Jose Miguel Cabrera

Tigers 3 A’s 0

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The Tigers are moving on to the ALCS starting in Boston on Saturday night.

The game five win over the A’s was delivered by Justin Verlander who was the JV vintage 2011/2012.

He was, to steal another line, this time from The Game, By Neil Strauss, “smokin balls!”.  He was almost un-hittable.  He pitched 8 complete, threw 111 pitches, struck out 10 and walked one.  In fact, he had a perfect game before walking Reddick in the 6th, and a no hitter that was broken up by a Cespedes single in the 7th.

Miggy provided most of the offense with a two run shot in fourth.

At first I was livid that Jim Leyland didn’t send JV out for the 9th.  But in a post game interview Verlander said that he told Leyland he was running on fumes.

In came Benoit for the 9th.  After getting the first two hitters, Joaquin put the tying runners on base, but got Seth Smith to hit a fly ball to Hunter to end the game.

Benoit seems to be continuing the tradition set by previous Tigers’ closers, Todd Jones and Jose Valverde, he makes it interesting but gets the job done most of the time.  Joaquin scares me but I hope he can get it done.

I could bitch about the offense like I always do but there’s nothing more to say.  They had plenty of chances to blow this game wide open but couldn’t get the big hit.  Not much new here.

That being said, Victor Martinez and Jhonny Peralta deserve credit for their offense.  Martinez hit .450 and Peralta .417.  Nobody else in the lineup is close to .300.

Austin Jacskon has become a problem at the worst time.  He has been HORRIBLE to put it mildly.  He struck out 3 more times today.  I think that makes 12 times this series.  It’s hard to generate offense when your lead hitter isn’t even making contact.  But at this point, I’m not sure if there is anything to do except hope.

I’m hoping for the best in Boston but I’m done with predictions.  I’m just enjoying (sort of) the ride.  I hope it ends with a World Series Championship!

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

Tigers 8 A’s 6

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Finally, the bats came to life and bailed out the pitching staff which, for the second straight game, was less than stellar.

Doug Fister put in a quality start but I thought it was going to take something spectacular to win this game.

The offense continued its ineptitude through four innings.  However, in the bottom of the 5th and trailing 3-0, the Tigers bats showed signs of life and tied it up on a three run homer from Jhonny Peralta.

After the 5th, the Tigers bats did something they haven’t done in a long time, score in another inning.  In fact the Tigers continued to score with two in the 7tth and three more in the 8th,.  And they needed them.

Max Scherzer relieved Fister in the 7th and got the win.  Max has to get a lot of credit for pitching out of a bases loaded, no out, jam in the 8th to preserve a one run Tiger lead but the jam was his own making.  He walked the lead-off man in the 8th, a no-no in any situation, but even a bigger problem late in an elimination game.

Peralta and Martinez each had big home runs but the biggest hits came from Austin Jackson and Omar Infante.

Jackson, who is in one of the worst funks I’ve ever seen big league hitter in, came through with a single in the 7th to drive in a run and give the Tigers a 5-4 lead.  Prior to his single, Jackson had struck out three more times making it 9 Ks in his last 10 at bats.  Jackson didn’t hit a rocket but it was a much needed hit both personally and for the Tigers as a team.

The Tigers scored their 6th run on a wild pitch in the 8th then Omar delivered a two run double extending the Tigers lead to 8-4.

Joaquin Benoit came in to pitch the 9th and didn’t have his A game.  He made it interesting.  He allowed two runs and stranded the tying runs on base.

I’m a little worried about Joaquin.

I know Miggy is hurt but I’m disappointed in his at bat to lead off the bottom of the 8th.  Miggy swung at a 3-0 pitch and grounded out to third.  I know he can’t run but I was hoping he’d take a pitch or two to see if he could get a free pass.  With the way the Tigers offense has been struggling they can use all of the base runners they can get.

There were a few substitutions that worried me.  In the bottom of the 7th Peralta doubled but was pinch run for by Andy Dirks.  In bottom of the 8th Victor singled and went to second when Andy Dirks walked.  Hernan Perez then pinch ran for Victor.  At this point the Tigers were only up 5-4 and with the substitutions, their two hottest hitters would not bat again if the game went to extra innings.

