Month: September 2013

Ackley Kid…

Crippy Baseball , ,

Ok, I can’t help myself.  Ever since the Mariners got to town, every time I see or hear Dustin Ackley’s name, I can’t help chuckling to myself.

Robert Ackley is a character in my all time favorite book, The Catcher in the Rye. Holden Caulfield, the main character, liked irritating Robert and did so by constantly addressing him as the Ackley Kid.  This nom de guerrre drove Ackley crazy.

As a result, Ackley Kid, has taken on an urban meaning that translates to tool. For example, instead of calling a person a tool, simply refer to him as an Ackley Kid and the meaning is pretty much the same.

God, I love baseball.” – Roy Hobbs | The Natural

Mariners 8 Tigers 0

Crippy Baseball, Dailies, Detroit Tigers , , , , , , , , ,

The Tigers scored 6 runs yesterday so I hope you weren’t expecting much today because not much is just what you got.

Hisashi Iwakuma completely dominated the pathetic Tigers offense.  He breezed through, statistically, the second best offense in baseball, and I can’t imagine he broke a sweat.  Iwakuma needed just 105 pitches to get through 8 complete innings.  He allowed four hits, walked 2 and struck out 6.  I’d like to say ‘tip your cap to a great pitcher’, but it seems like the Tigers make anybody look like a great pitcher.

On the flip side, the offense did absolutely nothing.  They didn’t have good at bats, they didn’t drive the pitch count up, and when they had runners on couldn’t get a clutch hit.

JV was JV vintage 2013.  He allowed 3 run in 7 innings of work.  He gave up 4 hits, walked 3 and struck out 6.  If the Tigers plan on winning any future games JV starts, they better plan on scoring 4 runs or more.  Tonight is what the Tigers should expect from Verlander.  That being said, this offense makes every pitch and every inning a stressful one.  As I’ve state several times previously, it seems any deficit is too much to overcome.

I could sit here and tell you Phil Coke is done, but then if you’ve been watching this team, you probably already figured that out.  Coke wasn’t good today but I don’t think he was expected to be.  When he came out to pitch the 8th inning it was actually Jim Leyland waving the white flag and conceding the game.  Coke wasn’t good yesterday, he hasn’t been good all season, so why would the Tigers expect anything different today.  They didn’t and they weren’t disappointed.  Coke actually retired two of the first three batters he faced.  By the time the switch hitting Kendrys Morales came to the plate Coke had thrown 7 pitches all for strikes.  Not bad for a guy who has had trouble finding the strike zone.  So what was the Tigers’ next move, they decided to have him intentionally walk Morales.  This might not have been a bad plan if they planned on relieving Coke, but they left Phil out there to completely implode, and that’s exactly what he did.  After the IBB to Morales, he surrendered a single to Justin Smoak, a double to Michael Saunders and then intentionally walked the .216 hitting Nick Franklin.

The Amazing Al finally relieved Coke and after giving up a wild pitch and making an error on a throw from Avila while covering the plate, he mercifully got Henry Blanco to fly out to end the inning.

If the game wasn’t over when the top of the 8th started, it was by the time it ended.

For as bad as Coke was, the pitching is not the issue. This offense blows and they can’t expect the pitching staff to shut down every team in every game.

Fister is on the hill for the finale.

God, I love baseball.” – Roy Hobbs | The Natural

Tigers 6 Mariners 2

Crippy Baseball, Dailies, Detroit Tigers , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

After three typically, pathetic innings, the Tigers offense woke up and scored single runs in the 4th, 6th, and 7th, then blew the game open with three in the bottom of the 8th to give the Tigers their 6th win in 7 games.

Sanchez was good tonight and the bullpen was even better.  Anibal threw 125 pitches.  He lasted 6 and 1/3, allowed 2 earned runs, walked two and struck out 10.

The Amazing Al did an excellent job of clutch pitching.  Alburquerque relieved Sanchez with one out in the 7th, runners at second and third, and the game tied at 2.  He got Abraham Almonte to pop out to Jose Iglesias at short, who flashed some leather making a nice running catch in shallow left.  The Amazing Al then struck out Franklin Gutierrez to end the inning and keep the game tied.

In the top of the 8th it was Jose Alvarez’s turn to come up big.  Phil Coke started the 8th and got Kyle Seagar to ground out to first base.  Prince Fielder showed he can flash leather as he made a nice diving stop on the bullet hit off of Seagar’s bat.  Coke then got into some trouble.  He walked Raul Ibanez and got Justin Smoak to hit what looked like an inning ending double play ball to the left of second base.  Unfortunately, the sure handed Jose Iglesias couldn’t handle the ball and everyone was safe.  The last batter Coke would face was Michael Saunders who he walked to load the bases on five pitches.  So in comes Alvarez to relieve Coke.  Alvarez battled Mike Zunino in an 11 pitch at bat but finally got the Mariner catcher to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.

