Evan Reed

4.98…

Crippy Baseball, Dailies, Detroit Tigers , ,

That is JV’s ERA after the Royals beat him into a conniption tonight at Comerica Park.

Verlander pitched six innings, gave up seven earned runs, on 12 HITS. He struck out only two and walked two.

At this point, JV, is horrible!

Not to be outdone, Evan Reed, allowed four runs in zero innings. In Reed’s defense though, only one run was earned. He was the victim of two errors although one was his own.

Oh yea, the Tigers defense, blows too. I think Suarez is averaging an error a game. WTF?

Even though they scored eight runs, six came in the ninth, after the game was decided.

Miggy was hitless and grounded into another double play.

Don’t look now but the Royals are a half game out and will probably be in first when they leave Detroit.

The ship is taking on water and is starting to sink. And stink.

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

Sent from my iPad

Tigers 12 Twins 9

Crippy Baseball, Detroit Tigers , , , , , ,

The Tigers got a win but it was ugly.  They had an 11-1 lead but needed four relief pitchers to hold off the Twins.

Anibal Sanchez pitched 6.1 innings and allowed three earned runs.  He turned the game over to the pen and then the game degenerated into the theater of the absurd.

Ausmus needed Evan Reed, Phil Coke, Al Alburquerque, and Ian Krol to close out the game.

The Tigers are fortunate that Joe Mauer is struggling or this game could have slipped away.  Mauer was 0-5 and left six runners on base.

I wrote briefly yesterday about this team being out sync and it showed again today.  Luckily the offense scored 12 runs because this bullpen is horrible.

The rubber game starts tomorrow at 1:00 pm.

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

A Carnival of Assess…

Crippy Baseball, Dailies, Detroit Tigers , , , ,

is what this Tigers team looks like.  This is the 12th loss in their last 16 games and they have found many different ways to lose.

The Tigers just seem hopelessly out of sync.  When they hit their starting pitching is terrible.  When the starting pitching is good the offense can’t score any runs.  When the starting pitching is good and the offense scores runs, the bullpen blows up.

Every night they find a way to lose.  It is getting frustrating and at this point it might be time to look at new solutions.

The left side of the infield is embarrassing and they have only one reliable arm out of the bullpen, that being Joba Chamberlain.

All of the sudden a team that was supposed to dominate the central is only four games up. This ship has a leak and taking on water quickly.

I hope someone can find a way to plug the holes and bail the water.

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

Tigers take first two games against Royals

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

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

Tigers 5 White Sox 1

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

Another good effort today by the Tigers.  They swept a short two game series from the White Sox via their 5-1 victory in the Windy City this afternoon.

The Good:

  • The pitching.  Max lasted “only” six innings but he kept the Sox scoreless, striking out seven and walking three.
  • Five runs should be enough to win most games.
  • Bryan Holaday continues to come up big at the plate.  He was 1-3 with 2 RBIs.
  • Victor is still raking.  He drove in two and went 1-3
  • AJax had three walks.  Can you imagine what his numbers will be if he walks 100 times this season.
  • The Amazing Al and Joba were smokin balls out of the pen.

The Bad:

  • Hunter, Cabrera and Castellanos each struck out twice.
  • Evan Reed allowed a run in the ninth.

The Ugly:

  • The Tigers, as a team, struck out 10 times this afternoon.  I hate strike outs almost as much as GIDP.

Does it seem like there are a lot of two game series this year?

Off to Kansas City.

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

White Sox 6 Tigers 4

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

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

 

White Sox 3 Tigers 1

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

This is looking like an old, familiar, theme.  All pitching and no offense.  Like most of the last few years, if the Tigers don’t get shut down pitching, they aren’t going to win.

Anibal wasn’t great, but holding the opposition to three runs, ain’t bad either. Unfortunately, the Tigers could only manage one run.

The Good:

  • He only lasted 6 and 1/3 but Sanchez’s outing should have been good enough.
  • The bullpen. Ian Krol, Even Reed and Justin Miller shut the Sox out for 2 and 2/3.

