Jose Miguel Cabrera

Tigers 7 White Sox 1

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JV lasted seven innings and gave up only one run. He was in trouble early in the game but managed to escape relatively unscathed.

I can’t complain about the offense. They scored seven runs and did it with no help from Miggy. Miggy was 0-5 and his batting average is down to .301. Isn’t it time to give him some time off? I hate to say it, but he’s not really doing anything to help the team win, so put him on the 15 day DL and see if he can get healthier. As far as I’m concerned, the Tigers don’t have much to lose.

For what it’s worth, I wonder if JV can get his ERA under four by the end of the year. It sits at 4.68 right now. He’ll need another September like he had last year. I’m not sure if he still has it in him but we’ll see.

The Royals lost to the Indians. The Tigers are only a half game out.

Tigers 8 Twins 6

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The Tigers survived a bad start from Verlander, a bad game from Miggy, and Joe Nathan to get a badly needed win. I’m not saying this is a turning point but it’s nice to not have to write about another loss.

Even though Miggy was bad, enough of the other guys stepped up to put eight runs on the board.

The key play in this game came in the top of the sixth when Eugenio Saurez got a one out hit that drove in the tying and go-ahead runs. It is the kind of hit, although with only one out, that this team has failed to come up with.

Torri, Victor, J.D, Costellanos, Suarez and Bryan Holaday also had good nights offensively. When six of the players in the lineup have good nights, they can overcome a night where Miggy was slightly better than horrible.

When Miggy got his hit and RBI in the eighth, he looked like he was limping when he got to first base. I think he’s hurt a lot worse than I know or even suspected. If he is, I tip my hat for playing everyday.

I’m not sure what to make of JV. His velocity seemed pretty good but I’m not sure about his pitch selection. It looked like when he shook Holaday off, he paid for it.

Oh, well, I’ll take the W.

Tigers 6 Rays 0

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They call him Freeway Ricky and he was smokin balls tonight.

Well, actually, I’m the only one that calls him Freeway Ricky but he did smoke balls tonight. Porcello threw the fourth complete game of his career and his third complete game shutout this season. He allowed only three base runners and at one point retired 20 straight. The most impressive stat, however, is that Freeway Ricky needed only 104 pitches to get the job done.

On the offensive side, Victor drove in five of the six Tigers runs, four on a grand slam in the seventh. He looked terrible yesterday but Vmart looked good tonight.

Ok, Miggy is hurt and he has almost no power. That’s fine. I don’t expect him to find his power this year and perhaps he’ll never have the kind of power we saw from him in the past. But the thing that was driving me crazy about him was the strike outs and lack of walks. It looks like he’s figured the walk part out. There is a lot to be said for getting on base.

Finally, this was the best I’ve seen the bullpen pitch since Ricky’s last complete game. If they keep it up the biggest hole in the SS Tigers has been plugged.

One more thing, up yours Nathan you shit bird!

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Mariners 7 Tigers 2

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Freeway Ricky was bad.

The offense was bad.

The Tigers are now 1.5 games behind the Royals

They only good thing from this game is that Miggy had two doubles and a walk.

I just hope they don’t get swept. I thought today was a must win game. I don’t like their chances tomorrow or Sunday.

One more thing, up yours Nathan you shit bird!

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

Pirates 4 Tigers 2

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For the seventh time in nine road games the Tigers lost.

I feel like an idiot for tuning in every game and hoping for a different outcome.

The Tigers aren’t doing anything well. Perhaps Brad Ausmus should consider playing his best defensive team and seeing what happens. It’s not like the offense can get much worse.

By playing defense first maybe they can help the struggling bullpen. The Tigers can’t afford to give anybody extra outs. Their pitching and offense can’t overcome the defensive miscues that plague this team on a regular basis.

Victor is going to have to sit in NL parks. Ever since his injury he hasn’t been doing much anyway and Cabrera can’t play third. Romine has to play short. I’m not sure what to do at third, maybe DK? Actually, I’m not sure what to do with the outfield either. On queue, the minute I commented on how well J.D. Martinez was playing in the field, suddenly he can’t pick the ball up anymore. Torii is old, I don’t think Davis is much of a fielder and I’m pissed at Carrera.

What a mess.

