Year: 2013

Marlins 1 Tigers 0

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This was a fitting end to a frustrating offensive season. In game 162 the Tigers were no-hit by Marlins’ pitcher Henderson Alvarez.

Justin Velander looked very good today.  He pitched 6 complete, striking out 10, walking 1, allowing 3 hits and no runs.

Fister and Porcello pitched 1 solid inning each in relief.

The good news is that the Tigers pitching looks ready for a long post season run.  The bad news, I sound like a broken record, is the offense.

With today’s 0 run output, the Tigers have scored 3 runs in three games against the Marlins and 11 runs in six games on the final road trip.  11 runs in 6 games, less than 2 runs per game.  That’s not going to get it done.

Congratulations to Henderson Alvarez.

Let’s hope the Tigers can find some offense in the post season.

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

Marlins 2 Tigers 1

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I could talk about Joaquin Benoit blowing his second save in less than a week.  I could talk about Evan Reed pitching himself off of the post season roster.  Instead, I’m laying this loss right at the feet of the offense.

This offense is embarrassing.  No team can pitch well enough to win with an offense like this.  I know, I know, they didn’t play their A lineup the entire game.  This isn’t a one game thing.  This is a two season thing and frankly the lines between the A, B and C lineup are blurred beyond recognition.

This is maddening.

With the offensive explosion today the Tigers have scored 11 runs in the last five games.

Tonight they scored only one run on nine hits.

I don’t have much more to say.  I’m speechless.  If there is any bright spot it is that Peralta got two hits tonight and looks like he might be able to pull this left field trick off.  At this point, however, I’m not sure it’s going to be enough.

I have to mention Don Kelly Flashin Leather tonight.  He made a nice running catch in right for the second out in the bottom of the ninth.

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

Marlins 3 Tigers 2

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This series in Miami is like spring training and although you always want to win, the most important thing is evaluating your talent.

The Tigers would have needed a sweep of the Marlins and have Oakland lose 2 of 3 to the Mariners in order to get home field advantage.  That didn’t happen.  The Tigers will start in Oakland next Friday.

It looks like Ricky is going to the bullpen for the post season and he looked pretty good in relief of Jose Alvarez in the third.  He pitched an inning and a third allowing two hits, one a wounded quail, and no earned runs.  Ricky is going to be fine however the Tigers use him.

Luke Putkonen, who I’m expecting to be on the post season roster, looked good as well.

Jhonny Peralta was 1-4 and looked pretty good in left field.  After one game it is hard to tell but remember, Delmon Young was the ALCS MVP last season and nobody would mistake him for Gary Pettis.

Like Dick Allen said, when asked how to play good defense, “Swing the bat!”.

Hmmm, I’m wondering if Tui will be on the playoff roster?  I’m sure Dirks will be.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

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

Tigers 1 Twins 0

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Max Scherzer got his 21st win of the season and the Tigers clinched the Central Division for the 3rd straight season.

I’m not excited.  I’m not excited about a team that has won 93 games.  I can’t get the frustrated flailing of an inconsistent offense out of my mind.

I’m glad they won but for me it is World Series Champion or bust.  The Tigers have won only one World Series in my lifetime, in 1984.  It has been 29 years.  I’ve been a season ticket holder for 8 years.  I’m tired of waiting but I feel like this team is the same as last year’s team.  Similar to the 2012 Tigers, the 2013 edition, just can’t score on a consistent basis and asks way too much the pitching staff.

The Tigers managed only 8 runs in this 3 game series with the Twins and managed to win 2.  This is a tribute to excellent starting pitching and enough arms out of the pen to pick up a terrible offense.

Miggy looks horrible.  He’s had only 2 extra base hits since August 26th and took his second straight ohfer.  I think the Tigers are going to pay for not putting him on the 15 day DL at the end of August.  I hope I’m wrong.

This was an odd game for Max.  He pitched 7 innings, allowed only 2 hits, struck out 10 but walked 6.  Max struggled with his command all game long but still managed to shut out the Twins.

Max Scherzer should win the American League Cy Young Award.  The object of the game is to win and Max has done that better than anybody else in the league.  Other pitchers should get consideration but 21 wins is 21 wins and Scherzer should take home the hardware.

At times this year I’ve been hard on Jimmy Leyland but I think he’s done the best with what he has.  I don’t think there is anything he can do about the offense.  These guys are supposed to hit and he can’t do that for them.

I’m excited to see Peralta in left field.

I’m excited for the playoffs to start.

I hope the Tigers can pull it off.  They will probably go as far as their starting pitching takes them

It’s on to Miami and then probably off to Oakland.

