David Price

Tigers 2 White Sox 1

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

The Tigers moved to 9-1 with a win over the White Sox this afternoon at Comerica Park.

David Price and Jeff Samardzija had a classic pitcher’s duel. Each pitcher surrendered only one run, on solo shots, in eight complete innings.  The Tigers had more chances to score off of Samardzija but a combination of good clutch pitching and bad execution at the plate kept the game tied.

The White Sox made a few crucial mistakes that allowed the Tigers to take this one. First, Alexei Ramirez did David Price, and the Tigers, a favor by flying out on the first pitch he saw in the top of the seventh after Adam LaRoche had worked a six pitch walk.  Price’s pitch count was climbing.  If Ramirez had a better AB, who knows, they may have gotten into the Tigers pen in the eighth.  Second, why in the sam hell didn’t Robin Ventura challenge the play a second in the ninth? On TV, it looked like Castellanos was out by a mile.  If I was a Sox fan I would be furious.  Perhaps he’s still loopy from when Nolan Ryan beat him into a conniption?  Third, and this a friend of mine mentioned, after the Castellanos debacle, why didn’t he walk Iggy and play the infield at normal depth?

In any case I don’t think anybody will be knocking down Ventura’s door after the White Sox fire him.

FYI: The last time the Tigers started 9-1 was 1984. I’m not sayin’. I’m just sayin’.

FYI:

Still Perfect But…

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

not pretty.

The weakness preventing the Tigers from winning a World Series in the last five years has been the bullpen.  After last season, I didn’t think the pen could get any worse, and with Joe Nathan’s early absence I was optimistic. I was wrong.

My biggest issue with David Price last year was that he rarely, if ever, but together two consecutive solid starts.  It was generally one superb outing followed by garbage.  I’m reserving judgement because today’s start was skewed by his own throwing error that allowed three unearned runs. Seriously, what is the issue with Tigers pitchers throwing to bases? That being said, Price only lasted five and two thirds.  That’s a problem because, I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, the pen is a Carnival of Asses and the Soria experiment might need to be over.  I know we are only five games in but his leash is as short as Nathan’s.  At least Shit Bird Nathan had the decency to go on the DL.

The offense is SMOKIN BALLS!  Getting two runs off of Kluber was impressive but continuing to come back after losing the lead or having the lead shortened was even more so.  In fact, even though they struck out 10 times against him they were able chase Kluber after 6.2. Hey, I just thought of something, the Indians pen is worse than the Tigers.

One more thing, I’ve had it with Ausmus’s stupid late game substitutions.  This is an asinine habit he picked up from Jim Leyland or Gene Lamont or both.  Look we know you went to Dartmouth but you are making things more complicated than they need to be, and you don’t have Ryan Rayburn and Clete Thomas, defensive specialists, sitting on the bench. Remember Occam’s Razor.  More to the point, knock off the college boy antics jackass.

I’ll take 5-0.

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

Tiger 4 Twins 0

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

Well, this was almost a perfect game to start off the 2015 season.

David Price pitched 8.2 shutout innings and Joe Nathan got the final out, striking out Torii Hunter.

J.D. Martinez and Alex A Squared Money Avila went deep and Yoenis Cespedes was two for three with a double and a triple.

The Tigers flashed plenty of leather today as well. Cespedes, Iglesias, Kinzler Castellanos, and Miggy all had nice plays defensively.

I hope this is a harbinger of things to come for the 2015 Tigers but I can’t help wondering if Price and Cespedes are only here for half a season.

We’ll see.

Orioles 2 Tigers 1

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

A very disappointing season comes to an end. This three-game demise was a team effort. The flaws of the 2014 Tigers were too much to overcome.

Bad defense and a horrible bullpen lost game one.

Ditto, in spades, for game two.

In game three it was an inconsistent offense that could muster only 4 hits, 2 off of “future hall of famer” Bud Norris.

Did I mention, the fielding sucked today too? Although no errors were awarded, Castellanos and Kinsler should have gotten one each.

David Price was fantastic. He lasted 8 innings and made only one mistake, a two run, opposite field, home-run to Nelson Cruz. (Perhaps, if they ever meet again, the Tigers should pitch around Cruz. I’m not sayin. I’m just sayin.)