The moves ended up working out OK.  Perez scored the 6th run on a wild pitch and it is doubtful if Victor would have scored in that situation.

In any case, everything worked out today and game five is Thursday with JV on the mound.  I’m done with predictions, I’ll just have to wait and see.

It’s still “F*** or walk”.

I’m hoping for the best.

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

Tigers 1 Twins 0

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Max Scherzer got his 21st win of the season and the Tigers clinched the Central Division for the 3rd straight season.

I’m not excited.  I’m not excited about a team that has won 93 games.  I can’t get the frustrated flailing of an inconsistent offense out of my mind.

I’m glad they won but for me it is World Series Champion or bust.  The Tigers have won only one World Series in my lifetime, in 1984.  It has been 29 years.  I’ve been a season ticket holder for 8 years.  I’m tired of waiting but I feel like this team is the same as last year’s team.  Similar to the 2012 Tigers, the 2013 edition, just can’t score on a consistent basis and asks way too much the pitching staff.

The Tigers managed only 8 runs in this 3 game series with the Twins and managed to win 2.  This is a tribute to excellent starting pitching and enough arms out of the pen to pick up a terrible offense.

Miggy looks horrible.  He’s had only 2 extra base hits since August 26th and took his second straight ohfer.  I think the Tigers are going to pay for not putting him on the 15 day DL at the end of August.  I hope I’m wrong.

This was an odd game for Max.  He pitched 7 innings, allowed only 2 hits, struck out 10 but walked 6.  Max struggled with his command all game long but still managed to shut out the Twins.

Max Scherzer should win the American League Cy Young Award.  The object of the game is to win and Max has done that better than anybody else in the league.  Other pitchers should get consideration but 21 wins is 21 wins and Scherzer should take home the hardware.

At times this year I’ve been hard on Jimmy Leyland but I think he’s done the best with what he has.  I don’t think there is anything he can do about the offense.  These guys are supposed to hit and he can’t do that for them.

I’m excited to see Peralta in left field.

I’m excited for the playoffs to start.

I hope the Tigers can pull it off.  They will probably go as far as their starting pitching takes them

It’s on to Miami and then probably off to Oakland.

Hopefully, like Victor Martinez earlier in the year, the offense will prove me wrong.

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

Tigers 4 Twins 2

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Whew!  Fister and the pen got it done reducing the Tigers’ magic number to 1.

The Tigers always seem to make it interesting.

Despite scoring 4 runs the offense was pathetic again.  They scored all their runs in the 4th inning but missed several chances to blow this game wide open and take some pressure off the pitching staff.  The biggest blown opportunity was in the second inning when the Tigers loaded the bases with nobody out and couldn’t push across a single run.

Cabrera left 4 runners on base and took an 0-4.  Fielder was 1-4 and left 3 on base.  Matt Tuiasosopo and Alex Avila each took ohfers and stranded 3 runners a piece.  The bright spot on offense was Austin Jackson.  AJax has been struggling but went 3-5 and drove in the winning runs with a two run big-bingo to put the Tigers up 4-1.

Fister was good, the bullpen was better.  Fistet pitched 6.1, allowed 8 hits, one run, struck out 7 and walked one.

Smyly and The Amazing Al got the final two outs in the 7th stranding Twins at first and second.

Conspicuously, Bruce Rondon was called upon to pitch the 8th and was very impressive striking out the side.  Hmmm does anybody else find it interesting that Veras was brought in to pitch the 8th?  Maybe the Puppet Master isn’t getting the warm and fuzzies from Veras either.

The Tigers are getting nothing offensively from left field.  If they can clinch tomorrow perhaps they should start Jhonny Peralta all three game is left in Miami and see what they’ve got.  Offensively, it is hard to imagine doing any worse than the platoon of Dirks, Tui, and DK.  (Hat Tip Rossie for this suggestion).

I’ll say this one more time, WTF is up with this offense?

Scherzer goes for number 21 and the division tomorrow.

