Victor Martinez

White Sox 6 Tigers 4

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

I didn’t see the game but it looks like Smyly turned a 4-2 lead over to the bullpen and the pen couldn’t hold it.

Smyly’s line looks pretty good.  He went six complete allowing two earned runs on six hits.  He struck out seven and walked one.

The Good:

  • Four runs should be good enough to win with good pitching.
  • Ajax was was 1-3 with a two run homer.
  • Victor had two hits.
  • J.D. Martinez had a hit and two RBIs.
  • Justin Miller pitched two scoreless innings, allowing only one hit and striking out two.

The Bad:

  • The Tigers lost the game and will have to win tomorrow afternoon to split the series
  • The bullpen gave up four earned runs.
  • The Tigers only scored in one inning, the fourth.

The Ugly:

  • Even Reed allowed three earned runs in a third of an inning.
  • Ian Krol gave up a grand slam in the seventh to Marcus Semien.

The Tigers need a shut down game from Max tomorrow to split the series.

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

 

Tigers Finally Beat Halos…

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

with a little help from an old friend.

In the bottom of the third, Miggy lead off with a routine fly ball to right field.  Former Tiger, Brennan “B Squared Money” Boesch, dropped the ball.  Miggy eventually came around to score what proved to be the winning run.

The bigger story of course, is for the first time in 11 games, the Tigers were able to defeat the Angels, 5-2.

After surrendering a lead off home run, Max Scherzer was “smokin’ balls”.  He pitched seven complete, walked two and struck out nine.

The Good:

  • Max Scherzer had a nice outing and the Tigers needed it.
  • Joba Chamberlain was good again pitching a clean 8th inning and striking out two.
  • Nick Castellanos hit his second home run of the year to put the Tigers in the lead 2-1.
  • Victor and AJax each had two hits

The Bad:

  • I’m beginning to worry about Castellanos at third.  He bobbled a ground ball that was hit right to him.  He got the guy at first but should have been able to turn a double play.
  • Joe Nathan, although getting the save, gave up a homer to Albert Pujols.

The Ugly:

  • Brennan Boesch was not good.  I’m glad he’s with the Angels.  🙂

It would be nice to take the series tomorrow.  We need a big game from Freeway Rick.

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

 

Tigers fall to Tribe 3-2

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

The Tigers managed only two runs on nine hits and lost to Cleveland 3-2.

Anibal Sanchez lasted only five innings, walking 4 and striking out 8.  He allowed only two earned runs but needed 104 pitches to get through five complete.

The Good:

  • The bullpen – Evan Reed, Ian Krol, The Amazing Al, and Joba pitched four combined scoreless innings to pick up a relatively short outing for Anibal.
  • Kinsler, VMart, AJax, and A Squared Money each had two hits.

The Bad:

  • The offense could only score two runs
  • Miggy’s error in the second led to an unearned run that was ultimately the difference in the game.

The Ugly:

  • The Tigers blew chances in the eighth and ninth to tie or go ahead.
  • The ninth was especially ugly.  A Squared Money was at third with one out but DK struck out and Rajai Davis grounded out to end the game leaving the tying run at third.

This ship needs be righted.  They’ve lost four of their last six.  I know it’s early but they need a big home stand.  Have I mentioned the 30 year World Series Championship drought?

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

Thank You Victor!

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

Victor hit a solo shot in the 10th to bail out Tigers closer, Joe Nathan, and give the Tigers a split of the two game series with the Dodgers, 7-6.

After blowing his second save in a Tigers uniform, Tigers closer Joe Nathan, picked up a bat and headed to the on deck circle in the top of the 10th.  As he was heading up the stairs of the dugout he had a short conversation with Tigers skipper Brad Ausmus.

Ausmus: What are you doing?
Nathan: Getting ready to hit.
Ausmus: Sit down.  You’ve done enough.

Early on, I was afraid Ausmus was going to let Anibal go too long so he could qualify for the win. I thought he should have come out after Crawford’s double with two out in the 5th. But, Sanchez was able to get out of it.  He was shaky at first, throwing 63 pitches in the first two innings, but settled down to retire nine in a row before Crawford’s aforementioned double.

Ausmus probably wanted to save Smyly, who was warming up, for the Dodgers left handers coming up.  Whatever the case, it worked out, although Sanchez didn’t get the win.

Thanks Joe!

Despite Nathan’s heroics, there was a lot to like in this game, not the least of which was Victor’s game winning solo shot in the 10th.

