8/20/2015
VMART
Tigers 6 Rays 0
They call him Freeway Ricky and he was smokin balls tonight.
Well, actually, I’m the only one that calls him Freeway Ricky but he did smoke balls tonight. Porcello threw the fourth complete game of his career and his third complete game shutout this season. He allowed only three base runners and at one point retired 20 straight. The most impressive stat, however, is that Freeway Ricky needed only 104 pitches to get the job done.
On the offensive side, Victor drove in five of the six Tigers runs, four on a grand slam in the seventh. He looked terrible yesterday but Vmart looked good tonight.
Ok, Miggy is hurt and he has almost no power. That’s fine. I don’t expect him to find his power this year and perhaps he’ll never have the kind of power we saw from him in the past. But the thing that was driving me crazy about him was the strike outs and lack of walks. It looks like he’s figured the walk part out. There is a lot to be said for getting on base.
Finally, this was the best I’ve seen the bullpen pitch since Ricky’s last complete game. If they keep it up the biggest hole in the SS Tigers has been plugged.
One more thing, up yours Nathan you shit bird!
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Pirates 4 Tigers 2
For the seventh time in nine road games the Tigers lost.
I feel like an idiot for tuning in every game and hoping for a different outcome.
The Tigers aren’t doing anything well. Perhaps Brad Ausmus should consider playing his best defensive team and seeing what happens. It’s not like the offense can get much worse.
By playing defense first maybe they can help the struggling bullpen. The Tigers can’t afford to give anybody extra outs. Their pitching and offense can’t overcome the defensive miscues that plague this team on a regular basis.
Victor is going to have to sit in NL parks. Ever since his injury he hasn’t been doing much anyway and Cabrera can’t play third. Romine has to play short. I’m not sure what to do at third, maybe DK? Actually, I’m not sure what to do with the outfield either. On queue, the minute I commented on how well J.D. Martinez was playing in the field, suddenly he can’t pick the ball up anymore. Torii is old, I don’t think Davis is much of a fielder and I’m pissed at Carrera.
What a mess.
“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural
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Yankees 1 Tigers 0
The offense is so miserable that it I can’t write about Ricky’s start.
This team doesn’t deserve to make the playoffs. I’m still sticking to the post I made right before the Price acquisition, this team needs to be blown up, not just tweaked. We’ve had to sit through the same shit for the last 3-4 years. The offense scores 10 runs one game than hibernates for two weeks.
BA should have left Miggy on the bench. Miggy contributed a very disappointing at-bat. The same is true with Victor when he bounced into an inning ending double play
They make me sick. The whole lot of them.
“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Tigers 4 Rockies 0
There was a lot to like about this game and series.
- The Tigers won three in a row and swept the series at home, a place they’ve struggled all year.
- All three pitchers, Verlander, Porcello, and Sanchez had good outings.
- The offense was good.
- Sanchez made it through seven complete today and didn’t surrender a run.
- Miggy and Vmart look like they are getting their power back.
- Davis is looking good at leadoff.
Keep in mind, this series was a small sample, against a bad, depleted team but there really wasn’t much to complain about all weekend. I hope they can keep it up.
“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural
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Tigers 4 Dodgers 1
Impressive, is the best way to describe this win. Not only did Max break the string of crappy starts, the Tigers beat a pitcher that has dominated them, Zach Greinke.
In yesterday’s post, I asked for at least seven innings with no more that two runs allowed. Max did one better. He pitched seven completed and allowed only one run.
Another thing that makes this win impressive is that neither Miggy nor Victor were in the lineup. Victor still has an issue with his side and apparently, Miggy was just given a day off.
Nebraska told me that Brad Ausmus wanted to get DK in the lineup because he has hit Greinke well. Coming into the game DK was 3-8 against Greinke, hardly a large enough sample, but Donny went 2-3 with a big RBI.
What I’m happiest about today is the pitching. Max was great and Joba and Nathan were lights out. If Tigers starters can go seven innings a lot of the deficiencies can be covered up.
