Detroit is under .500 again for only the second time this season (the other being the short stint between Tuesday’s DH). Scherzer took two tough losses last week, when he lost a no hitter in the 6th on Matt Joyce’s HR and ultimately took the loss opposite Garza’s no-no, and then he had a 6 1/3, 9 hit, 1 ER effort versus Boston that the Red Sox ultimately won in the 9th on Big Papi’s bases clearing double. Still, Scherzer has been very encouraging as of late with, with 7 quality starts in his last 10.
A win for Garcia would time him for the team lead at 11. In his career, he is 18-6 with a 3.74 ERA vs. the Tigers, with an 8-3 mark at Comerica. Are we ever going to find a pitcher whose splits against the Tigers are worse than his career averages?
Game time is 1:05p Eastern.
Lineup:
Jackson CF
Rhymes 2B
Damon DH
Cabrera 1B
Boesch (are you kidding me) RF
Peralta SS
Inge 3B
Kelly LF
Laird (and his .508 OPS starting against a righty) C
Avila’s OPS v a righty: .639
Laird’s OPS v a righty: .539
Incredibly, Laird has negative splits, he’s worse against lefties.
I like the way Sherzer is pitching, too bad gets no help from our “offense”. Hope he can solidify the #2 spot in the rotation the rest of this season and next year.
Wow. Raburn makes it a game.
Exciting, but after seeing the top of the 9th, it’s hard not to feel like that home run should’ve won this game. Hopefully we can pull it out.
lol, raburn.
All the Sox fans around the office here are pulling their hair out over Jenks defacating in the bed again. It makes me smile.
Friggen eh Valverde…
The competiveness of this team is inexcusable. Leyland and DD should be sent out of town for this. Every season, a 2nd half colaspe. And this one looks to be the worst one for these losers.
Calm down. Yeah, they lost 4 straight in Cleveland as a healthy team (inexcuseable) so they may have been collapsing anyway, but did you really expect them to win games against the toughest part of their schedule with the lineups they have to run out there now? No Guillen, Inge, or Maggs, and Boesch was going to cool off from his ridiculously hot start. This team wasn’t that good to begin with, it’s frankly a miracle they were in first place at the AS break. They are what we thought they were at beginning of the season, a .500 club. They may finish a bit below that thanks to all the injuries, but it’s not far off from what they really are.
I had them down for 82-80 at the start, but the way things are going now, a 72-90 finish isn’t out of the question. It would be the perfect opportunity to get rid of Leyland, but strangely enough, the worse the team does, the less responsibility ends up resting on his shoulders. The dopey lineups (when they were healthy too) and frequent incomprehensible in-game decisions will be forgotten or ignored, and injuries, rookies having trouble adjusting, team makeup, etc., etc. will be trotted out as the reasons for another failed season. He truly is the Teflon Manager.
SELL
SELL what?
We’re done. It’s over.
The players, Shane. This team is going nowhere but down. DD is going to have to start over. No one will want to play for Detroit because they are not contenders.
When BB was hitting, he seemed a lot more aggressive. I think the coaching staff, whether it be Lloyd or Ole Smokey, decided he needed to take more walks. Now it seems like every at-bat starts 0-2. His bat speed seems fine, his mechanics seem fine. I think he needs to go back to being a hacker. I much prefer a .340 hitter that rarely walks, to a .100 hitter that somewhat rarely walks. Of course, keep in mind that the .340 hitter we saw was getting lucky, and pitchers hadn’t figured him out yet. Also keep in mind the .100 hitter is getting unlucky, and pitchers have figured him out. A little patience is required…as long as this slump doesn’t Sheltonize him.
JC, he’s alread had that done to him. I would have sent him to Toledo weeks ago. With Carlos coming back, maybe they will.
I don’t know that sending him to Toledo at this point would make much difference, given that I don’t believe there is much left to the Hens season anyway. However, sitting him for a few games (and I don’t mean just one once in a while or the off-day) makes sense. He certainly isn’t hitting his way out of the slump, so maybe just sitting and thinking about it for a few games would be worth a try – thinking while hitting might actually be the problem. Put Frazier out there for 4 or 5 games in a row. They have nothing to lose.
We disagree on this that’s for sure. I think he’s damaged good at this point and you can blame JL for that. But, that’s just my opinion.
No, they don’t have anything to lose. It’s all done. Probably end up 4th.
I’m with coach Jim. I saw some of the game on the internet the other night and Boesch’s mechanics are allright–he is flexing his wrists a little too much before the pitch is delivered, though–and his bat speed and swing look great still. It may very well be his approach. Leyland said that as long as Boesch continues to hack and not think, i.e. see ball, hit ball, he would be fine. Well, it does look like he is hesitant now. As a result his trigger/hitch into his swing is a fraction off which means he is late to the pitches. Plus, I did not see any first pitch strikes in his at-bats. Pretty easy fix–Lloyd, let him hack, but tell him to lay off any first pitch that is not waist high or lower, and no hacking at deuces first pitch. Terrible slump of course–heck, even Laird could not bat this poorly over the amount of bats BB has stunk it up. But a slump necessarily implies that it will end, hopefully sooner rather than later. In the meantime, if Miggy sees anything to hit from any pitcher, that pitcher could be on the late bus to his team’s respective AAA club that very night!
Rugburn sure made a great play at 2nd, had a great HR, made the last out. The last out was the sad part.