Drew Smyly

Twins 2 Tigers 0

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The Tigers couldn’t consolidate yesterday’s win.

They got the pitching but couldn’t push across a single run.

Basically, the game was decided in bottom of the fifth, when Miggy bounced into a double play, with the bases loaded and one out.

I’m not even going to complain about Nathan, who walked in the second run in the ninth. Suarez made an error and gave the Twins an extra out. Nathan wasn’t good but didn’t get any help from the defense.

I guess that’s the way things go when a team is running bad.

This team is out of sync and finds ways to lose instead of finding ways to win.

4:00 pm start tomorrow.

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

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Tigers 6 Red Sox 2

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The Tigers looked like the team we saw a few weeks ago.  They got good starting pitching from Drew Smyly, good work out of the bullpen, and the offense scored six runs.

It is only one game so I’m not getting too excited but it was a nice game to watch after what we’ve seen in the previous 20 games.

The Good:

  • Drew Smyly gave the Tigers a quality start pitching six innings giving up only one earned run.
  • Kinlser, Hunter, and Victor went deep.
  • Krol, Joba, and Nathan pitched three scoreless innings in relief.
  • Nick Castellanos had three hits.

The Bad:

  • The defense is still scaring me. Romine had a throwing error leading to an unearned run.
  • It doesn’t look like Torii Hunter is taking good routes on balls hit to right field.
  • Castellanos wasn’t charged with an error but he could have.  He missed a shot that looked like he should have had.

The Ugly:

  • For once, in a long time, nothing really ugly tonight.

Let’s see if they can follow this win up tomorrow.

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

 

 

Mariners 3 Tigers 2

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So, I’m not feeling well and as a result I fell asleep after the second inning.

Despite only pitching 4 innings Smyly’s line doesn’t look too bad.  That being said, Drew ran into some bad luck in the second.  The Mariners were able to score on a ball Castellanos should have gotten to, a wounded quail and a swinging bunt.

I’m really having my doubts about Castellanos.  His hitting is OK but his fielding is horrible.

Let’s see if Max can deliverer a winning west coast trip.

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

Take a deep breath…

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this is a 162 game season and the Tigers are going through a rough patch.  It’s concerning because the slump began with Smyly’s start last Monday and continued through the rotation, with the exception of Sanchez, and extended through Smyly’s start yesterday.

This is a rare instance when I’m going to stick up for the offense.  It has to be demoralizing to come to the plate and be down four runs in the first or second inning.

Here’s my remedy to end this streak:

  • The offense has to score early
  • One person on the staff has to step up, starter or reliever
  • Romine has to go at short.  His fielding is an abomination.  I’m not sure Worth is any better but Romine has been embarrassing.  On that note, Castellanos isn’t looking good defensively either.
  • I won’t mention Hunter again.  Yet.

Simple right?

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

 

Indians 6 Tigers 2

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Ok, so, that 1984 euphoric feeling is fading just a little.  What bothered me most about tonight’s game was JV.  He’s the Tigers Ace.  And we needed him to be a stopper tonight.  After a rough outing from Smyly last night, the Tigers needed seven strong innings from JV but didn’t even get a quality start.

What makes this more troubling is this is JV’s third non-quality start in a row.

The offense doesn’t get a free pass for tonight either.  They squandered chances to cash in runs mostly by grounding into three double plays.

So, eight games in to the road trip, the Tigers are 6-2, not bad, but avoiding a sweep tomorrow afternoon would go a long way to regaining the warm and fuzzies.

Also, I thought the strike zone was an abomination for both pitchers.  Before Verlander even took the mound I was complaining to Nebraska that home plate umpire, Gabe Morales, was squeezing Trevor Bauer.

Let’s hope Max can be the stopper.

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

Indians 5 Tigers 4

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Well,  I guess the Tigers can’t win them all and truthfully, last night, the Tigers didn’t pitch well enough to win.  I know they only gave up five runs but that was mostly due to the Indian’s inept hitting. (Sound eerily familiar?)

Between a combined six base on balls, five by starter Drew Smyly, and 14 Indians hits there was traffic on the base paths all night and it seemed like the Tigers were pitching out of trouble all night.

When J.D. Martinez hit the game tying shot in the bottom of the ninth, visions of 1984 raced through my brain.  However, when Rod Allen said, in the bottom of the 10th, that The Amazing Al couldn’t let Michael Brantley beat them, I knew it was over.  And it was.

Let’s hope for a good outing from JV tonight.

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

 

TIGERS COMPLETE SWEEP…

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Thrash Red Sox 6-2.

Other than the two errors, one by Avila and one by DK, that should have been charged to Avila, this was a thorough ass kicking.  The Tigers strolled into Fenway Park and beat the Sox into a conniption in every facet of each game.

The beating couldn’t have been administered to a nicer bunch of shit dogs.

Off to Cleveland tomorrow with Smyly against Kluber.

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

Tigers take first two games against Royals

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The Tigers have looked very good in taking the first two games of the weekend series against the Royals in Kansas City.

Last night, Freeway Rick, pitched seven complete innings.  He allowed two earned, struck out 6 and walked none.  The Tigers offense got him eight runs, and the bullpen, Krol and Reed, finished the game.  The Tigers won 8-2.

Tonight, Drew Smyly pitched seven complete, scoreless innings, the offense followed up last nights outburst with nine more runs tonight.  The Tigers won 9-2.

I’m seeing a nice recipe for success.  Strong starting pitching and a new look offense.

I’m getting more encouraged regarding the Tigers offense this year.  As, Eric Karros pointed out on the broadcast this evening, the Tigers aren’t standing around waiting for a three run homer to score.

A great example of this new, Tigers, offense was how they scored their first run.  In the fourth inning, the bases were loaded with Miggy on third, and one out. Castellanos hit a shallow fly ball to gold glove, left fielder Alex Gordon.  Gordon made the catch.  To the astonishment of everybody watching, Miggy tagged up and went home.  Gordon had flipped the ball to the infielder and by the time the ball was relayed to the plate, Miggy scored easily.

It worked this time and I like the new look, but given that situation again, I wouldn’t recommend a second try.

The only sour note of the fist two games was Phil Coke’s ninth inning tonight.  He came in with a 9-0 run lead and gave up two runs.  The most worrisome part of Coke’s pitching was that he got hit hard by left handers.  He gave up a single to Nori Aoki, a double to Eric Hosmer and a double to Alex Gordon.

In Phil’s defense, I thought he struck out Aoki but didn’t get the call.  I guess that how things go when you’re running bad.  If Coke is going to be of any value in the future however, he needs to get lefties out.

JV goes for the sweep 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

 

Angels Dust Tigers…Again!

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Make it 10 in a row for the Angels over the Tigers and this one wasn’t even close.

The Tigers fell behind 11-1 before scoring five runs to make the final score somewhat respectable.

Drew Smyly’s first start was horrible.  He needed 82 pitches to get through three innings and gave up four earned runs. Luke Putkonen came in for long relief and was worse.  Putkonen was charged with seven earned.

I can’t do a Good, Bad and Ugly on this game for two reasons.  First, the entire game was an abomination.  Second, I woke up late and am getting ready go down to game two of this series.

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