torii hunter

Tigers 5 Indians 1

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I didn’t get to see a minute of this game.  I got on a flight at noon and didn’t arrive until the game was over.

From perusing the box score however, it looks the same tried and true recipe was used to salvage the last game of this four game debacle.

Drew Smyly pitched seven complete and allowed only one run.  Instead of relying on the bullpen for 3 or 4 innings, only two were required.

Joba continued to show that he is the only reliable arm out of the bullpen. He pitched a scoreless 8th, although he did walk two.

Joe Nathan pitched a scoreless ninth in a non-save situation.

It looks like the offense came alive, scoring five runs.  Miggy took an ofer but it looks like Ajax, Torii, and Costellanos had good games.

Although, I like him, he seems like a decent guy, I’ve been pretty critical of Austin Jackson.  But he seems be coming on a bit lately.  He had two hits today and his batting average is up to .264.

Off to the Valley of the Sun for a three game series with the Diamondbacks.

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

Tigers 14 Dodgers 5

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I’m not sure what to make of this game. I’m not sure what to make of this team.

Let’s be honest, JV blew. Again. I don’t care if he pitched five scoreless innings. He gave up five runs before the Tigers even got to bat. He got lucky today.

The Tigers got a break on the Hunter replay in the second and the offense exploded. But spotting any team a five run lead is a dangerous way to play.

JV got lucky as well because Chen Meing Ryu was worse than he was and couldn’t get straightened out.

Another thing that is concerning is that this is the fourth crappy start in a row for Tigers starters. They need a stopper and nobody has really stepped up to fill the role. That’s how you go on 9-20 runs.

All the above being said, it’s a win and I’ll take it.

Let’s see if Max can give the Tigers a good start tomorrow. I’d like to see seven innings with no more than two runs allowed. 🙂

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

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Tigers 6 Red Sox 2

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The Tigers looked like the team we saw a few weeks ago.  They got good starting pitching from Drew Smyly, good work out of the bullpen, and the offense scored six runs.

It is only one game so I’m not getting too excited but it was a nice game to watch after what we’ve seen in the previous 20 games.

The Good:

  • Drew Smyly gave the Tigers a quality start pitching six innings giving up only one earned run.
  • Kinlser, Hunter, and Victor went deep.
  • Krol, Joba, and Nathan pitched three scoreless innings in relief.
  • Nick Castellanos had three hits.

The Bad:

  • The defense is still scaring me. Romine had a throwing error leading to an unearned run.
  • It doesn’t look like Torii Hunter is taking good routes on balls hit to right field.
  • Castellanos wasn’t charged with an error but he could have.  He missed a shot that looked like he should have had.

The Ugly:

  • For once, in a long time, nothing really ugly tonight.

Let’s see if they can follow this win up tomorrow.

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

 

 

Disaster

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In tennis, when you break the other player’s serve, winning the very next game when you are serving is called consolidating the break.

Tonight was a game the Tigers needed to consolidate the break in their awful run of games during the last 10 days.  They pulled out a gutsy win yesterday but needed today’s game to get them on track.

They got an absolutely lights-out, ball smokin, performance from Anibal Sanchez.  He allowed only three hits in eight and a third innings but couldn’t get any help from his friends.

Joe Nathan blew his fourth save of the season surrendering a three run homer to Josh Donaldson in the bottom of the ninth.

Despite only scoring one run, I had a good feeling about this game, even after Sanchez gave up a one out double to Coco Crisp which brought in Nathan.

But the optimism quickly turned to despair.  The first batter Nathan faced was John Jaso who hit a line drive that went off of Nick Castellanos’s glove into left field.  I have no idea how Jaso was given a hit.  This was an E5 all day long.  If your third basemen can’t make that play, you aren’t going to win.

Here’s some food for thought:

  • Perhaps substituting DK for Castellanos late in close games would be a good idea.
  • The left side of the Tigers infield is a problem.
  • The Tigers still need a closer.

Another deep deep breath.

“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

Take a deep breath…

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this is a 162 game season and the Tigers are going through a rough patch.  It’s concerning because the slump began with Smyly’s start last Monday and continued through the rotation, with the exception of Sanchez, and extended through Smyly’s start yesterday.

This is a rare instance when I’m going to stick up for the offense.  It has to be demoralizing to come to the plate and be down four runs in the first or second inning.

Here’s my remedy to end this streak:

  • The offense has to score early
  • One person on the staff has to step up, starter or reliever
  • Romine has to go at short.  His fielding is an abomination.  I’m not sure Worth is any better but Romine has been embarrassing.  On that note, Castellanos isn’t looking good defensively either.
  • I won’t mention Hunter again.  Yet.

Simple right?

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

 

I HATE THEM!

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The Tigers lost their fifth of their last six games and looked like a complete and utter pile of shit doing it. This game was a national embarrassment.

For 3 and 2/3 Freeway Ricky looked like the pitcher I thought he was. Then he completely fell apart and fell in line with the rest of his his rotation mates their last time through, save Sanchez.

Add to the the 2003-esq pitching, horrible defense, terrible base running and a tad bit of bad luck and you have the elements of this afternoon’s game.  The Tigers BLEW!!!!

