out the following night during an embarrassing 12-1 loss. The Tigers do not lose to the Indians. They get bitch slapped.
The Indians are producing softball numbers. The Tigers are producing soccer numbers. That is no match and you can see frustration and bewilderment on the players' faces.
And what was Anibal Sanchez going to do as a fill in? He is 0-4 with a 10.12 earned run average this year alone against Cleveland. Do you want more ugly numbers? You probably don't here they are any way. The Indians have outscored the Tigers 77-24 this season.
Cleveland manager Terry Francona was not tipping his hand as to why his team is so dominate against the Tigers.
"Once we process yesterday we move on," he told the Cleveland media.
Here is what we know. There is no path to the World Series for the Tigers. They might make the wild card playoffs and maybe even win the single elimination game. They might even win another series but there is no way this team can beat Cleveland in a best of seven series.
There is too much pitching and hitting. And you can see that the Indians are inside the Tigers heads. I've seen this happen before in sports.
The Minnesota Vikings have the Lions number. They lead the all-time series 71-36-1. The Vikings once beat the Lions 13 times in a row when I was a kid. I hated Fran Tarkenton and the Purple People Eaters. It wasn't much better in the 2000s when Minnesota went 18-2. Both Lion victories were at home and by just three points.
It's been tough for University of Michigan football fans also. The Wolverines have lost four in a row to the Buckeyes and 10 of the last 11. Ohio State owns another little known streak. It has scored exactly 42 points in the last three games against Michigan and has done it in five of the last 10 wins.
Streaks are nasty unless your team is the one winning.
(Foster can be reached at Terry.Foster@cbsradio.com)