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

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Tigers 5 Blue Jays 4

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FINALLY!  Somebody stepped up on offense and it happened to be three rookies. For eight more innings the Tigers offense continued to look horrible.

Miggy set the tone for ineptitude in the first inning when he popped out with Davis on third and one out.  Miggy looks horrible.  He lo0ks off balance and he’s swinging at pitches I’ve never seem him swing at before.

Fast forward to the ninth inning.  The Tigers trailed 4-2 with Casey Janssen in to close the game for the Jays. Janssen has converted 92% of  his save opportunities in the last two years. J.D. lead off with a double. After Avila grounded out Castellanos tied the game with a bomb to left field.  Eugenio Suarez followed with another home run and the Tigers had the lead 5-4.

The ninth inning was not a good one for Joe Nathan but he managed to wiggle out of a bases loaded jam and convert the save opportunity.

This is only one game but other players need to step up until Miggy and Victor get straightened out, if they can get straightened out.

Ian Kinsler deserves an honorable mention. He was 3-5 with two RBIs.

Note: I’m not sure if J.D. is a rookie but I consider him one.

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

Yankees 1 Tigers 0

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The offense is so miserable that it I can’t write about Ricky’s start.

This team doesn’t deserve to make the playoffs.  I’m still sticking to the post I made right before the Price acquisition, this team needs to be blown up, not just tweaked.  We’ve had to sit through the same shit for the last 3-4 years.  The offense scores 10 runs one game than hibernates for two weeks.

BA should have left Miggy on the bench.  Miggy contributed a very disappointing at-bat.  The same is true with Victor when he bounced into an inning ending double play

They make me sick.  The whole lot of them.

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

Tigers 4 Rockies 0

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There was a lot to like about this game and series.

  • The Tigers won three in a row and swept the series at home, a place they’ve struggled all year.
  • All three pitchers, Verlander, Porcello, and Sanchez had good outings.
  • The offense was good.
  • Sanchez made it through seven complete today and didn’t surrender a run.
  • Miggy and Vmart look like they are getting their power back.
  • Davis is looking good at leadoff.

Keep in mind, this series was a small sample, against a bad, depleted team but there really wasn’t much to complain about all weekend. I hope they can keep it up.

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

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Tigers 11 Rockies 5

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Freeway Ricky lasted eight innings, gave up two runs, struck out 10 and got his 13th win.

The key to tonight’s game was the first inning. It looked like a rare Kinsler error kind of made Ricky uncomfortable. He walked the next batter and had runners on first and second with two out. But the runner at second, Corey Dickerson, tried to steal third. Avila threw him out to end the inning. I was at the game. At the time, I had a bad feeling like this might be a short night for Porcello. Dickerson did him a favor.

After the second inning, when the Rockies scored two runs, Ricky had no trouble setting down a depleted Rockies lineup.

A few game notes:

  • Miggy hit a 455 foot home run in the bottom of the third. Perhaps his power is starting to come back?
  • After scoring 11 runs, I hope the Tigers offense doesn’t go into hibernation for the next two weeks.
  • The ninth inning was another disaster by the bullpen. I guess the hope is that the starting pitching will be good enough to get the Tigers into the playoffs. Once the playoffs begin, a current starter can go to the pen and become Sark’s fireman. I don’t know but this pen is an abomination.

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

Tigers 7 White Sox 2

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It’s nice to get a win after three horrible losses but pardon me if I’m not going to sing the praises of this six run outburst.

The Tigers jumped out to a big lead with six runs in the first. However, after the second inning, they made Noesi look like Nolan Ryan.

A note on Miggy: I know my complaining about him seems insane but here’s why I’m a little disappointed in him this year. The Tigers have a streaky offense. In previous years, the Tigers could count on Miggy to give them professional at-bats while surrounded by ineptitude. This hasn’t happened this year. It seems like when the team is going well Miggy is going well. When the offense is sucking Miggy is sucking.

Miggy’s season reminds me of Jeff Weaver circa 10 years ago. Jeff was a good pitcher but he wasn’t a stopper. He couldn’t be the guy that stopped a losing streak. Similarly, readers might remember Sark talking about needing a fireman out of the pen, someone that can come in and stop the bleeding. Miggy used to be the offensive fireman but not so much this year.

I guess I need to cut him some slack.

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

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