Last season the Tigers put a hurtin’ on the Sox, winning their last 7 games–all but one coming in September. I know this is a different year, but right now the story reads the same. The Sox went into Detroit in the first week of September and got swept, giving the Tigers 7 straight wins over the South Siders (2 sweeps + one win). This is exactly what happened last season, except that all those wins closed out the series between these two. The Sox still have 4 home games left with the Motown mashers. I hope when they play those games starting Monday the 10th they have come up with some different answers, ’cause we already know the question. “What team beats the pants off the Sox?”

The Tigers didn’t have a lot of problems with Jake Peavy, Francisco Liriano or Chris Sale. The Sox starters cumulative ERA against the Tigers over this past weekend was 7.31. The runs didn’t chap my hide as much as the combined 15 walks issued by the trio. No, not all of them scored, but they kept innings alive, which led to more pitches, leading to longer innings.

Liriano alone walked 7 guys in just 4 innings. Unacceptable! When Liriano is good he is unhittable, but when he is off, like he was on Saturday, he is no better then mediocre.

Detroit just gets up for the Sox. Even guys like Brennan Boesch play out of character. Boesch normally doesn’t play against lefties, but he did against Liriano and Sale, and each time had a key hit. A triple off Liriano and a home run off Sale.

Being that’s it’s been a couple days since they played, and I am late in writing I’m not dissect everything that went wrong, but I know the Sox will put the last week behind them. A 1-6 trip through Baltimore and Detroit isn’t what the doctor ordered, but the Sox are still in first place so all is well.

Sox need–have–to take 2 of three from the Twins, because their next opponent is the Royals, and we all know they don’t play well against them.