In tennis, when you break the other player’s serve, winning the very next game when you are serving is called consolidating the break.
Tonight was a game the Tigers needed to consolidate the break in their awful run of games during the last 10 days. They pulled out a gutsy win yesterday but needed today’s game to get them on track.
They got an absolutely lights-out, ball smokin, performance from Anibal Sanchez. He allowed only three hits in eight and a third innings but couldn’t get any help from his friends.
Joe Nathan blew his fourth save of the season surrendering a three run homer to Josh Donaldson in the bottom of the ninth.
Despite only scoring one run, I had a good feeling about this game, even after Sanchez gave up a one out double to Coco Crisp which brought in Nathan.
But the optimism quickly turned to despair. The first batter Nathan faced was John Jaso who hit a line drive that went off of Nick Castellanos’s glove into left field. I have no idea how Jaso was given a hit. This was an E5 all day long. If your third basemen can’t make that play, you aren’t going to win.
Here’s some food for thought:
- Perhaps substituting DK for Castellanos late in close games would be a good idea.
- The left side of the Tigers infield is a problem.
- The Tigers still need a closer.
Another deep deep breath.
“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Flashin' Leather 
That’s 2 blown in 8 days for Nathan, going back to the 11-10 game in Cleveland. Today is proof of why I think most closers are overrated, and overpaid. It’s a lot easier to start the 9th inning with nobody on base, give sup a hit or two and you can still get out of it.. But bring them into a situation like this and they have no margin for error… He doesn’t have the fastball anymore to simply vaporize hitters, which is what was needed in this situation… The ball hit to Nick C probably should have been caught, but does it only meant they lose 2-1 instead? Who knows. I could see this outcome brewing from about the 3rd inning.. A few hard hit balls by Miggy and a couple others, but not much more… Like I said a couple days ago, they’re going to have a hard time getting straightened out on the west coast. Hopefully they split the next 4 and turn the corner at home. Sanchez pitched the best game of the year by any of the starters so far. He deserved a better fate.
Sark, you’re right, even if Castellanos makes the catch, they still lose. However, that was the omen that indicated to me it was over.
Right again on closers being overrated. Oakland comes up with a new closer almost every year.
This is a mess. Only two quality starts in the last 10 games.
I wasn’t crazy about the Nathan signing and I’m not that impressed with Castellanos. But he’s a rookie so we’ll see.
Well I only saw highlights so my impression……..Sark I believe you are correct about closers being overrated.At some point in a pitchers career they are gold….JV @ 100mph or JV today? Nick C his is a rook and will learn about pressure or not. He gets a pass from me today. The way the media is jumping on Nathans post game comments I don’t think he did himself any favors. Preform or else….I think his leash just got shorter.
I had my doubts about Nathan. He’s 39!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just hope I’m wrong. Why can’t we ever find a good closer. The last one was Todd Jones and he gave me a heart attack every time he pitched but seemed to get the job done.
Nebraska I couldn’t agree more about the Nathan post game comments.. Bush league all the way. He is the one that gave up the hard line drive – with 2 strikes on the hitter. Nick C could have caught it, but it was hit harder than was suggested. And even if it was caught they weren’t doubling Crisp off second, as he was already going back to the base – as Rod pointed out. Personally I’ve seen enough of Nathan to know he doesn’t have it anymore. He might get some outs and saves, but we’ll probably see more of this. Could trade him off for a SS or LF and move Joba to closer. He has the mental capacity for it, but plain and simple he has better stuff than Nathan… But hey, we are still 4 up.
Well then the question becomes how far how bad will it get before they give up on $20M? It could be worse you could be in Philly to watch baseball where it’s 51 degrees and wet really.