Game 2015.122: Rangers at Tigers

Last night may have been frustrating and disappointing, but you can’t say it wasn’t a classic 2015 Tigers game:

  • Pitching or hitting but not both: Justin Verlander easily pitched well enough to win, but once again was the tough luck guy, losing on a 1-earned run performance. Of course, the 2nd run was his fault, but it may not have made any difference. The offense was Miggy and a bunch of human fans. That and the next two categories below meant Cabrera pulled the rare feat of three doubles with no runs or RBI.
  • Bad base running: the Tigers got their 19th runner of the season thrown out at home, and one doubled off second. It was the same guy, and both instances were bad base running. Not so much the actual out at the plate; but Miggy had two very easy chances to tag and advance from 2nd, and failed to take them.
  • Double-Plays, of course: The Tigers have now grounded into a league-leading 118 DPs, and have a comfortable 13 DP lead in that category.
  • Bad umpiring: Justin was visibly upset for not getting calls on the corner, and I don’t blame him, since Colby Lewis was getting an extra 6 inches. In the JD at bat in the 9th, there were literally 5 pitches in the exact same spot, and 2 were called balls, and 3 were strikes. The replay guys weren’t any better, overturning a call at home, even though there was at best sketchy evidence, and leaving a bad call at 2nd, because hey, there has to be clear evidence.

Anyway, today is another day, and it’s hard not to root for journeyman Randy Wolf, who is getting his first Major League start in 3 years today, on his 39th birthday. Has he been around the block? Let’s just say Brad Ausmus has caught him.and managed him.

Today’s Clap for the Wolfman Lineup:

  1. Ian Kinsler, 2B
  2. Ty Collins, LF
  3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
  4. Victor Martinez, DH
  5. Julio Martinez, RF
  6. Nick Castellanos, 3B
  7. James McCann, C
  8. Jose Iglesias, SS
  9. Anthony Gose, CF

41 thoughts on “Game 2015.122: Rangers at Tigers”

  1. Baserunning is basically about paying close attention to whats going on…The Tigers are very poor in that area in general. Thats the biggest reason the are unquestionably the worst baserunnung team in baseball. Something Capt Smarty has even mentioned, although powerless to do anything about, on several occassions!..its the paying attention part that is the bigger problem.

  2. Yes, this Tigers’ baserunning this year is nearly driving me insane. You mention the attention part = very true. Altho Kinsler’s been nothing short of amazing with the bat lately, and true, he hasn’t had a baserunning gaffe in a while, I’d have to say that on a few occasions, he had been the poster-boy for being caught asleep at 1st.
    Will be fun watching Randy Wolf tonite; really hope he gets off to a good start. The guy is definitely sincere and wants to do well. So will he produce, or will he just be a “Sheep in Wolf’s clothing”?
    (Sorry about that —–that was terrible……….)

  3. Rangers have some nice announcers; they’re good to listen to. Nothing like you-know-who from Windy City Sox.

  4. Gose always does that. Tries to bunt for a base hit(and fails) with 1 or 2 outs.
    Would he have done that had he been up with 0 out, instead of McCann? I would hope so.

  5. Wow that is a brutal adjustment for Tiger fans, going from the arm of Cespedes to the arm of Collins. Although I guess you could say they are both unparalleled.

  6. How about Miggy with 5 hits and not only had he not scored…he has hardly even moved up a base with the no bash Martinez Bros flailing away!…..Victor is my nominee for “failure” of the year”

  7. In reality it looks like this isn’t going to be a good show no matter how Howlin’ Wolf plays, since the warmup band is Miggy and the Stiffs.

  8. As I doze off trying to watch the Tigers, I wonder: whatever happened to playing on Saturday afternoon? Only 3 day games in all of baseball.

  9. Well, except for 3rd inning, when nothing went right for him, it wasn’t that bad of an outing for The Big Bad Wolf.

  10. I can’t figure out why we boo Prince Fielder. I wish all of our guys put in the same effort he does, like running on routine ground outs.

    We should make the Tigers look at a lot of Yogi Berra at bats. As long as they are going to swing at bad pitches perhaps they can figure out how Yogi did it.

    I’m not sure what we expected from Wolf but I think he may have been better than expected. If David Price had started this game and gotten 18 outs in a row, we still would not be winning. We haven’t scored since Thursday. Another DP, another runner dies in scoring position.

  11. I wonder if 36 RBI out of the catcher position is a league record for “sucking”..for the year!

  12. Wow! Wolf comes out in 7th on 100-plus pitches. Is he another workhorse like Verlander, or is it just that we don’t have much options?

  13. And here comes Rajai to pinch-hit…does Brad know he strikes out every time he pinch-hits?

  14. Broken record: Rajai Davis = swinging K. If he attempts sac bunt here instead, he may also beat it out for hit, and starts potential rally. OR, because he’s fast, Rangers hurry throw, and throw it away.
    Sooooooo many things COULD happen. Instead……………………

  15. 4 runs …9 hits
    0 runs…8 hits
    Only the Tigers can do this over and over and over…Ausmus says theres nothing we could do about it!

  16. I’m getting a little sick of this season. Tigers release one of the best GMs in all of baseball, and continue with one of the least creative managers in baseball.

  17. #52…2 or under…postgame Assmus “you just have to tip your cap, they guy was filthy. There was nothing we could do”…
    THIS IS A RECOARDING!!!!…use tomorrow if needed!

  18. This just in from Capt Smarty after the game for all of us not nearly as smart as he is….and I quote, ” were not hitting the ball as good as we did in Chicago!.”…..” I don’t have an explanation for that!”..

    …thanks coach, we are all just a little dumber now knowing that!

  19. This just in from Capt Smarty after the game for all of us not nearly as smart as he is….and I quote, ” were not hitting the ball as good as we did in Chicago!.”…..” I don’t have an explanation for that!”..

    …thanks coach, we are all just a little dumber, for knowing that!

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