As I listened to the Tigers 2-1 victory over the Royals this afternoon, I kept waiting for the implosion. After what we’ve seen from this team over the last 30 games, can you blame me?
The Royals scored in the top of the first, “oh no, another terrible start by a Tigers starter?”
Sanchez pitched 7 innings, allowed five hits, one run, and walked only one.
In the bottom of the fourth, Miggy gets picked off of second base. J.D. Martinez follows with a home run to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead. “Watch they’ll lose 3-2.”
They didn’t.
When Joba took over for Sanchez in the 8th, “its Joba’s turn to melt down.”
He didn’t.
When Nathan came on in the ninth to close the game, “another blown save”.
He struck out the side.
Today the stars aligned. The Tigers got a quality start, a few runs, overcame a few mistakes and pulled within 1/2 game of the Royals.
Is this a turning point or an anomaly?
We’ll see.
“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Flashin' Leather 
I agree Chris, keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.. When Miggy got doubled off second I figured that was the ‘oh shit’ moment.. All they did today was show they had a pulse.. Just as they weren’t going to win every game while they were playing well, they won’t lose every game now.. This road trip will define the rest of their season… Sanchez has pitched really well since coming off the DL, and if the season keeps going down the drain he offers the most lucrative trade value… Just saying… I wonder if Miggy is hurting again – hamstring or whatever he came out of the game for last week… His power is down again and he is swinging and missing a lot… Just wondering??
I hope so…but hope is not a strategy. I am with Sark on the road trip telling us a lot and after the Tribe walk off win today…….well if I remember correctly this is where the slide started so we should know more by Sunday.
Are either of you thinking JV is on the downside of his career? I hate to even say that but most of last year and most have this year have been an abomination.
Maybe he needs to go on the DL just to rest? He has thrown a lot of innings and pitches the last 6-7 years and he just had surgery. Maybe he’s tired or, burned out?
I wonder too if he is tipping pitches or getting into a pattern that scouts are picking up on… John Kruk had an interesting comment on the Sunday game where Joba gave up the HR to Ortiz.. He mentioned the scouting report on Joba was if he threw over to first base to check the runner, the next pitch was a slider… Maybe not every time, but enough to create a high probability.. Hard to say what is wrong with JV because he is like Fielder and he wants to be considered an iron man.. But I’m not sure he has gained enough strength since the surgery.. Most of his power comes from his legs and core.. Without that he has to over compensate to get the velocity and it might be affecting his location… Who knows, just speculation on my part… He hasn’t been very good all season, even in the first few weeks when his record was decent… I don’t think he is done though, using his playoff performance of last season as a basis..