Miggy

Rays 7 Tigers 2

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Anibal was bad. The offense was worse. The result was a second straight loss to the Rays.

Sanchez was cruising through four innings, then blew up in the fifth, and didn’t make it out of the sixth.

The offense, except Avila and J.D. Martinez, was a joke. Starting the ninth inning, Rays pitcher Chris Archer, had only thrown 87 pitches. The good at bats were few and far between. That being said, it’s hard to win when the starter gives up seven runs.

I just saw a note on the MLB network. Miggy is hitting .187, in his last nine games.

Freeway Ricky will try to salvage a series split tomorrow.

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

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Rays 6 Tigers 3

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The Tigers fell to the Rays tonight, 6 to 3, evening the weekend series at one apiece.

The Tigers couldn’t overcome another bad start from Drew Smyly.  Add to the bad starting pitching, two rally killing double plays, and you have a recipe for a loss. That’s exactly what the Tigers got.

I’m a little worried about Miggy.  His batting average is .313, low for what we’ve been accustomed to from him, and he seems to be more streaky this year than in the past.  He’ll have a three or four hit game then go hitless for a few games.  I don’t think the Tigers are seeing the consistency at the plate that we’ve seen in the past.  That being said, he is still one of the best hitters in the game.

Also, Victor left the game in the 8th.  Preliminary reports say that he aggravated a strained back.  Let’s hope he’s not out for too long.

Sanchez is on the hill tomorrow against Chris Archer.

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

Tigers Continue To Roll…

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dust Rays in weekend opener 9-2.

Max was lights out.  In fact, I thought he was going to get a chance to get his second career complete game. But, with a big lead, BA decided to pull him after eight complete innings and 106 pitches thrown.

Six of the nine starters had multiple hit games.  Miggy lead the way with a 3-4 night plus a walk and four runs scored.  The line seems kind of odd showing Miggy scoring 4 runs and not driving any in.  But, hey, we’ll take it.

Has anybody noticed how great the bullpen has looked lately?  Pun intended.  🙂

I’m going to the game on Saturday with Nebraska.  This is only my second game all season due to my bad back.  I’m looking forward to it.

Happy Independence Day!!

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

 

Astros 6 Tigers 4

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It’s hard to complain about a 7-2 road trip.

The Tigers didn’t have the winning recipe today. Smyly was bad and Miggy and Victor were worse.

In fact, Miggy and Vmart were a combined 1-25 for the series. This is worst three game stretch I’ve ever seen from Miggy. The Tigers won’t be playing in November if he goes through too many stretches like this.

I hope it is just a short lived spell.

Don’t look now but Oakland is in town.

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

Tigers Sweep Tribe 10-4

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I’m not going to get too excited about the sweep and the four game winning streak.

I’m not really sure what to make of this team.  This is the same team that was 9-20 in their last 29 games before winning the last four.

The difference, I guess, is the starting pitching.  They’ve been getting quality starts, scoring enough runs, and winning in spite of their bullpen.

I think one of things I’ve noticed in the last few games, is that Miggy has starting coming up big again with both his glove and his bat.  Although, he was never one the Tigers really had to worry about, when he would strike out, ground into a double play, or hit a rocket right at someone, it was magnified because the team was running so bad.

I’m not so sure the bad run is behind the Tigers but Miggy has been flashin leather and getting big hits.

On another note, I’m a little surprised that Alex Avila got two starts in a row.  Perhaps it was wishful thinking but I kind of got the impression that Avila was going to be the defacto backup while Ausmus rode Holiday while he was going well. I can see giving Holiday a day off, but two starts in a row for A Squared Money?  He is hitting .218.

Anyway, needless to say, I’m glad to be talking about a four game winning streak, than the nightmare run we endured for the month prior.

On another note, did you know that the Tigers own Freeway Ricky Porcello’s maternal, grandfather, Sam Dente played in the 1954 World Series for the Cleveland Indians? H/T – My Sister

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

Whew!

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The Tigers survived another miserable performance from Ian Krol to take the first of a nine game road trip.

Despite Krol giving up four runs in 2/3 of an inning, the eighth, the Tigers beat the Indians 6-4.

I was at a restaurant, celebrating my birthday, so I was watching the game with the sound turned off. There are a few things that I wished I had an explanation for.

First, why was Don Kelly trying to steal third base in the third inning?  Was this some kind of missed hit and run?  He led off the inning with a double.

I’m a DK fan but WTF?

Second, why did Ian Krol come in to pitch the eighth inning?

