Freeway Ricky just can’t get that 16th win. While he hasn’t been smokin’ balls, other than the Giants game, he’s pitched well enough win.
Yesterday, he pitched 6.2 and gave up two runs on seven hits. The problem was the offense could manage only two hits off of Big Game James Shields and nothing off of the the Royals pen.
Normally, 2 out 3 is good, but in the middle of this race, with this Tigers team, I’m not so sure.
As Nebraska says, “we shall see.”
Forgive me,
I have to tip my virtual hat to Joe Nathan tonight. I know he’s a turd but he looked pretty good. I wasn’t even planning to rag on him if he blew the save. He made good pitches to the first two Royals but ended up with runners on first and second and nobody out.
Nathan could have folded. I expected him to fold. He didn’t. He came back with two strikeouts and a pickoff.
Speaking of pickoffs. Thank you Jarrod Dyson! What in the sam hell were you doing? Whatever it was keep doing it.
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The Tigers survived JV and Joba Chamberlain and came away with a 9-5 win over the Royals.
Let’s face it, JV is bad. There is no way to sugar coat it. I know this is crazy because the bullpen is an abomination, but if Verlander is going to continue to start, he needs to be pulled after six innings, if he makes it that far. I’ve heard all kinds of stats about how a pitcher’s ERA explodes in the 6th year when logging so many innings and Verlander falls into this statistic. If his arm has too many innings on it, then it is time to limit the number going forward. Keeping him out there into the seventh is not doing anybody any good.
The inning that really annoyed me today was the third. The Tigers put two runs on the board in the bottom of the second then JV comes out in the third and gives them back? HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hat’s off to the offense. They put up nine runs today. Castellanos let the way with two RBIs and Hunter had three hits. Miggy was 2-5 and got is 101st RBI.
I’ll take the win but this pitching situation has to be sorted out.
Where would the Tigers be without Kyle Lobstein? He’s only made three starts but they have come at critical times and he has come through strong each time. I wish some of the regular starters were as consistent.
Behind Lobstein the Tigers were able to avoid another sweep at the hands of the Giants.
What’s up with Miggy? He has five home-runs in the last week. I can’t believe he’s feeling that much better but I’d rather not look a gift horse in the mouth.
I’ll take the W.
Not good enough.
David Price pitched 8.2 innings but allowed five earned runs, four before the Tigers got to bat. In the middle of a playoff race, on a team whose only strength is starting pitching, Price wasn’t good enough.
Continuing yesterday’s theme, Price is another guy that can’t be counted on. He seems to have one good start followed by a shitty start. Maybe he should pitch every 10 days.
I guess I have to resign myself to the fact that this team just isn’t good enough.
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Horrible. Freeway Ricky was a nightmare. He started off bad and got worse. I’m never an apologist for the offense but they never had a chance. The defense was no help but this was the worst I’ve seen Ricky pitch in a long time. There were some hits off of good pitches but he still got hit hard.
A contending team just cannot have this kind of inconsistency throughout the lineup. The offense is very streaky and the starting pitching has become the same way. The Tigers have the last three Cy Young winners and they can’t count on any of them every fifth day.
I’m pissed and I’m beginning to hate them again.
Remember the post a few days ago saying Miggy is back. Forget it. Although he had a double in the 10th tonight, he looked horrible in his previous at-bats. Not having power I can understand but what’s up with the terrible pitches he swings at? In fact, he got a nice call from the umpires that saved his last trip to the plate.
OK, the defense has become worse than horrible. What in the sam hell is going on out there? The Tigers have made 91 errors this year, good for 7th worst in all of MLB. Besides giving the opposition extra outs, how much more stress does it put on the pitchers?
Let’s see, errors give opposing teams extra outs. Extra outs cause pitchers to throw more pitches. More pitches from the starters means shorter outings. Shorter outings means getting into the bullpen faster. The bullpen is an abomination. Hmmmm, sounds like a recipe for disaster.
Nebraska, you’re right, “to many leaks in this dam to float this boat to the playoffs.”
Did I mention the Tigers won with a seven run 11th?
Well the offense didn’t show up tonight and I wish JV didn’t either. He was horrible. I have officially lost any hope of seeing a quality JV any time soon.
No, I won’t tip my hat to Indians starter Danny Salazar, although he excellent, that tune has been played too many times before. The Tigers offense sucked and so did Verlander.
FYI: Seattle and KC both won.
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The Tigers had chance after chance to blow this game wide open. Only in the first inning did the Tigers go out 1-2-3 but couldn’t get the big hit.
Until the 9th. Hats off to Torii Hunter. He doesn’t walk much but worked a lead-off walk in the 9th that seemed to get things started. “Fear His Awesomeness” followed with his third hard hit ball of the night ( This DH thing might be just what the Dr. ordered?). After Victor flied out, J.D. crushed a three-run homer to give the Tigers the lead for good. I think J.D. was still fuming from the bad third strike call that ended his previous at-bat. Whatever the case, the Tigers needed a big hit, and J.D. delivered.
WTF, Kyle Lobstein? He looked good in his first outing against the Yankees but didn’t strike anybody out. In fact, according to Dan Dickerson and Jim Price, he had only one swing and miss. Yesterday was a different story. He struck out 10 Indians in 5.1 and allowed only two runs. Its amazing how much better a few wins makes me feel.
This was a flash from the past. For one game I was reminded of the Sports Illustrated cover, “Fear His Awesomeness”. Miggy looked like Miggy.
I know is wasn’t all about Miggy, up and down the lineup, from Kinsler to A Squared Money, just about everyone had a good day. And David Price was smokin balls for eight complete. But once again the Mighty Miggy was the story. Miggy went 4-5, with two home-runs, four runs scored and three RBIs.
Unfortunately, I think this game was an anomaly. I can’t believe that one or two days off cured what ailed “Fear His Awesomeness”. But it was nice to see a glimpse of the once Mighty Miggy.
I guess time will tell.
Flashin' Leather 