Justin Verlander

A’s 1 Tigers 0

Crippy Baseball, Detroit Tigers , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The A’s tied the series tonight courtesy of a 1-0 win handing the Tigers their 13th shutout of the season.

There was nothing new to see here.  The Tigers got tremendous pitching and no offense.

I was listening to the post game show on the radio and Dan Dickerson said that the Tigers have scored in only 5 of their last 54 innings going back to the last week of the season.

Miguel Cabrera has carried this team for years.  Now he’s hurt and there is nobody there to pick him up.

Austin Jackson was embarrassing. He went 0-4 with 4 strikeouts.  He took fast balls down the middle and then swung at every other piece of garbage Sonny Gray threw to him.

Torii Hunter was 0-4 with 2 Ks.

Prince Fielder was 0-4.

In fact, the Tigers only managed 4 hits.  Cabrera had one, DK had 2 and Iggy had the other one.

Speaking of DK, he got the start in left tonight.  I wonder if Puppet Master, Jim Leyland, read last night’s game post. 🙂

The pitching left nothing to complain about.  The only thing I might have done differently would have been to bring Ricky in after the lead off hit by Cespedes in the 9th.  But really, how can I complain about a game where the pitching staff surrendered 1 run and lost.  Everything can be second guessed.

Monday is a 1:00 pm start at Comerica Park.  The Tigers will need a big start from Sanchez.  What’s new?

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

Say it ain’t so Kate…

Crippy Baseball , , , , , , ,

How could you Kate?  Born and raised in Michigan, former girlfriend of Justin Velander, and now donning a Braves uniform on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the brothers Upton.

The Uptons
Kate Upton, B.J. Upton, Justin Upton

This picture is courtesy of WithLeather.

When are JV and Emily Yuen getting back together?

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

 

Marlins 1 Tigers 0

Crippy Baseball, Dailies, Detroit Tigers ,

This was a fitting end to a frustrating offensive season. In game 162 the Tigers were no-hit by Marlins’ pitcher Henderson Alvarez.

Justin Velander looked very good today.  He pitched 6 complete, striking out 10, walking 1, allowing 3 hits and no runs.

Fister and Porcello pitched 1 solid inning each in relief.

The good news is that the Tigers pitching looks ready for a long post season run.  The bad news, I sound like a broken record, is the offense.

With today’s 0 run output, the Tigers have scored 3 runs in three games against the Marlins and 11 runs in six games on the final road trip.  11 runs in 6 games, less than 2 runs per game.  That’s not going to get it done.

Congratulations to Henderson Alvarez.

Let’s hope the Tigers can find some offense in the post season.

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

Twins 4 Tigers 3

Crippy Baseball, Dailies, Detroit Tigers , , , , , , , ,

If you haven’t been worried about Jose Veras now might be a good time to begin.

With the Tigers leading 3-0 going to the bottom of the 8th Veras took over for the Amazing Al.  Jose lasted 1/3 of an inning and surrendered two runs on two hits and a walk.  This forced The Puppet Master to ask Joaquin Benoit to get 5 outs and save the game.

Benoit got two outs to end the 8th but gave up a solo home run to Brian Dozier leading off the 9th.  This was Benoit’s first blown save of the season but a lot of the blame has to fall on Veras.

That being said, it is a sad state of affairs for the offense that only managed 1 run against Twins starter, Mike Pelfrey, who had an ERA over 5.50 entering the game.

I’m very worried about Veras, and he has to take a lot of credit for this loss, but this game shouldn’t have been this close to begin with.  I think the biggest problem is Austin Jackson.  He managed 1 hit today but is 1 for his last 18.

JV was very good today.  The only problem was his pitch count which forced him to exit after pitching 6 scoreless innings, during which he walked 3, and struke out 12.  Verlander had only thrown 107 pitches after 6 so I was surprised he didn’t come out for the 7th.  Instead, Smyly and Alburquerque came in to pitch the 7th.

Besides striking out 12 hitters JV was able to pitch out of a few jams without allowing any runs.  The most impressive was the bottom of the 5th when Verlander allowed a lead off double to Alex Presley but managed to get out of the inning without allowing him to get any further.  This type of pitching reminded me of the JV vintage 2011 and 2012.  This was a very good sign.

The Amazing Al pitched very well tonight again.  After Smyly started the 7th and allowed two singles, AA, was able to get Dozier, Willingham, and Pinto to end the inning and preserve the three run lead.