The Tigers go to Kansas City for weekend set-to with Royals. Depending on what team shows, the Tigers could have a nice lead going into the break.
“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Rays 6 Tigers 3
The Tigers fell to the Rays tonight, 6 to 3, evening the weekend series at one apiece.
The Tigers couldn’t overcome another bad start from Drew Smyly. Add to the bad starting pitching, two rally killing double plays, and you have a recipe for a loss. That’s exactly what the Tigers got.
I’m a little worried about Miggy. His batting average is .313, low for what we’ve been accustomed to from him, and he seems to be more streaky this year than in the past. He’ll have a three or four hit game then go hitless for a few games. I don’t think the Tigers are seeing the consistency at the plate that we’ve seen in the past. That being said, he is still one of the best hitters in the game.
Also, Victor left the game in the 8th. Preliminary reports say that he aggravated a strained back. Let’s hope he’s not out for too long.
Sanchez is on the hill tomorrow against Chris Archer.
“God I love baseball.” Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Astros 6 Tigers 4
It’s hard to complain about a 7-2 road trip.
The Tigers didn’t have the winning recipe today. Smyly was bad and Miggy and Victor were worse.
In fact, Miggy and Vmart were a combined 1-25 for the series. This is worst three game stretch I’ve ever seen from Miggy. The Tigers won’t be playing in November if he goes through too many stretches like this.
I hope it is just a short lived spell.
Don’t look now but Oakland is in town.
“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Make it 8 in a row Tigers beat Astros 3-2
Pitching and home runs gave the Tigers a 3-2 win over the Houston Astros and made it eight in a row for the TIgers.
Freeway Rick pitched 6 and 2/3. He allowed two earned runs on seven hits, a little high, he struck out five and walked two.
Ricky turned the game over Joba Chamberlain and Joe Nathan to close the game out.
What can I say about Joba, he continues to get it done, striking out the side in the 8th.
Joba is SMOKIN BALLS!
The Good:
- The Tigers got their eight in a row and 20th win of the season.
- Ricky put in another good outing.
- Joe Nathan got his seventh save.
- Joba continues to smoke balls!
- Miggy and Victor went deep.
- Rajai Davis stole his 12th base of the season and Don “DK” Kelly stole a base and got two hits.
The Bad:
- The Tigers managed only five hits but the Houston pitcher, Brad Peacock, had a lot to say about that. He pitched well for a bad team.
- Joe Nathan walked a runner with two outs and allowed two stolen bases but was able to strand the tying run at third.
The Ugly:
- Not much today or lately. The Tigers have been playing pretty clean and came away with another win in a close game.
Don’t look now but Freeway Rick is 5-1 on the season. Now if he can lower his ERA by a run he might make me look like Nostradamus.
Also, I liked Miggy’s homer the opposite way, he might be rounding into his MVP form.
Smyly pitches tomorrow afternoon as the Tigers for a four game sweep and ninth in a row.
“God I love baseball.” Roy Hobbs | The Natural
TIgers win 6th in a row beat Astros 2-0
The Tigers got excellent pitching and just enough offense to beat the Astros and Jarred Cosart 2-0 at Comerica Park.
The Good:
- Max was smokin balls. He pitched eight complete allowed no runs, on three hits, walked one and struck out nine.
- Nathan got his sixth save.
- The Tigers won their sixth in a row.
- Vmart came up big with a solo shot in the eight to give Nathan and Scherzer a two run cushion.
The Bad:
- The Tigers were baffled, for the most part, by Jarred Cozart but after their 26 run out burst over the weekend we’ll take it.
- The Tigers managed only six hits.
- VMart got caught looking for the first time in almost a year.
The Ugly:
- After looking like he was retuning to form, Miggy looked bad tonight at the plate. He was 0-4 with a K and really didn’t have many good swings.
A win is a win and the Tigers found a way to get it done. I can’t complain about six in a row.
I’m looking forward to Robby Ray’s start tomorrow. The Tigers, and especially Dave Dombrowski, really think a lot of this kid. Let’s see what he’s got.
“God I love baseball.” Roy Hobbs | The Natural
Flashin' Leather 