Jose Iglesias

Tigers 7 Orioles 3

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During his first two at-bats I thought J.D. Martinez was going into another funk. He was swinging at bad first pitches and immediately finding himself in 0-2 holes.   He changed that in his third at-bat by hitting his 26th home run.

J.D. also flashed some leather robbing Chris Davis of a home run with a a nice catch at the wall in right.  This is slowly becoming the J.D. Martinez show.

They got enough pitching from Anibal and the pen, although, Soria scares me, to piece this one together. It’s nice to start the “second half” off with a win.

Tigers 5 Mariners 4

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The Tigers won the series finale and took two out of three from the Mariners with a big 5-4 win this afternoon.

Anibal Sanchez didn’t pitch great, but well enough to give the bullpen a bit of break.  He lasted 6.1 innings, allowing four runs, three earned on five hits.  I guess it qualifies as a quality starts but his walks were high, five, and he continues to give up home runs. However, given the starts they got from Ryan and Simon and the way the offense is to click, this looked like a gym.

What is the story with Jose Iglesias wearing his sunglasses on his hat instead of over his eyes.  He made one error and almost made another one.  With the struggles the pitching staff is having the last thing they need is to have to throw extra pitches and get extra outs.  If it’s sunny enough to get your sunglasses out why not put them over your eyes?

Off to Minnesota.

Tigers 4 Indians 0

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With two on and one out in the bottom of the sixth inning of a scoreless game at Comerica Park, we saw something that we used to see fairly frequently, but haven’t seen much of this year.  Jose Miguel Cabrera beat the first pitch he saw from Indians pitcher Danny Salazar into an absolute conniption.  The ball went into the camera well that hovers above and behind the center field wall.  It had to travel at least 450 feet from home plate.

Miggy’s monster mash was huge for several reasons, not the least of which was that it came when the Tigers needed it most.  Up until that time they really hadn’t done much off of Salazar.  Second, it came in a night game and for whatever reason, he hasn’t been hitting well at night this year.  Third, he hit the first pitch of the at-bat.  He usually jumps on first pitches but not so much this season. I know it is one game and one at-bat but we haven’t seen a lot of vintage Miggy this year.

David Price pitched his second consecutive complete game shutout.  I was surprised when Dan Dickerson said this was only the third shutout of this career.  In any case, I believe our old friend Freeway Ricky had back to back complete game shutouts last year.

I realized something else today, I like when the Tigers turn double plays a lot better than when they hit into them. I believe the Tigers turned four to the Indians one this evening.

One last thing, Iggy, Kinsler and Miggy have been flashin leather and really look like a good double play combination.  Don’t shove it down my throat tomorrow guys.

Tigers 1 A’s 0

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Not exactly an offensive explosion but I’ll take the win.  David Price was smokin’ balls. So was the pen.  I’m not sure what to say about the offense that I haven’t said 50 times already this year.  They blow. I’m glad to see Kinsler got the day off and with Romine leading the way with two hits give him another one.

Iglesias is starting to worry me.  He is very fragile.  Even the slightest contact sends him to the bench. I guess it is what it is.

Brewers 3 Tigers 2

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They’re back!  After a brief hiatus, the two-run Tigers, returned to Comerica Park.  The Lobber was fine.  The bullpen was fine.  The bats were an abomination.  There is no excuse for offensive production, or lack there of, of this magnitude.  Victor needs to sit down for a month.  He can’t hit left handed.  He can’t run, although I thought he was safe at first.  I sound like a broken record but you can’t ask a pitching staff to hold other teams to two runs or less every night. Somebody has to step up and get a clutch, two-out, run producing, base hit, like Iggy had a few nights ago.

I’m as guilty of this as anyone, I’m always looking to Miggy, but it doesn’t look like anybody is going to pitch to him even if his numbers aren’t great in night games; not with Victor hitting .216.  J.D. seems to be coming out his funk but he’s not driving in a lot of runs and I’m not exactly sure what Castellanos is doing. The middle of this lineup looks bad.

Tigers 6 Royals 4

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The Tigers salvaged a split of the four game, weekend, series in Kansas City.  They were lead by Anibal Sanchez who turned in 7.1 impressive innings and earned his second win of the season.  The offense took a brief hiatus from their spring slumber and put six runs on the board and the bullpen made the early lead stand up.  The series ended a lot better than it started.

I think Ned Yost did the Tigers a favor by taking Salvador Perez out of the game when the Tigers had a big lead. Salvi destroys Tigers pitching and might have done some damage when the Royals started coming back.

Jose Iglesias left the game with stiffness in his groin. Let’s hope it is nothing serious.  Besides Miggy, he might be the last person this team can afford to lose.

Question: If you are on second base, with less than two outs, and the ball is hit to your right, are you supposed to:

A: Run to third
B: Run back to second
C: Get caught in between
D: None of the above

Tigers 8 Indians 6

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At the time,  I thought J.D. Martinez’s 5th inning at-bat was the the decision point of the game.  He came up with a big two out hit that drove in two runs extending the Tigers lead to 5-2 after Miggy had struck out.

I thought Miggy’s subsequent sixth inning, two-run homer further extending the Tigers lead to 7-2 was insignificant, window dressing.  For a brief, delusional, moment, I forgot what was lurking in the Tigers bullpen.  They would need the additional runs.

Kyle Lobstein started and gave the Tigers a quality start plus.  He gave up three runs in seven innings. Nesbitt came in for the the eighth and gave up two runs in one third of an inning but was bailed out by Blaine Hardy. Soria came in to close the ninth and was shaky.  He gave up a run and was bailed out on a spectacular, back to the infield, basket catch, in shallow left field by Jose “Iggy” Iglesias.  Iggy’s catch salvaged the game and the series.  The Indians were coming and there was nobody to put out the fire.

I’ll take it.

Tigers 2 White Sox 1

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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:

Tigers 2 Pirates 0

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After almost two times through the rotation, Shane Greene is the ace of the Tigers staff.  He dispatched the Pirates lineup with the precision and efficiency of a Swiss timepiece. I really wanted him to get a chance to complete the game but I sort of understand the move to bring Victor in.  Speaking of Victor, he doesn’t like right to me.  Anyway, Greene needed only 81 pitches to get through 8 complete, scoreless, innings, a virtual masterpiece, albeit unfinished.

J.D. Martinez, Ian Kinsler, and Jose Iglesias all flashed some leather today and the Tigers got a win in a place where they don’t get many.

The offense left 10 men on base but we can cut them some slack. They scored enough for the W.

It would be nice for a series win tomorrow.

I like 7-1.

Orioles 2 Tigers 1

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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