White Sox 10 Tigers 9

This game was like watching a train wreck.  When the Sox started chipping away I knew this game was lost.  I guess we can give K-ROD a pass, he had converted 19 in a row but this one is going to leave a mark.

I thought Brad Ausmus had a good game in the losing effort.  I liked the suicide squeeze with Iggy and Salty to extend the lead to 9-7 and I liked leaving Nick “The Quick” in the game in the late innings. There was not much he could do about the pitching, I thought he made the right moves at the right time, it just didn’t work out.

I often call Robin Ventura the dumbest manager in baseball but I have to give him and Big Game Jame Shields credit.  The Tigers were beating Big Game James into a conniption but Ventura left him in the game and he ended up giving the White Sox five innings and a chance to win.  This is the type of move that can turn Shields’ season around, not good news for the Tigers.

Anyway, Hat Tip to Robin Ventura and James Shields and Brad Ausmus.

 

Orioles 7 Tigers 5

The the Tigers could have add on runs but if you can’t hold a 5-0 lead, you are in a lot of trouble.

Ladies and Gentleman, the Tigers are in a lot of trouble. The starters are only good for 5-6 innings and the bullpen may be the worst we have seen since, well, 2015.

BA sat Nick “The Quick” the night before.  He’s back in the lineup yesterday and goes 0-5.

The only manager worse than Ausmus is Robin Ventura.

Speaking of Ventura, remember when Nolan Ryan beat him into a conniption?

http://flashinleather.mlblogs.com/2013/08/04/a-gem-from-mario-impemba/

Pirates 9 Tigers 3

After the 14 inning affair Tuesday night the Tigers needed innings on Wednesday from Alfredo Simon.  They got 5.2. To be fair, it wasn’t all his fault.  The defense made two errors behind him but Simon was up in the strike zone all night and surrendered six earned runs on 15 hits.

Basically, the Pirates beat Simon into a conniption and I don’t have the adjective to describe what they did to Joba. I don’t think “conniption” accurately describes the type of beating they put on him.  Try to remember the beating Freeway Ricky put on Youk in Fenway a few years ago.  Or perhaps think of the whooping Nolan Ryan put on current White Sox’s manager, Robin Ventura, you know, the Dumbest Manager In Baseball.  If you take those two beatings, multiply them by 1000, you may begin to get an idea of what the Pirates did you Joba last night. When Joba left the mound he didn’t know whether to crap his pants or wind his watch.

DD needs to trade David Price soon  He’s not re-singing here.  This team is not making the playoffs. They need to get something for him.  This rotation is a mess.  When you subtract Price, you don’t have much left.  Is it too early to start thinking about next year?  I’m not so sure.

White Sox 7 Tigers 6

Perhaps Brad Ausmus is trying to unseat Robin Ventura as the dumbest manager in baseball.  I can think of no other reason for leaving Joba in the game to give up the go-ahead run in the 8th. I can’t fault him for the bomb off the bat of Melky Cabrera.  He should have been out of the inning.  I’m not sure how the official scorer gave Eaton a hit on the ball that went through Castellanos’ glove but he bottom line is Chamberlain should have been in the dugout with a three run lead.

Speaking of Castellanos, what happened to late inning defensive replacements? Andrew Romine?

This was another sub par performance from Alfedo Simon.  Like Shane Greene yesterday, he had little control. It looks like the three and four spots in the rotation are going to be problems.

There is more blame to go around.  Although the offense scored six runs they left 12 men on base,  Miggy looks horrible and they ran themselves out of the ninth.

Hmmm, has anybody noticed the runs the Twins are scoring.

On the bright side, the bullpen has looked good lately with the exception of The Amazing, Everyday Al and Joba.  Also, Victor drove in four runs and hit his first homer today.

Lober tomorrow to salvage one.

Tigers 2 White Sox 1

The Tigers moved to 9-1 with a win over the White Sox this afternoon at Comerica Park.

David Price and Jeff Samardzija had a classic pitcher’s duel. Each pitcher surrendered only one run, on solo shots, in eight complete innings.  The Tigers had more chances to score off of Samardzija but a combination of good clutch pitching and bad execution at the plate kept the game tied.

The White Sox made a few crucial mistakes that allowed the Tigers to take this one. First, Alexei Ramirez did David Price, and the Tigers, a favor by flying out on the first pitch he saw in the top of the seventh after Adam LaRoche had worked a six pitch walk.  Price’s pitch count was climbing.  If Ramirez had a better AB, who knows, they may have gotten into the Tigers pen in the eighth.  Second, why in the sam hell didn’t Robin Ventura challenge the play a second in the ninth? On TV, it looked like Castellanos was out by a mile.  If I was a Sox fan I would be furious.  Perhaps he’s still loopy from when Nolan Ryan beat him into a conniption?  Third, and this a friend of mine mentioned, after the Castellanos debacle, why didn’t he walk Iggy and play the infield at normal depth?

In any case I don’t think anybody will be knocking down Ventura’s door after the White Sox fire him.

FYI: The last time the Tigers started 9-1 was 1984. I’m not sayin’. I’m just sayin’.

FYI:

Random Notes For Monday, August 5th 2013

In case you didn’t watch the video from the Mario Impemba post, there are few interesting tidbits of information about the day Nolan Ryan beat Robin Ventura into a conniption.

  1. Yesterday, August 4th was the 20th anniversary of the brawl.
  2. The Tigers’ own Gene Lamont was the manager of the White Sox then.
  3. Vincent Edward (Bo) Jackson was playing for the Sox at the time.  (Hmmmm, I wonder if anybody ever threw up and in on Bo?)
  4. Nolan Ryan did not get thrown out of the game!!!!!  This is the most unbelievable part of the entire story.  NOLAN RYAN WAS ALLOWED TO KEEP PITCHING AFTER HE BEAT ROBIN VENTURA INTO A CONNIPTION!

On a completely different note, the Red Wings have announced that they are retiring Nick Lidstrom’s #5.

Big series for the Tigers starts tonight in Cleveland, Sanchez v Kluber.

The Tigers need at least a split of the 4 games.

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

UPDATE:  MLB has announced suspensions.  Jhonny Peralta is on the list.  Today is the official beginning of the Tigers Age of Iglesias.

A GEM FROM MARIO IMPEMBA!

As a Tiger fan, I love our TV announcers.  Mario and Rod are fabulous.  And, I often said, that Rod Allen was the only thing that made the 2003 season bearable.

Today, they had a beautiful conversation.  They showed a clip of current White Sox manager Robin Ventura getting beaten into a conniption by legendary pitcher, Nolan Ryan.  As they showed the clip, Rod said, something to the effect that Ventura had a few knuckle sandwiches.  Mario replied, and I’m paraphrasing, ‘it was more like a picnic.”  I have been laughing for the last 10 minutes.

Here’s a video of that fateful day in 1993.

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