That's how bad Detroit's offense has been lately.
Tonight, the pitching followed suit, and the A's breezed to a 9-1 victory.
The Tigers' toothless offense managed seven hits against Oakland starter Ken Holtzman, who shut them out in Oakland on Sunday.
Leon Roberts personified the team's struggles by grounding into three double plays, each started by different infielders.
Joe Rudi (solo), Gene Tenace (two-run) and Reggie Jackson (two-run) hit home runs for the A's, who poured it on with five runs in the ninth.
The Tigers (21-33) lost their fourth straight and sixth of their past seven games on the heels of their season-high five-game winning streak.
Rudi: three hits, three runs, three RBI in 9-1 win
Worse, the Tigers fell to an unsightly and unbelievably bad 8-20 at home.
Tonight's game was filled with apathy---from the fans and, at times, the Tigers (or so it seemed).
The crowd of 29,567 appeared too fed up to even boo the Tigers; instead, the fans responded to each Oakland scoring rally with little more than a low murmur.
"To be this bad at home is really unbelievable," said Willie Horton, who had three singles. "I feel bad that we haven't given these people a good show for their hard-earned money."
Rudi had three hits and scored three runs. Tenace had three hits and even a stolen base.
The Tigers scored in the sixth when Roberts---who else---grounded into a 4-6-3 double play that plated Danny Meyer.
That made the score 4-1---normally still a competitive game. But with the Tigers' offense, the score may as well have been 44-1.
Notes: With two days before the June 15 trading deadline, rumors are flying about the futures of Nate Colbert and pitcher Joe Coleman, who started tonight's game. Roberts' name has been mentioned, too, as a player who could be moved...Aging DH Billy Williams, the former Cubs star, looked every bit his age (he'll be 37 on Sunday) as he went 0-for-5 and grounded to second base in each of his last three at-bats...Colbert went 0-for-4 and is 20-for-168 (.119) as a Tiger in 1975.
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Tigers record: 21-33 (actual 24-30)
Home: 8-20
Away: 13-13
Last 10: 4-6
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