God, I love baseball.” – Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Baseball
Tigers 7 White Sox 6
WOW! Do I feel like an ass for leaving this game in the top of the 9th.
For the first 8.5 innings, I saw exactly what I expected. After scoring 12 runs last night and facing who I believe to be the best pitcher in the American League, Chris Sale, the Tigers offense did next to nothing.
Chris Sale was dealing. Except for Miggy, who had two hits against him, the rest of the lineup was completely and thoroughly dominated.
On the Tigers side of the ledger, Fredrick Alfred Porcello was fantastic. For 6 and 2/3, Ricky was almost as good as Chris Sale. Almost as good. This was a match-up between an Ace and an Ace in waiting. Ricky allowed only 6 hits and 2 runs while walked nobody and striking out 9.
I’m not sure what has gotten into him but Ricky has been getting a lot of swings and misses lately. He struck out 10 in his previous start and 9 more today. If Ricky and Iggy can stay healthy, Porcello will make a bid to win 20 games next year with an ERA well under 4, perhaps 3.50.
Tui was flashin leather tonight. Jose Veras came in to relieve Ricky. With two outs and the left handed hitting, White Sox catcher, Bryan Anderson at the plate. The defense was shaded towards right. Anderson hit a wounded quail to shallow left field and Tui made a fabulous diving catch to end the inning and save a run.
What can I say about Good Ole Dirksy? He pinch hit for Tui in the bottom of the 9th with two on and nobody out and delivered a 3 run shot to pull the Tigers to within one run, 6-5. Good for Andy. It would be great if got to his 2012 form in time for the playoffs.
After Dirksy’s blast Infante walked bringing Santiago to the plate. Ramon bunted Infante over to second. I’m not sure how I feel about this play. Generally, I don’t like bunting a guy from first to second. In this case I didn’t particularly care for giving the White Sox pitcher an out when he was having trouble finding the plate. Couple that with the Tigers’ bats perking up and nobody out and my initial reaction to the sacrifice was revulsion. Looking back on it, however, it was the bottom of the 9th. The Tigers were trailing by only a single run and it did get the tying run into scoring position. It worked out this time but I’m still not sure if I would do it again should the occasion arise in the future.
Other than his inability to run, Miggy looked like his old self at the plate today. He touched Sale for two hard hit singles and singled in the Tigers’ first run in the 9th. He left the game with groin tightness and is listed as day to day. It might be time to give him a day off.
Austin Jackson is struggling. He was 0-5 with a walk tonight. He had two hits last night, going 2-6, but he was 0-5 in the final game against the Mariners. That makes him 2-16 in the last three games. He needs to get on base so Miggy and Prince have a chance to drive in some runs. That being said, AJax is a streaky hitter so hopefully he’ll go on a hot streak in time for the postseason.
The Amazing Al pitched well tonight. He pitched two scoreless innings, the 11th and 12th, and got the win. He allowed one hit, one walk, and struck out two.
Paul Konerko flashed some leather tonight as well. He made a game saving, temporarily at least, backhanded pick in the 12th, on a throw in the dirt from third baseman Conor Gillaspie
The magic number is 2.
Sanchez is on the mound tomorrow.
It would be nice if the Astros could help the Tigers out tomorrow but I’m not counting on it.
God, I love baseball.” – Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Ramon Santiago Flashin Leather
Ramon Santiago was Flashin Leather Friday. In the second inning, he robbed Adam Dunn of a base hit.
God, I love baseball.” – Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Tigers 12 Indians 5
The Tigers beat up on the White Sox and their pitching tonight and got Max Scherzer his 20th win of the season.
They jumped on White Sox starter, Dylan Axelrod, early and often. The Tigers put 7 runs on him and got the bullpen for five more.
Scherzer put in a quality start going 6 complete, allowing 6 hits and 3 runs, while walking 1 and striking out 3.
The Puppet Master had Good Ole Dirksy in left field tonight and he paid dividends right away with a two run single in the first to give the Tigers an early two run lead. Dirks would finish the game 3 for 4 raising his batting average to .261.