Phil Coke was booed as he left the field.  I hate to see anybody get booed but tonight I felt it was really unwarranted.  I can’t defend him for the walks he gave up.  Walks are enough to drive anybody mad but his defense really let him down.  If Iglesias makes the play on the ball hit by Justin Smoak, like I’m sure he’ll do 99 out of 100 times, Coke gets out of the inning having only faced three batters.  But I guess that’s just how this season has gone for Phil.  Very little has seemed to work for him this year.

Let’s talk about Alex A Squared Money Avila.  It looks like he is getting healthy and his game is starting to show it.  His batting average is up to .225, not bad considering it was down to about .168 as late as June.  What really impressed me today was his triple.  He hit a line drive to right leading off the 7th inning that made it all the way to the wall and left Avila standing on third.  He’s never been a speed demon but he was running about as well as I’ve ever seen him.  Alex also had two walks in this game.  His second base on balls came in the bottom of the 8th.  After falling behind Seattle reliever Carter Capps 0-2, he was able to work a walk and load the bases.  For the last few weeks, Alex has been looking like the Alex we saw in the 2011 regular season.  Let’s hope he stays healthy and continues playing this way.

JV is on the mound tomorrow.

Update: I forgot to include this in the original post, perhaps I was subconsciously blocking it out.  In what can only be described as the most bizarre move I’ve seen in baseball, Jim Leyland, pinch hit Andy Dirks for Jose Iglesias with the bases loaded in the 8th inning.  This move is insane on so many levels I’m not sure where to begin.  I guess lets start with Dirks Blows!  He’s having a terrible season.  Iglesias is hitting .315.  Dirks is hitting .257. Iglesias is the best defensive player on the team, something I thought was important to Leyland, especially in the late innings.  Andy Dirks plays left field like Charlie Marcuse, the now deposed singing, hot dog, vendor.  The only logical explanation for this asinine move is Dirksburger Syndrome.  After lying dormant in the bowels of the Tigers manager for a few weeks, it was bound to flair up again and did.

Oh, yea, true to form, Good Ole Dirksy struck out.

Hat Tip to Sark for reminding me of this abomination.

God, I love baseball.” – Roy Hobbs | The Natural

Tigers 4 Mariners 2

Crippy Baseball, Dailies, Detroit Tigers , , , , , ,

Behind a nice pitching performance from Rick Porcello, the Tigers managed to squeak out just enough runs to beat the lowly Seattle Mariners tonight at Comerica Park.

Ricky picked up his 13th win of the season.  He pitched 6 solid innings allowing 1 earned run on five hits.  He struck out 10 and walked 2 on 105 pitches.

The offense was pretty much non existent until the 6th inning.  Up until that time they had scored only 1 run in the first inning on a wild pitch.  In fact, it looked like Mariners’ starter, Joe Saunders, might got the distance.  He began the bottom of the sixth having only thrown 72 pitches.  In the 6th the Tigers managed to score 2 runs on a walk and three singles.

Besides being frustrating to watch the Tigers offense isn’t doing the pitching any favors.  Every pitch becomes a pressure pitch when the offense isn’t giving you any run support.  As a fan, I can feel it.  Sometimes I feel like if the pitching surrenders 1 or 2 runs the game is lost.  This is a lot to ask from any staff and completely unacceptable considering what the Tigers have invested on offense.

To put it another way, is just impossible to think of a way this team can go the distance with this offense.

Miggy looks beaten up and I think the window to address the problem has closed.  He can’t run period and he can barely swing.  In the bottom of the sixth he was at second base with Martinez batting.  Victor hit a ground ball down the right field line which should have scored a bad runner easily.  Miggy did score but if the Seattle right fielder, Abraham Almonte, hadn’t bobbled the ball three times he definitely would have had a play on Cabrera at the plate.  In the bottom of the seventh, Miggy hit a ball to right field that that we’ve seen leave the yard all season long.  I can’t help but think that his injuries are stifling his power.  Unfortunately, the Tigers are backed into a corner.  I don’t know if they have enough time to sit him and hope he gets healthy, and has his timing, by the time the playoffs start.

This I do know, the Tigers can’t win with this offense.  It is simply too much to ask the pitchers to put up zeroes night in and night out.  I guess we’ll have to wait and see.  I hope I’m wrong.

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

Tigers 3 Royals 2

Crippy Baseball, Dailies, Detroit Tigers , , , , , ,

The Tigers took the rubber game of this series courtesy of Max Scherzer and Alex Avila.

