Month: August 2013

Tigers Dust Indians 10-5

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The Tigers starting pitching today was better than it has been all week.  Anibal Sanchez lasted 6 and 2/3 surrendering only 3 runs.

Omar Infante had a day, he hit two homers and drove in 5 runs.  He hit a three run shot in the second and a two run shot in the 6th.

The impressive inning for Sanchez was the fifth.  With the Tigers up 4-1, the Indians put runners at the corners with nobody out.  Sanchez was able to get Lonnie Chisenhall to pop out.  He struck out Ian Gomes, gave up an RBI single to Michael Bourne, then struck Nick Swisher out to end the inning.  Sanchez was able to avoid a big inning and keep the Tigers in the lead surrendering only 1 run.

I wasn’t at the game, so I couldn’t see, but was Dirks or Hunter hustling to backup Ajax when he ran into the wall and hurt himself in the top of the 8th?  It looked like it took Dirks a long time to get the ball.

It was also in was nice to see the Tigers come back and put runs on the board in the bottom of the 8th after the Indians cut the Tigers lead to 6-5.

Lead by Austin Jackson’s 2 run triple, the Tigers put up four more runs in the bottom of the 8th to extend the lead to 10-5.

Iggy continues to impress, this time with his offense.  In the bottom of the 8th after Jacskon’s two run triple, Jim Leyland put the squeeze play on with Iggy at the plate.  The first pitch Iggy saw was a fast ball over his head but he found a way to get the bunt down allowing Jackson to score on the play.

Also, kind of under the radar, Brayan Pena has had a really nice season at the plate.  He was 2-4 tonight and his hitting .313 on the season.  This is huge considering the Tigers have gotten relatively little in the way of offense from the often injured Alex Avila.

Jose Veras didn’t look good.  He gave up three hits, two earned runs, and several hard hit balls in his one inning of work.

Verlander gets the call tomorrow as the Tigers go for the sweep.  I don’t know what to expect but I’ll hope for the best.  I’ll take 7 innings with 3 earned runs or less.

“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural

Tigers Win 7-2…

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the biggest beneficiary of the Jose Iglesias acquisition is going to turn out to be Rick Porcello.  Tigers fans have seen several times over the course of Ricky’s career where he gets opposing teams to hit the ball on the ground but they some how find holes.  The best case in point would be the Angels game back in April.  Ricky didn’t make it out of the first inning of that game and surrendered 9 earned runs.  But when you take a look at it the Angels had maybe 1 or 2 hard hit balls.  The bounces just weren’t going his way.

The second inning of last night’s game had the makings of one of those innings for Ricky.  Carlos Santana lead off with a ground ball down the right field line for a double.  Michael Brantley followed with a ground ball single.  At this point, flashes of the Angels game were going through my mind but the Incredible Iggy thwarted the disastrous inning before it could get started.  Asdrubal Cabrera followed Brantely with a ground ball that looked like it was headed for left field but Jose Iglesias flashed his leather.  Iggy pounced on the ball and started a 6-4-3 double play.

As long as Iggy continues to flash leather, I think were going to see Ricky’s numbers improve dramatically.

Ricky didn’t make it 6 innings but compared to the last 4 Tigers’ starts it was a gem.  Ricky pitched 5 and 2/3, allowed 5 hits, struck out 2 and walked 2.

The game was called after 7 inning due to rain.

Sanchez is on the hill tonight for game two.

“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural

Shawn Windsor: Walk-off was a blast, but Tigers’ deficiencies remain | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

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Check out this article from Shawn Windsor at the Freep dot com.  Hat Tip to regular Flashin Leather reader and all around good guy, Nebraskaknows for pointing this article out.

Shawn Windsor: Walk-off was a blast, but Tigers’ deficiencies remain | Detroit Free Press | freep.com.

The story states that JV told Torii he was going to hit a home run and ends with this:

For nearly four games, the A’s outmaneuvered the Tigers, making them appear one-dimensional and archaic. Then the ex-Cy Young winner got in Hunter’s ear and inspired him to be a hero.

Now the question is: Can Hunter can return the favor?

My answer is no.  The only one that can return JV to his previous form is Emily Yuen.  He needs to beg, borrow, and steal, to get her back.  He hasn’t been the same since he went “Hollywood” and left his long time girlfriend.  My question is, can he get her back?  Only Emily can answer that.

Also, I don’t think enough was made about Luke Putkonen’s performance yesterday.  If you just look at the box score his line seems innocuous.  But viewed through the prism of what has been happening, Putkonen’s effort is huge.  Luke did what staff Aces do, stop the bleeding.

“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural

BIG WIN!

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The Tigers’ 7-6 victory this afternoon at Comerica Park is one of the biggest wins of the season.  The Tigers, are struggling, especially, their starting pitching, but found a way to avoid a 4 game sweep at the hands of the Oakland Athletics.

It wasn’t the way I hoped the Tigers would win, by Max Scherzer clearly establishing himself as the ace of the Tigers staff, but a win is a win.  We’ll take it.

For the 4th consecutive day a Tigers starter has failed to last more than five innings.  Today, Max lasted 5 innings, allowed 8 hits, 6 runs, 5 earned, walked 1 and struck out 5.   Fortunately, the bullpen and offense bailed him out.

Luke Putkonen was really outstanding today.  He relived Scherzer in the 6th and stopped the bleeding.  He pitched two innings gave up two hits, and struck out four.  Putkonen’s solid outing couldn’t have come at better time.

Veras and Benoit each pitched a scoreless inning as well.

The Tigers’ offense scratched out 4 runs, with two out, in the bottom of the 9th off of A’s reliever Grant Balfour. The big hit was Torii Hunter’s two run, center field, blast to walk the game off.