A few areas of mild concern are Miggy and Jose Alvarez. Miggy was 1-5 tonight and left 6 runners on base. Jose Alvarez pitched one inning and allowed 3 hits and two earned runs. I say mild concern but I’m a little more than mildly concerned about Miggy. I know he’s still hitting .346 but his batting average has been slowly dropping this month and he’s been struggling to drive in runs. I hope it is just a little slump but I can’t help worrying about his nagging injuries. It is going to be hard to make long playoff run with Miggy struggling to drive in runs.
The good news is that the Tigers won, Max got his 20th, and the magic number is down to 3. Hopefully, they can clinch this weekend.
I hope the Tigers saved some runs for tomorrow because they’re going to need all they can get. They’ll face White Sox ace, and Cy Young contender, Chris Sale.
I’m looking for a big game from Ricky tomorrow.
God, I love baseball.” – Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Tigers 5 Mariners 4
Fister pitched well and got his 13th win of the season. The four runs he surrendered is a tad high but three of the runs came on a homer off of the bat of the Ackley Kid.
Smyly got the last out in the 8th and Joaquin Benoit converted his 22nd save of the season to close out the game and give the a Tigers 3-1 series win.
Incidentally, Tigers starters struck out 10 Mariners in 3 of the 4 games this series. The only one with less was Justin Verlander. Is this telling the Tigers something? I’m not sayin. I’m just sayin.
Torii Hunter got the Tigers on the board in the first with a solo shot but Fielder and Martinez did most of the damage this afternoon, they were a combined 5 for 6 with 3 RBIs.
Victor Martinez caught today and I thought he looked great. Oh, and his batting average is now .301.
In the 6th inning, the Puppet Master, Jim Leyland, went to work. He had Good Ole Dirsky pinch hit for Tui. Dirksy didn’t get a hit but he had a hell of an at bat. He bounced out to second base on the second pitch he saw from Mariner reliever Tom Wilhelmson. Tui wasn’t doing much but isn’t there anybody else to pinch hit, like Charlie Marcuse? Oh, wait, the Tigers fired the singing hot dog man a few weeks ago.
Good Ole Dirksy redeemed himself in the bottom of the 7th, with runners at first and third and one out, Dirksy had another grind em out at bat. He struck out on four pitches.
Letting Good Ole Dirsky bat in the 7th, against a good left handed reliever, Charlie Furbush, is a clear indication that the Puppet Master is still struggling with Dirksburger Syndrome.
Austin Jackson had a rough day. He was 0-5 including grounding into a double play.
Iggy got hurt and left the game when he was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the 6th. Luckily, he’s only got a bruised hand. When it happened it looked like it might be broken.
All in all this was a good win. The Tigers’ magic number is 4.
The White Sox come to town tomorrow.
God, I love baseball.” – Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Ackley Kid…
Ok, I can’t help myself. Ever since the Mariners got to town, every time I see or hear Dustin Ackley’s name, I can’t help chuckling to myself.
Robert Ackley is a character in my all time favorite book, The Catcher in the Rye. Holden Caulfield, the main character, liked irritating Robert and did so by constantly addressing him as the Ackley Kid. This nom de guerrre drove Ackley crazy.
As a result, Ackley Kid, has taken on an urban meaning that translates to tool. For example, instead of calling a person a tool, simply refer to him as an Ackley Kid and the meaning is pretty much the same.
God, I love baseball.” – Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Mariners 8 Tigers 0
The Tigers scored 6 runs yesterday so I hope you weren’t expecting much today because not much is just what you got.
Hisashi Iwakuma completely dominated the pathetic Tigers offense. He breezed through, statistically, the second best offense in baseball, and I can’t imagine he broke a sweat. Iwakuma needed just 105 pitches to get through 8 complete innings. He allowed four hits, walked 2 and struck out 6. I’d like to say ‘tip your cap to a great pitcher’, but it seems like the Tigers make anybody look like a great pitcher.
On the flip side, the offense did absolutely nothing. They didn’t have good at bats, they didn’t drive the pitch count up, and when they had runners on couldn’t get a clutch hit.
JV was JV vintage 2013. He allowed 3 run in 7 innings of work. He gave up 4 hits, walked 3 and struck out 6. If the Tigers plan on winning any future games JV starts, they better plan on scoring 4 runs or more. Tonight is what the Tigers should expect from Verlander. That being said, this offense makes every pitch and every inning a stressful one. As I’ve state several times previously, it seems any deficit is too much to overcome.
