Year: 2014

Blue Jays 3 Tigers 2

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Put this one on BA. If he doesn’t know this team by now, he’ll never know them.

The Tigers only strength is starting pitching.  Their offense is horrible. Their bullpen is an abomination.

Joe Nathan is horrible.  Joba is returning to the guy that the Yankees gave up on.  Soria, all though he was good today, has not been good in a Tigers uniform.

That being said, let the starters win or lose.   Max had only thrown 106 pitches.  Send him out for the ninth inning. Add this game to the game in Arizona, when he pulled Freeway Ricky in the eighth for a pinch hitter, and Ausmus is directly responsible of two loses in the last three weeks.

This team isn’t going anywhere.

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

Tigers 5 Blue Jays 4

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FINALLY!  Somebody stepped up on offense and it happened to be three rookies. For eight more innings the Tigers offense continued to look horrible.

Miggy set the tone for ineptitude in the first inning when he popped out with Davis on third and one out.  Miggy looks horrible.  He lo0ks off balance and he’s swinging at pitches I’ve never seem him swing at before.

Fast forward to the ninth inning.  The Tigers trailed 4-2 with Casey Janssen in to close the game for the Jays. Janssen has converted 92% of  his save opportunities in the last two years. J.D. lead off with a double. After Avila grounded out Castellanos tied the game with a bomb to left field.  Eugenio Suarez followed with another home run and the Tigers had the lead 5-4.

The ninth inning was not a good one for Joe Nathan but he managed to wiggle out of a bases loaded jam and convert the save opportunity.

This is only one game but other players need to step up until Miggy and Victor get straightened out, if they can get straightened out.

Ian Kinsler deserves an honorable mention. He was 3-5 with two RBIs.

Note: I’m not sure if J.D. is a rookie but I consider him one.

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

Yankees 1 Tigers 0

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The offense is so miserable that it I can’t write about Ricky’s start.

This team doesn’t deserve to make the playoffs.  I’m still sticking to the post I made right before the Price acquisition, this team needs to be blown up, not just tweaked.  We’ve had to sit through the same shit for the last 3-4 years.  The offense scores 10 runs one game than hibernates for two weeks.

BA should have left Miggy on the bench.  Miggy contributed a very disappointing at-bat.  The same is true with Victor when he bounced into an inning ending double play

They make me sick.  The whole lot of them.

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

Yankees 5 Tigers 1

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Somehow, the numbers say the Tigers have the best offense in baseball. This defies logic.

The Tigers could manage only one un-earned run tonight, same as Monday. Even in the top of the eighth, when Chase Headley tried to give them a run, the offense refused to take it.

I’m disgusted. Like I’ve said a hundred times, you can’t pitch well enough to win with an offense so inept.

The Tigers are hard to watch right now.

Good luck to Freeway Ricky tomorrow. I hope he’s not expecting any run support.

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

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Tigers 4 Yankees 3

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The Tigers got clutch hitting from an unlikely source, Alex Avila. Not only did A Squared Money hit the go-ahead home run in the 12th, but he had a clutch two-out single in the seventh, to tie the game.

David Price was good in his Tigers debut. He lasted 8.2 innings, struck out 10 and walked 0.

J.D. Martinez flashed some leather. He made a nice running catch in the 12th. J.D. has quietly made some nice plays in the outfield this season. Two running catches in K.C., right before the break, come to mind in addition to tonight’s catch.

Joba keeping Gardner off the bases in the the 10th was a key to winning this game. I had a bad feeling that Gardner would find a way to score had he gotten on.

J.V. tomorrow.

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

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Yankees 2 Tigers 1

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Well all things considered, this was a pretty entertaining game. Good pitching, good defense, good hitting. Maybe not good hitting.

I sound like a broken record but the offense could manage only one run. It’s tough to pitch well enough to win with that type of output.

Hats off to the defense especially, Ezequiel Carrera.

Let’s see what offense and what JV show up tomorrow.

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

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Tigers 4 Rockies 0

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There was a lot to like about this game and series.

  • The Tigers won three in a row and swept the series at home, a place they’ve struggled all year.
  • All three pitchers, Verlander, Porcello, and Sanchez had good outings.
  • The offense was good.
  • Sanchez made it through seven complete today and didn’t surrender a run.
  • Miggy and Vmart look like they are getting their power back.
  • Davis is looking good at leadoff.

Keep in mind, this series was a small sample, against a bad, depleted team but there really wasn’t much to complain about all weekend. I hope they can keep it up.

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

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Tigers 11 Rockies 5

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Freeway Ricky lasted eight innings, gave up two runs, struck out 10 and got his 13th win.

The key to tonight’s game was the first inning. It looked like a rare Kinsler error kind of made Ricky uncomfortable. He walked the next batter and had runners on first and second with two out. But the runner at second, Corey Dickerson, tried to steal third. Avila threw him out to end the inning. I was at the game. At the time, I had a bad feeling like this might be a short night for Porcello. Dickerson did him a favor.

After the second inning, when the Rockies scored two runs, Ricky had no trouble setting down a depleted Rockies lineup.

A few game notes:

  • Miggy hit a 455 foot home run in the bottom of the third. Perhaps his power is starting to come back?
  • After scoring 11 runs, I hope the Tigers offense doesn’t go into hibernation for the next two weeks.
  • The ninth inning was another disaster by the bullpen. I guess the hope is that the starting pitching will be good enough to get the Tigers into the playoffs. Once the playoffs begin, a current starter can go to the pen and become Sark’s fireman. I don’t know but this pen is an abomination.

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

Tigers 4 Rockies 2

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Wow! This was the best I’ve seen JV look in a long time. He looked like end of 2014 and CY Young JV tonight.

Even in the seventh inning, when he gave up two runs, he looked good. There were a few seeing eye ground balls and a defensive miscue but JV was able to emerge from the seventh with the lead.

Don’t look now but Nathan might be turning the corner. This was his fifth straight scoreless appearance.

The Rockies are bad but this was an impressive start.

Onward.

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

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White Sox 7 Tigers 4

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Lost in all the excitement surrounding the acquisition of David Price is the fact that the Tigers lost the game and the series to the White Sox.

Although it’s hard not to be happy about getting a pitcher of the Price’s caliber I don’t exactly see how the weaknesses of the team were addressed.

Price replacing Smyly is an upgrade but what about the middle of the field? This might be one of the weakest teams up the middle in all of MLB.

Starting with Avila, the Tigers are weak at catcher, shortstop, and now center field. On top of that, the bullpen is still horrible.

Since the acquisition of Soria, the bullpen has gotten weaker. Soria, has been bad, Joba is now in a funk, or perhaps returning to who he is, and The Amazing Everyday Al has worn out his welcome. I guess on the bright side, if there is one, Nathan has been better and Blaine Hardy has been serviceable.

Who is going to play centerfield? DK? Davis? Maybe this was addressed but I just landed and haven’t had a chance to read everything.

On another note, I’m sad to see Ajax and Smyly go. I liked both guys. They seemed like decent people and Ajax has been on fire for the last six weeks or so.

I know it’s a business but I’m not sure the Tigers are a better team after the trade.

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

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