Each successive Anibal Sanchez start resembles a funeral march. A somber, methodical cadence down a path toward the final resting place of his career as a starting pitcher for the Detroit Tigers.
Not exactly an environment conducive to rebuilding one’s shattered confidence.
But expectations were incredibly low as Sanchez took the mound Tuesday night amid great public uproar. The Tigers had lost his previous nine starts and — fair or not — there grew an increasing sense that any Sanchez start became a throwaway game. Merely tossing a lukewarm body out there because somebody has to pitch considering the current depleted state of the rotation.