Detroit Tigers

Yankees 5 Tigers 2

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On a cold, nasty, night, at Comerica Park, the Tigers fifth starter, Kyle Lobstein gave them a chance to win.  Lobstein gave up only one run in six complete then handed the ball over to the bullpen.  No need to say more.

The bullpen, however, isn’t the story of this game or series, the lack of offense is.  The Tigers have grounded into seven double plays in two games against the Yankees and 17 for the season, tied with Baltimore for most in the majors.  I love double plays when the Tigers turn them but the hate them when the Tigers hit into them.  I don’t know, is it good pitching or bad (selfish) hitting?

In any case, 11-3 isn’t that much to cry about.

Tigers 2 Yankees 1

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Hmmm, 13 games into the 2015 season and this version of the Tigers seems to be finding ways to win.

The Tigers got another great start from Alfredo Simon and enough offense in the seventh inning to snatch a win from C C Sabathia and the New York Yankees.

Guess what, the bullpen was good today.  Joba came in with two on and one out in the eighth and got an inning ending double play and Soria closed out the ninth.

There has been little to complain about this season.

If I wanted to get picky, Miggy had an awful day and I wish they had tried a little bit of small ball when Castellanos walked to lead off the sixth. But I’ll take 11-2.

Tigers 9 White Sox 1

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The Tigers took the rubber game of a big early season series this afternoon by beating White Sox starter Jose Quintana into a conniption.

Yoenis Cespedes had a monster day.  He had six RBIs on a grand slam and a two run homer.  Today’s game was a mirror image of yesterday’s game, it was over by the time the Sox came to bat in the top of the fourth.

Shane Greene got his third win.  The Tigers are 10-2 and right now I don’t hate them.

Here are a few early season observations:

  • Iggy looks great at short and even though he swings at a lot of pitches he’s pretty good at making contact.
  • Miggy looks very good, defensively, at first base.
  • Nick Castellanos has been flashin’ leather at third.
  • Despite his miscue today, J.D. Martinez plays a pretty good right field.
  • Doesn’t Miggy usually start seasons slowly?
  • Victor is still hurt.

Yankee are in town tomorrow.

Tigers 2 White Sox 1

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The Tigers moved to 9-1 with a win over the White Sox this afternoon at Comerica Park.

David Price and Jeff Samardzija had a classic pitcher’s duel. Each pitcher surrendered only one run, on solo shots, in eight complete innings.  The Tigers had more chances to score off of Samardzija but a combination of good clutch pitching and bad execution at the plate kept the game tied.

The White Sox made a few crucial mistakes that allowed the Tigers to take this one. First, Alexei Ramirez did David Price, and the Tigers, a favor by flying out on the first pitch he saw in the top of the seventh after Adam LaRoche had worked a six pitch walk.  Price’s pitch count was climbing.  If Ramirez had a better AB, who knows, they may have gotten into the Tigers pen in the eighth.  Second, why in the sam hell didn’t Robin Ventura challenge the play a second in the ninth? On TV, it looked like Castellanos was out by a mile.  If I was a Sox fan I would be furious.  Perhaps he’s still loopy from when Nolan Ryan beat him into a conniption?  Third, and this a friend of mine mentioned, after the Castellanos debacle, why didn’t he walk Iggy and play the infield at normal depth?

In any case I don’t think anybody will be knocking down Ventura’s door after the White Sox fire him.

FYI: The last time the Tigers started 9-1 was 1984. I’m not sayin’. I’m just sayin’.

FYI:

Tigers 1 Pirates 0

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WOW!  The Tigers got their second straight shut out win over the Pirates and took the three game series, in a place they historically don’t play well, 2-1.

What can I say about Alfredo Simon, he was SMOKIN’ BALLS!

I wasn’t expecting much from this series.  The Tigers struggles in Pittsburgh have been well documented and I wasn’t sure what they’d get from Simon.  I didn’t think he looked that good in his first start.  I surely wasn’t expecting an eight inning, two hit, shut out.

Going into this series I figured the Tigers would have a chance in the first two games, with Sanchez and Greene pitching, but not much with Simon going tonight.  I thought this was a throw away game.  I was wrong and glad for it.

Is it too early to say I might be wrong about Soria as well?  I hope so.

Nebraska, to answer your question, “Someone remind me tomorrow why we let the pitcher lead off the eighth inning with over 90 pitches and a day off Thursday?” I think you answered it yourself. BULLPEN! Remember, with this bullpen, less is more.

I like 8-1.

Tigers 2 Pirates 0

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After almost two times through the rotation, Shane Greene is the ace of the Tigers staff.  He dispatched the Pirates lineup with the precision and efficiency of a Swiss timepiece. I really wanted him to get a chance to complete the game but I sort of understand the move to bring Victor in.  Speaking of Victor, he doesn’t like right to me.  Anyway, Greene needed only 81 pitches to get through 8 complete, scoreless, innings, a virtual masterpiece, albeit unfinished.

J.D. Martinez, Ian Kinsler, and Jose Iglesias all flashed some leather today and the Tigers got a win in a place where they don’t get many.

The offense left 10 men on base but we can cut them some slack. They scored enough for the W.

It would be nice for a series win tomorrow.

I like 7-1.

The perfect season is over…

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and the Nebraskadamus prophecy unfulfilled.  The Tigers fell to the Pirates 5-4 for their first loss of the 2015 season.

Anibal was not good.  He gave up 5 runs in 6.3 but the offense nearly made a top of the ninth comeback to bail him out.

If not for a 1 pitch, rally killing at bat, by Nick Castellanos that resulted in a double play, the Tigers may have forced extra innings.  That would have been no guarantee of a better outcome given the bullpen but hope does spring eternal.

I won’t whine too much about being 6-1 but it would be nice to get a win in Pittsburgh.  It seem like the Tigers never play well there.