Al Alburquerque

Tigers 8 Rays 7

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Yesterday, I said the Tigers deserved to be in last place.

Last night, the Tigers deserved to lose. They didn’t.

The Tigers, circa 2015, showed me a stubbornness that you usually find in contenders. That’s not to say this was a Russian Symphony. Nope. This was still  my seventh grade band class.  This was still a cacophony of nonsense.

However, it is early September.  The season has been an abomination. The park was empty, by Tigers’ standards, and there were plenty of excuses to pack this one in and go home but they didn’t.  They wouldn’t. That says something about these players and that says something about Brad Ausmus.

For this post, I have to break it down to the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good, nothing new here:

  • J.D Martinez. There is not much more to add.
  • Jose Miguel Cabrera
  • Brad Ausmus for not pinch running for JMC in the 10th. I know it didn’t matter in the final outcome but it did to me.
  • Drew Verhagen. He looks good out of the pen.

The Bad:

  • Rajai Davis’ outfield play
  • Bruce Rondon

The Ugly:

  • Nick Castellanos gets caught looking three times in a row, the last with the bases loaded. Get your head out of your arse. You’re not a rookie anymore.
  • The Amazing Al. This experiment needs to be over.

Nebraska – God Speed!

Tigers 10 Cubs 8

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I was listening to MLB radio yesterday afternoon, I guess like every afternoon, and they were discussing what went wrong with the Tigers in 2015.  One host said that basically it is starting pitching. It isn’t the bullpen because they have never had a bullpen. The difference between this year and the past few years is starting pitching.  I guess you don’t have to be a genius to figure that out. When you don’t have good starting pitching it taxes your bullpen even more, not good, especially when it’s weak, and it demands that your offense produce everyday, and produce a lot.  Tuesday night, the Tigers’ offense, despite a two hour and sixteen minute rain delay, produced a harvest and the pitching staff needed it.

Kinsler had five hits, Iggy had two and J.D. had a conniption shot in the first.  Kinsler has really turned a miserable season around.  Too bad it isn’t in the middle of a playoff run.

Can the Tigers afford J.D. now?

Tigers 9 Orioles 8

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With the Tigers leading the O’s 9-2 I said to sometimes contributor inlovewithbaseball, ‘what if the Tigers make a run? What if all these moves change the chemistry?  What if JV keeps pitching they way he has in three out if his last four starts and Sanchez pitches well, and Lobstein comes back? That gives the Tigers three quality starters and hey, the offense is showing signs of life’.

What an idiot!!

All it took was a nine run outburst for me to lose my head and forget what I’ve watched for 100 games.  I forgot how many times the offense has tricked me with one game explosions.  And how could I forget what was lurking in the bullpen.  I think the Shane Greene bullpen experiment needs to be over although I’m not sure there are anymore options.

Where would the 2015 Tigers be without Alex Wilson, 20 games under .500?  He has to be the team.

The ball hit in the seventh or eighth inning that ate up Nick The Quick, does anyone think that should have been an error? Would an average third basemen have made he play?  I’m not sure?  It was a shot.

Oh well, I’ll take a W anyway they can get them.  Wins are hard to come by.

Astros 3 Tigers 2

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Ian Kinsler has had two games which can only be described as a nightmare.  Yesterday, he made an error that cost the Tigers two unearned runs and took an 0-4. Fortunately, J.D Martinez was able to bail him out. This afternoon, he wasn’t so lucky. He made a nice defensive play early but then completely demoralized the team by grounding into a game killing triple play in the fifth.  That’s right.  A TRIPLE PLAY!

Kinsler has been very disappointing this year.  It is time for the big money guys to start earning their money.

Speaking of big money, where in the sam hell is Verlander? How pissed would you be if you were paying a guy $30 million a year to do nothing? Every time I see hime in the dugout I want to puke.

It is time for me to tip my hat to the Amazing, Everyday Al. Nobody has been harder on him than me.  But he has been fantastic lately. He pitched an inning an two thirds and struck out four.

The pen is smokin’ balls!

It would be nice to get a series win tomorrow.

White Sox 7 Tigers 6

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Perhaps Brad Ausmus is trying to unseat Robin Ventura as the dumbest manager in baseball.  I can think of no other reason for leaving Joba in the game to give up the go-ahead run in the 8th. I can’t fault him for the bomb off the bat of Melky Cabrera.  He should have been out of the inning.  I’m not sure how the official scorer gave Eaton a hit on the ball that went through Castellanos’ glove but he bottom line is Chamberlain should have been in the dugout with a three run lead.

Speaking of Castellanos, what happened to late inning defensive replacements? Andrew Romine?

This was another sub par performance from Alfedo Simon.  Like Shane Greene yesterday, he had little control. It looks like the three and four spots in the rotation are going to be problems.

There is more blame to go around.  Although the offense scored six runs they left 12 men on base,  Miggy looks horrible and they ran themselves out of the ninth.

