How much more can the Tigers ask from their pitching staff? It has gotten to the point where the staff can’t afford to surrender a single run.
JV was “smokin balls” again today. He had one mistake in 8 innings and it cost the Tigers a game and allowed the Red Sox to reclaim home field advantage.
I believe this is the 5th or 6th time since the beginning of September that the offense have failed to give JV a single run.
Pathetic.
Just when I think I’ve seen it all the Tigers offense reaches new heights of futility.
I understand they are facing good pitching but the hitters have to find a way to scratch out runs. This Tigers team has proven over and over again that they not capable.
The Tigers had chances. They had a runner on third with less than two outs twice and couldn’t manufacture a run.
In the 5th, Peralta led off with a double and went to third on an Alex Avila ground out. Omar Infante, who is now hitting .100, struck out. Dirks followed with a ground out.
The Tigers failed to score.
In the 8th, after an Iglesias K, Jackson walked and went to third on a Torii Hunter single. Runners and first and third with one out and the Tigers still trailing 1-0. Things looked good with Cabrera and Fielder coming to the dish. But Miggy struck out on 4 pitches and Fielder one-upped him with a K on 3 pitches.
The Tigers failed to score.
Pathetic.
It is impossible to win when you don’t score.
Fister vs Peavy tomorrow.
Your guess is as good as mine.
I wasn’t at the game but a frequent reader of this blog said the crowd sucked. However, I didn’t see much to get excited about.
“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Flashin' Leather 
I went to the game, and yes the crowd was a bit quiet. But to be honest there was little to get excited about. It reminded me of the Boston crowd that would get on its feet cheering for a walk, only to get a strikeout. That was pretty much the tone in the game tonight. The few times we actually had men in scoring position, the hitters struck out. JV was money tonight and that’s the only bright spot. It’s starting to look like last years WS, where the Tigers couldn’t score like it was their job. And game 2 looks like an abnormality with the high run output. Most of the pitchers seem to have found ways to pitch to our hitters, especially Miggy and Fielder.
Miggy looked awful today. Late on fastballs and severely expanding the strike zone. Fielder is useless and his lack of production in the post season speaks for itself. It was nice to finally get AJ and Hunter on base at the same time. But as usual the money hitters came up empty. On the bright side VMart and Peralta continue to hit the ball hard. The down side, Omar Infante is not producing, and he seems to come up with men on base quite often. I laughed before the game when I heard people calling for infante to be moved to leadoff. It might be a good time to insert Santiago at 2nd, at least for one game.
I still expect the series to go 6 or 7, but the hitting will have to improve with men in scoring position. Today was the 4th consecutive game in which the starting pitcher took a no hitter into the 5th inning. That has to be a first.
Sark, I can’t believe how bad Cabrera and Fielder looked! That’s about $40 million worth of NOTHING.
I honestly went to the game for two reasons. First I wanted to see one playoff game this year and today was the best opportunity. Second, I wanted to see JV dominate the team I hate. He didn’t disappoint, but I truly thought we were capable of getting something on Lackey. Ilitch has to seriously evaluate what he has here.
Sark, Jackson strikes out too much to lead off.
Fielder is a DH. His fielding blows but they can’t get rid of his contract.
I’m not sure what to do. I really want Granderson back because he’s my favorite player but he can’t lead off either. He strikes out too much as well.
I guess this is what Dombrowski gets paid for.
I just know, almost without a doubt he isn’t getting that coveted world series trophy with this roster. I think ownership and management will wake up soon and think “what a mess we have created”
“The Tigers had chances. They had a runner on third twice with less than two outs and couldn’t manufacture a run”…at this level if you can’t execute the fundamentals you don’t deserve a win.