Brad Ausmus
Brad Ausmus
On a sunny, beautiful Sunday afternoon at Comerica Park, the Tigers seemed about to break their five-game losing streak. Justin Verlander had pitched seven innings of shutout baseball on Mother's Day. The Tigers led the Texas Rangers 2-0.
Then Verlander left the game and all hell broke lose. The Tigers lost 8-3 and extended the losing streak to six.
Fans fumed. Players submitted to post-game interviews, looking as if they'd been punched in the gut. And more than a few fans callied on social media for manager Brad Ausmus' head.
Columnist Bob Wojnowski writes in The Detroit News:
Brad Ausmus’ job has to be in jeopardy, even if he’s not the one serving up eighth-inning meatballs and blowing leads. Mike Ilitch is known to be impatient, even impulsive, and although there are plenty to blame, the manager feels the heat first.
After an 8-3 loss to the Rangers, the Tigers are 14-16, and every facet of the team has taken a turn flailing. I wouldn’t fire Ausmus yet because it’s still early and I don’t know who could make an immediate difference on a team with obvious flaws. But it’d be hard to argue if GM Al Avila does it, at Ilitch’s behest. It’s not all Ausmus’ fault, but the sloppy, uneven play has gone on for more than a year.
When I asked Ausmus about his job status after Sunday’s loss, he didn’t get defensive or irritated. He knows he was nearly fired following last season’s last-place finish and is in the final year of his contract. And he knows how frustrating the situation is right now.
“I understand that when you have a payroll like ours, the manager’s the guy that’s in the crosshairs,” Ausmus said. “That’s fine. I knew when I took this job that I probably was going to end up getting fired before I walked away from it. Not this job in particular, but managing in general. How many managers walk away from a job?”