Max pitched more than well enough to get his 20th win this season but his offense, once again, hung him out to dry.  Max pitched seven strong innings.  He allowed only one run on a solo shot from Alex Gordon.  He struck out 12 and walked only one.

Max left the game leading 2-1 but lost his 20th win when Drew Smyly surrendered the tying run in the top of the 8th.  However, Smyly surrendering the tying run isn’t the story of this game.  The story of this game, and the season, is that the Tigers’ offense BLOWS!

Let me be clear, I don’t care what the statistics say, this offense is pathetic.  As a team the Tigers left 10 runners on base.  Individually, Martinez left 4 on base and Dirks and Infante left 5.  I can’t wait for Peralta to get back to see what he can do in left field.  It is hard for me to believe that he’ll be worse than Dirks.

Max Scherzer picked Emilio Bonifacio off of first base in the first inning continuing the Tigers’ recent success of shutting down the opposing running game.  In fact, this is the third game in a row that Tigers pitchers have picked off a base runner.

What can I say about Alex A Squared Money Avila?  He’s hit .313 since the All-Star break and accounted for all three Tigers runs today.  He hit a two run homer in the bottom of the second to give the Tigers an early 2-0 lead and a solo shot in the bottom of the 8th to break the 2-2 tie and give the Tigers a much needed series win.

I wonder if Jim Leyland is second guessing his decision to have Nick Castellanos pinch hit for Avila in the 7th inning last night?  Although I forgot to mention it in the post, that was one of the worst moves I’ve seen JL make.

The Mariners come to town tomorrow.

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

Royals 1 Tigers 0

Crippy Baseball, Dailies, Detroit Tigers , , , , , , , , ,

This was a tough loss to take but no that surprising.  Both Fister and Santana pitched like aces but the “top rated” Tigers offense could not produce a single run.

I understand that Santana has had a good season and pitched well tonight but with the money the Tigers have invested in their offense it is not unreasonable to expect better.

This game has it’s share of leather flashin.  Royals’ short stop Alcides Escobar made several nice plays.  Torii Hunter threw a seed from right field to gun down Chris Getz trying to take third on a fly ball in the top of the 8th.  Miguel Cabrera and Alex Avila teamed up to cut down Eric Hosmer trying to score from third and a ground ball in the first.  And the play of the game was a relay from Alex Gordon to Alcides Escobar to Salvador Perez to cut down Prince Fielder at the plate to end the game.

Objectively speaking this was a really well played game.  The only problem is that the Tigers offense couldn’t come up with a single run.  This seems to be the story of the last two seasons, no consistency on offense.  They score a lot of runs one game then go into hibernation for a week. It is very frustrating and sometimes painful to watch.

There are two plays in particular I’d like to address.

  1. In the bottom of the sixth Iggy led off with a bunt single.  At this point it was obvious runs were going to be at a premium.  I was hoping the Tigers would give Iggy the green light to try to swipe second.  I’m not big on bunting a guy over from first to second but I am a fan of the stolen base.  Instead, Jackson followed with a fielders choice then Hunter and Cabrera flew out to end the inning.  If Iggy could have stolen second he could have gone to third on Jackson’s ground ball and scored on Hunters fly out.  Instead the Tigers settled for nothing.  I understand speed is not the Tigers game but Iggy does bring this dimension to the team.  This would have been the perfect time to try something new instead of just going to the plate and taking your hacks against a pitcher that’s been dominating you.  I could have lived with Iggy getting thrown out at second.  But I can’t live with doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
  2. In the bottom of the 8th Miggy came to the plate following a Hunter double.  This put Hunter a second with two out.  Cabrera then ended the inning with a ground out to second base on the first pitch.  I know it is hard to complain about Miggy but he has been horrible the last few weeks and I’m not sure it is all injury related.

On the bright side Fister did pick off Emilio Bonifacio at first base in the top of the third inning.  With pick offs and runners thrown out at second the Tigers seem to be making strides at slowing down the opposing team’s running game.  Now if they could manufacture a run or two of their own they might have something.  Still with this lineup they really have no excuse for being shut out ever, let alone, 11 times this season.

Let’s see if Max can get is 20th win of the season in the rubber game tomorrow.

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

Tigers 6 Royals 3

Crippy Baseball, Dailies, Detroit Tigers , , , ,

On a cold autumn night in Detroit the Tigers got Just enough.  They got just enough starting pitching.  Just enough offense.  Just enough relief pitching.

JV turned in a typical 2013 JV outing.  He went 6 and 2/3.  He allowed 9 hits, 3 earned runs and struck out 7 while throwing 111 pitches.

