"If they boo me, they're not true fans, and if they boo me then I don't care what they think," Inge said.
The remark was completely unlike what Tigers fans had come to expect from Inge, who had been a fan favorite for years. He had always been the fun, easy to talk to guy in the clubhouse who was willing to go out of his way to help the new guys.
After the game on Sunday Inge's batting average sits at .183 with a .249 OBP. Advanced sabermetrics paint an even bleaker picture of Inge's struggles, he has a -16 Rbat and a -9 oRAR. Meaning that he produces 16 less runs a season than the average third baseman and nine less runs a season than his replacement.
The one area of Inge's game that had consistently found him the starting role was his defensive ability; but that too has waned this year. As of July 17, Inge had a -15 Rdrs/yr, meaning that he surrenders 15 more runs a season defensively than the average third baseman.
These stats give an accurate image of the struggles that Inge has had all season long, and now Tigers fans have begun to turn on him. Manager Jim Leyland had previously said that Tigers fans at Comerica were the hardest fans to get to boo their own players. He went on to say that Detroit fans are some of the most well versed of all baseball fans and that if they boo you at home, then you're really not doing well. At the time he was talking about the Bronx cheer that Ryan Raburn was getting, but he now could easily say the same about Inge.
Tigers fans have picked up on his struggles and for a long time have given him some slack to regain his footing, but it appears that they have had enough. In Sunday's game Inge went 0-3, striking out twice, one of which he was K'ed up when he swung at a pitch that would have been ball four.
Inge is stumbling through his season and adding the boo's to it, must have been too much for him. When he lashed out at fans he may have just burned his last bridge. Fans watch the games every day, and know the game well and as such have every right to boo the players that they see are hurting their team.
They can keep booing him at Comerica and hope that every lineup card published doesn't have his name on it, but just remember, Inge doesn't care what you think because anyone who doesn't like him isn't a true fan.
IMO.....what a shame that the fans booed Inge. It's true he's not playing up to par, but my gosh that isn't a reason to embarrass him the way they did. Wonder if they would like to be booed in front of all their co-workers if they didn't perform at their expected level.
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