Comerica Park was a lonely, hostile place for the Tigers in 2003. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

The 2003 Detroit Tigers, the team that quite possibly turned around the fortunes of the franchise, actually rode into the seventh week of the season on a high note. The prior week they finished with a winning record for the first time.

So would this be the turning point where the Tigers would morph from one of the worst teams in baseball history to just one of the lousy teams we had experienced on so many occasions since 1989?

Not so much…

May 12 to 18 (Weekly record 1-5)(Season record 9-32)

A six-game homestand brought in Oakland and Seattle. Detroit split the first two games with the A’s before losing the series finale on May 15. They would go on to drop all three games to the Mariners and experienced an epic fail of a homestand. Detroit finished 1-5, and was outscored 34 to 12.

The 2003 Tigers were back!

Painful Game of the Week: May 15-Athletics at Tigers

In 2003, the Oakland Athletics were a pretty good team. This was one year removed from the 2002 team that was featured in Moneyball, and won 20 straight games. The A’s would go on to win the AL West that season and came into the mid-May series nine games over the .500 mark. The first game featured decent pitching from Mike Maroth and Steve Sparks, but the bats were quiet as the A’s earned a 3-1 win. The bats stayed quiet, but a strong pitching performance from four Tigers’ pitchers (including Steve Avery–bet you didn’t remember he was on this team) helped the two Tigers runs stand up (the second run scored on a Brandon Inge sacrifice fly which scored Craig Monroe for a rare walk-off win).

On May 15, the Tigers were hoping that they could win a series at home for the first time and, with a 6-3 record in their last nine games, they actually had hope. The first inning ended all of that. The A’s scored six runs to start the game off Adam Bernero and, with the Tigers usual anemic offense, that was pretty much a death sentence. Oakland would cruise to victory and the loss would start yet another lengthy Detroit losing streak.

Final: Oakland 11, Detroit 2

(Lousy) Player of the Week: Craig Monroe

Former Tiger Craig Monroe. http://images.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/_photos/2006-09-24-monroe.jpg

Craig Monroe came to the Tigers in 2002 off waivers from the Texas Rangers, the team that drafted him in the 8th round of the 1995 draft. He’d play just 27 games for the Rangers (all in 2001), making his major league debut on July 28, 2001, going hitless in three at-bats with a strikeout.

He became a full-time player in 2003 and had a breakout year. After just three homers in his career, Craig was second on the team, behind Dmitri Young, with 23 home runs. He was one of the catalysts in the club’s 2006 rebirth, hitting a career high 28 homers. He also hit five home runs in the postseason.

One favorite memory of Craig may have come in a July 2006 game with the Chicago White Sox. That season Chicago had dominated Detroit and were closing in on them in the AL Central. The Tigers trailed 2-0 into the sixth inning when Monroe hit a grand slam that gave the Tigers a lead they wouldn’t relinquish, putting the defending World Champions in the rear view mirror (of course those pesky Twins didn’t go so quietly). When Monroe touched home plate and celebrated with his teammates, A.J. Pierzynski refused to back up from the plate, as catchers often do after homers, nearly causing a fight to break out when the two players collided. That was when the Tiger fans’ hatred of Pierzynski began.

After that magical 2006 season, it was hard to believe he didn’t make it through the 2007 season with the team. He struggled that year, hitting 10 homers with a .222 average. The Tigers traded him to the Cubs in August, and he bounced to Minnesota in 2008, and Pittsburgh in 2009, before being released on July 1 of that year.

Monroe is now back in Detroit, serving as the in-studio analyst for Tiger games on Fox Sports Detroit.

Comerica Park was a lonely, hostile place for the Tigers in 2003. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

The 2003 Detroit Tigers, the team that quite possibly turned around the fortunes of the franchise, trudged into another week without much hope. It was hard to believe that nearly five full months of baseball still needed to be played.

Fear not, though, good days were ahead (seriously).

May 5 to May 11 (Weekly record 4-2), (Season record 8-27)

For the one or two of you that have read all of these 2003 recaps (thank you and your checks are in the mail), you know that each has been full of doom and gloom, sadness and despair. But for one week (literally one week), the Tigers put together a stretch where it looked like they actually belonged in the majors.

The first thing they had to do, however, is get out of Detroit. The crowds that were at Comerica Park throughout the first five weeks of the season were sparse, but vocal about their displeasure with the Tigers’ brand of baseball. So much so that the players began to take notice.

“What made the day worse was nobody was in the stands,” Dmitri Young said after a May 1 doubleheader. “Nobody is behind us. These people don’t care about us. I’d rather be on the road.”

So on the road they shall go. After winning the lone game of the homestand on Sunday, the team headed into Baltimore for the first of three on May 5. There a funny thing happened–THEY WON! Detroit put two consecutive victories together for the first time. The next day, they won! And then, in the series finale, they WON AGAIN!

The 2003 Tigers finally had a modicum of success. They won four in a row (which would become the longest streak of the season) and swept a team for the first time (something that would happen just once more). Though they dropped the first two games to the Devil Rays in St. Petersburg, they won the finale and posted a winning record in a week for the first time, something that would not be repeated.

Painful Game of The Week: May 9-Tigers at Devil Rays

You’d think after all the pain we’ve inflicted with this weekly piece that we’d highlight one of the four wins, but, as we mentioned last week–2003 was no fairy tale.

This game is highlighted because the Tigers cruised into Tropicana Field with a lot of momentum. If they kept up their winning ways, they could get closer to eclipsing the Devil Rays and possibly escape the distinction of being the worst team in baseball (Detroit entered the game at 6-26, Tampa Bay at 12-22). In their previous series, the Tigers outscored the Orioles 22 to 10. The run onslaught was uncharacteristic for a team that had been shutout so many times. So of course they got shut out for the eighth time.

