8702160537 DETROIT FREE PRESS 871001 Thursday, October 01, 1987 METRO FINAL

SPT

1E MITCH ALBOM SEE ALSO METRO FINAL CHASER EDITION, 1E Copyright (c) 1987, Detroit Free Press TIGERS PERFORMING LIKE CHEAP IMITATION OF CHAMPS Pretty soon, I expect to find the American League East title selling at a garage sale for about $1.75. Does anybody want this thing? Detroit loses. Toronto loses. Detroit wins. Toronto loses. Detroit loses. Toronto loses. Are we sure this is the homestretch? Geez. When the going gets tough, the tough wait for the weekend. Let's be honest here. It's crazy. Weird. But no excuses. The Tigers can talk all they want about fatigue, off-nights, a hot opposing pitcher. If you want to win a pennant, you overcome those things, and this week -- this crucial, final week -- the Tigers have gone flat twice in three tries against a team that was supposedly little more than a doormat. Never mind that the Blue Jays also lost Wednesday night, and that the Tigers remain just 1 1/2 games back. That is like the boxer who returns to his corner, bleeding from both eyes, and says, "I think he's getting tired." No excuses. If the Tigers ultimately win this AL East title, it will be largely back door, an unexpected collapse by Toronto. And if they lose it? Well, you can find shreds of the white flag right here, on the playground turned battleground by these Baltimore Orioles. Thanks to the Brewers Before Monday's game, Sparky Anderson was musing on the eventual AL East winner. With pipe in mouth, he leaned back and said: "It's very simple. It's not which team puts men on base. It's the one who brings them in." How true. And that's what hurts. On Wednesday, it was the Orioles who listened to Sparky better than his own team, winning, 7-3. No doubt heeding the echoes of Earl Weaver, the O's brought six of their seven runners in on home runs. And the Tigers? They rubbed out base runner after base runner with double plays -- in the second, third and fifth innings. Kirk Gibson had two men on base and nobody out in the fourth. He grounded to first. Alan Trammell followed. He popped to first. Now before you say, "Hey, this is baseball. It happens," let us say, "Hey. These are the Baltimore Orioles. It's not supposed to happen." Are these the same Orioles whom the Blue Jays defeated seven times this month, by an average score of, what? Eighty-five to zero? Tigers fans thought they saw the worst of it Monday. After a heart-stopping series in Toronto, the Tigers came out dead. Jack Morris, their ace, struggled and allowed three runs. And the hitters made a guy named John Habyan look like Roger Clemens. A shutout? Detroit's first shutout in a month and a half? That hurt. You could see it in the Tigers' clubhouse afterward. Yet they got a reprieve; Toronto lost not only Monday but Tuesday as well. "We've learned our lesson," the Tigers seemed to say Tuesday night, after a 10-1 win. "We won't bite the hand that feeds us again." No. This time they chomped it off. How much more do we want from the Milwaukee Brewers? A sweep of the Jays? They should get a key to the city from Coleman Young. Or at least free playoff tickets. If there is a playoff here. The biggest letdown And that is the sad part. Sure, the title is still winnable. But taking three games from Toronto is not what one would call a Sunday jog. How much nicer would it have been to be up by a game on Friday -- which could have been achieved had the Tigers swept Baltimore? A word in the Tigers' defense. This was the game they worried most about -- the game started by Dan Petry. For whatever reason, Petry cannot pitch effectively when he begins within five minutes of the national anthem. From the bullpen he did well. Wednesday night he got bombed. And, as on Monday, the Tigers' bats could not salvage the pitching. Whom did they lose to? Jose Mesa? Come on. The guy didn't have a win all season. His ERA was a football score. Look. It's very simple. These are the Baltimore Orioles. The Tigers should have taken at least three of four. Now the best they can hope for is a split. They let nobody down more than themselves. These are not easy words to write. Almost everyone in Detroit -- journalists included -- would like to see the Tigers complete this most unlikely season with a division title. It would be a terrific story, a case study of guts, struggle, hole-plugging -- and how those things can make you a champion. Oh, if good stories were guarantees of happy endings. But they're not. Sometimes they wind up just good stories. We'll see soon enough about this one. CRITICISM;DTIGERS;LOSS;GAME;RESULT;COLUMN;BASEBALL;SERIES;Detroit Tigers