Joba Chamberlain

Tigers win ugly, beat Tribe 7-5

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This was another ugly game.  There was a combined five errors by both teams.  The Tigers committed 3.

Justin Verlander lasted only five innings, walking four, fanning seven while allowing 3 runs, ALL UNEARNED.

The Good:

  • A win is a win.
  • Ian Kinsler continues his torrid month of April. He was 2-5 with a homer, four RBIs and a stolen base.
  • Joba and Joe Nathan were good out of the bullpen.
  • Miggy and Rajai Davis had two hits

The Bad:

  • The Amazing Al allowed a run in 2/3 of an inning pitched
  • Ian Krol surrendered a home run

The Ugly:

  • The Tigers made three errors and allowed three unearned runs.  They are living dangerously.

The Angels are in town tomorrow.  When’s the last time the Tigers beat the Angels?  Anybody know?

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

Tigers fall to Tribe 3-2

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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

Not Good! Tigers Fall to Padres 5-1, lose series

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The supposedly light hitting Padres got to Max for four earned and beat the Tigers 5-1 this afternoon.

Despite striking out 10, Scherzer only lasted five innings then turned it over to the bullpen.

Max didn’t get much help from the offense either.

The Good:

  • Max struck out 10
  • Phil Coke pitched a clean, 1-2-3 sixth inning.
  • Rajai Davis had two more hits.
  • The Amazing Al struck out Chris Denorfia, the only batter he faced, to end the 7th.
  • Joba Chamberlain pitched a scoreless 8th striking out 2.

The Bad:

  • Miggy was 0-4
  • Ajax was 0-3 with three strikeouts
  • The Tigers could only push across one run

The Ugly:

  • Miggy grounded into a double play in the 8th after Torii Hunter lead of with a walk.
  • Miggy is struggling, big time
  • The Tigers lost the series and finished the road trip 2-3.

The Tigers come home this week to meet the Tribe and the Angels.  I hope they can turn around their struggles against the Angels.  They need a big home stand.

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

 

Thank You Victor!

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Victor hit a solo shot in the 10th to bail out Tigers closer, Joe Nathan, and give the Tigers a split of the two game series with the Dodgers, 7-6.

After blowing his second save in a Tigers uniform, Tigers closer Joe Nathan, picked up a bat and headed to the on deck circle in the top of the 10th.  As he was heading up the stairs of the dugout he had a short conversation with Tigers skipper Brad Ausmus.

Ausmus: What are you doing?
Nathan: Getting ready to hit.
Ausmus: Sit down.  You’ve done enough.

Early on, I was afraid Ausmus was going to let Anibal go too long so he could qualify for the win. I thought he should have come out after Crawford’s double with two out in the 5th. But, Sanchez was able to get out of it.  He was shaky at first, throwing 63 pitches in the first two innings, but settled down to retire nine in a row before Crawford’s aforementioned double.

Ausmus probably wanted to save Smyly, who was warming up, for the Dodgers left handers coming up.  Whatever the case, it worked out, although Sanchez didn’t get the win.

Thanks Joe!

Despite Nathan’s heroics, there was a lot to like in this game, not the least of which was Victor’s game winning solo shot in the 10th.

The Good:

  • The Tigers manufactured a run with steals in the first.
  • Sanchez had a nice, unexpected double in the second.
  • Dee Gordon’s costly error to extended the second inning.
  • The Dodgers squeeze play in 2nd with a 3-2 count on Beckett, while not good for for the Tigers, was still a pretty sweet play.
  • Nick Castellanos hit a three run shot in the third, his first MLB homer.
  • The Tigers stole three bases.
  • Ajax had a big sac fly in the 7th to increase the Tigers lead to 6-3.
  • Tyler Collins got is first MLB hit in the 8th and added his second in the 10th.
  • Drew Smyly and Ian Krol were smokin’ balls out of the pen. Smyly pitched three complete, allowing only one hit in relief of Sanchez.   Krol came on to relieve Joba in the 10th and struck out Adrian Gonzalez and Andre Eithier.
  • The Amazing Al came into relieve Krol and got the final out.

The Bad:

  • Anibal Sanchez was shaky in the first two innings throwing 63 pitches.
  • The Tigers bounced into three double plays.
  • Joe Nathan.
  • Joe Nathan got the win.

The Ugly:

  • Joe Nathan blew another save by giving up three runs in the 9th.  I don’t have the words.  He was horrible.

Quietly, Ian Kinsler seems to be a nice addition to the Tigers.  Whether it is hitting, fielding or running, he seems to do something good to help the Tigers win.  However, the best part about the Kinsler acquisition is that Prince in not in a Tigers uniform anymore.

Trivia: The Dodgers have now played longer in LA than they did in Brooklyn. (H/T Shannon Hogan)

Tigers fall to Dodgers 3-2 in 10

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Max pitched well.  He got through seven innings, surrendering only two runs but seemed to pitch out of trouble all night, evidenced by the eight hits he surrendered.

Unfortunately, lead off walks and wasted opportunities were the Tigers undoing.

