Alcides Escobar

Royals 1 Tigers 0

Crippy Baseball, Dailies, Detroit Tigers , , , , , , , , ,

This was a tough loss to take but no that surprising.  Both Fister and Santana pitched like aces but the “top rated” Tigers offense could not produce a single run.

I understand that Santana has had a good season and pitched well tonight but with the money the Tigers have invested in their offense it is not unreasonable to expect better.

This game has it’s share of leather flashin.  Royals’ short stop Alcides Escobar made several nice plays.  Torii Hunter threw a seed from right field to gun down Chris Getz trying to take third on a fly ball in the top of the 8th.  Miguel Cabrera and Alex Avila teamed up to cut down Eric Hosmer trying to score from third and a ground ball in the first.  And the play of the game was a relay from Alex Gordon to Alcides Escobar to Salvador Perez to cut down Prince Fielder at the plate to end the game.

Objectively speaking this was a really well played game.  The only problem is that the Tigers offense couldn’t come up with a single run.  This seems to be the story of the last two seasons, no consistency on offense.  They score a lot of runs one game then go into hibernation for a week. It is very frustrating and sometimes painful to watch.

There are two plays in particular I’d like to address.

  1. In the bottom of the sixth Iggy led off with a bunt single.  At this point it was obvious runs were going to be at a premium.  I was hoping the Tigers would give Iggy the green light to try to swipe second.  I’m not big on bunting a guy over from first to second but I am a fan of the stolen base.  Instead, Jackson followed with a fielders choice then Hunter and Cabrera flew out to end the inning.  If Iggy could have stolen second he could have gone to third on Jackson’s ground ball and scored on Hunters fly out.  Instead the Tigers settled for nothing.  I understand speed is not the Tigers game but Iggy does bring this dimension to the team.  This would have been the perfect time to try something new instead of just going to the plate and taking your hacks against a pitcher that’s been dominating you.  I could have lived with Iggy getting thrown out at second.  But I can’t live with doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
  2. In the bottom of the 8th Miggy came to the plate following a Hunter double.  This put Hunter a second with two out.  Cabrera then ended the inning with a ground out to second base on the first pitch.  I know it is hard to complain about Miggy but he has been horrible the last few weeks and I’m not sure it is all injury related.

On the bright side Fister did pick off Emilio Bonifacio at first base in the top of the third inning.  With pick offs and runners thrown out at second the Tigers seem to be making strides at slowing down the opposing team’s running game.  Now if they could manufacture a run or two of their own they might have something.  Still with this lineup they really have no excuse for being shut out ever, let alone, 11 times this season.

Let’s see if Max can get is 20th win of the season in the rubber game tomorrow.

“God, I love baseball.” – Roy Hobbs | The Natural

Yost kills Royals with awful ninth inning – SweetSpot Blog – ESPN

Crippy Baseball , , , , , , , ,

Hat Tip, again, to Nebraska for this link.

It looks like some Royals fans are not happy with Ned Yost.

Congratulations, Ned Yost, you just managed the worst inning of the season.

The situation: The Kansas City Royals trailed the Cleveland Indians 4-3 entering the top of the ninth. The Indians summoned closer Chris Perez from the bullpen, a guy who has been awful of late. In his previous 13 appearances Perez had faced 60 batters and allowed 18 hits — including four home runs — and four walks. In September, he’d pitched four innings and allowed eight hits.

Salvador Perez led off with a base hit to left field. Mike Moustakas walked on four pitches. Pinch-runners for both were on base. Lorenzo Cain, Jarrod Dyson and Alcides Escobar — the bottom of the order — were due up. You have a struggling pitcher who just walked a batter on four pitches. What do you do?

Here’s what you don’t do: Give Perez an out.

David Lough pinch-hit for Cain and sacrificed. Didn’t take a pitch. Didn’t make Perez throw at least one strike. He bunted the first pitch.

Look, it’s not just the sabermetric crowd who is anti-bunt. Managers have become anti-bunt, not sacrificing nearly as often as they used to. It’s a one-run strategy with minimal payoff in a world where more hitters than ever can drive the ball for extra bases or out of the park. A bunt may slightly increase your chance to score one run but it also decreases your chance for multiple runs. It’s a strategy from an era when singles were more common, but in this age of increasing strikeouts and declining batting averages, singles are less likely than ever to occur.

In this specific instance, though, why give an out to a pitcher who has been a train wreck of late? Why make him get only two outs in an inning instead of three?

You can read the entire post here.

“God, I love baseball.” – Roy Hobbs | The Natural

 

Mighty Miggy!

Crippy Baseball, Dailies, Detroit Tigers , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Mighty Miggy hit his 39th home run, a solo shot, in the bottom of the 9th to give the Tigers a 6-5 win and even this 5 game series with the Royals.

Despite leaving 9 men on base, the Tigers offense was able to bail the pitching staff out tonight.  The pitching wasn’t horrible but it is not what Tigers fans have come to expect.

Doug Fister lasted 6 and 1/3.  He surrendered 3 earned.  Fister walked 2, struck out 6 and gave up 10 hits.

The top of the 4th inning featured one of the strangest plays I’ve ever seen. With Chris Getz on first base and nobody out, Fister threw a pitch that Alcides Escobar foul tipped behind home plate.  Home plate umpire Mike Muchlinski ruled it a wild pitch.  While Brayan Pena was waiting for the umpire to hand him a new ball, Chris Getz ran all the way to 3rd base.  If it wasn’t for Doug Fister, realizing what had happened, and retrieving the ball, Getz would have scored.  As it turned out, Getz ended up scoring when Escobar doubled to tie the game at three.

Jim Leyland and Brayan Pena, furious at the call, were both thrown out of the game.  Replays showed that the call was blown.  It was clearly a foul tipped ball.

Withe score tied at 4 in the bottom of the 7th, Prince Fielder homered to give the Tigers the lead back 5-4 but the bull pen couldn’t hold it.  Jose Veras allowed the tying run in the top of the 8th and the stage was set for Miggy’s heroics.

Royals reliever Aaron Crow came in to pitch the 9th with Miggy leading off.  Crow fell behind Miggy 3-1 and I was sure he was just going to put him on.  And in fact, he may have been trying to.  The 3-1 pitch looked to be about 6 inches off of the plate away, but Miggy expanded the strike zone and did what he does.  He hit a bullet over the right field fence giving the Tigers a much needed win.

The running game is becoming a big problem for the Tigers.  They can’t stop anybody from running and this deficiency is compounded when the pitching staff gives up walks.  They need to find a way to address this but I’m not sure they have the tools to do so.  Neither Pena, Holaday nor Avila have been very effective at throwing this year.  I hope this doesn’t come back to bite the Tigers in a crucial situation, like a playoff or World Series game.

On the flip side of the coin, the Tigers did a bit of running themselves tonight.  They scored their third run in the bottom of the second on a suicide squeeze.  With Infante on 3rd and one out, Iggy, laid down a bunt that not only scored Infante but gave Iglesias another infield hit.

With a win tomorrow, the Tigers can win the five game series 3-2.

Update, Cleveland Indian’s second baseman, Jason Kipnis, tweeted this today, “Dear Miggy… You’re making the rest of us look bad.. Knock it off! – MLB Hitters”.  Hat Tip to Sark for showing me the Kipnis tweet. I have retweeted the Kipnis tweet and it can be seen on the right side of this page.

“God, I love baseball.” – Roy Hobbs | The Natural