Austin Jackson

White Sox 7 Tigers 4

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Lost in all the excitement surrounding the acquisition of David Price is the fact that the Tigers lost the game and the series to the White Sox.

Although it’s hard not to be happy about getting a pitcher of the Price’s caliber I don’t exactly see how the weaknesses of the team were addressed.

Price replacing Smyly is an upgrade but what about the middle of the field? This might be one of the weakest teams up the middle in all of MLB.

Starting with Avila, the Tigers are weak at catcher, shortstop, and now center field. On top of that, the bullpen is still horrible.

Since the acquisition of Soria, the bullpen has gotten weaker. Soria, has been bad, Joba is now in a funk, or perhaps returning to who he is, and The Amazing Everyday Al has worn out his welcome. I guess on the bright side, if there is one, Nathan has been better and Blaine Hardy has been serviceable.

Who is going to play centerfield? DK? Davis? Maybe this was addressed but I just landed and haven’t had a chance to read everything.

On another note, I’m sad to see Ajax and Smyly go. I liked both guys. They seemed like decent people and Ajax has been on fire for the last six weeks or so.

I know it’s a business but I’m not sure the Tigers are a better team after the trade.

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

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Angels 4 Tigers 0

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This game SUCKED. JV pitched pretty well, but when your offense decides to take two games completely off, you can’t pitch well enough to win.

The last two games the Tigers have scored a grand total of one run. Not surprisingly, they’re 0-2.

Other than Jackson, there weren’t even a lot of hard hit outs. The offense BLEW.

It is really unfair to single one guy out when the whole team sucked, but can someone explain why Ausmus runs Avila out there every game including against lefties?

Avila took another ofer and struck out for the 98th time this season. That’s 98 times in 101 games. And BA still runs him out there. I don’t get it.

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

Tigers 11 Diamondbacks 5

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Despite not getting a quality start from Anibal Sanchez the Tigers were able to take the rubber game of their three game set in Phoenix.

Joba bailed Anibal out in the seventh by getting a double play on the only pitch he threw. At the time, the Diamondbacks had cut a 7-0 Tigers lead to 7-5 and had runners on first and second, with one out.

Blaine Hardy pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings.

Eleven runs is an offensive explosion I just hope they don’t go another five games with two runs or less.

Miggy had two hits including his 15th home run and RBIs, 78, 79, and 80.

Congratulations to Alex Avila on his 100th double. I still don’t think he should be playing every day. He struck out three more time today giving him a total of 95 for the season. Ninety-eight games into the season and Alex Avila has Kd 95 times. I hate to say this because I was his biggest supporter, he needs to relegated to the backup role. I’m not saying Holaday is the answer, but how much worse can he do?

Austin Ajax Jackson had two more hits and three RBIs this afternoon. He has quietly brought his batting average up to .270.

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

Tigers 5 Indians 1

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I didn’t get to see a minute of this game.  I got on a flight at noon and didn’t arrive until the game was over.

From perusing the box score however, it looks the same tried and true recipe was used to salvage the last game of this four game debacle.

Drew Smyly pitched seven complete and allowed only one run.  Instead of relying on the bullpen for 3 or 4 innings, only two were required.

Joba continued to show that he is the only reliable arm out of the bullpen. He pitched a scoreless 8th, although he did walk two.

Joe Nathan pitched a scoreless ninth in a non-save situation.

It looks like the offense came alive, scoring five runs.  Miggy took an ofer but it looks like Ajax, Torii, and Costellanos had good games.

Although, I like him, he seems like a decent guy, I’ve been pretty critical of Austin Jackson.  But he seems be coming on a bit lately.  He had two hits today and his batting average is up to .264.

Off to the Valley of the Sun for a three game series with the Diamondbacks.

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

I HATE THEM!

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The Tigers lost their fifth of their last six games and looked like a complete and utter pile of shit doing it. This game was a national embarrassment.

For 3 and 2/3 Freeway Ricky looked like the pitcher I thought he was. Then he completely fell apart and fell in line with the rest of his his rotation mates their last time through, save Sanchez.

Add to the the 2003-esq pitching, horrible defense, terrible base running and a tad bit of bad luck and you have the elements of this afternoon’s game.  The Tigers BLEW!!!!

To Torii Hunter: Nobody thinks your stupid deke moves are cute.  Get your head out of your old, bald, fat ass and run down balls in the outfield.  You JACKASS!!!!!

To the officials scorer: Explain how Austin Jackson wasn’t charged with an error in the sixth inning. Please.  I don’t give a shit how far he had to run for Moreland’s ball, he caught up with it, the ball was chest high and it hit him in the glove.  THAT IS A AN ERROR!!!!!!!  JACKASS!!!!!!

I’m glad I didn’t make it to the ballpark for this one.

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

Tigers 5 White Sox 1

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Another good effort today by the Tigers.  They swept a short two game series from the White Sox via their 5-1 victory in the Windy City this afternoon.