The magic number remains at 2 and I don’t think it’s a lock by any means.  The Tigers have two more with the Twins but right now the season series is only Tigers 9 Twins 8.  After Minnesota, the Tigers head to Miami where the team isn’t that great but they do have some starting pitching that could give a slumping offense problems.

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

White Sox 6 Tigers 3

Crippy Baseball, Dailies, Detroit Tigers , , , , , , , ,

After an emotional come from behind victory last night the Tigers fell to the White Sox today.  That coupled with another Indians victory over the Astros and the Tigers’ magic number remains at 2.

Anibal Sanchez didn’t have it today.  He surrendered 4 earned over 5 innings, striking out 6 while walking 2.

The Tigers made a bid to repeat last night’s 9th inning magic but fell short when Austin Jackson struck out swinging.

Jackson was hitless again today taking an 0-4 dropping his batting average to .269.

I didn’t see this one coming.  After last night’s heroics and Sanchez on the mound I really thought the Tigers would pull off the sweep.

In another interesting move, The Puppet Master had Brayan Pena pinch hit for Alex Avila to lead off the 9th.  Alex was 3-3 and has been swinging a hot bat.  In fact, his batting average is closing in on .230.  Not bad for a guy who was hitting in the .160s in June.  With left-hander Donnie Veal pitching I guess he was playing the left right match-up, and it did work out, Pena doubled, but it seemed like a questionable move to me at least.

Anyway, there’s not much more to say about this game other than Fielder’s home run the game was kind of a dud.

Hopefully the Tigers can get back on track in Minnesota tomorrow and clinch the division ASAP.

Verlander against Pelfrey in the opener.

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

Mariners 8 Tigers 0

Crippy Baseball, Dailies, Detroit Tigers , , , , , , , , ,

The Tigers scored 6 runs yesterday so I hope you weren’t expecting much today because not much is just what you got.

Hisashi Iwakuma completely dominated the pathetic Tigers offense.  He breezed through, statistically, the second best offense in baseball, and I can’t imagine he broke a sweat.  Iwakuma needed just 105 pitches to get through 8 complete innings.  He allowed four hits, walked 2 and struck out 6.  I’d like to say ‘tip your cap to a great pitcher’, but it seems like the Tigers make anybody look like a great pitcher.

On the flip side, the offense did absolutely nothing.  They didn’t have good at bats, they didn’t drive the pitch count up, and when they had runners on couldn’t get a clutch hit.

JV was JV vintage 2013.  He allowed 3 run in 7 innings of work.  He gave up 4 hits, walked 3 and struck out 6.  If the Tigers plan on winning any future games JV starts, they better plan on scoring 4 runs or more.  Tonight is what the Tigers should expect from Verlander.  That being said, this offense makes every pitch and every inning a stressful one.  As I’ve state several times previously, it seems any deficit is too much to overcome.

I could sit here and tell you Phil Coke is done, but then if you’ve been watching this team, you probably already figured that out.  Coke wasn’t good today but I don’t think he was expected to be.  When he came out to pitch the 8th inning it was actually Jim Leyland waving the white flag and conceding the game.  Coke wasn’t good yesterday, he hasn’t been good all season, so why would the Tigers expect anything different today.  They didn’t and they weren’t disappointed.  Coke actually retired two of the first three batters he faced.  By the time the switch hitting Kendrys Morales came to the plate Coke had thrown 7 pitches all for strikes.  Not bad for a guy who has had trouble finding the strike zone.  So what was the Tigers’ next move, they decided to have him intentionally walk Morales.  This might not have been a bad plan if they planned on relieving Coke, but they left Phil out there to completely implode, and that’s exactly what he did.  After the IBB to Morales, he surrendered a single to Justin Smoak, a double to Michael Saunders and then intentionally walked the .216 hitting Nick Franklin.

The Amazing Al finally relieved Coke and after giving up a wild pitch and making an error on a throw from Avila while covering the plate, he mercifully got Henry Blanco to fly out to end the inning.

If the game wasn’t over when the top of the 8th started, it was by the time it ended.

For as bad as Coke was, the pitching is not the issue. This offense blows and they can’t expect the pitching staff to shut down every team in every game.

Fister is on the hill for the finale.