Get it done!

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

Tigers 7 White Sox 6

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WOW!  Do I feel like an ass for leaving this game in the top of the 9th.

For the first 8.5 innings, I saw exactly what I expected.  After scoring 12 runs last night and facing who I believe to be the best pitcher in the American League, Chris Sale, the Tigers offense did next to nothing.

Chris Sale was dealing.  Except for Miggy, who had two hits against him, the rest of the lineup was completely and thoroughly dominated.

On the Tigers side of the ledger, Fredrick Alfred Porcello was fantastic.  For 6 and 2/3, Ricky was almost as good as Chris Sale.  Almost as good.  This was a match-up between an Ace and an Ace in waiting.  Ricky allowed only 6 hits and 2 runs while walked nobody and striking out 9.

I’m not sure what has gotten into him but Ricky has been getting a lot of swings and misses lately.  He struck out 10 in his previous start and 9 more today.  If Ricky and Iggy can stay healthy, Porcello will make a bid to win 20 games next year with an ERA well under 4, perhaps 3.50.

Tui was flashin leather tonight.   Jose Veras came in to relieve Ricky.  With two outs and the left handed hitting, White Sox catcher, Bryan Anderson at the plate.  The defense was shaded towards right.  Anderson hit a wounded quail to shallow left field and Tui made a fabulous diving catch to end the inning and save a run.

What can I say about Good Ole Dirksy?  He pinch hit for Tui in the bottom of the 9th with two on and nobody out and delivered a 3 run shot to pull the Tigers to within one run, 6-5.  Good for Andy.  It would be great if got to his 2012 form in time for the playoffs.

After Dirksy’s blast Infante walked bringing Santiago to the plate.  Ramon bunted Infante over to second.  I’m not sure how I feel about this play.  Generally, I don’t like bunting a guy from first to second.  In this case I didn’t particularly care for giving the White Sox pitcher an out when he was having trouble finding the plate.  Couple that with the Tigers’ bats perking up and nobody out and my initial reaction to the sacrifice was revulsion.  Looking back on it, however, it was the bottom of the 9th.  The Tigers were trailing by only a single run and it did get the tying run into scoring position.  It worked out this time but I’m still not sure if I would do it again should the occasion arise in the future.

Other than his inability to run, Miggy looked like his old self at the plate today.  He touched Sale for two hard hit singles and singled in the Tigers’ first run in the 9th.  He left the game with groin tightness and is listed as day to day.  It might be time to give him a day off.

Austin Jackson is struggling.  He was 0-5 with a walk tonight.  He had two hits last night, going 2-6, but he was 0-5 in the final game against the Mariners.  That makes him 2-16 in the last three games.  He needs to get on base so Miggy and Prince have a chance to drive in some runs.  That being said, AJax is a streaky hitter so hopefully he’ll go on a hot streak in time for the postseason.

The Amazing Al pitched well tonight.  He pitched two scoreless innings, the 11th and 12th, and got the win.  He allowed one hit, one walk, and struck out two.

Paul Konerko flashed some leather tonight as well.  He made a game saving, temporarily at least, backhanded pick in the 12th, on a throw in the dirt from third baseman Conor Gillaspie

The magic number is 2.

Sanchez is on the mound tomorrow.

It would be nice if the Astros could help the Tigers out tomorrow but I’m not counting on it.

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

Tigers 12 Indians 5

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The Tigers beat up on the White Sox and their pitching tonight and got Max Scherzer his 20th win of the season.

They jumped on White Sox starter, Dylan Axelrod, early and often.  The Tigers put 7 runs on him and got the bullpen for five more.

Scherzer put in a quality start going 6 complete, allowing 6 hits and 3 runs, while walking 1 and striking out 3.

The Puppet Master had Good Ole Dirksy in left field tonight and he paid dividends right away with a two run single in the first to give the Tigers an early two run lead.  Dirks would finish the game 3 for 4 raising his batting average to .261.

