The first thing that strikes you as soon as you walk into the Detroit clubhouse is the laughter. Not hushed, little chuckles, but hearty, gut-busting hysterics.
Apparently all the losing hasn’t gone to the Tigers’ heads, and there will be no collecting of belts, shoelaces or objects with sharp edges in which they can hurt themselves.
There was a group of 15 of them – sprawled on couches and sitting on folding chairs turned backward – watching a DVD entitled “The Blue Collar Comedy Tour,” which in no way should be confused with the season they’ve put together. Before last night’s game with the Yankees, the Tigers were 15 losses from clinching the worst record in the history of baseball.
A few wins against the Yankees and the Tigers could both give some meaning to their lost season and help to avoid the label of the worst team to ever step on a baseball diamond.
“We’d love to be able to do that,” said Detroit manager Alan Trammell, whose team needed a 6-14 finish to stay out of the record books. “Some people say, ‘I don’t get into that,’ but I disagree. I think that any kind of motivational tool you can use to help yourself play at a higher level, I think you should.
“You’re in the mecca, New York City. You’re playing the New York Yankees, there are a lot of people watching – I’d love to knock them off,” Trammell said. “They want to go all the way, and we’d like to make it a little tougher on them.”
The 1962 Mets, of course, have owned the dubious distinction of being the worst team of all time since they went 40-120. No team ever lost more than the Mets’ 120 defeats that season with players like Al Jackson, Choo Choo Coleman, Ed Kranepool and Marv Throneberry in uniform. They were a lovable disgrace that finished 60 games back that year, but the current edition of the Tigers is desperately trying to avoid finishing with a worse record than that Casey Stengel-led bunch.
“That would be a record nobody wants to have,” Trammell said. “I hope that we can win a few games in a row and get that behind us. But if it doesn’t, we’re going to be talked about until we do.”
The Tigers have to win an average of one game in each of their six remaining series. After the Yankees, they face playoff hopefuls in Kansas City, Minnesota and Chicago, so being a spoiler is not at all out of their reach.
“We’ve got something to play for,” Dmitri Young said.
Said Trammell, “I’m a positive guy. The fact is, I know what our record is when I talk about it.”
And when they’re not talking about it, the Tigers seem to be doing a lot of laughing.
BAD TO WORSE
Here’s a look, through 142 games, at how this year’s Detroit team is faring in its race to avoid breaking 1962 Mets’ mark for worst record for 162-game schedule. Amazin’s finished season 40-120 (two games were rained out).
1962 Mets
35-107
2003 Tigers
37-105
