Blaine Hardy

BIG WIN! Tigers 3 Blue Jays 2

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I haven’t seen a comeback win like this in a long time.

For eight innings the Tigers could do nothing with Aaron Sanchez.  He struck out 10 and allowed one hard hit ball, a double off of the bat of Justin Upton. That all changed in the ninth.

Iggy led off the ninth with a single. Kinlser doubled him in. Romine, playing in place of Maybin, IMHO a questionable move, bunted Kinsler to third. Then Jose Miguel Cabrera stepped to the plate.  Miggy didn’t look good in his first three at-bats but when Jays reliever Osuna came up and in on the Big Man, I had a feeling the deal was done.  Two pitches after the brushback, Miggy launched a one hop double off of the center field wall to drive in Kinsler and tie the game.

Hat Tips go to Ian Kinsler for driving in the first and winning runs, Tigers starter Matt Boyd and relievers Shane Greene, Blaine Hardy and Bobby Parnell for keeping the game close.  Also, a huge Hat Tip to Nick “The Quick” Castellanos for flashin’ leather at third.  I dare say, Nick has improved considerably in the field.

Five in a row!

Sweep tomorrow?

Royals 8 Tigers 6

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Twelve games into the season the Tigers are 7-5. The offense is better than I expected, the pitching, however, is a hair shy of an abomination.

Shane Greene and Blaine Hardy were not good last night, as Sanchez was not good on Sunday in Houston.

While the offense is humming along nicely, I am little concerned about two things.  First, the outs made on the base paths, it will come back to haunt them.  Second, I love Miggy.  I really do.  He’s probably the best hitter I’ve ever seen but I’m beginning to wonder if he is on the downside of his career.  His bat looks slow and he didn’t look good against Herrera in big spot with the bases loaded. That being said, if you score six runs, you should be able to win.

I hope I’m wrong about the Mighy Miggy.

Tigers 6 White Sox 0

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The Tigers ended a miserable season on a positive note by taking the season finale 6-0 over the White Sox. Daniel Norris and the much maligned bullpen combined on a three hit shutout.

The 74th win of the 2015 campaign was good for a last place Central Division finish and will provide the Tigers with a top 10 draft pick next season.

Here is my Good, Bad and Ugly for the 2015 season:

The Good:

  • James McCann finishes the year without making an error.  He has taken over the #1 catcher position
  • J.D. Martinez followed up last year’s impressive year with another one finishing with 102 RBIs, not bad for a guy the Tigers got for virtually nothing.
  • Justin Verlander looks like he will come back and be the Ace of Tigers staff in 2016
  • Nick Castellanos had a good year at the plate.  Remember this was only his second year.
  • Drew VerHagen, Alex Wilson, and Blaine Hardy look like they will be competent arms out the pen
  • Miggy won is fourth batting title

The Bad:

  • Victor Martinez’s injury riddled season
  • Miggy’s injury ridden power numbers
  • Castellanos’s play at third base
  • The inability to play as a team.  No part of the team “picked up” the other
  • Finishing in last place in the AL Central

The Ugly:

  • The base running – leading baseball in runners thrown out at home plate and just the overall incompetence on the base paths.
  • Hitting into the most double plays in baseball
  • Pitching – 28th in ERA 4.64
  • Bruce Rondon being sent home

The season in over for the Tigers but I’ll still be posting throughout the post season.  I’m predicting a Mets | Blue Jays World Series.  I’d like to see Granderson get a WS ring.

A big Flashin’ Leather Thank You to everyone that reads and comments!  I really appreciate your support!

Tigers 7 Twins 4

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Daniel Norris looked good in his first start coming off of the DL.  He only gave up one run in 4.2 innings.  It is a shame he was on a low pitch count and had to come out of the game because the pen couldn’t hold his slim 2-1 lead, nothing new here.

The Tigers offense battled, despite hitting into four more double plays, and finally took the lead for good in the top of the 12th.  They also got a huge boost from Ian Krol who picked the entire bullpen up, including VerHagen and Hardy who were not good tonight. Krol pitched three scoreless innings, the 10th, 11th, and 12th, after Bruce Rondon blew a 4-3 lead in the 9th.

Blaine Hardy has been struggling for the last week or so.  Yesterday’s and tonight’s outings may not show up in his numbers but he’s not getting the outs he’s called upon to get and not stranding runners.

J.D. hit his 37th homer of the year and recorded his 95th and 96th RBIs.  With Miggy struggling, I guess J.D.’s quest for 100 RBIs is what I’ll be tuning in for.

Tyler Collins had a good night, he drove in two runs and had a nice outfield assist.

This game meant and series meant nothing to the Tigers but the Twins missed a chance to improve their position in the Wild Card race.

Rays 8 Tigers 0

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The Tigers failed to complete their first three game sweep since very early in the season.  The Rays absolutely mutilated Tigers pitching and the offense did nothing.  The game was pretty much decided when Miggy struck out in the bottom of the fifth with the score 3-0, with runners on second and third and two out. After that, the Rays added on and the Tigers never threatened again.