The Good:

  • The Tigers manufactured a run with steals in the first.
  • Sanchez had a nice, unexpected double in the second.
  • Dee Gordon’s costly error to extended the second inning.
  • The Dodgers squeeze play in 2nd with a 3-2 count on Beckett, while not good for for the Tigers, was still a pretty sweet play.
  • Nick Castellanos hit a three run shot in the third, his first MLB homer.
  • The Tigers stole three bases.
  • Ajax had a big sac fly in the 7th to increase the Tigers lead to 6-3.
  • Tyler Collins got is first MLB hit in the 8th and added his second in the 10th.
  • Drew Smyly and Ian Krol were smokin’ balls out of the pen. Smyly pitched three complete, allowing only one hit in relief of Sanchez.   Krol came on to relieve Joba in the 10th and struck out Adrian Gonzalez and Andre Eithier.
  • The Amazing Al came into relieve Krol and got the final out.

The Bad:

  • Anibal Sanchez was shaky in the first two innings throwing 63 pitches.
  • The Tigers bounced into three double plays.
  • Joe Nathan.
  • Joe Nathan got the win.

The Ugly:

  • Joe Nathan blew another save by giving up three runs in the 9th.  I don’t have the words.  He was horrible.

Quietly, Ian Kinsler seems to be a nice addition to the Tigers.  Whether it is hitting, fielding or running, he seems to do something good to help the Tigers win.  However, the best part about the Kinsler acquisition is that Prince in not in a Tigers uniform anymore.

Trivia: The Dodgers have now played longer in LA than they did in Brooklyn. (H/T Shannon Hogan)

Tigers fall to Dodgers 3-2 in 10

Crippy Baseball , , , , , , , , , ,

Max pitched well.  He got through seven innings, surrendering only two runs but seemed to pitch out of trouble all night, evidenced by the eight hits he surrendered.

Unfortunately, lead off walks and wasted opportunities were the Tigers undoing.

The Good:

  • A Squared Money picked off Crawford in the first
  • Victor came up big with a two out RBI in the 9th to tie the game after DK and Miggy failed to advance Kinsler after his lead off double
  • Joba struck out the side in the 9th
  • Nice steal by Davis in the first
  • Ajax homer in second
  • Romine, Jackson, Kinsler and Victor all flashed leather

The Bad:

  • Hunter couldn’t get the run in from third with one out in the first
  • Even though he got a hit, and swiped second to lead off the game, I didn’t like Rajai Davis swinging on 3-0,  especially to lead off the game

The Ugly:

  • Miggy hit three of the softest ground balls I’ve ever seen off of his bat and struck out in the 9th with the tying run on second.
  • Jackson’s throw to the plate in the 7th that Kemp scored on was an abomination.
  • Kelly grounded softly to third in the 9th with Kinsler on second after a lead off double.  Horrible!
  • Phil Coke gave up the game winning hit.  Although, in a mild defense, he inherited a lead off walk from Joba.

Back at it tomorrow for the last game of a short, two game, series with the Dodgers.

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

Tigers 3 A’s 0

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

The Tigers are moving on to the ALCS starting in Boston on Saturday night.

The game five win over the A’s was delivered by Justin Verlander who was the JV vintage 2011/2012.

He was, to steal another line, this time from The Game, By Neil Strauss, “smokin balls!”.  He was almost un-hittable.  He pitched 8 complete, threw 111 pitches, struck out 10 and walked one.  In fact, he had a perfect game before walking Reddick in the 6th, and a no hitter that was broken up by a Cespedes single in the 7th.

Miggy provided most of the offense with a two run shot in fourth.

At first I was livid that Jim Leyland didn’t send JV out for the 9th.  But in a post game interview Verlander said that he told Leyland he was running on fumes.

In came Benoit for the 9th.  After getting the first two hitters, Joaquin put the tying runners on base, but got Seth Smith to hit a fly ball to Hunter to end the game.

Benoit seems to be continuing the tradition set by previous Tigers’ closers, Todd Jones and Jose Valverde, he makes it interesting but gets the job done most of the time.  Joaquin scares me but I hope he can get it done.

I could bitch about the offense like I always do but there’s nothing more to say.  They had plenty of chances to blow this game wide open but couldn’t get the big hit.  Not much new here.

That being said, Victor Martinez and Jhonny Peralta deserve credit for their offense.  Martinez hit .450 and Peralta .417.  Nobody else in the lineup is close to .300.

