Omar Infante

Tigers Dust Phillies! Scherzer 15-1!

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The Phillies are down and Tigers had no problem kicking them tonight at Comerica Park.

With Hunter and Cabrera back in the lineup, the Tigers jumped on Cliff Lee’s replacement, Raul Valdes, by putting up a 8 runs in the first two innings.

Miggy started the onslaught with a solo shot, his 32nd, with two out, in the bottom of the first. Fielder, Martinez and Peralta followed with singles and Mat Tuiasosopo capped of the 5 run inning with a 3 run homer, his 7th of the year.

Max Scherzer pitched 6 innings, allowing 1 hit and striking out 7 and improves his record to 15-1.

It might be too early to tell but Alex Avila shows signs of getting right.  He had two more hits today and brought his batting average up to .193.  Let’s hope .200 and above are right around the corner.  Alex has struggled mightily and I’d like to see him come out of it.  He showed so much promise early, it would be nice if he could return to his 2011, regular season form.

There was really nothing to complain about tonight, which is odd coming from me, but the Tigers seemed to click on all levels.

Let’s get Infante healthy and keep this wagon rolling.

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

Phister Was Phantastic…

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Behind 8 phabulous innings from Doug Fister, the Tigers took game one of the weekend series with the Phillies, 2-1.

Fister allowed only 3 hits, struck out 6, walked 1, allowed only 1 unearned run, and lowered his ERA to 3.67 tonight at Comerica Park.

The Tigers had a patchwork lineup today, with Torii Hunter, Miguel Cabrera, and Omar infante all out with injuries.  There wasn’t much hitting to speak of, the Tigers only managed 6 hits off of Philly pitching.  All the damage was done in the 5th inning when Hernan Perez walked with one out.  Ramon Santiago followed with a double putting runners at second and third.  Alex Avila then drove in both Perez and Santiago when he pounded a double into the gap in left center giving Fister a lead he wouldn’t relinquish.

Joaquin Benoit came on in the 9th to earn his 10th save of the season. allowing only a lead off single to Jimmy Rollins.

The Tigers and Phillies are back at it tomorrow night when Scherzer goes for his 15th win of the season.

I’m getting very concerned about Infante’s injury.  If he can’t come back, that gives the Tigers a hole at second and left field.  I know it is a small sample but I don’t think Hernan Perez is an everyday second baseman, at least not yet.  He made an error tonight that led to Philly’s only run.  I guess the bigger concern is if Miggy is out for a while and Fielder doesn’t hit, this could get ugly, soon.

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

Tigers Win 4th In Row on Road

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Courtesy of their 6-2 victory this evening over the Chicago White Sox, the Tigers have now won four in a row on the road and assured themselves of winning this four game series in Chicago, regardless of what Verlander does tomorrow.

Anibal Sanchez pitched 6 complete allowing six hits, 0 runs, walking 1 and striking out 5.  The offense was powered by a Prince Fielder 3 run shot, solo home runs by Jackson and Hunter, and would you believe it, an RBI single from Alex Avila

As Avila walked to the batter’s box for his third at bat, I was thinking of how bad he’s been struggling.  I haven’t researched the numbers but he seems to get caught looking an awful lot.  And when he does, he walks away with a blank look that seems to be saying, ‘I don’t have a clue’.  Fortunately, he singled and drove in the 6th run.

The last few games I’ve been impressed with Hernan Perez.  He had two more hits tonight and was robbed of a third on a great play by White Sox third baseman Conor Gillaspie.  If he keeps this up, the Tigers might have a hard time sending him down when Infante gets back and keeping Santiago on the bench.

I was also impressed with Bruce Rondon.  Even though he gave up a run on two hits I thought he showed some composure.  The single that drove in the run was a bloop hit off the end of the bat.  Instead of getting flustered, Rondon got the next batter to ground into an inning ending double play.

Benoit was brought in, again, tonight to get the final two outs in a non-save situation.  I didn’t get it yesterday.  I still don’t get it today.  Is he the closer or not?  As Sark commented yesterday, he probably won’t be available should he be needed tomorrow.