I heard a rumor.  Supposedly Ron Gardenhire will be the next Tigers manager. Again, supposedly, it is a “done” deal and will be announced shortly after the season is over. The comments are not too complimentary of the former Twins manager on the site the rumor is posted on.

I’m not sure what to think to think anymore.  Gardenhire was one of my favorite managers for a long time but Sark made me rethink that position. Paul Molitor seems to have done a good job with the same team Gardenhire had problems with. Also, I’m not really sure what to think about the job Ausmus has done. The Tigers have had horrible injuries to key players with no farm system. Ausmus can only call on who he has available.  What else is he going to do?

After the first two months of the season, the Tigers have had two reliable arms out of the pen, Wilson and Hardy.  They had 1.5 reliable starters, David Price and Alfredo Simon. After Price got traded, Verlander became serviceable but Simon fell from half a reliable starter to a quarter of a reliable starter.

The offense has been pretty much feast or famine.  I guess the one thing I could put on Ausmus is the atrocious base running.  The Tigers make so many outs on the bases that it is hard to stomach and it costs them especially in close games.  Also, Dave Clark might be the worst third base coach in the history of baseball. But it is hard to put this abomination of a season on the shoulders of BA.

This team is a mess and I’m not sure a new manager is going to fix anything.  This team seems to play hard for BA for whatever that is worth.

Tigers 8 Royals 6

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Ian Kinsler has turned what started out as a miserable season completely around. Sort of under the radar, well at least under mine, his batting average is up to .296, he’s hitting in Miggy’s old #3 spot, and he knocking in some runs. He’s making me forget that 4-50 streak, or whatever it was earlier in the season, where he was just an automatic out.

Let’s turn to Victor now. Since Miggy went on the DL he has been horrible. This afternoon, however, he hit two bombs and drove in five runs. The Tigers needed every one of them and more because Anibal wasn’t very good and didn’t get any help from Neftali Feliz or Blaine Hardy.

Blaine Hardy gets a pass, he has been excellent all season but why is Feliz still around? He wasn’t good in Texas. He has been worse here. Why not go through growing pains with someone else?

Big Nice series win.

Tigers 2 Royals 1

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The bi-polar Tigers, behind new acquisition Matt Boyd, put in a masterful performance tonight and downed the Kansas City Royals 2-1 tonight at Comerica Park.

This game was the complete opposite of last night’s game. They got great starting pitching, executed on offense and flashed leather on defense.

Speaking of Flashin’ Leather, J.D. Martinez doesn’t get enough credit for the way he plays right field.  He made a catch in the ninth inning that looked like it was headed for the gap.  Physically, he doesn’t look like he should be a good fielder but he always seems to make nice, if not incredible, catches.

http://m.mlb.com/det/video/topic/8877502/v336051883/?c_id=det

It’s either J.D. or Alex Wilson for team M.V.P. (Blaine Hardy could be a close third.)

How about Matt Boyd?  He out duels Johnny Cueto in his third career start going seven innings allowing only one run and walking ZERO!  Walking ZERO is the most impressive stat in my humble opinion.

Anthony Gose gets an honorable Flashin Leather mention for his catch in the ninth as well.

Two of the last three games the Tigers have sent rookies to the hill and they’ve delivered gems.  Let’s hope they can continue because I’m not sure what to expect from Sanchez, Simon, and Verlander.

I can’t say BIG win any more so I’ll say NICE win.

What do you think about the new site theme?

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.

Tigers 12 Mariners 5

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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.

Blue Jays 10 Tigers 5

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The Blue Jays avoided a sweep by putting 10 runs on the Tigers pitching staff, seven off of former Cy Young winner, Justin Verlander. For four innings JV looked pretty good. He surrendered only one run in the first off of a bloop double and a ground ball single then retired 13 straight.  He got into trouble in the fifth and that was all she wrote.

Ausmus found no relief in the pen either. VerHagen, Wilson, Hardy and Farrell didn’t look very sharp collectively. That being said, when a team scores seven off the starter you probably aren’t going to win too many of those games.

I was really impressed with former Tigers prospect and current Jays second baseman Devon Travis.  It is a small sample size but he looks like a keeper. I’m not sure if you saw Mike’s comment, from Minoring in Baseball, from yesterday’s post.  Yesterday when McCann picked off Travis at first it was an “all Whitecaps play, McCann to Avila, picking off Travis.”  There is something nice about homegrown talent.  Unfortunately there is not a lot of it on the Tigers.  Which brings me to another thing I’ve been thinking about.

Dave Dombrowski’s philosophy seems to be draft power arms then trade them for what you need to fill out the roster.  It is hard to argue with the success he’s had with the trades he’s made.  The Tigers have gotten the better end of the vast majority of his deals.  However, shouldn’t baseball be littered with former Tigers pitchers?  The only one I can think of that is still around is Andrew Miller?  Is the scouting that bad that nobody the Tigers scout and draft ever pans out anywhere?  I guess Cameron Maybin looks like he’s turned things around but he’s not a pitcher, but who else?