Tony DeMarco

In the midst of one of the worst collapses in recent memory, Detroit Tigers owner Mike Ilitch delivered a state-of-the-franchise address complete with the lofty goal of his team contending every year.

There is much to like about the organization Ilitch has built, starting with president/general manager Dave Dombrowski and his staff.

The team already has drawn three million this season for the first time in its history. Ilitch has placed no hard cap on his payroll, which is 9th overall at more than $95 million. And he has shown a willingness to buck Commissioner Bud Selig’s salary-slotting edict when it comes to the amateur draft by spending big to sign Andrew Miller in 2006 and this year’s top pick, Rick Porcello.

In fact, in an overall sense, you can say that the state of the Tigers hasn’t been this good since the mid-1980s, when they last won the World Series, as well as two division titles, and finished no lower than third in six consecutive seasons.

All that said, there’s no getting around the ugly embarrassment of what has occurred in the second half of this season. Jim Leyland’s team went into the All-Star break on a five-game winning streak that pushed its record to 52-34 — one-half game behind Boston for the best mark in the majors.

The Tigers had a one-game lead over the Indians in the American League Central, and not that anybody even considered it at the time, but also held a nine-game advantage over the Yankees in the wild-card race.

In fact, an informal poll of writers and baseball officials conducted at the All-Star break put the Tigers, Red Sox and Angels in a virtual three-way tie as the team likeliest to win the World Series.

The Red Sox and Angels definitely will be playing in October — and the Tigers? It will take a miraculous rally after they have gone 28-33 — from 18 games over .500 to five games under — and are looking at near-insurmountable deficits in the division and wild-card races.

Injuries certainly have been a factor. Joel Zumaya, Fernando Rodney and Kenny Rogers have missed big chunks of the season. But all three have returned in the second half, and their presences haven’t stopped the losing.

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Gary Sheffield is back after missing time with a shoulder injury, but isn’t 100 percent, and the numbers show it. And in contrast to last season’s unexpected run to the AL pennant, when most everything fell into place, everything from inconsistent performances to Neifi Perez’s suspension for using a banned stimulant have struck.

But nothing has been more damaging than some alarmingly bad pitching. At the break, the Tigers stood fifth in the AL with a 4.31 ERA — not great, but certainly good enough considering their offense, which has been outscored only by the Yankees.

But the Tigers headed into this past weekend with a 4.66 ERA, ninth in the league and 20th in the majors, after an extended stretch during which the team mark has been around 5.00. Just this week, they allowed seven home runs in a 13-6 loss to Texas, tying a franchise worst.

Nobody in the game has fallen harder than Jeremy Bonderman, and an elbow injury appears to be the main reason why. Bonderman was 1-8 with an 8.23 ERA in his last 10 starts before being shut down this week. On July 13th, when he won his first start of the second half, he was 10-1 with a 3.50 ERA.

Leyland also has been forced to use 25 different pitchers, among them rookies Clay Rapada, Eulogio De La Cruz, Jordan Tata and Virgil Vazquez. Yorman Bazardo and Jair Jurrjens will start this weekend in Minnesota. At least the top three starters — Justin Verlander, Rogers and Nate Robertson — are lined up for the Tigers’ last shot at the Indians in a three-game series next week.

Verlander went through a two-month funk of his own from June 23rd to Aug. 22nd, when his ERA rose from 2.78 to 3.94, but has rebounded nicely. He has allowed only three runs and 23 hits in 28 innings in a current four-game winning streak that has put him in some exclusive company.

Verlander is the first Tigers pitcher since Jack Morris (1986-87) to win at least 17 games in consecutive years, and the first since Dwight Gooden (1984-85) to do it in his first two full seasons. Lately, the pattern has been Verlander delivering a quality start, but the rest of the rotation being a mess.