A few areas of mild concern are Miggy and Jose Alvarez.  Miggy was 1-5 tonight and left 6 runners on base.  Jose Alvarez pitched one inning and allowed 3 hits and two earned runs.  I say mild concern but I’m a little more than mildly concerned about Miggy.  I know he’s still hitting .346 but his batting average has been slowly dropping this month and he’s been struggling to drive in runs.  I hope it is just a little slump but I can’t help worrying about his nagging injuries.  It is going to be hard to make long playoff run with Miggy struggling to drive in runs.

The good news is that the Tigers won, Max got his 20th, and the magic number is down to 3.  Hopefully, they can clinch this weekend.

I hope the Tigers saved some runs for tomorrow because they’re going to need all they can get.  They’ll  face White Sox ace, and Cy Young contender, Chris Sale.

I’m looking for a big game from Ricky tomorrow.

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

Tigers 4 Mariners 2

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Behind a nice pitching performance from Rick Porcello, the Tigers managed to squeak out just enough runs to beat the lowly Seattle Mariners tonight at Comerica Park.

Ricky picked up his 13th win of the season.  He pitched 6 solid innings allowing 1 earned run on five hits.  He struck out 10 and walked 2 on 105 pitches.

The offense was pretty much non existent until the 6th inning.  Up until that time they had scored only 1 run in the first inning on a wild pitch.  In fact, it looked like Mariners’ starter, Joe Saunders, might got the distance.  He began the bottom of the sixth having only thrown 72 pitches.  In the 6th the Tigers managed to score 2 runs on a walk and three singles.

Besides being frustrating to watch the Tigers offense isn’t doing the pitching any favors.  Every pitch becomes a pressure pitch when the offense isn’t giving you any run support.  As a fan, I can feel it.  Sometimes I feel like if the pitching surrenders 1 or 2 runs the game is lost.  This is a lot to ask from any staff and completely unacceptable considering what the Tigers have invested on offense.

To put it another way, is just impossible to think of a way this team can go the distance with this offense.

Miggy looks beaten up and I think the window to address the problem has closed.  He can’t run period and he can barely swing.  In the bottom of the sixth he was at second base with Martinez batting.  Victor hit a ground ball down the right field line which should have scored a bad runner easily.  Miggy did score but if the Seattle right fielder, Abraham Almonte, hadn’t bobbled the ball three times he definitely would have had a play on Cabrera at the plate.  In the bottom of the seventh, Miggy hit a ball to right field that that we’ve seen leave the yard all season long.  I can’t help but think that his injuries are stifling his power.  Unfortunately, the Tigers are backed into a corner.  I don’t know if they have enough time to sit him and hope he gets healthy, and has his timing, by the time the playoffs start.

This I do know, the Tigers can’t win with this offense.  It is simply too much to ask the pitchers to put up zeroes night in and night out.  I guess we’ll have to wait and see.  I hope I’m wrong.

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

Tigers 1 White Sox 0

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Anibal Sanchez continues to make his case for this year’s AL Cy Young award.  He improved his record to 14-7 and lowered his league leading ERA to 2.50.  Anibal was masterful tonight in spite of an asinine strike zone from home plate umpire Larry Hanover.

Even with a strike zone that nobody could figure out, Sanchez managed to pitch 7 and 1/3 without allowing any runs.  He gave up only 5 hits, walked 4 and struck out 10.

A few weeks ago I thought Max Scherzer had the Cy Young locked up but Anibal is right on his heels along with Yu Darvish of the Rangers and Chris Sale of the White Sox.

The offense was pathetic tonight which is pretty much what I expected.  After scoring 9 runs last night. the Tigers managed only 1 run on 10 hits.  They were 1 for 11 with men in scoring position.

I’m not sure what the issue is but Miguel Cabrera doesn’t not look good at all.  I’m not sure if he just needs to get his timing back or if his injuries are plaguing him much more than we are lead to believe.  However, if continues hitting the way he did on this road trip, the Tigers are in trouble.

Veras, Smyly and Benoit were aces coming out of the bull pen to preserve the 1-0 win for Sanchez.