I could sit here and tell you Phil Coke is done, but then if you’ve been watching this team, you probably already figured that out. Coke wasn’t good today but I don’t think he was expected to be. When he came out to pitch the 8th inning it was actually Jim Leyland waving the white flag and conceding the game. Coke wasn’t good yesterday, he hasn’t been good all season, so why would the Tigers expect anything different today. They didn’t and they weren’t disappointed. Coke actually retired two of the first three batters he faced. By the time the switch hitting Kendrys Morales came to the plate Coke had thrown 7 pitches all for strikes. Not bad for a guy who has had trouble finding the strike zone. So what was the Tigers’ next move, they decided to have him intentionally walk Morales. This might not have been a bad plan if they planned on relieving Coke, but they left Phil out there to completely implode, and that’s exactly what he did. After the IBB to Morales, he surrendered a single to Justin Smoak, a double to Michael Saunders and then intentionally walked the .216 hitting Nick Franklin.
The Amazing Al finally relieved Coke and after giving up a wild pitch and making an error on a throw from Avila while covering the plate, he mercifully got Henry Blanco to fly out to end the inning.
If the game wasn’t over when the top of the 8th started, it was by the time it ended.
For as bad as Coke was, the pitching is not the issue. This offense blows and they can’t expect the pitching staff to shut down every team in every game.
Fister is on the hill for the finale.
God, I love baseball.” – Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Tigers 6 Mariners 2
After three typically, pathetic innings, the Tigers offense woke up and scored single runs in the 4th, 6th, and 7th, then blew the game open with three in the bottom of the 8th to give the Tigers their 6th win in 7 games.
Sanchez was good tonight and the bullpen was even better. Anibal threw 125 pitches. He lasted 6 and 1/3, allowed 2 earned runs, walked two and struck out 10.
The Amazing Al did an excellent job of clutch pitching. Alburquerque relieved Sanchez with one out in the 7th, runners at second and third, and the game tied at 2. He got Abraham Almonte to pop out to Jose Iglesias at short, who flashed some leather making a nice running catch in shallow left. The Amazing Al then struck out Franklin Gutierrez to end the inning and keep the game tied.
In the top of the 8th it was Jose Alvarez’s turn to come up big. Phil Coke started the 8th and got Kyle Seagar to ground out to first base. Prince Fielder showed he can flash leather as he made a nice diving stop on the bullet hit off of Seagar’s bat. Coke then got into some trouble. He walked Raul Ibanez and got Justin Smoak to hit what looked like an inning ending double play ball to the left of second base. Unfortunately, the sure handed Jose Iglesias couldn’t handle the ball and everyone was safe. The last batter Coke would face was Michael Saunders who he walked to load the bases on five pitches. So in comes Alvarez to relieve Coke. Alvarez battled Mike Zunino in an 11 pitch at bat but finally got the Mariner catcher to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.
Phil Coke was booed as he left the field. I hate to see anybody get booed but tonight I felt it was really unwarranted. I can’t defend him for the walks he gave up. Walks are enough to drive anybody mad but his defense really let him down. If Iglesias makes the play on the ball hit by Justin Smoak, like I’m sure he’ll do 99 out of 100 times, Coke gets out of the inning having only faced three batters. But I guess that’s just how this season has gone for Phil. Very little has seemed to work for him this year.
Let’s talk about Alex A Squared Money Avila. It looks like he is getting healthy and his game is starting to show it. His batting average is up to .225, not bad considering it was down to about .168 as late as June. What really impressed me today was his triple. He hit a line drive to right leading off the 7th inning that made it all the way to the wall and left Avila standing on third. He’s never been a speed demon but he was running about as well as I’ve ever seen him. Alex also had two walks in this game. His second base on balls came in the bottom of the 8th. After falling behind Seattle reliever Carter Capps 0-2, he was able to work a walk and load the bases. For the last few weeks, Alex has been looking like the Alex we saw in the 2011 regular season. Let’s hope he stays healthy and continues playing this way.
JV is on the mound tomorrow.