Third, why did Ausmus leave Krol in after he gave up back to back singles to lead off the inning?

Fourth, why did Ausmus leave Krol in after Cabrera hit a three run homer?

Fifth, why did Ausmus leave Krol in after Santana cut the lead to one run?

Ausmus is beginning to worry me.  While Krol threw batting practice to the Indians, Ausmus had the deer in the headlights look?

Didn’t he go to Dartmouth?

On the bright side:

  • The Tigers have won back to back games.
  • Freeway Rick was great for six innings.  I would have liked to get at least seven out of him but you can’t complain about six scoreless innings.
  • Victor and J.D. Martinez continue to get it done and carry this team offensively.  I’m not sure how long the ride is going to last with J.D. but I hope the Tigers ride it for as long as they can.
  • Miggy FLASHED LEATHER in the sixth, he started and finished, a 3-6-3 double play.  The finish was sweet.  He dove for the ball but kept his foot on the bag just long enough to get Asdrubal Cabrera called out at first.
  • The Amazing Al pitched a clean seventh.
  • Joe Nathan got his second save in a as many games by pitching a scoreless ninth.

One more thing, at the beginning of the season, I was on the DD band wagon proclaiming his genius.  I should have listened to my gut, my first reaction.  Dave Dombrowski traded Doug Fister for three humpty dumpties.  We’re reminded of this every time Ian Krol takes the mound.

The Tigers, for the second game in a row, were able to win in spite of themselves.

I hope the ship has turned in the right direction.

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

Tigers 4 Twins 3

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Well a win and a series win is great but the MVP for the Tigers in this game was Twins right fielder Oswaldo Arcia.

Arcia misjudged two fly balls off of the bat of Victor Martinez that resulted in two runs including the winning run.

Freeway Ricky was good. He pitched seven innings and allowed three earned runs and the bullpen, Joba and Nathan, were adequate.

That being said the offense left an individual total of 25 men on base.

Like yesterday, it wasn’t pretty, but the way things have been going we’ll take it.

The Royals come to town tomorrow.

JV on the hill for the opener.

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

 

Twins 2 Tigers 0

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The Tigers couldn’t consolidate yesterday’s win.

They got the pitching but couldn’t push across a single run.

Basically, the game was decided in bottom of the fifth, when Miggy bounced into a double play, with the bases loaded and one out.

I’m not even going to complain about Nathan, who walked in the second run in the ninth. Suarez made an error and gave the Twins an extra out. Nathan wasn’t good but didn’t get any help from the defense.

I guess that’s the way things go when a team is running bad.

This team is out of sync and finds ways to lose instead of finding ways to win.

4:00 pm start tomorrow.

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

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Tigers 6 Mariners 3

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I think we can put to rest the stories about JV losing his velocity.  He threw 17 pitches tonight at 95 MPH or above.  Instead, I think his issues have been command and not pitching inside.  That being said, he pitched well tonight.  He went seven and two thirds and allowed three runs, struck out seven and walked one.  Really, his only blemish to was the homer to Kyle Seagar. At least it wasn’t to the Ackley Kid. 🙂

I know Seattle is not really a powerhouse team but the Tigers don’t seem to play very well there so this was a very impressive outing for JV.

Ok, it is way past time to say this but Miggy and Victor are smokin balls!  Miggy hit a two run shot and Victor hit a three run homer after Legendary Lloyd McClendon intentionally walked Miggy in front of him.

Let’s see if Smyly can put in a good performance tomorrow.

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

They found a way…

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to win.  That is the best way I can describe the Tigers 6-5 victory over Sonny Gray and the Oakland A’s tonight.

Max wasn’t great but neither was Oakland ace Sonny Gray.

The Tigers got step-up performances from the following:

  • Miggy, with his bat and glove.  His play in the 9th inning to record the second out might have been as big as his homer.
  • Torii Hunter, hit a solo shot with two out to tie the game at five.
  • A Squared Money, with his bat and glove.
  • Ian Kinsler.  Although he took an ofer, He made a great running catch for the first out in the ninth.
  • Joba and Joe Nathan came through and pitched clean innings to close out the game.
  • Don Kelly made two nice defensive plays at third.

I’m not sure what’s wrong with the starters, but we are in the middle of two turns of the rotation, where the starting pitching looks more like an Asses Carnival than a professional pitching staff.

After Scherzer balked home the third run I heard Rod Allen mention that this was something the Tigers worked on in spring training.  What exactly were they working on, how to allow runners to score from third without throwing a pitch?  I’d say they’ve mastered that move.  WTF?

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