Nick Castellanos was 1-4 tonight.  I thought his most impressive at bat came in the first inning.  After falling behind 1-2 he worked the count back to even.  He then fouled off three pitches then took ball three to move the count to full.  He ended up striking out but he did make Jose Quintana throw him 9 pitches.

The Tigers lead in the central is back up to 6.5 games courtesy of the Indians loss to the Royals earlier in the day.

This was a nice win.  After losing the opening game, and third in a row, they managed to win the final two and take the series.

The Royals come to Comerica Park this weekend.  Friday’s game features Justin Verlander against Bruce Chen.  Let’s hope it goes better than the last time these two faced each other.

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

Royals 4 Tigers 3

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It would have been nice to save some hits and runs from yesterday to use today but I guess that’s not the way it works.  After a 16 run, 26 hit attack last night the Tigers could manage only 3 runs on 5 hits tonight.  I know, you can’t expect 26 hits every game but I was hoping the Tigers’ offense would go on a roll similar to roll the Red Sox have been on since tagging the Tigers with 20 runs on Wednesday.

The Tigers had chances but couldn’t get a big hit from someone not named Miguel Cabrera.  With two out in the 5th and the bases loaded Miggy walked to drive in the tying run.  This brought Prince to the plate with a chance to do major two out damage but popped out to third to end the inning.

JV was disappointing again tonight.  Whatever his issues are I have lost all hope of getting them solved this season.  It has gotten hard to watch him pitch.  Even in games where his final line doesn’t look too bad it seems like every inning is a struggle.  His final line tonight was 7 innings, 8 hits, 4 earned, 7 strikeouts, 1 walk and 114 pitches thrown.  The 114 gives him an average of 16.3 pitches per inning.  Of his seven innings pitched he got the Royals 1-2-3 only twice, in the 2nd and 7th.  Maybe I’ve just gotten spoiled with Verlander’s last few seasons but something looks off with him.

One good takeaway from tonight’s game is that the Tigers finally threw out a base runner.  In the bottom of the first Brayan Pena threw out Emilio Bonifacio trying to steal second.  I believe this is the first base runner the Tigers have thrown out in the last 26 attempts not counting last night’s pick off.

The Tigers have Fister on the mound tomorrow against Tigers’ nemesis Bruce Chen.  The Tigers need a win tomorrow to win this three game series and tie the season series with the Royals.

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

A’s 8 Tigers 6

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The bottom line is that the Tigers didn’t pitch well enough to win tonight.  Anibal Sanchez and the bull pen had a rough outing.

That being said, the Tigers had plenty of chances to even the score or take the lead.  They left the bases loaded in both the seventh and eight innings.

As the Tigers head down the stretch, Prince Fielder needs to start coming through or Cabrera will never get a chance to hit in crucial situations.  In the 7th inning, with two out, the A’s walked Miggy to load the bases preferring to pitch to Prince.  Fielder flew out deep to center field to end the inning.

Early in the season, Prince seemed to respond when a team walked Miggy to pitch to him, but he hasn’t lately.

On yesterday’s post, in the comments section, Sark asked, “Could you imagine this team with a good JV?”  I’d like to add to that, how good would the Tigers be if both JV and Fielder were performing?

I’m getting afraid that the team is counting too much on Miggy to get it done every night.  He just can’t come through in every situation, in every game.  That’s why it was so nice see Dirksy get the big hit in yesterday’s game.

Perhaps it’s time to move Fielder down to the 5 spot and Victor up to clean up?

The loss tonight makes the Tigers 1-3 in their last 4 home games.

Besides Fielder not coming through, it was disappointing to see the pitching give the lead back up twice, immediately after the Tigers came back to tie it.  But, really, we can’t complain too much about the pitching.

Torii Hunter left the bases loaded in the 8th when he struck out on 3 pitches.  Not the at bat the Tigers were looking for in that situation.

Coco Crisp was flashin leather tonight.  He robbed Tui of an extra base hit, thwarting a rally in the 8th, after Victor lead off with a solo homer.

Verlander is on the mound tomorrow and I’m not sure what to expect.  Just when I think he’s regaining his form, he goes out and takes a dump.

The Tigers need at least a split of this 4 game series with the A’s.

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