Joba Chamberlain

The Tigers Are In Trouble…

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After winning the first two against Boston I thought the Tigers were going to turn it around.  Instead they proceeded to lose two in a row.

The Tigers don’t have a closer.  Nathan hasn’t been good and Joba failed a test on Sunday, giving up three runs in the ninth to take the loss.

They followed that debacle up with a loss to the White Sox yesterday.  Ricky pitched horribly and I’m getting worried he’s not going to have the season I thought and hoped he would.

Perhaps today’s rain out is a good thing.  Maybe it will break the bad mojo.

The one thing that perplexes me is why the Tigers can never seem to find a closer.  In contrast, the A’s never sign a closer and always seem to find someone to pitch the ninth inning.  Maybe DD should take a look at what they do.

In any case, all we have now is to hope this team can somehow put it together.

Maybe it can start with a ball smokin performance from JV tomorrow.

We’ll see.

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

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

 

 

A Carnival of Assess…

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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

Blue Jays 5 Tigers 3

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This one may surprise you but I’m not putting this one on Joe Nathan.  I’m not a big fan of his and he did pitch himself into a jam in the 9th but he also pitched well enough to get out of it.  This one belongs to Andrew Romine.

What in the sam hell was he doing on the ground ball Bautista hit?  Can someone please explain why he stutter stepped?  Who did he think was supposed to field the ball.

Tigers fans we have a problem.  The left side of the infield is horrible.  Romine and Castellanos besides not fielding aren’t doing anything at the plate either.

I guess the good news is that Anibal Sanchez has established himself as the ace of this staff.  Over this abominable two week stretch, I think the Tigers have gotten four quality starts.  Three of them are from Sanchez who was absolutely smokin balls!  He shut out the Jays for seven innings?  With the way they’ve been hitting?  He looks like JV did during his Cy Young year.

Joba was good again tonight, but besides him, is there anyone the Tigers can count on out of the pen?

This thing is a mess!

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

 

Tigers 6 Mariners 3

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I think we can put to rest the stories about JV losing his velocity.  He threw 17 pitches tonight at 95 MPH or above.  Instead, I think his issues have been command and not pitching inside.  That being said, he pitched well tonight.  He went seven and two thirds and allowed three runs, struck out seven and walked one.  Really, his only blemish to was the homer to Kyle Seagar. At least it wasn’t to the Ackley Kid. 🙂

I know Seattle is not really a powerhouse team but the Tigers don’t seem to play very well there so this was a very impressive outing for JV.

Ok, it is way past time to say this but Miggy and Victor are smokin balls!  Miggy hit a two run shot and Victor hit a three run homer after Legendary Lloyd McClendon intentionally walked Miggy in front of him.

Let’s see if Smyly can put in a good performance tomorrow.

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

Twins 4 Tigers 3

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The Tigers snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

The Tigers wasted a nice pitching performance from Robby Ray. Ray pitched six innings allowed four hits, no runs, struck out two and walked one. He turned three a run lead over to the bullpen but the pen couldn’t hold it.

The Tigers ended the home stand on a down note.  They lost two of three to the Twins and wasted good pitching performances from JV and R Squared.

Joba and Krol were not good today.

Well, let’s lick out wounds and get on back on track in Baltimore tomorrow with Freeway Rick on the hill.

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

Make it 8 in a row Tigers beat Astros 3-2

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Pitching and home runs gave the Tigers a 3-2 win over the Houston Astros and made it eight in a row for the TIgers.

Freeway Rick pitched 6 and 2/3.  He allowed two earned runs on seven hits, a little high, he struck out five and walked two.

Ricky turned the game over Joba Chamberlain and Joe Nathan to close the game out.

What can I say about Joba, he continues to get it done, striking out the side in the 8th.

Joba is SMOKIN BALLS!

The Good:

  • The Tigers got their eight in a row and 20th win of the season.
  • Ricky put in another good outing.
  • Joe Nathan got his seventh save.
  • Joba continues to smoke balls!
  • Miggy and Victor went deep.
  • Rajai Davis stole his 12th base of the season and Don “DK” Kelly stole a base and got two hits.

The Bad:

  • The Tigers managed only five hits but the Houston pitcher, Brad Peacock, had a lot to say about that.  He pitched well for a bad team.
  • Joe Nathan walked a runner with two outs and allowed two stolen bases but was able to strand the tying run at third.

The Ugly:

  • Not much today or lately.  The Tigers have been playing pretty clean and came away with another win in a close game.

Don’t look now but Freeway Rick is 5-1 on the season.  Now if he can lower his ERA by a run he might make me look like Nostradamus.

Also, I liked Miggy’s homer the opposite way, he might be rounding into his MVP form.

Smyly pitches tomorrow afternoon as the Tigers for a four game sweep and ninth in a row.

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

 

 

Tigers 5 White Sox 1

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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

Tigers 7 White Sox 4

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Behind six good innings from 2013 Cy Young winner, Max Scherzer, the Tigers earned a split with the White Sox in this four game series.

The only thing I don’t like about Max’s line, while it is hard to complain when he strikes out 10, is that he only lasted six innings.  Max needed 110 pitches to get through six complete.

The Good:

  • The Tigers won.
  • The Tigers scored in five different innings, the second, third, fifth, seventh, and eighth.
  • The Tigers put up seven runs.
  • Max struck out 10 and walked only one.
  • Miggy had three RBIs.
  • Castellanos and Holaday had two hits.
  • Rajai Davis had three hits and two RBIs.
  • Joe Nathan earned his 4th save without surrendering a run.

The Bad:

  • Joba got roughed up today. He allowed two earned runs on three hits in one inning of work.

The Ugly:

  • Nothing today.

The Tigers go to Target Field for a weekend series with the Twins.  Freeway Rick Porcello is on the mound in Minnesota tomorrow.

 

 

Tigers Finally Beat Halos…

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with a little help from an old friend.

In the bottom of the third, Miggy lead off with a routine fly ball to right field.  Former Tiger, Brennan “B Squared Money” Boesch, dropped the ball.  Miggy eventually came around to score what proved to be the winning run.

The bigger story of course, is for the first time in 11 games, the Tigers were able to defeat the Angels, 5-2.

After surrendering a lead off home run, Max Scherzer was “smokin’ balls”.  He pitched seven complete, walked two and struck out nine.

The Good:

  • Max Scherzer had a nice outing and the Tigers needed it.
  • Joba Chamberlain was good again pitching a clean 8th inning and striking out two.
  • Nick Castellanos hit his second home run of the year to put the Tigers in the lead 2-1.
  • Victor and AJax each had two hits

The Bad:

  • I’m beginning to worry about Castellanos at third.  He bobbled a ground ball that was hit right to him.  He got the guy at first but should have been able to turn a double play.
  • Joe Nathan, although getting the save, gave up a homer to Albert Pujols.

The Ugly:

  • Brennan Boesch was not good.  I’m glad he’s with the Angels.  🙂

It would be nice to take the series tomorrow.  We need a big game from Freeway Rick.

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