Nebraskaknows hit it right on the head when he said he “feels like a thief in the night” after the Tigers 1-0 win in game 1 of the 2013 American League Championship Series.
The Tigers pitching staff was fabulous again tonight. As a staff they allowed only one hit and no runs. It would be hard to ask much more from a pitching staff.
The Tigers offense strove for an unprecedented level of ineptitude. The Boston pitchers were good but the Tigers offense was an abomination. They managed only 1 run on 9 hits.
Without an extra base hit it takes the Tigers 4 hits in an inning to score a single run. The likely hood of that scenario playing out is not very good and this pathetic excuse for an offense is living proof.
Miguel Cabrera hit a ball in the corner tonight. It bounced around, the outfielder bobbled it and still Cabrera could only get to first base.
Austin Jackson is on the verge of becoming un-playable. He is doing absolutely nothing. He did have a single tonight but struck out 2 more times. In six postseason games this year he is hitting .200 with 15 strikeouts. The Tigers may not have another center fielder but Austin needs to be moved out of the lead off spot. No matter how much I like him he has become an embarrassment at the plate.
In the top of the 9th he had a chance to make up for some of his struggles by doing something useful at the plate. Iggy lead off with a single. The Tigers needed Jackson to move him over. AJax tried twice to bunt him over but couldn’t get the job done. He ended up striking out. What made matters worse was the Torii Hunter followed Jackson with a double to left field moving Iggy to third.
At this point all the Tigers needed was a fly ball to push across a second run and give Benoit some breathing room. Unfortunately, as a result of substitutions, Don Kelly was now hitting in Cabrera’s spot. DK struck out on 3 pitches.
I thought Leyland managed masterfully in the last game against Oakland. But today’s moves leave me almost in shock. With a one run lead Leyland had Cabrera and Peralta on the bench for the remainder of the game. He got away with it today but for me these types of moves are asking for trouble.
Back at it tomorrow.
“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Flashin' Leather 
Those substitutions were totally unnecessary and could have cost us the game. But overall this was a great win! The Sox have got to be a little concerned with Max and JV coming. Our starters are a nasty, feisty bunch right now. But Benoit scares me. Between him and Veras I figured one of them would blow the no hitter.
I thought we would hit Lester, considering he’s the first lefty starter we’ve faced. With all the traffic on the bases we should have had at least four runs. But in the end a win is a win.
Roy Hobbs might love baseball, but I HATE the Red Sox. Three more wins until the next Haka Maori dance!!
“The Tigers offense strove for an unprecedented level of ineptitude”…Bingo Crippy. The Tigers fifth inning CAN NOT happen in post season baseball. The offense had their chances. The first inning well if the lead off hitter gets on that’s first blood. The end of the game? A lead off hitter MUST be able to bunt. The fifth inning CAN NOT happen. Pitching and defense. When your offense can’t execute the simple things (putting down a bunt…proper base running..don’t be standing at second base making a brain freeze out) those things don’t show up in the box score as errors….they should! All that off my chest we have six chances to win three games and I like the way our rotation sets up. Pitch seven consecutive no hitters and we are World Champions. Think what it would be like if we had a healthy Rondon? This should be fun!