The bottom line is that the Tigers didn’t pitch well enough to win tonight.  Anibal Sanchez and the bull pen had a rough outing.

That being said, the Tigers had plenty of chances to even the score or take the lead.  They left the bases loaded in both the seventh and eight innings.

As the Tigers head down the stretch, Prince Fielder needs to start coming through or Cabrera will never get a chance to hit in crucial situations.  In the 7th inning, with two out, the A’s walked Miggy to load the bases preferring to pitch to Prince.  Fielder flew out deep to center field to end the inning.

Early in the season, Prince seemed to respond when a team walked Miggy to pitch to him, but he hasn’t lately.

On yesterday’s post, in the comments section, Sark asked, “Could you imagine this team with a good JV?”  I’d like to add to that, how good would the Tigers be if both JV and Fielder were performing?

I’m getting afraid that the team is counting too much on Miggy to get it done every night.  He just can’t come through in every situation, in every game.  That’s why it was so nice see Dirksy get the big hit in yesterday’s game.

Perhaps it’s time to move Fielder down to the 5 spot and Victor up to clean up?

The loss tonight makes the Tigers 1-3 in their last 4 home games.

Besides Fielder not coming through, it was disappointing to see the pitching give the lead back up twice, immediately after the Tigers came back to tie it.  But, really, we can’t complain too much about the pitching.

Torii Hunter left the bases loaded in the 8th when he struck out on 3 pitches.  Not the at bat the Tigers were looking for in that situation.

Coco Crisp was flashin leather tonight.  He robbed Tui of an extra base hit, thwarting a rally in the 8th, after Victor lead off with a solo homer.

Verlander is on the mound tomorrow and I’m not sure what to expect.  Just when I think he’s regaining his form, he goes out and takes a dump.

The Tigers need at least a split of this 4 game series with the A’s.

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