Well this series has had a lopsided game that we won, a lopsided game that we lost, a pitcher’s duel that we lost, now it’s time for a pitcher’s duel that we win. And we have just the guy for it, Justin Verlander. By the way, Justin says Happy Mother’s Day!
JV will have his work cut out for him, facing the dreaded Rookie Pitcher Guy who gives the Tigers so much trouble. This RPG is named Jarrod Parker, and he has been good, posting a 1.40 ERA and 1.09 WHIP in his young 4-start career.
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Yes, the Tigers are struggling offensively right now. Prince Fielder is in a 0-17 slump and counting. Miguel Cabrera just ended an 0-13. The 5th and 6th hitters have ranked at the bottom of the league all season. The Tigers can’t seem to find a second baseman who can bunt, much less hit .200.
But the credit for yesterday’s game has to be shared equally with Brandon McCarthy, who was brilliant. McCarthy is a good pitcher; last night he was very, very good. He had the Tigers guessing wrong all night. He froze Cabrera, Fielder, and Young in succession with 2-strike curve balls when they were obviously looking for fastballs.
And Fister was almost as good, after a bit of a shaky first inning. After the 1st inning he gave up 2 singles and 1 walk and had 8 strikeouts. He even kept Babe Inge under control. That’s 2 great outings in a row for Fister, which bodes well for the remainder of the season.
The difference in the game was the A’s put together 3 singles in the first, and the Tigers got runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out in the 5th–and struck out.
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Quote of the day: “We don’t do stupid stuff. At least we don’t try to.” -Jim Leyland
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Statistic of the day: Andy Dirks has had 0-2 counts 4 times so far this season. He is 4-4.
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Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Austin Jackson. Jackson has been a real spark this season. A well-rested Jackson joins fellow spark Andy Dirks in providing some top of the lineup hitting.
Today’s Really Due Lineup:
- Austin Jackson CF
- Andy Dirks LF
- Miguel Cabrera 3B
- Prince Fielder 1B
- Delmon Young DH
- Alex Avila C
- Brennan Boesch RF
- Jhonny Peralta SS
- Ryan Raburn 2B
sigh……we lose without K-burn yesterday………we can lose with him today?? why not Worth?…….just don’t let him bunt. I live in Florida now, bought a baseball subscription just so I could watch my Tiges…..but man, these guys are BORING!! if I could get a refund, I probably would……. 🙁
K-Bum strikes out on ball four ….. what else is new!!!!!
raburn…
Dirks, our best hitter of late, swings at a high 2-0 pitch following six consecutive balls. Five LOB after 2. THIS is why the Tigers are losing. They beat themselves.
This whole Raburn situation is beyond comical…
Looks like they’ve fixed that LOB problem.
Oh dear. Now Dirks is joining up with the R3L2O Fail Club.
ok JV, we got you your 1 run……now just pitch a shutout, and you win…….
shutout???……ain’t gonna be no stinkin’ shutout………the lead lasts not even 1 full batter….. 🙁
It think it freaked him out when we scored.
interesting stat: as of today there are only 11 AL players batting over .300 (for players w/ 105 or more AB’s)… and six of those players are on TEX (3) & BOS (3)
…which makes what Hamilton has done so far, even that more impressive
AJ, the lone Tiger on that list
this is likely Parker’s last inning, 97 pitches thru Avila
Is anyone else worried about a Mother’s Day Bullpen Blowup?
a gift from the A’s bullpen
so I see Dinky-Dirks is taking lessons from K-burn………should be the other way around
In case you didn’t see the Fox Infographic – through 33 games last year, the Tigers were 15-18 (my comment last night reflected their record after a 5-0 streak), and were slightly behind this year’s team in terms of Runs per game, Team BA, Team ERA and Opp. Average.
We’ll be alright.
The fact that the 2012 Tigers are one game better than at this time last year is excellet news. They will therefore finish the 2012 season with 96 wins.
JV 104 pitches thru 7 – why Benoit?
and to mr benoit, why a lead off walk to a guy batting .187?
It’s all leading up to a pinch-hit Inge walkoff.
Why Benoit? ….. they were showing on the Oakland feed that there was a minor problem with the index finger on JV’s pitching hand.
yes I can’t remember exactly, but the Tigers were only a couple [maybe 6] games over .500 at the All-Star break last year…..then they caught fire……..
on another note………Benoit walks the leadoff man………….grrrr………. 🙁
as poor as Tiger hitting has been lately, A’s 6-9 & 1-2 hitters tonight batting; .086, .187, .160, .145, .211 & .077 respectively (pun intended)
Tigers can’t buy a bunt.
Even with a pinch-bunter, LOL. Why do they bother??
Jackson on base 4 of 5 times tonight… can’t expect much more from your leadoff guy
That was an interesting inning: an actual Raburn hit, 2 failed bunts, a GIDP, and we still managed to score a run.
on to CWS for 2 games: Danks-Smyly & Peavy-Scherzer
then back to DET for 2 against the Twinkies – then 3 against the Pirates
time to add to the W column
Cleveland lost today …. so we are only 1 game out. When, not if, we go on a streak ….. we will leave the rest of the division in the dust!
A quick look at the standings shows that over the last ten games there is no team in the AL that has gone better than 6-4 (Tigers are 5-5), so one could argue that all teams are scrambling at the moment, which maybe lessens the pain of recent Tiger’s struggles somewhat.
On the other hand, the Tigers should be fattening up on the likes of SEA, OAK and KC, which they certainly haven’t been taking advantage of.