From 09-Aug-2013. The Mighty Miggy takes Mariano Rivera deep.
FYI: That was Miggy’s first hit off of Rivera.
“God I love baseball.” Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Jose Miguel Cabrera
Tigers take first two games against Royals
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
Twins 5 Tigers 3
The Twins were able to even up the series with a 5-3 over the Tigers today. Anibal Sanchez started but only lasted 2 2/3. He had to come out of the game because of a blister problem.
The bullpen was a nightmare, Miggy was disappointing, the Tigers lost and it wasn’t pretty.
The Good:
- The Tigers scored two early runs staking Sanchez to an early 2-0 lead.
The Bad:
- After the first inning the offense made Phil Hughes look like Greg Maddux.
The Ugly:
- Fours were wild for Jose Ortega, who was an abject nightmare. He “relieved” Sanchez and couldn’t find the plate. He allowed four earned runs in one and a third. He allowed four hits, walked four and and struck out one.
I’m actually not sure what to say about Phil Coke. His final line isn’t that bad. He pitched two and two thirds. He didn’t allow a run, struck out two, walked two, and gave up two hits. I guess twos were wild for Phil. Perhaps he was only half as bad as Ortega? I guess the problem with Coke’s pitching today is that he couldn’t strand any inherited runners. Like I said, I’m not sure what to say about Phil but he doesn’t past the eye test.
Miggy. It is hard to pick on the back to back MVP but I was horrified with his at bat in the eighth. He came up with bases loaded, one out, and the Tigers down by two. All the Tigers needed was one of his patented hits to right field. Instead, the suddenly pull happy Cabrera, hits a low, inside fastball, to third base. The Twins turned an easy double play and the inning was over. Again, I don’t have the words.
Let’s see what happens tomorrow.
“God I love baseball.” Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Tigers fans, we have a problem…
it’s called the bullpen. Although, to be fair, Freeway Ricky wasn’t much better.
The Tigers put up 10 runs and jumped out to a 10-1 lead but Tigers pitching and Twins resilience made this game more interesting than it needed to be.
The Good:
- The Tigers picked up their 12th win with a 10-6 victory over the Twins.
- Nick Castellanos had three RBIs, two hits, including a two run homer.
- Andrew Romine flashed some leather at shortstop today.
- Brian Dozier made an nice running, over the shoulder, basket catch in the top of the ninth and robbed Austin Jackson of a lead off hit.
The Bad:
- Ricky gave up four earned runs in five plus innings. He left in the sixth with two on and nobody out. Justin Miller came in and couldn’t preserve Ricky’s line. He gave up a single and a double to score the inherited runners.
- Joe Nathan had to come in for the ninth in a non-save situation.
The Ugly:
- While the bullpen only gave up one earned run, the Tigers needed five relief pitchers to close out the Twins.
On another note, while Miggy had two hits and an RBI, his ground out in the third was my favorite at bat. The score was 2-1 entering the third. Torii Hunter lead off with a double. Miggy got an inside fastball and was able to pull his hands in and ground out to second allowing Hunter to advance to third with one out. A week or so ago, he might have pulled that to short and Hunter would probably not have advanced. It’s early but the little things add up during the course of a 162 game season.
Sanchez goes tomorrow.
“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Tigers 8 White Sox 6
The Tigers bats, Miggy’s especially, came to life and put up eight runs. Thanks to Phil Coke, they needed seven of them to get past the White Sox 8-6.
JV was pretty good. He pitched seven complete. He allowed two earned runs on eight hits. He struck out seven and walked two.
The Good:
- The Tigers offense came to life.
- Miggy was 3-5 with three RBIs.
- Alex Avila was 3-4 and didn’t strike out.
- The Tigers didn’t make an error.
The Bad:
- JV needed 119 pitches to get through seven innings and his eight hits allowed are a little high.
- The bullpen gave up four runs.
The Ugly:
- The White Sox took Phil Coke behind the woodshed and beat him into a conniption. He lasted 2/3 of an inning and gave up three earned runs, two on a two run shot by Adam Dunn. This is really ugly considering Dunn in a lefty.
In the end, a win is a win, and I’m glad to have this one. I hope Miggy is back to being Miggy.
“God I love baseball.” Roy Hobbs | The Natural
White Sox 3 Tigers 1
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
Behind Feeway Rick, Tigers take series 2-1
This was a big win. Not only did the Tigers win the game but they won the series with the Angels, 2-1. Prior to yesterday’s game, the Tigers had dropped 10 in a row to the Angels.
The Tigers got seven strong innings from Ricky then turned it over to the pen. Ian Krol, the Amazing Al, and Joe Nathan finished out the game and series.
The Good:
- Freeway Rick
- The Bullpen
- Alex Avila threw out Howie Kendrick at second in the fourth inning.
The Bad:
- The offense was horrible. They managed only five hits and two runs and were aided by four Angels errors.
The Ugly:
- Alex Avila was 0-3 with two backwards Ks.
- Miggy was 0-3 with two backwards Ks
- The Tigers as a team left 18 runners on base.
Chisox come to town tomorrow.
“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Tigers Finally Beat Halos…
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
Tigers win ugly, beat Tribe 7-5
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
Not Good! Tigers Fall to Padres 5-1, lose series
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
Flashin' Leather 