The Good:

  • A Squared Money picked off Crawford in the first
  • Victor came up big with a two out RBI in the 9th to tie the game after DK and Miggy failed to advance Kinsler after his lead off double
  • Joba struck out the side in the 9th
  • Nice steal by Davis in the first
  • Ajax homer in second
  • Romine, Jackson, Kinsler and Victor all flashed leather

The Bad:

  • Hunter couldn’t get the run in from third with one out in the first
  • Even though he got a hit, and swiped second to lead off the game, I didn’t like Rajai Davis swinging on 3-0,  especially to lead off the game

The Ugly:

  • Miggy hit three of the softest ground balls I’ve ever seen off of his bat and struck out in the 9th with the tying run on second.
  • Jackson’s throw to the plate in the 7th that Kemp scored on was an abomination.
  • Kelly grounded softly to third in the 9th with Kinsler on second after a lead off double.  Horrible!
  • Phil Coke gave up the game winning hit.  Although, in a mild defense, he inherited a lead off walk from Joba.

Back at it tomorrow for the last game of a short, two game, series with the Dodgers.

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

Tigers 10 Orioles 4

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It was nice to see the Tigers offense explode for 10 runs.  I just hope this isn’t the continuation of a familiar pattern, 10 runs one game, then nothing for the next few.

The Good:

  • The Tigers moved to 3-0.
  • The Mighty Miggy went 4-5 including his 2,000th hit, a two run bomb in the 8th.
  • Drew Smyly came in to relieve Anibal Sanichez after the rain delay.  He pitched 3 innings, struck out 3, walked 1 and didn’t allow a run.
  • Nice defensive play by Andrew Romine in the 6th.

The Bad:

  • Joba Chamberlain.  WTF?

The Ugly:

  • The weather was horrible.  I hate cold, rainy, days.
  • Romine got charged with an error in the 5th.  From all the angels I saw, it looked like he recorded the out at second and dropped the ball on the transfer.  What made this ugly is that the umpires reviewed the play and upheld the call on the field.  My only response is WTF?

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

 

 

 

Rangers Stop Scherzer’s Winning Streak

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The Rangers ended Max Scherzer’s 13 game winning streak by handing the Tiger righty his first loss of the season.  Max went 6 innings allowed 4 earned, struck out 6 and walked 2.

It was another lack luster game on this home stand, similar to game 1 of the White Sox series.  The offense didn’t threaten much as Ranger lefty Derek Holland had his back foot slider in full motion tonight.  Holland kept the Tiger hitters off balance all night.

Holland did walk 5 and the Tigers had their chances but this game was really decided in the bottom of the 4th.  The Tigers were trailing 3-0 coming to bat in the 4th. Peralta led off with a single and stole second.  Tui walked which brought Pena to the plate with 2 on and nobody out.  This was not a good time for one of the worst at bats I’ve seen him have.  As usual, Leyland didn’t have Pena bunting but Pena didn’t even look like he was trying to move the runners up.  He swung at the first pitch from Holland, a 92 MPH sinker, and grounded into a 6-4-3 double play.

I’m not even going to bitch about Leyland not having Pena bunt.  Pena is a professional hitter.  He has to know that at the very least he needs to move the runners over even if is not a true sacrifice.  Nope, he pounds the first pitch he sees into the ground for a rally killing 6-4-3.

There were a few bright spots.  First, rookie second baseman, Hernan Perez, followed Pena’s double play with a single driving in the Tiger’s only run and his first MLB RBI.

The second bright spot was Phil Coke.  He came in to replace Luke Putkonen in the 7th and got A. J. Pierzynski to ground into an inning ending double play.  I was happy for Coke.  He’s been struggling, and it’s nice to see him have a little success that hopefully he can build on for the second half.

Other than that, there wasn’t much to like about tonight’s game.  Alburquerque pitched the 9th and was horrible.  It looks like he’s doing all he can to get back to Toledo.

JV is on the hill for the series and first half finally tomorrow.  I think it is very important to win the game tomorrow.  A win would give them a series win and even their record at 3-3 on this current home stand.  Losing two series in a row, at home, heading into the break, will leave the first half on a down note.  The Tigers really need JV to have a good start and we need better offense than we got tonight.

This team is so irritating.

On another note, I was watching part of the Yankee game before the Tiger game.  The announcers were talking about how Joba Chamberlain is a highly prized commodity that a lot of team are interested in.  Really?  I wonder what teams are interested in Joba?  Are the Tigers one of them?  Joba has a 5.24 era this season.  I guess, if you look at his career stats, they’re not bad.  He has a career 3.81 era and 2.57 K/BB ratio but I wouldn’t be willing to give up top prospects for him.  He’s not going to start.  He’s a power arm coming out of the bullpen who has occasional control problems.  I guess he’s probably better than most of the guys in Tiger bullpen.  But what would the Tigers have to give for him and how much would then have to pay him?  Any thoughts?

Did I mention how irritating the Tigers are?

Oh, Sark, I’ve been thinking about what you said about signing Sanchez.  The more I think about it.  The more I agree with you.

Did I mention how irritated I am right now?

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