The Bad:

  • This offense is embarrassing.  The Tigers managed only one run on five hits.
  • The defense, two more errors today.

The Ugly:

  • Miggy took another ofer and is now hitting .206

I know we’re only three weeks in but, THEY’RE MAKIN’ ME MAD!!!

On another note, I just finished Bob Feller’s Little Black Book of Baseball Wisdom, and found another great quote.  Feller said trying to throw a fastball by Teddy Ballgame was like trying to get a ray of sunlight past a rooster at 4:30 am.

 

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

Tigers fall to Tribe 3-2

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

The Tigers managed only two runs on nine hits and lost to Cleveland 3-2.

Anibal Sanchez lasted only five innings, walking 4 and striking out 8.  He allowed only two earned runs but needed 104 pitches to get through five complete.

The Good:

  • The bullpen – Evan Reed, Ian Krol, The Amazing Al, and Joba pitched four combined scoreless innings to pick up a relatively short outing for Anibal.
  • Kinsler, VMart, AJax, and A Squared Money each had two hits.

The Bad:

  • The offense could only score two runs
  • Miggy’s error in the second led to an unearned run that was ultimately the difference in the game.

The Ugly:

  • The Tigers blew chances in the eighth and ninth to tie or go ahead.
  • The ninth was especially ugly.  A Squared Money was at third with one out but DK struck out and Rajai Davis grounded out to end the game leaving the tying run at third.

This ship needs be righted.  They’ve lost four of their last six.  I know it’s early but they need a big home stand.  Have I mentioned the 30 year World Series Championship drought?

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

Tigers 7 Orioles 6

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

Sorry, I’m a little late with this post, tax season, hopefully is finally over.

The Tigers moved to 4-0 and followed a 10 run game by putting up another 7.  And in the end, they needed every one of them.

The Good:

  • The Tigers had another great offense outburst.
  • Kinsler, Hunter, and Ajax had two hits each and my man Donny Baseball was 3-4 with a RBI and two runs scored.
  • Freeway Ricky Porcello was dealing in his first start.  He went 6 2/3 allowing only one run on three hits.  He struck out three and walked two.
  • Torii Hunter blasted his second home run in as many games.
  • Evan Reed pitched an inning and a third, allowed zero runs, two hits, and one strike out.

The Bad:

  • The bullpen.  Combined, the pen surrendered five runs on seven hits in 2 1/3 innings.
  • The Amazing Al pitched to only one hitter in the 9th and allowed a single to Matt Wieters.
  • Joe Nathan, while recording his first save, allowed a run on two hits.

The Ugly:

  • Phil Coke.  Unfortunately, Phil is starting where he left off in 2013. He recorded only one out and surrendered three runs on two hits.  I’m pulling for you Phil, but the clock is ticking.

When it’s all said and done though the Tigers moved to 4-0 and the offense has looked pretty good the last few game.

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

 

 

 

 

 

Marlins 2 Tigers 1

Crippy Baseball, Dailies, Detroit Tigers , , , ,

I could talk about Joaquin Benoit blowing his second save in less than a week.  I could talk about Evan Reed pitching himself off of the post season roster.  Instead, I’m laying this loss right at the feet of the offense.

This offense is embarrassing.  No team can pitch well enough to win with an offense like this.  I know, I know, they didn’t play their A lineup the entire game.  This isn’t a one game thing.  This is a two season thing and frankly the lines between the A, B and C lineup are blurred beyond recognition.

This is maddening.

With the offensive explosion today the Tigers have scored 11 runs in the last five games.

Tonight they scored only one run on nine hits.

I don’t have much more to say.  I’m speechless.  If there is any bright spot it is that Peralta got two hits tonight and looks like he might be able to pull this left field trick off.  At this point, however, I’m not sure it’s going to be enough.

I have to mention Don Kelly Flashin Leather tonight.  He made a nice running catch in right for the second out in the bottom of the ninth.

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