Update: I forgot to include this in the original post, perhaps I was subconsciously blocking it out. In what can only be described as the most bizarre move I’ve seen in baseball, Jim Leyland, pinch hit Andy Dirks for Jose Iglesias with the bases loaded in the 8th inning. This move is insane on so many levels I’m not sure where to begin. I guess lets start with Dirks Blows! He’s having a terrible season. Iglesias is hitting .315. Dirks is hitting .257. Iglesias is the best defensive player on the team, something I thought was important to Leyland, especially in the late innings. Andy Dirks plays left field like Charlie Marcuse, the now deposed singing, hot dog, vendor. The only logical explanation for this asinine move is Dirksburger Syndrome. After lying dormant in the bowels of the Tigers manager for a few weeks, it was bound to flair up again and did.
Oh, yea, true to form, Good Ole Dirksy struck out.
Hat Tip to Sark for reminding me of this abomination.
God, I love baseball.” – Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Tigers 4 Mariners 2
Behind a nice pitching performance from Rick Porcello, the Tigers managed to squeak out just enough runs to beat the lowly Seattle Mariners tonight at Comerica Park.
Ricky picked up his 13th win of the season. He pitched 6 solid innings allowing 1 earned run on five hits. He struck out 10 and walked 2 on 105 pitches.
The offense was pretty much non existent until the 6th inning. Up until that time they had scored only 1 run in the first inning on a wild pitch. In fact, it looked like Mariners’ starter, Joe Saunders, might got the distance. He began the bottom of the sixth having only thrown 72 pitches. In the 6th the Tigers managed to score 2 runs on a walk and three singles.
Besides being frustrating to watch the Tigers offense isn’t doing the pitching any favors. Every pitch becomes a pressure pitch when the offense isn’t giving you any run support. As a fan, I can feel it. Sometimes I feel like if the pitching surrenders 1 or 2 runs the game is lost. This is a lot to ask from any staff and completely unacceptable considering what the Tigers have invested on offense.
To put it another way, is just impossible to think of a way this team can go the distance with this offense.
Miggy looks beaten up and I think the window to address the problem has closed. He can’t run period and he can barely swing. In the bottom of the sixth he was at second base with Martinez batting. Victor hit a ground ball down the right field line which should have scored a bad runner easily. Miggy did score but if the Seattle right fielder, Abraham Almonte, hadn’t bobbled the ball three times he definitely would have had a play on Cabrera at the plate. In the bottom of the seventh, Miggy hit a ball to right field that that we’ve seen leave the yard all season long. I can’t help but think that his injuries are stifling his power. Unfortunately, the Tigers are backed into a corner. I don’t know if they have enough time to sit him and hope he gets healthy, and has his timing, by the time the playoffs start.
This I do know, the Tigers can’t win with this offense. It is simply too much to ask the pitchers to put up zeroes night in and night out. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. I hope I’m wrong.
“God, I love baseball.” – Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Tigers 3 Royals 2
The Tigers took the rubber game of this series courtesy of Max Scherzer and Alex Avila.
Max pitched more than well enough to get his 20th win this season but his offense, once again, hung him out to dry. Max pitched seven strong innings. He allowed only one run on a solo shot from Alex Gordon. He struck out 12 and walked only one.
Max left the game leading 2-1 but lost his 20th win when Drew Smyly surrendered the tying run in the top of the 8th. However, Smyly surrendering the tying run isn’t the story of this game. The story of this game, and the season, is that the Tigers’ offense BLOWS!
Let me be clear, I don’t care what the statistics say, this offense is pathetic. As a team the Tigers left 10 runners on base. Individually, Martinez left 4 on base and Dirks and Infante left 5. I can’t wait for Peralta to get back to see what he can do in left field. It is hard for me to believe that he’ll be worse than Dirks.
Max Scherzer picked Emilio Bonifacio off of first base in the first inning continuing the Tigers’ recent success of shutting down the opposing running game. In fact, this is the third game in a row that Tigers pitchers have picked off a base runner.
What can I say about Alex A Squared Money Avila? He’s hit .313 since the All-Star break and accounted for all three Tigers runs today. He hit a two run homer in the bottom of the second to give the Tigers an early 2-0 lead and a solo shot in the bottom of the 8th to break the 2-2 tie and give the Tigers a much needed series win.
I wonder if Jim Leyland is second guessing his decision to have Nick Castellanos pinch hit for Avila in the 7th inning last night? Although I forgot to mention it in the post, that was one of the worst moves I’ve seen JL make.
The Mariners come to town tomorrow.
“God, I love baseball.” – Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Flashin' Leather 