Alfredo Simon

Tigers 5 Mariners 4

Crippy Baseball, Dailies, Detroit Tigers , , ,

The Tigers won the series finale and took two out of three from the Mariners with a big 5-4 win this afternoon.

Anibal Sanchez didn’t pitch great, but well enough to give the bullpen a bit of break.  He lasted 6.1 innings, allowing four runs, three earned on five hits.  I guess it qualifies as a quality starts but his walks were high, five, and he continues to give up home runs. However, given the starts they got from Ryan and Simon and the way the offense is to click, this looked like a gym.

What is the story with Jose Iglesias wearing his sunglasses on his hat instead of over his eyes.  He made one error and almost made another one.  With the struggles the pitching staff is having the last thing they need is to have to throw extra pitches and get extra outs.  If it’s sunny enough to get your sunglasses out why not put them over your eyes?

Off to Minnesota.

Tigers 12 Mariners 5

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

If my memory serves me correctly, the only two places the Tigers play worse than Seattle are Anaheim and Yankee Stadium, so it was nice to start this road trip off with a win.

Alfredo Simon continues to be a mess. He allowed five runs in five and two thirds  Luckily, the bullpen showed up tonight with good performance from Blaine Hardy, Ian Krol and Bruce Rondon.

Everyone got in on the 12 run, 19 hit parade except Ian Kinsler who was an absolute abomination at the plate. He went 0-5 and hit into two double plays.

Don’t look now but Nick Castellanos has started to hit the last few games.  He had four hits tonight including a home run,

All-Star J.D. Martinez had three hits and raised his average to .290 with another homer and three more hits.  He is basically on Miggy like tear right now.  I hope he continues this pace.  With JMC on the shelf, the Tigers are going to need it.

Victor seems to finding his form again. At the risk of sending this offense into a tailspin with the my fingers and keyboard, this offense is firing on all cylinders, the only problem is the Tigers only have two starting pitchers.  After Price and Sanchez I’m not sure where they turn for the 3-5 starting slots.  I guess if they score 5+ runs a game they might be able to squeak by for a while.

Doesn’t it seem like this is 180 degrees opposite of the first two months of the season?

I’ll the take W any way they can get them.

Pirates 9 Tigers 3

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

After the 14 inning affair Tuesday night the Tigers needed innings on Wednesday from Alfredo Simon.  They got 5.2. To be fair, it wasn’t all his fault.  The defense made two errors behind him but Simon was up in the strike zone all night and surrendered six earned runs on 15 hits.

Basically, the Pirates beat Simon into a conniption and I don’t have the adjective to describe what they did to Joba. I don’t think “conniption” accurately describes the type of beating they put on him.  Try to remember the beating Freeway Ricky put on Youk in Fenway a few years ago.  Or perhaps think of the whooping Nolan Ryan put on current White Sox’s manager, Robin Ventura, you know, the Dumbest Manager In Baseball.  If you take those two beatings, multiply them by 1000, you may begin to get an idea of what the Pirates did you Joba last night. When Joba left the mound he didn’t know whether to crap his pants or wind his watch.

DD needs to trade David Price soon  He’s not re-singing here.  This team is not making the playoffs. They need to get something for him.  This rotation is a mess.  When you subtract Price, you don’t have much left.  Is it too early to start thinking about next year?  I’m not so sure.

Tigers 8 Indians 1

Crippy Baseball, Dailies, Detroit Tigers , , ,

The Tigers didn’t exactly get to Corey Kluber but they touched him for two runs, including another monster blast from Jose Miguel Cabrera, and the rain did the rest. Both starters, Kluber and Simon, only lasted five innings thanks to a two hour rain delay.  The Tigers then beat the Indians pen into a conniption.

J.D. Martinez got some redemption with a three run homer to break the game open after the rain delay that extended the Tigers lead to 5-0.

It is one game, one series, but we’ll take it.

The Reds come to town tomorrow and we’ll welcome Nebraska back.

Tigers 6 Astros 2

Crippy Baseball, Dailies, Detroit Tigers , , , ,

For the the third game in a row, a third clutch hit, a third unexpected, clutch performer. Tonight it was J.D. Martinez who hit a three-run homer to put the Tigers in the lead and bail Ian Kinsler out whose error in the top of the third lead to two unearned runs.

Kinsler had a bad night.  He was 0-4 to go along with his error.

Alfredo Simon picked up his fifth win and pitched well allowing no earned runs in seven complete.

Joba didn’t even look too bad today.

Somehow I’m feeling better than I did a few days ago although I’d feel a lot better if Miggy would start getting some clutch, two-out, RBIs.  But compared to where this team was on Wednesday, I’ll take it.

They still hit into to too many double plays.

Royals 8 Tigers 1

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

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.

Tigers 4 Indians 1

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

Alfredo Simon, Rajai Davis, and Victor Martinez put a stop to the madness we saw at Comerica Park the past four games. Simon pitched 6.2 innings allowing only one earned run. Rajai scored three and Victor drove in three.

Indians manager Terry Francona walked Miggy every time he had first base open and Victor made him pay but I understand the strategy.

Forgive me if I’m not elated.

Lobstein pitches today.

Tigers 2 Yankees 1

Crippy Baseball, Dailies, Detroit Tigers , , ,

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 1 Pirates 0

Crippy Baseball, Dailies, Detroit Tigers , , ,

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.

So Far, So Good

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

The Tigers thumped the Indians this afternoon 8-4 and moved their 2015 record to 4-0.

Alfredo Simon looked pretty good for the first four innings. He struggled in the fifth and was ultimately able to last 5.1.

No surprises, the bullpen didn’t look that great but didn’t look horrible either.  We know the pen is a chink in the armor so there is no sense kicking a dead horse.  🙂

There are two things that struck me about this game.  First, the offense didn’t go in into hibernation after putting up big numbers in the two of the first three games. Also, after the Indians made it it 5-3 they came right back in the top of the 7th and got the runs back. Second, they won their first road game in Cleveland.  Remember what happened when they went into Cleveland, I believe for the first time, last year?

I’m excited for the tomorrow’s match-up, Price v. Kluber.  I’m not expecting the Tigers to dominate Kluber but I’d like to see some good at-bats and a least a run or two.

Did anyone see Babcock’s interview after last nights loss? Check it out, http://video.redwings.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=885&navid=DL|DET|home