Basically, all season long, the Tigers have had three reliable hitters, Cabrera, Martinez and Martinez. Before and after that trio, nobody contributed much. You can’t have 1 and 2 slot hitters that don’t get on base.

If not for the starting pitching the 2014 Tigers may have finished near the bottom of the Central. I don’t think spotty hitting, bad defense, and a horrible bullpen will take a team too far.

The most disheartening thing is that I don’t see a way to fix this team without spending a ton of money. They need two outfielders, a lead-off hitter, a shortstop*, a catcher**, and an entire bullpen.

*I’m not very optimistic about Iggy coming back. Even if he does come back how much is going to be able to play and contribute.
**AA left the game today after being rocked by a foul ball. He has taken so many shots I don’t think the Tigers should let him catch anymore.

My prediction is that the Royals and Giants will meet in the World Series. Everything just seems to be falling into place for both of those team.

I’m not sure if I’ll ever see another Tigers World Series win.

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

Tigers 3 Twins 0

Crippy Baseball, Dailies, Detroit Tigers , , ,

It took 162 games but the Tigers clinched their fourth consecutive America League Central Division title.

This game was won by Price and Kinsler.

The Tigers needed a big start and they got it. Price was smokin’ balls. He pitched 7.1 innings of shutout baseball.

The atmosphere at Comerica Park was extremely tense. Very few batters had good at-bats but Kinsler was 3-4 and drove in two of the three runs.

Miggy’s first two at-bats were two of the worst I’ve every seen from him.

This season wasn’t pretty but the Tigers, flaws and all, are in the post-season. I’m not sure what to expect but I guess anything can happen.

I hope the A’s beat the Royals into a conniption. I’ve developed a deep dislike for KC and the Twins. And the White Sox for that matter.

Tigers 4 White Sox 3

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

The Tigers have held onto first place for another day.

The offense is still MIA. Although they scored four runs, the White Sox tried to give them a big inning in the 7th, but the Tigers refused to take it. That being said, they had a 3-0 lead going into the top of the 9th.

I have to give a partial hat tip to Brad Ausmus. He left David Price pitch in the 9th until the game was tied. I would have done the same thing. Did he have a choice? During BA’s first trip to the mound I thought Price looked winded but a winded David Price is better than ANY option out of the pen.

I only gave BA a partial hat tip because of his unnatural love affair with Joe Nathan. Was Nathan his only option? What in the sam hell did the Tigers acquire Soria for? I rarely see him warm up. This would have been the perfect opportunity to see what Soria is. It wasn’t a save situation so he could have explained away his decision not to bring in his “closer”.

I don’t get it.

I feel bad for Price in that he lost his shutout and win. He was smokin balls all game and in the 9th he just got unlucky.

In the end, despite the lack of relief pitching, suspect defense and inconsistent offense, the Tigers still have Miguel Cabrera. And he might be getting healthy.

On another note, Avisail Garcia continues to the hurt the Tigers. Last year, his off the field shenanigans got Miggy hurt for the stretch, today he drives in two runs in the top of the 9th in a game the Tigers had to have. As far as the Tigers are concerned, Garcia is a low-grade infection that keeps flaring up.

They had to have this game and they got it.

Royals 5 Tigers 2

Crippy Baseball, Dailies, Detroit Tigers , , ,

I know they can’t win them all but today was very disappointing. It almost looks like they took the day off.

Freeway Ricky was very disappointing. It seems he has the same ailment that David Price has, one good start, one bad start. I’ve noticed that Ricky doesn’t do a good job of adapting. If he gets ambushed early, it doesn’t seem like he has a plan b. For that matter, shouldn’t Jeff Jones have a plan b?

The offense blew today.

Basically, the Tigers got what they deserved, a loss. One hundred and fifty five games into the season, nothing is settled in the Central.

Twins 8 Tigers 4

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

Is this team better since the David Price trade?

Every Other Start Price was horrible today.

In crunch time the starters have decided to pack it in. The strength of this team has become another weakness. The best Tigers starters down the stretch have been Freeway Ricky and Kyle Lobstein. JV, Scherzer, and Price, have been bad.

I can’t complain at all about the offense, except for Kinsler, they have been mashing the ball but what was Hunter doing in the seventh? The Tigers got away with bad base running on the home stand but it shot them in the foot today.

As much as it hurts me to say, this team doesn’t deserve to make the playoffs.

Sent from my iPad