Hopefully, like Victor Martinez earlier in the year, the offense will prove me wrong.

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

Here we go…

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the era of Jhonny Peralta in left field for the Tigers is about to begin.

From the Detroit News: Hat Tip Nebraska Knows!

Tigers minor leaguers: Jhonny Peralta ‘a natural’ as outfielder
2013 Houston Astros
Tigers fans are vastly uneasy about Jhonny Peralta’s ongoing transition to left field. But two outfielders currently playing alongside the former shortstop have a message for you.

Calm down.

“He’s a natural,” said Austin Scotts, a Tigers prospect who played center field while Peralta played left in an instructional league game Monday.

“Can’t really tell he’s new to the position.”

Said Connor Harrell, another outfield prospect also working out in Lakeland, Fla.: “I think he looks really good out there — pretty natural, honestly.”

Peralta, 31, has been in Lakeland since the middle of the month, shagging countless flyballs and getting his bat back into shape.

He is expected to hear from the Tigers today regarding their plans — and it’s widely believe they will welcome him back for their final regular-season series this weekend in Miami, then for the postseason, as his 50-game suspension for his Biogenesis involvement comes to an end.

Keep reading at DetNews dot com here.

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

Robert Gordon Orr

Crippy Hockey , ,

OK, I’m getting excited for hockey season. I found this youtube video of the great Bobby Orr. The only time I got to see Bobby Orr play was in 1978 as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks. My Dad took to me to Olympia Stadium to watch the Red Wings and Blackhawks play. The date was October 28th, 1978 and the Great Bobby Orr scored his last goal.

I hope you like this video.  It gave me chills.

Offensive inconsistency nagging at Leyland

Crippy Baseball, Detroit Tigers

Perhaps I’m not the only one bothered by this offense?

“We have to score runs, fellas. It’s as simple as that,” he interjected. “We keep talking about the pitching and the bullpen and everything, but we’re not scoring runs. We have to score runs. We’ve had some blowouts once in a while when our numbers go up. We need to score runs, plain and simple. I’ll make it that simple for you. We need to get on the board with some runs.”

Entering play Tuesday, the Tigers led the Majors with a .285 batting average, 2,442 total bases and 163 go-ahead RBIs. They trailed only the Red Sox with 788 runs scored, 759 RBIs and a .787 OPS. However, Detroit also led baseball with 1,120 runners left on base, 45 more than the Red Sox, and 1,239 double plays grounded into.

Realistically, though, the Tigers’ offensive questions are better seen in the game-to-game numbers. Detroit and Boston are the only teams in baseball averaging five runs a game. The Tigers have scored double-digit runs in 18 of their 91 wins entering Tuesday, though just twice in September. However, they’ve also been shut out 11 times, three times in September. They’ve been held to one run in nine other games, three of those in September; one of them was a 1-0 win over the White Sox in Chicago.

keep reading here from MLB dot com.

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

Tigers 4 Twins 2

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Whew!  Fister and the pen got it done reducing the Tigers’ magic number to 1.

The Tigers always seem to make it interesting.

Despite scoring 4 runs the offense was pathetic again.  They scored all their runs in the 4th inning but missed several chances to blow this game wide open and take some pressure off the pitching staff.  The biggest blown opportunity was in the second inning when the Tigers loaded the bases with nobody out and couldn’t push across a single run.

Cabrera left 4 runners on base and took an 0-4.  Fielder was 1-4 and left 3 on base.  Matt Tuiasosopo and Alex Avila each took ohfers and stranded 3 runners a piece.  The bright spot on offense was Austin Jackson.  AJax has been struggling but went 3-5 and drove in the winning runs with a two run big-bingo to put the Tigers up 4-1.

Fister was good, the bullpen was better.  Fistet pitched 6.1, allowed 8 hits, one run, struck out 7 and walked one.

Smyly and The Amazing Al got the final two outs in the 7th stranding Twins at first and second.

Conspicuously, Bruce Rondon was called upon to pitch the 8th and was very impressive striking out the side.  Hmmm does anybody else find it interesting that Veras was brought in to pitch the 8th?  Maybe the Puppet Master isn’t getting the warm and fuzzies from Veras either.

The Tigers are getting nothing offensively from left field.  If they can clinch tomorrow perhaps they should start Jhonny Peralta all three game is left in Miami and see what they’ve got.  Offensively, it is hard to imagine doing any worse than the platoon of Dirks, Tui, and DK.  (Hat Tip Rossie for this suggestion).

I’ll say this one more time, WTF is up with this offense?

Scherzer goes for number 21 and the division tomorrow.

Get it done!

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