The inning that bothered me was the top of the 6th.  After the Tigers scored 3 runs to extend the lead to 6-1 in the bottom of the 5th, JV gave two back in the top half of the 6th.  I know it was a 5 run lead but the old JV made a habit of putting up zeroes after his team got him some runs.  That being said, It was a quality start and the Tigers will take it.

After continuing to make Bruce Chen look like Cliff Lee for 3 more innings, the Tigers finally got 2 in the 4th and 3 in the 5th to take a 6-1 lead.  Torii Hunter and Prince fielder each drove in 3 runs and provided the bulk of the Tigers offensive output tonight.  Prince increased his RBI total to 102.

Jose Veras is scaring me.  He pitched 1/3 of an inning.  Walked 1 and hit another batter.  Veras threw 11 total pitches and only 3 of them were strikes.  The Tigers can’t have guys coming out of the bullpen that can’t find the strike zone.  He’s officially on the list.

Billy Butler continues to own JV with 2 more hits against him tonight.  Verlander has to find a way to get him out or just start walking him.  This is getting ridiculous now.

Fister and Santana face off tomorrow.  Let’s hope the Tigers don’t continue the trend of winning the first game of a three game set then dropping the final two.

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

Tigers 1 White Sox 0

Crippy Baseball, Dailies, Detroit Tigers , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Anibal Sanchez continues to make his case for this year’s AL Cy Young award.  He improved his record to 14-7 and lowered his league leading ERA to 2.50.  Anibal was masterful tonight in spite of an asinine strike zone from home plate umpire Larry Hanover.

Even with a strike zone that nobody could figure out, Sanchez managed to pitch 7 and 1/3 without allowing any runs.  He gave up only 5 hits, walked 4 and struck out 10.

A few weeks ago I thought Max Scherzer had the Cy Young locked up but Anibal is right on his heels along with Yu Darvish of the Rangers and Chris Sale of the White Sox.

The offense was pathetic tonight which is pretty much what I expected.  After scoring 9 runs last night. the Tigers managed only 1 run on 10 hits.  They were 1 for 11 with men in scoring position.

I’m not sure what the issue is but Miguel Cabrera doesn’t not look good at all.  I’m not sure if he just needs to get his timing back or if his injuries are plaguing him much more than we are lead to believe.  However, if continues hitting the way he did on this road trip, the Tigers are in trouble.

Veras, Smyly and Benoit were aces coming out of the bull pen to preserve the 1-0 win for Sanchez.

Nick Castellanos was 1-4 tonight.  I thought his most impressive at bat came in the first inning.  After falling behind 1-2 he worked the count back to even.  He then fouled off three pitches then took ball three to move the count to full.  He ended up striking out but he did make Jose Quintana throw him 9 pitches.

The Tigers lead in the central is back up to 6.5 games courtesy of the Indians loss to the Royals earlier in the day.

This was a nice win.  After losing the opening game, and third in a row, they managed to win the final two and take the series.

The Royals come to Comerica Park this weekend.  Friday’s game features Justin Verlander against Bruce Chen.  Let’s hope it goes better than the last time these two faced each other.

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

Yost kills Royals with awful ninth inning – SweetSpot Blog – ESPN

Crippy Baseball , , , , , , , ,

Hat Tip, again, to Nebraska for this link.

It looks like some Royals fans are not happy with Ned Yost.

Congratulations, Ned Yost, you just managed the worst inning of the season.

The situation: The Kansas City Royals trailed the Cleveland Indians 4-3 entering the top of the ninth. The Indians summoned closer Chris Perez from the bullpen, a guy who has been awful of late. In his previous 13 appearances Perez had faced 60 batters and allowed 18 hits — including four home runs — and four walks. In September, he’d pitched four innings and allowed eight hits.

Salvador Perez led off with a base hit to left field. Mike Moustakas walked on four pitches. Pinch-runners for both were on base. Lorenzo Cain, Jarrod Dyson and Alcides Escobar — the bottom of the order — were due up. You have a struggling pitcher who just walked a batter on four pitches. What do you do?

Here’s what you don’t do: Give Perez an out.

David Lough pinch-hit for Cain and sacrificed. Didn’t take a pitch. Didn’t make Perez throw at least one strike. He bunted the first pitch.

Look, it’s not just the sabermetric crowd who is anti-bunt. Managers have become anti-bunt, not sacrificing nearly as often as they used to. It’s a one-run strategy with minimal payoff in a world where more hitters than ever can drive the ball for extra bases or out of the park. A bunt may slightly increase your chance to score one run but it also decreases your chance for multiple runs. It’s a strategy from an era when singles were more common, but in this age of increasing strikeouts and declining batting averages, singles are less likely than ever to occur.

In this specific instance, though, why give an out to a pitcher who has been a train wreck of late? Why make him get only two outs in an inning instead of three?

You can read the entire post here.

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