Everybody Panic! (Okay, Now Settle Down)

Last night, at least according to a couple of Twitter timelines, people were revisiting memories of a second-half collapse, when they really should have realized that they were beaten by a pretty good offensive team, on a night where Max Scherzer was downright terrible.

Perez (left) and Escobar following back-to back HRs (AP Photo)

Scherzer was flat and without command in the Royals 9-5 win over the Tigers last night.  Scherzer offered up 7 of those runs in just 3+ innings of work.  And while the Tigers offense ranks toward the top of the AL, so does the Royals offense.

After last night, the Tigers and the Royals both have a team batting average of .270.  The Tigers have only scored 16 more runs total than the Royals to this point, and the Royals have more hits than the Tigers.  All that would surprise most Tigers fans considering the Royals are sitting in the AL Central basement right now.  All that said, you can't blame the hitting for their woes, it's their pitching.  However, Luke Hochevar was good enough in last night's effort, giving up 4 runs and getting the Tigers to take some bad swings at offspeed pitches out of the zone.  That's going to happen once in a while, and fans really need to remember that.

So the Tigers need to either hit better, or pitch better in this series.  And since they didn't pitch all that well last night, we'll hope that Doug Fister goes out tonight and has himself the kind of start he did in his last outing vs. Tampa Bay.  And like the Tigers, the Royals won't always have a nasty offensive display like they did last night.  One game shouldn't turn fans against the team (or themselves), especially since they still have a 5 game lead over the White Sox in the Central.  Now I might have a different take if the Tigers get swept, but that's not going to happen.

I think...