Austin Jacskon has become a problem at the worst time.  He has been HORRIBLE to put it mildly.  He struck out 3 more times today.  I think that makes 12 times this series.  It’s hard to generate offense when your lead hitter isn’t even making contact.  But at this point, I’m not sure if there is anything to do except hope.

I’m hoping for the best in Boston but I’m done with predictions.  I’m just enjoying (sort of) the ride.  I hope it ends with a World Series Championship!

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

Tigers 8 A’s 6

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

Finally, the bats came to life and bailed out the pitching staff which, for the second straight game, was less than stellar.

Doug Fister put in a quality start but I thought it was going to take something spectacular to win this game.

The offense continued its ineptitude through four innings.  However, in the bottom of the 5th and trailing 3-0, the Tigers bats showed signs of life and tied it up on a three run homer from Jhonny Peralta.

After the 5th, the Tigers bats did something they haven’t done in a long time, score in another inning.  In fact the Tigers continued to score with two in the 7tth and three more in the 8th,.  And they needed them.

Max Scherzer relieved Fister in the 7th and got the win.  Max has to get a lot of credit for pitching out of a bases loaded, no out, jam in the 8th to preserve a one run Tiger lead but the jam was his own making.  He walked the lead-off man in the 8th, a no-no in any situation, but even a bigger problem late in an elimination game.

Peralta and Martinez each had big home runs but the biggest hits came from Austin Jackson and Omar Infante.

Jackson, who is in one of the worst funks I’ve ever seen big league hitter in, came through with a single in the 7th to drive in a run and give the Tigers a 5-4 lead.  Prior to his single, Jackson had struck out three more times making it 9 Ks in his last 10 at bats.  Jackson didn’t hit a rocket but it was a much needed hit both personally and for the Tigers as a team.

The Tigers scored their 6th run on a wild pitch in the 8th then Omar delivered a two run double extending the Tigers lead to 8-4.

Joaquin Benoit came in to pitch the 9th and didn’t have his A game.  He made it interesting.  He allowed two runs and stranded the tying runs on base.

I’m a little worried about Joaquin.

I know Miggy is hurt but I’m disappointed in his at bat to lead off the bottom of the 8th.  Miggy swung at a 3-0 pitch and grounded out to third.  I know he can’t run but I was hoping he’d take a pitch or two to see if he could get a free pass.  With the way the Tigers offense has been struggling they can use all of the base runners they can get.

There were a few substitutions that worried me.  In the bottom of the 7th Peralta doubled but was pinch run for by Andy Dirks.  In bottom of the 8th Victor singled and went to second when Andy Dirks walked.  Hernan Perez then pinch ran for Victor.  At this point the Tigers were only up 5-4 and with the substitutions, their two hottest hitters would not bat again if the game went to extra innings.

The moves ended up working out OK.  Perez scored the 6th run on a wild pitch and it is doubtful if Victor would have scored in that situation.

In any case, everything worked out today and game five is Thursday with JV on the mound.  I’m done with predictions, I’ll just have to wait and see.

It’s still “F*** or walk”.

I’m hoping for the best.

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

Tigers 3 A’s 2

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

Whew!

Behind excellent pitching and just enough offense the Tigers took the first game of the series in Oakland.

The Tigers scored three runs in the first but couldn’t add on the rest of the way.  This was not really a surprise.  This is the same thing we’ve seen all year.

Scherzer, Smyly and Benoit were outstanding and combined to strike out 16 Oakland batters.

Readers of this blog know I’ve been hard on Dirks this year and I’m going to continue.  The Tigers are still not getting anything substantial out of his bat and his fielding is terrible at best. I know, there is supposed to be some metric that tells us Dirksy is a wonderful fielder but the numbers don’t correspond to the visual.

In the bottom of the second Yoenis Cespedes hit a hard shot to left field that ended up as a one out triple.  I understand the ball was hard hit but it looked like Dirksy didn’t take a very good route to the ball.  It would have been a nice play.  It is a play I would expect a good left fielder to make.

There was another play in the 5th or 6th inning where Dirks ran for a ball in foul territory.  The ball looked like it hit the palm of his glove and he ended up dropping it.

Luckily, Max was able to pitch around these two plays and the pen was able to hold on for the win but I think Leyland and the Tigers really need to evaluate what they are getting from left field both offensively and defensively.  I’m not even saying put Peralta in but perhaps it’s time to put DK in left.  Let him play solid defense and take what you can from his bat.  What are you really losing playing DK over Dirksy?

