DETROIT – The notion that the manager of a baseball team doesn't deserve any blame is simply dumb.
First, if a manager didn't matter, no team would have one. Players would just play and that would be it. Secondly, there wouldn't be a Manager of the Year award, either.
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Apparently, some do it better and that's why they are rewarded when their team does better than expected.
Managers matter. That's why most get fired during the season. Don't forget Tigers' president Dave Dombrowski fired manager Phil Garner after starting the season 0-6 in 2002.
We get it. Many media people in town like Tigers' manager Brad Ausmus and want to protect him as his team goes through a terrible seven-game losing streak, the franchise's worst in four years.
The Tigers lost 7-5 to the lowly Oakland A's on Thursday afternoon at Comerica Park. It completed a three-game sweep by Oakland, and now Detroit has lost nine of its 11 previous games.
Worse, Ausmus might not have hurt the team, but he hasn't helped it, either. That's truly the troubling part.
To say the natives are restless is a understatement. The excitement of the Tigers' 11-2 start has disappeared as the team has struggled to an ugly 17-25 since.
The only thing worse than their recent record is how bad and inconsistent the offense has been. The Tigers have scored two runs or less in 25 of their 55 games, a startling number with Miguel Cabrera in middle of the lineup.
"If people are laying this at Brad's shoes, it's unfair," Dombrowski told The Detroit News on Thursday. "I'm not saying we all don't feel accountable. The GM feels accountable. I'm sure the players feel accountable.
"But Brad spends a lot of time working on all of this on a daily basis. He's prepared, he's working hard, he talks to players, he tries to get things going."
Of course, Dombrowski is going to back his manager. After all, it was Dombrowski who made the controversial hiring. Many questioned why Ausmus, who had no previous managerial experience, was given a veteran club ready to win as his first gig.
The bottom line remains that the Tigers aren't playing up to their potential. It's not just one or two players. It's across the board. That normally falls on the manager.
They also don't seem to be focused. This past week, they made some bad base-running mistakes and mental errors in the field that cost them big time. Those things usually point to the manager as well.
And granted, we all know the Tigers have some major injury issues, too. DH Victor Martinez, a major cog in the batting order, is on the disabled list. Also, starter Justin Verlander is on the DL as well and hasn't thrown a regular-season pitch yet, either.
Catcher Alex Avila and reliever Bruce Rondon have also been sidelined.
Nonetheless, without much contribution from those four, the Tigers were playing great baseball when the season started. Many had them penciled in for a fifth straight division title and another trip to the playoffs.
Not so fast.
The Tigers' woes are deeper than two or three quality players missing from action. Something is off, missing in the mix.
When the Tiger were swept last weekend in Anaheim, it was the first time since 2010 that they dropped a four-game series.
For sure, this team, during this impressive four-year run as AL Central Division champs, had their ups and down, but not like this recent uninspired slump.
That's why fans are all over Ausmus, an even-keeled kind of guy, on sports-talk radio.
Most of it is simply the frustration of seeing this team do so poorly. But the backlash is bigger than just the here and now.
There are still those who never thought Ausmus shouldn't have gotten the job. They thought a veteran manager should have taken over for Jim Leyland.
Then there are those who blamed the Tigers getting swept in the first round of the postseason against the Baltimore Orioles on Ausmus, who didn't handled the bullpen correctly.
Now, the Tigers are struggling in a division that is a lot better than it has been. Fans, for the first time in years, are afraid they might not make the playoffs, get that first World Series title since 1984.
And they see Ausmus as the reason why.