I was at Globe Life Park yesterday for as long as my three year old would let us stay; but it was long enough to watch Fulmer dissect the Rangers bats with surgical precision. There were quite a few hard hit balls (the Beltre single off the wall was spanked), and how that Choo ball stayed in the park while VMart’s found the wall is still beyond me, but let’s take a second to appreciate a real milestone in the kid’s career.
The fact that my brother and I called a handful of strikeout pitches (Odor’s swinging K on a high FB, and then a slider down and in come to mind), strengthens just how amazing the performance was. The Rangers hitters likely knew those K pitches were coming, and still were helpless against them.
Taking 2/3 from a very good Rangers team, with back to back shutouts to boot, is nearly enough to wipe away the pain for a 5 game losing streak.
Hey, it’s mid-August, and we are right in the middle of things. The AL East could swallow up three playoff spots, so let’s keep our eyes set on Cle.
Oh, and people can’t help but do a Kinsler/Fielder comparison down here. Safe to say that the move worked out for us. Pretty cool that Prince ended up with as many career HRs as big-Cecil. Prince’s retirement presser was a real tear-jerker; best of luck to what comes next for him.
Tonight’s game will be on ESPN.
Baseball-Reference game preview here.
1. 2B Ian Kinsler
2. CF Tyler Collins
3. 1B Miguel Cabrera
4. DH Victor Martinez
5. RF J.D. Martinez
6. LF Justin Upton
7. 3B Casey McGehee
8. C James McCann
9. SS Dixon Machado
Lets see about 20 of the 25 players on your team hurt. Does anyone work on physical conditioning with the Tigers.
Whitey Ford once told us he ran 150-200 windsprints between every start. I have been to Tigers spring training..I saw Verlander run 4 one day.Cabrerra ran 2 and quit..
Right after Maybin went on the DL I did one of my rants about the Tigers injuries and their training and medical staff. It seems the Washington Nationals had similar problems last year and they replaced everybody at the end of the year. They changed people and their approach and have had had a much healthier year. I think it’s time for the Tigers to do the same thing.
At the recent Ranger series, we sat about six rows up on the third base side between the dugout and foul pole. About 15 minutes before the first pitch of every game a trainer worked on V-Mart right in front of us. All work was on stretching his legs into various contortions. Lots of pretzel moves and much intensity.
Meanwhile in all three games Ranger fans have gone from humorous/friendly kidding and ribbing to being just rude to their ballpark guests. While I’ve been to my share of road games and have seen a lot, I have never been uncomfortable at a game. A guy a few rows down from me was grilling Collins on his technique as threw pre-game catch with J.D. All he knew about Collins was his number and name on the back, but he was letting him have it and questioning his throws, form, etc. I told Tyler I had his back and would be glad to shut up this guy and the comments ceased. When done Tyler tossed me the ball who I passed onto a five-year who was wearing a Cabrera shirt. Meanwhile Collins is from Texas and a bit later during the rain delay I learned his Mother and family were a few rows up from us. I am sure they didn’t appreciate this guy; we saw/heard lots like him over the three games. Meanwhile the back-to-back shutouts spoke for themselves.
Good story. You must console yourself imagining how that guy felt after the Rangers were shut out two consecutive days!
Tonight is pretty close to a ‘must win’ for DET. The JV – Duffy matchup should be a good one…Duffy has been KC’s best SP lately.
Tomorrow its Sanchez v. Ventura, which is NOT a good SP matchup if you’re a DET fan. A sad reflection that waiting for Pelfrey to return in order to move Sanchez out of the rotation…though it doesn’t appear Pelfrey’s back issue is going to resolve itself anytime soon.
The young guns (Fulmer, Boyd & Norris) need to be great in order for DET to even have a shot at the ALC crown…and that’s asking a lot in Aug & Sept from young pitchers