On a different note, the White Sox look horrible.  They look a lot worse than they did a few weeks ago when they took 2 out of 3 at Comerica Park.  I’m wondering if they have quit on Robin Ventura.  Let’s hope we see more of the same tomorrow.

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

The Tiger Ship is Taking On Water…

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and sinking fast.  The Tigers got dusted this afternoon in Toronto, 8-3.  Last year’s NL Cy Young winner, R.A. Dickey pitched 7 strong, striking out 4 and walking 1.

The Tigers got no starting pitching from Jose Alvarez who lasted only 3 innings, allowing 5 runs, 4 of them earned.

The offense looked like they were going to try to make a game of it, scoring 2 in the top of the 4th, to cut the Jays’ lead to 5-2.  But Luke Putkonen came in to relieve Alvarez in the bottom of the 4th and killed any chances the Tigers thought they might have when he gave up a three run homer to Mark DeRosa to extend the Toronto lead to 8-2.

If there were any bright spots, Omar Infante went 4 for 4 and drove in 2 of the 3 Tiger runs.

And what do you know, the Tigers finally scored a run after the 6th inning.  They got one in the top of the 9th.  Granted, it didn’t mean much but I’m grasping at straws here.

The Tigers have lost 6 of 7 and are no longer in first place, and frankly, unless something changes, I don’t expect them to be there when the season is over.

Commentors, Sark and Nebraskaknows, made excellent points in regard to yesterday’s game post.  You can’t fire or trade all of the players, so it might time for Jim Lelyland to go.  Something has to be done to shake this team up.  While I’ve been a supporter of JL’s, I’m beginning to think he has run his course.  On his way out, he can take Jeff Jones and Lloyd McClendon with him.

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

NIGHTMARE!!!

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What started out as a promising home stand, with a 5-2 win on Monday, quickly turned into a nightmare.  The Tigers were blown out this afternoon 13-3 losing another series to the Orioles.

There wasn’t much to be happy about today.  Rick Porcello gave up six runs in six innings, on the surface, a terrible outing.  However, when we look at the over all body of work, he only had one bad inning, and it was horrible, the 4th.  He gave up all six of the runs charged to him in the 4th.  He came out for the 5th and 6th and put up zeroes.

After giving up a two run and a three run homer, Porcello seemed to settle down.  After the 6th he had only thrown 93 pitches.  I was hoping he’d come out for the 7th but Downs came in instead.

The bullpen that looked so strong the previous two games was an abomination.  Downs pitched 1/3 of an inning and gave up two earned.  Valverde pitched the 9th and gave up 4 earned.

In between Downs and Valverde, Evan Reed pitched an inning and two thirds giving up one earned run and striking out 3.  If there was a bright spot in this disaster, I think Reed looked pretty good.

Besides the pitching, the offense and defense weren’t much better.  After scoring 5 runs in the first game on Monday, the Tigers scored a total of 5 in the last two games against a very mediocre Oriole starting staff.

Matt Tuiasosopo came up with a big pinch hit double scoring two in the bottom of the 6th, cutting the Oriole lead to 6-3, but effectively killed his own rally when he got thrown out trying to take third on a ground ball to shortstop off the bat of Infante.

The bullpen gave the runs back, and then some, in the top of the seventh with the help of the defense.  With runners on second and third and one out, Adam Jones hit a soft line drive to second baseman Omar Infante.  The runners left on contact.  Infante dropped the ball, the runner on third scored, and everybody else was safe as well.  What could have been a rally killing double play extended the inning and by the time the top of the 7th was over, the O’s were up 9-3.

To be fair, MLB dot com says that it was a ground ball off of the bat of Adam Jones, but from where I was sitting, lower box behind the Tiger dugout, it looked like a soft liner that Infante dropped.  In any event, the inning and game was a disaster!

On a side note, I’m pretty sure Valverde won’t be on the roster in the morning.

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