Bondo is our Beautiful Loser

"He's your oldest and your best friend
If you need him, he'll be there again
He's always willing to be second-best
A perfect lodger, a perfect guest

Beautiful loser
Read it on the wall
And realize
You just can't have it all"

Bob Seger, Beautiful Loser


His split-finger fastball is downright un-hittable at times. His fastball still tops out at 93 MPH and he added a slider that splinters right-handed hitter's bats. Outside of Verlander, no Tiger starter has better "swing and miss" stuff than Bondo. Unfortunately, his stuff hasn't translated to All Star appearances or even mediocrity since his rookie year. Bondo lost another heart-breaker tonight, allowing only three earned runs in eight strong innings on another night of limp offensive production.

Bondo's career inability to live up to his potential has always been mental. He struggles with the big inning (at least it's not the 5-run first inning variety ala 2008 anymore). He often lets an error or bad call lead to a big inning rather than digging in. Yet, he shows enough flashes of greatness to endear himself to Tiger fans, including yours truly. What makes Bonderman so lovable is the fact that he carries himself like Bob Gibson when he's on the mound and if the scoreboard didn't take score, I'm sure he'd expect to be carried off the field each inning. Every time he strikes out the side, every time he goes four innings with no hits, every All Star that he befuttles at the plate, every flash of greatness and you think "Finally, he's going to realize his potential!!" This is usually when he hits the next batter, gives up two duck-snort singles and self destructs. It doesn't matter, I still get excited for his next outing and one has to admit that he is having an admirable year with a 3.72 ERA and 44 strikeouts to 22 base on balls. In his last six starts, he's given up only 11 earned runs and the Tigers are 5-3 in the last eight games he has pitched in. If Porcello gets it together and Scherzer's Sunday outing was not a fluke, the Tigers are suddenly looking like a team with a starting rotation to match their bullpen. Now, we just need a few less beautiful losers in our lineup because Bondo needs more runs.

"Beautiful loser
Never take it all
'Cause it's easier
And faster when you fall"