To Torii Hunter: Nobody thinks your stupid deke moves are cute.  Get your head out of your old, bald, fat ass and run down balls in the outfield.  You JACKASS!!!!!

To the officials scorer: Explain how Austin Jackson wasn’t charged with an error in the sixth inning. Please.  I don’t give a shit how far he had to run for Moreland’s ball, he caught up with it, the ball was chest high and it hit him in the glove.  THAT IS A AN ERROR!!!!!!!  JACKASS!!!!!!

I’m glad I didn’t make it to the ballpark for this one.

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

Tigers 4 Orioles 1

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The story of this game should have been another ball smokin performance from Freeway Rick and timely hitting but there is more to the story.

Freeway Rick was cruising along.  He pitched six complete, allowed one run on five hits, he struck out two and walked none.

In fact, the entire Tigers staff didn’t walk a batter.

The first part to the story is why Ricky was pulled after six innings.  He had only thrown 83 pitches so I was rather surprised that he didn’t come out for the seventh.  I hope there’s not something wrong.

The secondary story of the game was Torii Hunter getting drilled in the ribs in the eighth by that sawed off little jerk, Bud Norris, after Kinsler took him deep for a two run homer to extend the Tigers lead to 4-1.  The benches emptied but there was no punches thrown.  Norris was tossed but seemed to keep jawing at Hunter even after he was in the dugout.  I’m not sure if there is any history between the two but someone on the O’s has to get it tomorrow.

The Good:

  • This was a nice bounce back win for the Tigers after blowing a three run lead yesterday.
  • Freeway Rick improved to 6-0.
  • While not dynamic, the offense got the job done.
  • Tigers pitchers did not walk a batter.
  • The Amazing Al, pitching in his fourth consecutive game was smokin balls.  He pitched a complete inning and struck out two.
  • Joe Nathan recorded his eighth save on only six pitches.

The Bad:

  • The Orioles scored their run in the bottom of the first on a ball that looked like Rajai Davis should have caught.

The Ugly:

  • Other than the play by Davis in the first and Romine’s error in the second, nothing too egregious today.

Smyly pitches tomorrow and somebody on the Orioles has to answer for Hunter.

Remember when Freeway Ricky beat Youk into a conniption?

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

Tigers Dust Astros Winning Streak at Seven

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Behind 5 and 1/3 ball smokin innings from Tigers newcomer, Robby Ray, the Tigers beat the Astros into a conniption, 11-4, and extended their winning streak to seven. Ray allowed one earned run on five hits.  He walked only one and struck out five.

What impressed me the most about Ray was that he got in trouble early in the first and was able to pitch out the jam without surrendering a run.  It’s a small sample size but perhaps Dave “Double D” Dombrowski knows a thing or two about a thing or two.

The Good:

  • Just when I was beginning to worry about Miggy, he shoved those concerns down my throat.  He was 4-5 today with a homer and four RBIs.  If he returns to form this could be a very formidable Tigers offense.
  • Ian Kinsler had three hits.
  • Alex “A Squared Money” Avila, Nick Castellanos, and “Downtown” Danny Worth had two hits each and Worth had three RBIs.
  • The Amazing Al pitched a shut out inning in relief and struck out two.
  • The Tigers got 18 hits and scored in multiple innings, the first, third, fourth, seventh and eighth.

The Bad:

  • Justin Miller struggled through the ninth.  He allowed three runs, but to be fair, only one of them was earned.

The Ugly:

  • I like the new look offense but really Torii?  You get thrown out trying to steal third with one out and Miggy batting?

I guess we can’t get too excited, the Astros are not good, to say the least but seven straight is seven straight and we’ll take all the Ws we can get.  Also, I like the 18 hit attack and scoring in multiple innings.  This is in stark contrast to last year when the Tigers seemed to score all their runs in only one or two innings.

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

Tigers 9 Royals 4

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The Tigers swept the weekend series with the Royals.  They got good starting pitching and the offense exploded, scoring 26 runs in three games.

I really like this new look offense.  I know it’s early but we really aren’t seeing the huge swings like we have the last few years.  The ability to, as Nebraska says, getem on, getem over and getem in is nice to watch.

Ok, so I have to complain a little.  JV got the win but I don’t like the three earned runs surrendered in seven innings. Extrapolated over nine innings, that’s a 3.86 ERA, which is good, but not for Justin Verlander.

The Good:

  • The offense is smokin balls!, Davis, Hunter and Romine each had three hits. Could Romine be the solution at short?  He looks like it. Again, it’s early.
  • Hunter and Romine had three RBIs each and Miggy had two.
  • Castellanos had a home run on his only hit.  I like what I see so far out of Castellanos but I’d like to see his average over .250.
  • 16 hits
  • No errors.

The Bad:

  • The Amazing Al gave up a run on two hits in the ninth.
  • OK, I’m nitpicking, but the three runs given up by JV I’m classifying as not good.

The Ugly:

  • Nothing ugly most of this series

Houston comes to Comerica tonight with Max on the hill.

I’ll be in Vegas this weekend so if you want any bets, you know how to get in touch with me.

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