Game 2011.94: White Sox at Tigers

Well, there are two ways to look at last night’s loss.

One, this is a sign of the apocalypse.  With all of their recent 2nd half struggles, last night was a harbinger of things to come.

  • Our ace was beat up for 4 ER in 6 innings, the first time in 10 games that he hasn’t gone at least 7 innings.
  • Our bullpen posted a 9 ERA and 2.67 WHIP while striking out none in 3 innings.
  • Raburn and Inge were a combined 1-5 with 4 LOB.
  • Avila looked as confused as ever at the plate going 0-3 with 2 Ks.
  • Raburn had a bad error which led to an unearned run.

On the other hand, it’s just one game.  Lots of baseball left, and the Tigers should be in the thick of a pennant race for the next 2 and a half months.  JV’s worst outing in recent history was a bloop single or squeezed strike call away from another dominant outing.

So which one is it?  I really liked JV’s reaction after the game – “It happens,” he said afterward. “It’s just one game. You shake it off and move forward.”  But it’s hard to ignore the  past, writes Bob Wojnowski.

On to the good news – Carlos Guillen and Al AlB were activated last night (Worth and Perry down), and Guillen will bat 7th today.  If he can hit for an average OPS+ and field the balls that come to him, that will be worth a win or two right there.

Apparently Ozzie Guillen gave this pep talk before the game last night –  “There are a lot of rumors out there you are going to get traded. Well if you don’t play well, of course you are going to get traded. This is baseball. This is a business. If you don’t play up to your potential … you’ll be out of here.”  It worked.

A Jax still out of the lineup with a sore wrist, I’ve seen DL mentioned in a few places.  Though at this point in time it would be retroactive to last weekend.  And Kelly starting again at 3rd.  Looks like Inge has officially lost that starting job.

1. Dirks, CF
2. Boesch, LF
3. Ordonez, RF
4. Cabrera, 1B
5. Martinez, DH
6. Peralta, SS
7. Guillen, 2B
8. Avila, C
9. Kelly, 3B

8 thoughts on “Game 2011.94: White Sox at Tigers”

  1. So….at what point is our offense going to wake up from their All Star break nap?

  2. Well, this is looking like a typical 2nd half collapse by the Tigers. Is there anything else new under the sun?

    1. I hate to agree with you after only 2 games, but it’s certainly not looking like the opposite.

      1. The offense is crap and the bullpen isn’t worth a darn. Isn’t that usually the start of the 2nd half collapse?

  3. It was just another game. Win or lose, the outcome of one game doesn’t determine the result of any other game. Any 2nd half collapse theories, are just really bad theories.

    Just relax and take one game at a time.

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