They were two-hit by that storied Devil Rays’ quartet of  Jim Parque, Travis Harper, John Rocker (yeah THAT guy) and Lance Carter. Shane Halter and Dean Palmer notched the only Tigers’ hits, both singles.

Winning streak snapped.

Final: Tampa Bay 2, Detroit 0

(Lousy) Player of the Week: Shane Halter

Shane Halter will be forever remembered in Detroit (okay most of you probably haven’t thought of him in years) for a neat little trick the Tigers played on Oct. 1, 2000. With nothing on the line in the last game of the season, Halter appeared in all nine defensive positions, including pitcher where he walked his only batter. Halter joined just four players to do that in major league history, including Texas Ranger Scott Sheldon who had just accomplished the same feat three weeks earlier.

That answer to a trivia question was the highlight of Halter’s professional career. He lettered in five sports in high school, was drafted in 1991 and made his major league debut with a strikeout on April 6, 1997 as a member of the Kansas City Royals. Primarily a bench player, he left KC to play one season with the Mets before spending the longest stretch of his career in Detroit (2000-2003).

He played in 114 games in 2003, hitting .217 with 12 homers and 20 RBIs. Detroit opted to let him walk before the 2004 season and he spent that year splitting time between the Angels and their AAA affiliate. He languished in the Cubs’ system for a handful of games in 2005 before giving up the dream for good.

June 26, 2010; Detroit, MI, USA; The retired number of Detroit Tigers former manager Sparky Anderson is displayed on the right center field wall at Comerica Park during the game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

When Spring Training broke 40 days ago, I was convinced this incarnation of the Tigers mirrored the wire-to-wire ’84 squad in enough ways to expect the same cavalcade to the World Series. The everyday lineup is anchored at the corners of the infield, instead of the middle; but with a talented and savvy starting staff; a bevy of strong arms in the bullpen, and a crusty, cliche-spouting skipper that fans love to second-guess.

1. The bullpen. The relief corps has been shaky at it’s best, disastrous at it’s worst. No one outside of Drew Smyly has pitched to their capabilities, compounding the Skipper’s headaches of mixing and matching.

Looking at ’84 as a comparison, Sparky managed his ‘pen “by committee” for the first two months of the season. The 18 wins in games 1-20 required just 2 saves each from Willie Hernandez and Aurelio Lopez, and one from forgettable corner-nibbler Doug Bair. The mix-and-match persisted through May, with Lopez/Bair picking up back-to-back saves as late as June 1. From that point, Hernandez settled in as the primary ninth-inning option, and his baffling screwball carried him to Cy Young and MVP honors.

Digging into the numbers, this may be sorting itself out. Most of the damage has been done by the banished Brayan Villareal, and the injured Octavio Dotel and Phil Coke. The quintet of Smyly, Al-Al, Benoit, Downs, and Valverde have a stellar 1.89 ERA. Get Coke straightened out, and/or limit him to left-handed batters only, and this unit might exceed expectations.

2. Adding Torii Hunter, and sandwiching him between AJax and Miggy, was supposed to lengthen the lineup. Darrell Evans was a 37-year old veteran (and UFO hunter) that the ’84 Tigers brought in for the same reason – in fact, it allowed Sparky to slot Kirk Gibson 8th vs. left-handed starters. So far, the top 4  in the Tigers’ order is carrying the lions share of the production – and the lineup is downright frightening when Omar Infante is raking in the 9-hole.

The soft underbelly is spots 5 – 8; Victor Martinez has had enough quality at bats to believe he will come around. Jhonny Peralta will sandwich RBI-doubles around double play grounders. Andy Dirks needs to get healthy and stay healthy; Alex Avila’s struggles at the plate were examined here recently;  he needs to announce his presence with authority, and heed the advice of Crash Davis.

3. An underwhelming supporting cast on the bench, and the Skipper’s determination to get them regular at-bats. A quick peek back at ’84 reveals Sparky was even more liberal mixing-and-matching his bench than Jim Leyland. He started four different first basemen, five different third baseman and right fielders, and six different left fielders. Considering the the Opening Day bench consisted of: Tom Brookens, Dwight Lowry, Rusty Kuntz, Johnny Grubb, Barbaro Garbey, and Rod Allen (yes, that Rod Allen), one can wonder what Sparky’s hurry was to find platoon time over Evans, Dave Bergman, Howard Johnson and Larry Herndon.

By comparison, Leyland sends his bookends out to the corners every day, plants Jackson in center, and mostly sticks with Peralta and Infante up the middle. The bench whipping boy, Don Kelly, is on pace for about 230 plate appearances; Tuiasosopo and Pena roughly the same, and Ramon Santiago just 150. Extrapolating over the rest of the season, the Tigers at current pace will send 5680 batters to the plate; nearly 5000 of those appearances will be made by batters not named Kelly, Santiago, Tuiasosopo or Pena. Clearly, the run production burden rests on the shoulders of the big boys.

4. Those craggy, gravel-voiced managers share many similarities: supremely confident to the point of arrogance; never hesitant about yanking a starter out of the game; accused of playing favorites (ask Howard Johnson). Leyland’s winning percentage with Detroit is .537 vs. Sparky’s .516; Sparky’s overall career mark is higher.  Like him or not, if this season culminates as we all expect – with a World Series victory – you can make room in Cooperstown for a bust of ‘ol Smoky. And I bet he goes in with a Detroit Tigers cap on.

After 30 games, the 1984 World Champions were 26-4; it took a 4-game sweep of the quadruple-A Astros to get this year’s squad to 19-11. Despite some early-season hiccups, the Tigers remain poised to win the AL Central and are equipped to run deep into the postseason – just have a little faith and enjoy the ride.