Let’s hope it isn’t a band aide on a hemorrhage.
There’s no other way to say it, Max was smokin balls! Not only did he get the win but he got his first complete game as well.
The Tigers finally got an Ace to beat an Ace. Chris Sale was good but Max was better.
Is Bryan Holaday the number two catcher?
“God I love baseball.” – Roy Hobbs ! The Natural
Make it three losses in a row. The Tigers went down to the Whites Sox last night 8-2.
JV was horrible. I listened to the game on my iPad. All I kept hearing about was even though his line didn’t look good, JV had good “stuff”. Guess what. They can take all that good “stuff”, roll it into a huge ball, and shove it up their arse. I don’t care what kind of “stuff” anybody has. Baseball teams need pitchers that can get people out. Right now, few on the Tigers pitching staff can do that effectively and their record shows it.
How’s that Doug Fister trade look now? Lombardozzi, isn’t even on the team. Robbie Ray is in the minors and didn’t look great when he up in the show. And Ian Krol hasn’t exactly been lights out. I know his ERA looks good but he comes into games where he is supposed to strand runners. Guess how many he stranded yesterday? ZERO! He couldn’t get Brandon “I Money” Inge out and he’s retired.
I know. I know. The Tigers needed another left hander out of the bullpen. But the caveat to that is that they needed a left hander that can get people out. If all they need is a left hander then sign me up. I can come in, throw left handed, and not get anybody out too. And I’ll do it for the league minimum or less.
By the way, Fister is 5-1 with a 2.68 ERA for the Nationals this year.
The only bright spot from yesterday is Nick Castellanos, whose glove I’ve criticized plenty, flashed some leather last night and seemed like he saved the game in the fifth inning. Unfortunately, the White Sox came to bat in the sixth.
Basically, the Tigers suck and I’m losing hope that they are going to turn it around.
“God I love baseball.” Roy Hobbs | The Natural
After winning the first two against Boston I thought the Tigers were going to turn it around. Instead they proceeded to lose two in a row.
The Tigers don’t have a closer. Nathan hasn’t been good and Joba failed a test on Sunday, giving up three runs in the ninth to take the loss.
They followed that debacle up with a loss to the White Sox yesterday. Ricky pitched horribly and I’m getting worried he’s not going to have the season I thought and hoped he would.
Perhaps today’s rain out is a good thing. Maybe it will break the bad mojo.
The one thing that perplexes me is why the Tigers can never seem to find a closer. In contrast, the A’s never sign a closer and always seem to find someone to pitch the ninth inning. Maybe DD should take a look at what they do.
In any case, all we have now is to hope this team can somehow put it together.
Maybe it can start with a ball smokin performance from JV tomorrow.
We’ll see.
“God I love baseball.” Roy Hobbs | The Natural
The Tigers looked like the team we saw a few weeks ago. They got good starting pitching from Drew Smyly, good work out of the bullpen, and the offense scored six runs.
It is only one game so I’m not getting too excited but it was a nice game to watch after what we’ve seen in the previous 20 games.
The Good:
The Bad:
The Ugly:
Let’s see if they can follow this win up tomorrow.
“God I love baseball.” Roy Hobbs | The Natural
I have a bad feeling that season isn’t going to end well.
After watching this 4-17, 21 game stretch, I’m getting the feeling that the 2014 Tigers are going to end up like the 2008 Tigers and 2013 Blue Jays. Those two teams were supposed to compete for the World Series, at least the playoffs, and sucked instead.
Thee is really not one facet of the game to focus on. The Tigers are not doing anything well and continually find ways to lose.
I hope I’m wrong.
“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural
is what this Tigers team looks like. This is the 12th loss in their last 16 games and they have found many different ways to lose.
The Tigers just seem hopelessly out of sync. When they hit their starting pitching is terrible. When the starting pitching is good the offense can’t score any runs. When the starting pitching is good and the offense scores runs, the bullpen blows up.
Every night they find a way to lose. It is getting frustrating and at this point it might be time to look at new solutions.
The left side of the infield is embarrassing and they have only one reliable arm out of the bullpen, that being Joba Chamberlain.
All of the sudden a team that was supposed to dominate the central is only four games up. This ship has a leak and taking on water quickly.
I hope someone can find a way to plug the holes and bail the water.
“God I love baseball.” Roy Hobbs | The natural
This one may surprise you but I’m not putting this one on Joe Nathan. I’m not a big fan of his and he did pitch himself into a jam in the 9th but he also pitched well enough to get out of it. This one belongs to Andrew Romine.
What in the sam hell was he doing on the ground ball Bautista hit? Can someone please explain why he stutter stepped? Who did he think was supposed to field the ball.
Tigers fans we have a problem. The left side of the infield is horrible. Romine and Castellanos besides not fielding aren’t doing anything at the plate either.
I guess the good news is that Anibal Sanchez has established himself as the ace of this staff. Over this abominable two week stretch, I think the Tigers have gotten four quality starts. Three of them are from Sanchez who was absolutely smokin balls! He shut out the Jays for seven innings? With the way they’ve been hitting? He looks like JV did during his Cy Young year.
Joba was good again tonight, but besides him, is there anyone the Tigers can count on out of the pen?
This thing is a mess!
“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural
I wonder if Max is reconsidering the contract offer the Tigers made him?
This game was disgusting. Max failed to put in a quality start. He gave up four earned runs and was out pitched by newcomer Roenis Elias.
On that note, Elias made the Tigers offense look like a carnival of assess. In nine innings, the Tigers could manage only three hits.
The Blue Jays are coming to town today and the way things are going, if the offense doesn’t out hit them, the Tigers are in a lot of trouble.
Basically, the pitching is making me sick.
FYI: Castellanos was charged with an error in this game.
“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural
So, I’m not feeling well and as a result I fell asleep after the second inning.
Despite only pitching 4 innings Smyly’s line doesn’t look too bad. That being said, Drew ran into some bad luck in the second. The Mariners were able to score on a ball Castellanos should have gotten to, a wounded quail and a swinging bunt.
I’m really having my doubts about Castellanos. His hitting is OK but his fielding is horrible.
Let’s see if Max can deliverer a winning west coast trip.
“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural
I think we can put to rest the stories about JV losing his velocity. He threw 17 pitches tonight at 95 MPH or above. Instead, I think his issues have been command and not pitching inside. That being said, he pitched well tonight. He went seven and two thirds and allowed three runs, struck out seven and walked one. Really, his only blemish to was the homer to Kyle Seagar. At least it wasn’t to the Ackley Kid. 🙂
I know Seattle is not really a powerhouse team but the Tigers don’t seem to play very well there so this was a very impressive outing for JV.
Ok, it is way past time to say this but Miggy and Victor are smokin balls! Miggy hit a two run shot and Victor hit a three run homer after Legendary Lloyd McClendon intentionally walked Miggy in front of him.
Let’s see if Smyly can put in a good performance tomorrow.
“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Flashin' Leather 