Hmmm, has anybody noticed the runs the Twins are scoring.

On the bright side, the bullpen has looked good lately with the exception of The Amazing, Everyday Al and Joba.  Also, Victor drove in four runs and hit his first homer today.

Lober tomorrow to salvage one.

Royals 8 Tigers 1

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This was the perfect storm. The Tigers could do nothing with Danny Duffy and the Royals beat Alfredo Simon into a conniption.

There were a few bright spots.  First, Victor had two hits.  Second, The Amazing, Everyday Al pitched a scoreless inning to bring his ERA down to 9.00.

Let’s see if the Lobber can give the pen a break tonight.

Yankees 13 Tigers 4

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It is outings like this that, if I were Dave Dombrowski and Mr. Ilitch, would nag me about offering David Price a big contract. These are not bad outings. These are Fukushima like melt downs that happen too often for a guy looking for $20 plus million a year.

Going back to last season, this is the second start in a row that the Yankees absolutely beat David Price into a conniption and if I’m not mistaken the Giants put a similar beating on him last year as well.

Oh, how much more of The Amazing, Everyday Al do we need to see?

The offense wasn’t much better. I realize you aren’t going to win many games when your pitching staff gives up 13 runs but the offense did nothing except hit into two more double plays. The four runs they got in the bottom of the first came courtesy of four walks and only two hits.

Ok, ok 13-4 isn’t bad and a split in a four game series will make me feel a little better but I’m serious about what I said about Price. His Fukushimas scare me.

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Still Perfect But…

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not pretty.

The weakness preventing the Tigers from winning a World Series in the last five years has been the bullpen.  After last season, I didn’t think the pen could get any worse, and with Joe Nathan’s early absence I was optimistic. I was wrong.

My biggest issue with David Price last year was that he rarely, if ever, but together two consecutive solid starts.  It was generally one superb outing followed by garbage.  I’m reserving judgement because today’s start was skewed by his own throwing error that allowed three unearned runs. Seriously, what is the issue with Tigers pitchers throwing to bases? That being said, Price only lasted five and two thirds.  That’s a problem because, I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, the pen is a Carnival of Asses and the Soria experiment might need to be over.  I know we are only five games in but his leash is as short as Nathan’s.  At least Shit Bird Nathan had the decency to go on the DL.

The offense is SMOKIN BALLS!  Getting two runs off of Kluber was impressive but continuing to come back after losing the lead or having the lead shortened was even more so.  In fact, even though they struck out 10 times against him they were able chase Kluber after 6.2. Hey, I just thought of something, the Indians pen is worse than the Tigers.

One more thing, I’ve had it with Ausmus’s stupid late game substitutions.  This is an asinine habit he picked up from Jim Leyland or Gene Lamont or both.  Look we know you went to Dartmouth but you are making things more complicated than they need to be, and you don’t have Ryan Rayburn and Clete Thomas, defensive specialists, sitting on the bench. Remember Occam’s Razor.  More to the point, knock off the college boy antics jackass.

I’ll take 5-0.

Tigers 8 Twins 6

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This game came down to a tale of two pitchers.  Kyle Ryan came on in the eighth to preserve a tie game when three other Tigers relievers, Chamberlain, Coke, and The Amazing Al, could record only one out and surrendered the two tying runs.  Ryan relived Alburquerque an got an inning ending double play.

In the top of the ninth, Casey Fien came in for the Twins.  On three pitches he surrendered back to back home runs to Torii Hunter and Jose Miguel Cabrera.

Joakim Soria closed the game for the Tigers in the ninth.

Max was not good tonight.  He was ok through five innings but ended up giving up four runs in seven complete.  When the offense stakes you to a six run lead you can’t leave with the game that close.

I’ll take the W.

FYI: Kansas City overcame a three run deficit to beat the White Sox 4-3

Tigers 8 Rays 6

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The Tigers scored three runs on two bases loaded walks and a past ball. Add to that a mis-played ball, that turned into a triple, and an error that led to three un-earned runs, and the Tigers got plenty of help from the Rays tonight.

The Tigers showed some grit. They fell behind early but kept coming. They even put together some good at-bats. They fouled off some pitches, drew some walks, and got a much needed win.

I’m not sure this is a turning point, I still think this team is too flawed to make a playoff run. At this point, I just hope they finish ahead of the Indians.

I’m warming up to Andrew Romine. He’s playing well defensively and has been coming up with important hits lately. He looks a whole lot better at short than Suarez.

Joba and the Shit Bird were both bad, again. There doesn’t seem to be any answers in the bullpen. I guess The Amazing Everyday Al and Blaine Hardy have pitched the best lately so perhaps try Hardy in the eighth and Al in the ninth? I don’t see what you lose by trying different combinations.

A note to the starters, you need to last at least eight innings and hand over a three run lead, or there is a good chance you won’t get a win,

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