In the 6th the Tigers had a chance to add on.  With one out, Martinez on second and Avila on first, Omar Infante singled sharply to right field.  Tom “The Windmill” Brookens sent Victor home and he was nailed at the plate for the second out of the inning.  At first, I was screaming about another horrible send from The Windmill, but on further review, I think it was the right thing to do.  The Tigers had just gotten three hits and Dirks was up next.  At this point, you can’t expect anything from Good Ole Dirksy.

I’ve been screaming all year about the offense but nothing is going to change.  The formula the Tigers used tonight to win will have to be the recipe going forward.  But at least if they could tighten up the left field defense, it might increase their chances.

JV goes tomorrow.  Your guess is a good as mine regarding what to expect.

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

Tigers 1 Twins 0

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

Max Scherzer got his 21st win of the season and the Tigers clinched the Central Division for the 3rd straight season.

I’m not excited.  I’m not excited about a team that has won 93 games.  I can’t get the frustrated flailing of an inconsistent offense out of my mind.

I’m glad they won but for me it is World Series Champion or bust.  The Tigers have won only one World Series in my lifetime, in 1984.  It has been 29 years.  I’ve been a season ticket holder for 8 years.  I’m tired of waiting but I feel like this team is the same as last year’s team.  Similar to the 2012 Tigers, the 2013 edition, just can’t score on a consistent basis and asks way too much the pitching staff.

The Tigers managed only 8 runs in this 3 game series with the Twins and managed to win 2.  This is a tribute to excellent starting pitching and enough arms out of the pen to pick up a terrible offense.

Miggy looks horrible.  He’s had only 2 extra base hits since August 26th and took his second straight ohfer.  I think the Tigers are going to pay for not putting him on the 15 day DL at the end of August.  I hope I’m wrong.

This was an odd game for Max.  He pitched 7 innings, allowed only 2 hits, struck out 10 but walked 6.  Max struggled with his command all game long but still managed to shut out the Twins.

Max Scherzer should win the American League Cy Young Award.  The object of the game is to win and Max has done that better than anybody else in the league.  Other pitchers should get consideration but 21 wins is 21 wins and Scherzer should take home the hardware.

At times this year I’ve been hard on Jimmy Leyland but I think he’s done the best with what he has.  I don’t think there is anything he can do about the offense.  These guys are supposed to hit and he can’t do that for them.

I’m excited to see Peralta in left field.

I’m excited for the playoffs to start.

I hope the Tigers can pull it off.  They will probably go as far as their starting pitching takes them

It’s on to Miami and then probably off to Oakland.

Hopefully, like Victor Martinez earlier in the year, the offense will prove me wrong.

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

Tigers 4 Mariners 2

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

Behind a nice pitching performance from Rick Porcello, the Tigers managed to squeak out just enough runs to beat the lowly Seattle Mariners tonight at Comerica Park.

Ricky picked up his 13th win of the season.  He pitched 6 solid innings allowing 1 earned run on five hits.  He struck out 10 and walked 2 on 105 pitches.

The offense was pretty much non existent until the 6th inning.  Up until that time they had scored only 1 run in the first inning on a wild pitch.  In fact, it looked like Mariners’ starter, Joe Saunders, might got the distance.  He began the bottom of the sixth having only thrown 72 pitches.  In the 6th the Tigers managed to score 2 runs on a walk and three singles.

Besides being frustrating to watch the Tigers offense isn’t doing the pitching any favors.  Every pitch becomes a pressure pitch when the offense isn’t giving you any run support.  As a fan, I can feel it.  Sometimes I feel like if the pitching surrenders 1 or 2 runs the game is lost.  This is a lot to ask from any staff and completely unacceptable considering what the Tigers have invested on offense.

To put it another way, is just impossible to think of a way this team can go the distance with this offense.

Miggy looks beaten up and I think the window to address the problem has closed.  He can’t run period and he can barely swing.  In the bottom of the sixth he was at second base with Martinez batting.  Victor hit a ground ball down the right field line which should have scored a bad runner easily.  Miggy did score but if the Seattle right fielder, Abraham Almonte, hadn’t bobbled the ball three times he definitely would have had a play on Cabrera at the plate.  In the bottom of the seventh, Miggy hit a ball to right field that that we’ve seen leave the yard all season long.  I can’t help but think that his injuries are stifling his power.  Unfortunately, the Tigers are backed into a corner.  I don’t know if they have enough time to sit him and hope he gets healthy, and has his timing, by the time the playoffs start.

This I do know, the Tigers can’t win with this offense.  It is simply too much to ask the pitchers to put up zeroes night in and night out.  I guess we’ll have to wait and see.  I hope I’m wrong.

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