Brad Ausmus

Twins 6 Tigers 2

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Well, I didn’t see much of this one past the third inning.  However, this was pretty good outing from Simon.  He lasted eight complete and allowed four earned.  Unfortunately, two runs offensively aren’t going to get it done.

The rubber game is this afternoon.

In other news: After hearing rumors that Ron Gardenhire was the next Tigers manager.  After announcing Brad Ausmus would be fired after the end of the season. New Tigers GM, “Big” Al Avila has changed his mind.  BA is staying.

http://www.mlive.com/tigers/index.ssf/2015/09/watch_al_avila_announce_that_b.html

I will take issue with one thing Big Al said in the video above. How exactly do the Tigers work on base running?  Perhaps they should stop.

One more thing, they need a new third base coach.  It’s hard to see how anybody other than Tom Brookens could be worse than Dave Clark.  The Tigers lead baseball in runners thrown out at home.  The only advantage Clark has on Brookens is that Clark gets runners thrown out by 10 feet whereas Brookens got runners thrown out by 30 feet.

Tigers 6 Twins 4

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It looks like the Tigers are going to be the spoiler – whether they deserve it or not.  They pulled last night’s game off,  somehow, finding a way to win, when they didn’t deserve it. They overcame three infield errors and a sacrifice fly to second base to beat the Twins 6-4.

With one more win the Tigers can avoid a 90 loss season.

Rajai Davis came through with a big two out, two strike, two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth and Neftali Feliz closed it out.

Davis’s homer came after Nick Castellanos lead off the eighth with a double but both James McCann and Dixon Machado took third strikes, failing not only to score Castellanos, but even to advance him to third.  These are the situations that I start doubting the competence of Brad Ausmus. It is the bottom of the eighth in a tie game.  Your #6 hitter just lead off with a double.  Why aren’t you having McCann bunt him over to third?  You only need one run and it is late in the game.

Thoughts on Bruce Rondon

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By now Tigers and baseball fans have heard that Bruce Rondon was sent home from the team for what manager Brad Ausmus would only say was “lack of effort”.  I was listening to MLB radio and heard that this has been a problem with Rondon in the minor leagues as well.

I’m not a professional athlete so I don’t claim to know the trials and tribulations of one. However, I don’t get it.  If Rondon doesn’t want to put forth the effort to be a MLB pitcher, what does he want to do? I don’t know his family situation, or the way he was brought up, but I can only guess that he wanted to be a baseball player.

By reaching the major leagues, or the minor leagues for that matter, he’s part of an elite (eye-leet) group of people. Does he have any idea how difficult it is to ham & egg it like the majority of us? Does he have any idea how difficult it would be to make the kind of living he’s making, or possibly could make, outside of baseball in a 9-5 job?

Unfortunately, I’m a glass is half empty kind of guy, people that know me can attest to that. I constantly struggle to see the positive side of things and I know that comes through in my blog posts.  For the past few weeks I’ve been trying to highlight the positive things in Tigers games. It is a small exercise that I hope will carry over into other facets of my life. Most importantly, I’m hoping it will be a reminder to me to count my blessings. Perhaps it would benefit Bruce to do the same.

Tigers 2 White Sox 1

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Daniel Norris was smokin’ balls for five innings. In fact, he had a perfect game going but was lifted after throwing just 62 pitches.  I’m not sure how I feel about that. I understand trying to protect a young arm but how many more times in his career will Norris be perfect through five complete.  Couldn’t they have extended his outing and then skipped his next start?

In any case, the Tigers were two outs away from completing their first combined no-hitter in team history until Neftali Feliz allowed a triple in the ninth and eventually blew the save.

Fortunately, they rallied in the 10th for the win. It was least the offense could do.  They have scored a combined four runs in the first three games of this series while they have pitched well enough to be 3-0. They will try for a series split tomorrow with JV on the hill.

Bruce Rondon was dismissed from the team. Brad Ausmus cited “lack of effort” as the reason but refused to elaborate. I wonder what his issue is?  I had heard he was upset about losing the closer’s role but can what he was doing be considered closing? He was atrocious.

Tigers 5 Royals 4

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Justin Verlander was smokin balls! He pitched a gem. He pitched 8.2 innings and allowed only one earned run. He didn’t get the win but that wasn’t his fault.

More good news, Jose Miguel Cabrera had two hits, a walk and a sac fly to break out of an un-Miggy like 0-20 slump.

I can’t blame BA for taking out JV. Unfortunately, Brad Ausmus is in an Impossible situation. Even when he makes the “correct” decisions his players rarely get the job done.

Nice win. Perhaps a series win? We shall see.

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 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!

Red Sox 7 Tigers 2

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Daniel Norris’ second start didn’t go as well as his first.  In fact, he needed 40 pitches to get out of the first inning.  His offense didn’t show today either but that’s another story.

I have tried to defend Brad Ausmus and give him the benefit of the doubt but I am at my end with this team’s base running.  This has to be the worst base running team I’ve ever seen an I have seen some abominations.  How many double plays and does this team have to hit into? How many line drives have to not get through, with runners taking off, do we have to sit through for something to change? Can’t they at least try sacrificing? Can’t they at least try to move runners over?

Tempers flared in the dugout.  Jose Iglesias shoved James McCann after they exchanged words over something apparently regarding defense.  I like Iggy but he may need an attitude adjustment.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/141789874/jose-iglesias-james-mccann-exchange-words

The Tigers just can’t win three in a row.

Royals 5 Tigers 1

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Well this game was a cacophony of nonsense.  Verlander was just short of terrible.  The hitting was horrible. The fielding was sub-par and the base running was embarrassing.  The Tigers, tonight, were hard to watch.

The big news, however, was the release of general manager Dave Dombrowski.  I wasn’t completely surprised.  I figured that since he hadn’t been extended he was probably gone.  I just didn’t expect it to be now.

I don’t know much about Al Avila but I was hoping Dombrowski’s replacement would be an advanced metrics person. Perhaps the former Angels’ GM?  I’m sick and tired of the same old thing. I want to see something new; a change of direction. I want to see new ideas.  I’m afraid we are going to get more of the same.

Or perhaps the Tigers could get a real old school GM that believes in good base running, moving runners over, scoring runners at third with less than two outs, not bouncing into five double plays a game. I want to see something other than the garbage I’ve watched this season.  I want to see another World Series champion.

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?