Mike Napoli

Tigers Lose 2-1. It’s up to Ricky Tomorrow.

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

Tonight’s game was a battle of aces that lived up to its billing.  Lester and Scherzer both pitched well with Lester and the Red Sox evening the series courtesy of their 2-1 victory.

Mike Napoli didn’t start tonight but he did pinch hit in the 8th inning against Luke Putkonen.  I would have loved for Luke to have drilled that shit bird but it wasn’t the time.  The score was 2-1 with runners on first and second and only 1 out.  It was more important to prevent the Sox from extending their lead than evening the score with Crapoli.

Speaking of Putkonen, he has been very impressive and may be pitching himself onto the post season roster.  He came in last Thursday and stopped the bleeding against Oakland which eventually allowed the Tigers to rally late and save the last game of the series.

Putkonen came in again today in a pressure situation.  Scherzer came out to pitch the 8th but didn’t retire either batter he faced.  He left the game with runners at first and second and nobody out.  Coke came in and got David Ortiz to fly out.  Putkonen then relieved Coke.  With runners at first and second and one out he gave up a single to Crapoli to load the bases.  He then got Jonny Gomes to pop out and Stephen Drew to ground out, both to Iggy, to end the inning.

What does all of this mean?

First, Putkonen and Coke are making cases for spots on the post season roster.

Second, the burden falls on Ricky tomorrow to win the rubber game and hold Crapoli accountable for his Dave Rozema karate kick on Iggy during Monday’s game.  It seems like these things fall on Porcello a lot.  As has been documented here at Flashin Leather, Ricky hit Youkilis in August of 2009, then beat him into a conniption when he rushed the mound.  Then earlier this year in Tampa Bay, after The Crooked Hat threw at Miggy’s head the night before, Ricky lit Zobrists’ rib cage up to defend the MVP the following game.

Third, and this is the most important take away from tonight’s game, Tommy “The Windmill” Brookens is the worst third base coach in baseball history.  He always manages to get the call exactly wrong.  Today, The Windmill got Brayan Pena thrown out at the plate in the second inning. With Pena on first and Infante on third, Iggy doubled, scoring Infante easily. Brookens, then, mistook the 5’9″ 230 lbs Pena for Rickey Henderson and sent him home.  Although the play was considerably closer than most of The Windmill’s sends, Pena was still out by 30 feet.

I love Tommy but not as the third base coach.  The Tigers need Geno back at 3rd.  Let Tommy move to first or to the bench.

It would be nice to come out of Boston with Napoli’s ribs bruised and a series win.

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

Remember when Ricky beat Youk into a conniption?

Crippy Detroit Tigers , , , , , , , ,

On August 8th, 2009, a 19 year old Frederick Alfred Porcello was sticking up for his teammates.  He drilled Boston’s Kevin Youkilis in the ribs.  When Youk charged the mound, the young Porcello promptly threw Youkilis to the ground with a nice judo hip throw.  If it wasn’t for outside intereference, young Ricky was in a perfect position to pound Youk into a conniption.

The video below shows the thrashing frame by frame.

Keep this in mind because Mike Crapoli is on the Tigers hit list.  His karate kick on Tigers’ shortstop, Jose Iglesias, was unacceptable and Crapoli must be held to account.

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

Tigers, Fister Shutout Red Sox in Fenway

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

First things first.  Add Mike Napoli to the Tigers’ hit list.  He has to answer for his karate kick on Iggy in the bottom of the second inning.  Maybe there wasn’t a good time for it today, but sometime in the next two games, his ribs need to be lit up.  Bruce Rondon perhaps?

The pitching was impressive.  Doug Fister and his pals in the pen shut out a good hitting ball club in a good hitter’s park.  This wasn’t shutting out the Astros at Comerica.  This was shutting out the Red Sox in Fenway.  This is very encouraging considering the beating the entire staff took at the hands of the A’s last week.

Fister threw 7 complete, allowed 4 hits, struck out 4 and walked 4.  The walks were high, especially for Fister, but I’m chalking that up to the horrendous job umpire Eric Cooper did behind the plate today.  To say Cooper was horrible is being kind.  He blew.  He had no idea what he was calling and neither did anybody else.

It has been a relatively small sample, but if there is a better shortstop in baseball than Iggy, I haven’t seen him.  Everyday, Jose Iglesias does something jaw dropping.  Today he helped turn 3 double plays.  The one that really stuck out was in the bottom of the 6th.  With Shane Victorino on first, the Sox put on the hit and run.  Dustin Pedroia hit a ground ball to the right side of second base.  Iggy scooped up the ball, tagged Victorino and threw to first to complete the double play.  Fister and Porcello are going to love having Iggy behind them. Watch for both of their numbers to improve.

Oh yea, Iggy can hit a piece as well.  He was 1-3 today and hitting .319 on the season.

Kudos to Andy Dirks.  The Tigers had chances to score but couldn’t get the big hit.  That changed in the 7th when Dirksy tripled home Victor Martinez to break the scoreless tie in the top of the 7th.

Nice win.  The Tigers need another one tomorrow.  Napoli must answer for Iggy.

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