The Tribe come to Detroit for a big three game series.  The Tigers are 6 games up with Cleveland facing the Braves in about 30 minutes.  Let’s hope Ricky doesn’t continue this four game, starting pitching funk.  The Tigers could use a long start out of him tomorrow.

“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural

A’s Dust Tigers – The Misery Continues

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tonight’s game marked the first time in 56 games that the Tigers have had three consecutive starts of less than 6 innings.  It’s was a good run but now it’s just plain ugly!

It was Doug Fister’s turn to take a dump tonight.  He lasted only 5 innings and looked like he was throwing batting practice to the A’s.

If Fister was bad, the pen was worse.  It didn’t matter who Leyland threw out there, they got shelled.  Check out these lines:

Fister, 5 innings, 13 hits, 7 earned, 0 walks, 2 strike outs.

Alvarez, 2 and 1/3 innings, 5 hits, 5 earned, 0 walks, 1 strike out.  Alvarez is trying to get Phil Coke called up.  He’s been brutal since his call up.

Smyly, didn’t get anybody out.  He pitched 0 innings, 2 hits, 2 earned, 0 Walks.

Finally, Bonderman came on pitched an inning and 2/3, allowed 1 hit, no runs, and struck out 2.

Bonderman and Avila are my players of the game.  Bonderman was the only pitcher that could get anybody out and Alex Avila went 2 for 4 with 2 RBIs.  As I go to sleep tonight he has his batting average at .201, just over the Mendoza line.

Don’t look now but at the start of play tonight the Tigers lead over the Tribe was only 3 games.  And the Indians and Braves are tied at 2.  What this means is that all of the equity the Tigers gained from their 12 game win streak has been wiped out.  The Indians will come in town this weekend with a chance to tie the Tigers for the division lead.

Is this 2009?

“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural

If you can’t pitch, you can’t win…

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said Peter Gammons on many occasions.  Well the last few games, the Tigers didn’t pitch and didn’t win.

The Tigers lost to the A’s for the second day and for the second straight day, the pitching was horrible.

I’m not sure what to make of JV, to say he sucked tonight, would be an understatement.  He needed 44 pitches to get out of the 1st inning and ended up throwing 104 pitches in 5 innings.  Infante’s error in the 5th didn’t help him much, but he doesn’t look anything like the pitcher of the last two years.   Verlander’s final line was 5 complete, 5 runs, 3 earned, 3 strikeouts and 3 walks.

If the playoffs started tomorrow, Verlander would be 4th or 5th on my starter depth chart.  I have no confidence when he toes the slab anymore and I’ve lost hope of him getting any better before next year.  Unfortunately, to make a run, this is the JV the Tigers have to expect.

Bruce Rondon relieved JV in the 6th and Seth Smith promptly deposited the second pitch he threw over the center field wall.

Mercifully, this game was called after 6 innings due to rain.  I couldn’t take anymore.

Prince had a walk and drove in his 89th and 90th runs of the year with a bases loaded single in the first.  Other than that, there wasn’t much to cheer about.

Back at it tomorrow.  The Tigers need two in a row to split.

“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural

A’s 8 Tigers 6

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The bottom line is that the Tigers didn’t pitch well enough to win tonight.  Anibal Sanchez and the bull pen had a rough outing.

That being said, the Tigers had plenty of chances to even the score or take the lead.  They left the bases loaded in both the seventh and eight innings.

As the Tigers head down the stretch, Prince Fielder needs to start coming through or Cabrera will never get a chance to hit in crucial situations.  In the 7th inning, with two out, the A’s walked Miggy to load the bases preferring to pitch to Prince.  Fielder flew out deep to center field to end the inning.

Early in the season, Prince seemed to respond when a team walked Miggy to pitch to him, but he hasn’t lately.

On yesterday’s post, in the comments section, Sark asked, “Could you imagine this team with a good JV?”  I’d like to add to that, how good would the Tigers be if both JV and Fielder were performing?

I’m getting afraid that the team is counting too much on Miggy to get it done every night.  He just can’t come through in every situation, in every game.  That’s why it was so nice see Dirksy get the big hit in yesterday’s game.

Perhaps it’s time to move Fielder down to the 5 spot and Victor up to clean up?

The loss tonight makes the Tigers 1-3 in their last 4 home games.

Besides Fielder not coming through, it was disappointing to see the pitching give the lead back up twice, immediately after the Tigers came back to tie it.  But, really, we can’t complain too much about the pitching.

Torii Hunter left the bases loaded in the 8th when he struck out on 3 pitches.  Not the at bat the Tigers were looking for in that situation.

Coco Crisp was flashin leather tonight.  He robbed Tui of an extra base hit, thwarting a rally in the 8th, after Victor lead off with a solo homer.

Verlander is on the mound tomorrow and I’m not sure what to expect.  Just when I think he’s regaining his form, he goes out and takes a dump.

The Tigers need at least a split of this 4 game series with the A’s.

“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural

Good Ole Dirksey

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Paced by seven strong innings from Rick Porcello and a 3 RBI day from Andy Dirks, the Tigers beat the Mets and swept the weekend series at Citifield.

With the Tigers down 3-2, Andy Dirks hit a two run homer in the top of the 6th, to give the Tigers the lead for good.

It was a one run game going into the 9th but the Tigers exploded for 7 runs to put the game out of reach and give Porcello his 10 win of the season.

Good Ole Dirksy drove in another run in the 9th when he drew a bases loaded walk driving in the Mighty Miggy.

Speaking of Miggy, he was 3-4 and drove in 2 on his 42nd home run of the season to get the Tigers started in the 1st.

Ricky gave the Tigers 7 good innings. He allowed 3 earned on 4 hits, struck out 4 and walked 3.

The A’s are at Comerica tomorrow for a four game series.

“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural