Detroit Tigers, 79-70, 2nd place, 2 back.
You can’t win them all.
Even the very best teams lose 40% of the time; that’s baseball. The Tigers took 2 games out of 3 from a very successful Oakland A’s team, which all-in-all was a successful series. And yet…to look so bad losing, at this point in the season, is not encouraging.
Lynn Henning is perhaps stating the obvious when he said the main weakness the Tigers have is their gloves. It is hard to tell how last night would have turned out with good defense, but the impact defense had on the game was certainly far beyond the 1 unearned run in the box score.
Buster Olney has a bit of a different take on the topic. Yes, the Tiger defense is awful, but the players have been supportive of each other–notably the pitchers have never publicly complained. Perhaps Jim Leyland deserves some credit for the team unity.
Well it’s all Twins and Royals from here on out.
Tonight Rick Porcello will try to break a personal 6-start winless streak, and last beyond the 4th inning. Whether he can or not will probably have something to do with Denard Span (11-for-29 against Porcello). Samuel Deduno will try the Tigers again, after lasting a personal best 8 innings while beating Detroit during the last series between the teams.
No word yet on whether Max Scherzer will or will not make his Sunday start.
Stat of the Day: Detroit leads the AL in first-pitch hitting at bats with 666. (Their results are a bit above average: the average OPS for first-pitch at bats is .884, the Tigers come in at .899).
Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Alex Avila. Alex will try to avoid another bout with Prince Fielder, and try to pick up from the hot-hitting Gerald Laird (.364 over last 2 weeks).
Today’s Alex Is Back Lineup:
- Austin Jackson CF
- Quintin Berry LF
- Miguel Cabrera 3B
- Prince Fielder 1B
- Delmon Young DH
- Andy Dirks RF
- Jhonny Peralta SS
- Alex Avila C
- Omar Infante 2B
Are Tigers pitchers exceptional in not publicly complaining about the crappy defense behind them?
It’s impossible to compare, since other staffs don’t have the requisite crappiness to work with.
Maybe they do take after their manager and, like him, are just a bunch of happy-go-lucky fellers.
This game seems about as likely as a Delmon Young sacrifice bunt.
I wonder when this rain-out will be made up?
Game is officially toast, day-night doubleheader on Sunday.
Hear me now believe me later: 87-75 is going to get this done. And then a fluke playoff series win and Leyland’s back until the End of Days.
Changing your tune from earlier this year, eh?
I think stephen is being facetious, or ironic, or both.
No, just being realistic. The Tigers sorta suck. They would already be playing prospects in other divisions. They are maybe the 12th best team in baseball. But I think the White Sox spit the bit because they don’t have enough good players. The Tigers are still the most disappointing team in MLB after Angels. Eventually, fans will get the fact with expanded playoffs that like the NBA simply making the playoff doesn’t mean you haven’t underachieved. But baseball fans and management ain’t there yet. Tigers make the playoffs the Detroit papers will have special sections and all that crap. That means the groundswell to replace Leyland will be strangled. He will come back. Until the end of days was ironic but perhaps accurate.