DETROIT -- You're not heavy, Victor You're their brother.
An admirable trait of any good team is that it often picks up a struggling comrade -- overcoming whatever void has been created.
Therefore, it's a current quality of the Tigers that they are a 15-7 and heading for a big Kansas City series, while absorbing a slow start by Victor Martinez.
Case in point: The Tigers had 17 hits in a 10-7 victory on Wednesday over the Minnesota Twins.
Andrew Romine had four of them. Two others had three each.
Martinez had none of them.
Hitters ahead and behind him in the lineup were pounding the ball. Miguel Cabrera had two home runs, nearly three, and drove in four runs. J.D. Martinez hit his sixth home run.
But Victor went 0-for-5.
After Tuesday night's game, in which Martinez also went hitless, manager Brad Ausmus said Martinez "seems to be progressing" in his comeback from meniscus surgery
You know fans, though -- because most likely you are one. No one really progresses until their production does.
And right now, there's "no there there" for Martinez. He's hitting .125 over his last 10 games and didn't have an extra-base hit in any of them.
In fact, he has only one extra-base hit all season -- a double on April 19.
So how soon do the Tigers bench him? Or at least rest him for a while? The answer, of course, is they shouldn't -- and they won't.
Repeat, they should not and will not -- unless Martinez goes up to Ausmus and says that his knee is bothering him too much for him to play.
And there's no indication he's about to do that.
I'm here to praise Victor, though, not to bury him. He deserves every ounce of patience the Tigers are giving him -- and are about to give him, no matter how long his slump lasts.
Besides, it's not as if the Tigers are struggling while he is.
What's more, each one of his teammates has his back. It would be a much bigger disappointment, and surprise, to them if there were any consideration of moving Martinez elsewhere in the lineup.
Or out of it.
In short, the man has earned to have the alarm turned off.
There's no countdown in the works. Nobody is saying, "Wow, if he doesn't hit in this series against Kansas City, the Tigers better do something about it."
But I also understand that you're well aware of what a player has and hasn't earned.
In this particular case, because you've all previously witnessed the level of production Martinez is trying to get back to, you probably aren't too concerned.
That's not to say the more impatient among you aren't getting fidgety, but a game in which everyone else hits while Martinez doesn't shouldn't be one that sharpens your concern.
Besides, you've been through this with him before -- and he with you -- meaning he's OK with your understandable expectation.
Plus he's also smart enough to know that baseball, as with all professional pursuits, eventually becomes a matter of what have you done lately.
But think back to 2013 -- the year Martinez came back from the knee surgery that cost him all of 2012.
And while you're at it, don't forget that the Tigers went to the World Series in 2012 without him. So they've proven that they can overcome not having him at all -- let alone not having him at his best.
Through the Tigers' first 22 games in 2013, the situation was similar to the way it is now. Martinez was hitting .214 -- compared to .213 this year -- with no home runs and eight RBI.
He currently has no home runs and nine RBI.
Did manager Jim Leyland pull the plug on Martinez two years ago? Of course not.
Not even when the situation got worse, with Martinez hitting just .200 in his next 15 games.
Some players have earned the phrase "just wait." Martinez is one of those players.
In the first quarter of 2013, Victor hit .209. From that point through the halfway mark, he hit .257.
In the second half of the season, he hit .371.
Look, he hasn't lost it. He just hasn't found it yet.
It's like knowing your cell phone is somewhere in the house, but you're not sure where.
It's not gone. But it can't be located.
That's the current situation for Martinez. No one expects him to hit .213 for the season.
In the meantime, the Tigers have been good enough to win anyway, in part, because they have a hitter in the incredible Cabrera who can put several hitters on his back, if necessary.
Nobody is heavy when you're winning. Nobody is a load.
They're only scuffling. Nothing more.