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

Tigers 6 Royals 3

Crippy Baseball, Dailies, Detroit Tigers , , , ,

On a cold autumn night in Detroit the Tigers got Just enough.  They got just enough starting pitching.  Just enough offense.  Just enough relief pitching.

JV turned in a typical 2013 JV outing.  He went 6 and 2/3.  He allowed 9 hits, 3 earned runs and struck out 7 while throwing 111 pitches.

The inning that bothered me was the top of the 6th.  After the Tigers scored 3 runs to extend the lead to 6-1 in the bottom of the 5th, JV gave two back in the top half of the 6th.  I know it was a 5 run lead but the old JV made a habit of putting up zeroes after his team got him some runs.  That being said, It was a quality start and the Tigers will take it.

After continuing to make Bruce Chen look like Cliff Lee for 3 more innings, the Tigers finally got 2 in the 4th and 3 in the 5th to take a 6-1 lead.  Torii Hunter and Prince fielder each drove in 3 runs and provided the bulk of the Tigers offensive output tonight.  Prince increased his RBI total to 102.

Jose Veras is scaring me.  He pitched 1/3 of an inning.  Walked 1 and hit another batter.  Veras threw 11 total pitches and only 3 of them were strikes.  The Tigers can’t have guys coming out of the bullpen that can’t find the strike zone.  He’s officially on the list.

Billy Butler continues to own JV with 2 more hits against him tonight.  Verlander has to find a way to get him out or just start walking him.  This is getting ridiculous now.

Fister and Santana face off tomorrow.  Let’s hope the Tigers don’t continue the trend of winning the first game of a three game set then dropping the final two.

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

Tigers 1 White Sox 0

Crippy Baseball, Dailies, Detroit Tigers , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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

White Sox 5 Tigers 1

Crippy Baseball, Dailies, Detroit Tigers , , , , , ,

This game started out bad and kept getting worse.

For the second time this season Miguel Cabrera got thrown out of a game during an at bat.  In the first inning, home plate umpire, Brian Gorman, ruled that Cabrera swung at a pitch that ultimately hit him.  Cabrera asked for the appeal to first but Gorman refused.  Replay showed that Cabrera probably didn’t go around.  However, Miggy needs to keep his F***ING mouth shut.  There is nothing he can say that is going to change the call so shut up and finish the at bat.

Miggy does not get star treatment.  I don’t remember seeing a game where I thought he got a borderline call because of his past accomplishments.  I can’t say for sure why but maybe shutting his trap would help.  Instead he gets kicked out of the game in the first inning and the Tigers have Ramon Santiago batting third for the rest of the game against arguably, the best pitcher in the American League, Chris Sale.

Speaking of pitching, Max Scherzer has had a great year.  He may even win the Cy Young award but he is not a staff ace.  A staff ace can be counted on to stop the bleeding.  They prevent long losing streaks and they pick the team up when they are slumping.  The Tigers are slumping and this is the second time in a month that the Tigers needed Max to be a stopper and twice he has come up with horrible performances.

The Tigers don’t have an ace.  They have a good staff but with Verlander not pitching well they don’t have a stopper.  Right now if you asked me who I would want to pitch a one game playoff, I wouldn’t have an answer.

Nice offense.  The vaunted Tiger offense put up one run today.  That makes six runs scored in the last three games.  The part that is so frustrating is that it never looks like the Tigers offense makes adjustments during a game.  As has often been discussed here, opposing teams seem to have better at bats against Tigers pitching in the 4th and 5th innings, or the second time through the order.  Most of the time this year, the Tigers’ staff has been able to readjust, but the Tigers offense never seems to try anything different.  They go up there time after time with the same approach and just hope that it works.  That’s one of the reasons their offense is so streaky.

I’m sure this isn’t the case but the only person on the team with any spark, that looks like they give shit, is Jose Iglesias.  You don’t want a team to be too uptight but this team looks too loose.  On that note, I’m not sure about anyone else, but I’ve have had just about enough of Torii Hunter’s clowning antics in right field.  I like when players have fun but this is your profession, act like a professional.

It is looking more and more like wheels on this bandwagon are falling off.  The Tigers lead has been cut to 4.5 games courtesy of the Indians victory over the Royals.

Does anybody want to change their vote in yesterday’s poll?

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

Royals 4 Tigers 3

Crippy Baseball, Dailies, Detroit Tigers , , , , ,

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