Back at "The Joan" on a blustery night. The temperature was tolerable out in the parking lot, but inside the park the wind is swirling and has a bite to it. This is the friggin' Memorial Day Weekend and I'm still freezing my ass off at this park! There's a good crowd - (if you call 27,535 a good crowd) - mostly here for the fireworks after the game and the free Wilson Fielder's Gloves for kids. The night starts as a pitching duel between Gary Knotts and Esteban Loaiza. What nobody expected was the Sox losing in a 1-0 shutout. To the Detroit Tigers. A one-run-loss for the second night in a row. This team is in serious trouble. The Sox were held to 3 hits. 3 hits and 5 left on base. (Nice to see that new hitting coach Greg Walker is working out so well - nobody on the team is now hitting over .286.) Carlos Lee got beaned in the helmet in the 7th (and went down hard - he was in pain) and even that didn't spark the team. Loaiza gave up 4 hits, only 1 run on 5 strikeouts - but had 4 walks - and his ERA goes down in the loss (to 1.92). Hitting? Forget it. Joe Borchard (called-up on Thursday and the 5th starting center fielder for the team) walked in 8th, and Jerry Manuel lets Frank Thomas (who was sitting out) hit for Miguel Olivo. Oooooo. Like that is going to help. Wrong - it's the 2003 version of Frank Thomas. He strikes out. And that summarizes the play of the team. The crowd was pretty upset from the 6th inning on, booing the end of the inning and getting louder each inning.

You know things are bad when, after the last out in the 9th (a double play thanks to my favorite player (not) Brian Daubach (.185) (why the hell is he on this team???)) a kid throws his fielder's glove out onto the field. A kid.

The fans are pissed. This is the friggin' Detroit Tigers. If the Jerry Manuel watch hasn't started yet, I thought I heard a stopwatch ticking after this loss. I know people are saying Fire Sale - I believe in the players. I know what they can do. I know what they're capable of - we've seen it in the past. I I just don't understand why they're not performing.

(Boxscore)