The Good:

  • The pitching.  Max lasted “only” six innings but he kept the Sox scoreless, striking out seven and walking three.
  • Five runs should be enough to win most games.
  • Bryan Holaday continues to come up big at the plate.  He was 1-3 with 2 RBIs.
  • Victor is still raking.  He drove in two and went 1-3
  • AJax had three walks.  Can you imagine what his numbers will be if he walks 100 times this season.
  • The Amazing Al and Joba were smokin balls out of the pen.

The Bad:

  • Hunter, Cabrera and Castellanos each struck out twice.
  • Evan Reed allowed a run in the ninth.

The Ugly:

  • The Tigers, as a team, struck out 10 times this afternoon.  I hate strike outs almost as much as GIDP.

Does it seem like there are a lot of two game series this year?

Off to Kansas City.

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

Tigers 4 White Sox 3

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This was a nice come from behind win.  After the Sox put up three on JV in the third the Tigers battled back to tie.

In the top of the ninth, with two out and AJax on third, Bryan Holaday put down a bunt single that scored Jackson and gave the Tigers the lead for good.  Holaday’s bunt looked like the final inning scene from Major Leagues.

The Good:

  • The Tigers fought back after falling behind and found a way to win.
  • The Tigers scored the winning run on an unconventional play rarely seen by a Tigers team in recent history.
  • Joba Chamberlain continues to get it done out of the bullpen.
  • Joe Nathan recorded his fifth save.

The Bad:

  • Not too much today.

The Ugly:

  • Rajai Davis took the golden sombrero, striking out four times and generally looking off balance all night.

Max is on the hill for tomorrow’s finale, a 2:10 EST start.

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

 

 

Tigers fans, we have a problem…

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it’s called the bullpen.  Although, to be fair, Freeway Ricky wasn’t much better.

The Tigers put up 10 runs and jumped out to a 10-1 lead but Tigers pitching and Twins resilience made this game more interesting than it needed to be.

The Good:

  • The Tigers picked up their 12th win with a 10-6 victory over the Twins.
  • Nick Castellanos had three RBIs, two hits, including a two run homer.
  • Andrew Romine flashed some leather at shortstop today.
  • Brian Dozier made an nice running, over the shoulder, basket catch in the top of the ninth and robbed Austin Jackson of a lead off hit.

The Bad:

  • Ricky gave up four earned runs in five plus innings.  He left in the sixth with two on and nobody out.  Justin Miller came in and couldn’t preserve Ricky’s line.  He gave up a single and a double to score the inherited runners.
  • Joe Nathan had to come in for the ninth in a non-save situation.

The Ugly:

  • While the bullpen only gave up one earned run, the Tigers needed five relief pitchers to close out the Twins.

On another note, while Miggy had two hits and an RBI, his ground out in the third was my favorite at bat.  The score was 2-1 entering the third.  Torii Hunter lead off with a double.  Miggy got an inside fastball and was able to pull his hands in and ground out to second allowing Hunter to advance to third with one out.  A week or so ago, he might have pulled that to short and Hunter would probably not have advanced.  It’s early but the little things add up during the course of a 162 game season.

Sanchez goes tomorrow.

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

 

 

White Sox 6 Tigers 4

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I didn’t see the game but it looks like Smyly turned a 4-2 lead over to the bullpen and the pen couldn’t hold it.

Smyly’s line looks pretty good.  He went six complete allowing two earned runs on six hits.  He struck out seven and walked one.

The Good:

  • Four runs should be good enough to win with good pitching.
  • Ajax was was 1-3 with a two run homer.
  • Victor had two hits.
  • J.D. Martinez had a hit and two RBIs.
  • Justin Miller pitched two scoreless innings, allowing only one hit and striking out two.

The Bad:

  • The Tigers lost the game and will have to win tomorrow afternoon to split the series
  • The bullpen gave up four earned runs.
  • The Tigers only scored in one inning, the fourth.

The Ugly:

  • Even Reed allowed three earned runs in a third of an inning.
  • Ian Krol gave up a grand slam in the seventh to Marcus Semien.

The Tigers need a shut down game from Max tomorrow to split the series.

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

 

Tigers Finally Beat Halos…

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with a little help from an old friend.

In the bottom of the third, Miggy lead off with a routine fly ball to right field.  Former Tiger, Brennan “B Squared Money” Boesch, dropped the ball.  Miggy eventually came around to score what proved to be the winning run.

The bigger story of course, is for the first time in 11 games, the Tigers were able to defeat the Angels, 5-2.

After surrendering a lead off home run, Max Scherzer was “smokin’ balls”.  He pitched seven complete, walked two and struck out nine.

The Good:

  • Max Scherzer had a nice outing and the Tigers needed it.
  • Joba Chamberlain was good again pitching a clean 8th inning and striking out two.
  • Nick Castellanos hit his second home run of the year to put the Tigers in the lead 2-1.
  • Victor and AJax each had two hits

The Bad:

  • I’m beginning to worry about Castellanos at third.  He bobbled a ground ball that was hit right to him.  He got the guy at first but should have been able to turn a double play.
  • Joe Nathan, although getting the save, gave up a homer to Albert Pujols.

The Ugly:

  • Brennan Boesch was not good.  I’m glad he’s with the Angels.  🙂

It would be nice to take the series tomorrow.  We need a big game from Freeway Rick.

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