I love seeing guys make their debuts. I despise seeing people overreact one way or the other to a single start. That said, I’m optimistic that Andy Oliver is up to the task. I’ve been high on Oliver for quite some time and it doesn’t surprise me that he has made it to the big leagues in just his first full professional season. The Tigers have been aggressive with him. I am surprised it is coming before the All Star Break.
Oliver will be opposed by Kris Medlen.
As an aside I did a Q & A with Tomahawk Talk previewing the series which can be read here.
Comments
51 responses to “Game 2010.072: Tigers at Braves”
Whether Porcello gets his groove back in Toledo or not, it would be nice to see Oliver do well… having a quality lefty starter and an insurance policy (should one of the other starters need a break or replacement) down the stretch could be crucial.
…but let’s be reasonable when it comes to expectations, making the jump from AA to facing a division leading team is quite a leap… as evidenced by Porcello’s first outing in Toledo, 8 innings, 1 hit, 1 unearned run, 1BB, 3 K’s.
Oliver is slated to go against MN on Wednesday as well – two consecutive starts against division leading teams. We’ll see what he is made of. After that, who knows.
It does seem a bit fast to have him up, but might as well have him get his feet wet first before going against the Twins, which with this series coming up being a key series for us may be part of the reason why he is being called up now. Nice to see we have a lefty option against them–if the D-Train could be effective against them, Oliver should be, if he doesn’t pull a Sborz/Figaro with Atlanta, that is.
I’m looking forward to seeing this kid pitch even if it’s just for one or a two starts. He might be a little raw, but he should be less painful to watch than Dontrelle Willis ever was. I expect Porcello to be be back pretty fast.
I wonder how he is with a bat.
Nice way to start the game, with a Run Boesched In
Guillen failure to turn that easy DP gave the Braves that run… and added a lot of pitched to Oliver’s pitch count.
And that was his 2nd muffed play of the game already, whatever he had for dinner tonight, he should lay off tomorrow
And the bright side, the Twins also just gave up their 1-0 lead and are likewise tied 1-1
Even better, make that 1-2
Sox are getting scary.
the kids holding his own…of course it would be a bit much to ask the Tigs to put up a 5 spot to help the kid out
It’s a bit much to ask considering they are facing Cy Medlen
Where was that McCann pitch? 3-2 grooved fastball? He is a fine hitter so no hanging your head low giving up a dinger to him–nice to see Oliver bounce back and finish out the inning.
Well he bunts just like most of the Tiger regulars…..not a big priority in the tiger system
the Braves are 1 for 2 RISP the Tigers are 1-6 so far . Now that is the story of the season!
Jackson with a no-no thru 7 for the D-Backs ..I hope I didn’t jinks him
Chipper is closing in on 1500 RBI while Inge is closer to 1500 strikeouts…..but I’ll bet Inge is POG way more often than Chipper
Another A.O. K
CY———————- was just too much today…lights out….nothing we could do…(fill in the blank again and again and again)
E Jackson still has no-hitter two outs in the 9th (130 pitches, 7 BBs)
twinkies still losing to the mets 5-2 going into the 9th
Just hearing his voice, makes me miss him all over again. Tremendous accomplishment for him. Still wish he was a Tiger.
C’mon you guys, two measly runs and we probably go to bed in 1st place
…another loss for the twinkies…5-2
hey Maggs and Miggy way to work those 3 pitches into 2 outs
E Jackson no-hitter in the 9th two outs 140+ pitches
When is the last time a pitcher threw 150 pitches in one game?
E. Jackson just did, and threw a no hitter against the Rays… CONGRATS EJAX! what’s up with all the no-hitters and perfect games this year?
Congrats………..Edwin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
when the current Tigers give their fans nothing to cheer about, there’s always the ex-Tigers to cheer about… i always liked Jackson – good guy… deserves it… what a work-horse.
Yeah, teams .5 games out of first at the end of June are always hard to cheer for.
Rod Allen said, “Two great managers here tonight…” I know one is Bobby Cox; who else is in the ballpark tonight?
the other would be the concession ‘manager’, Frank Murphy on the mezzanine level.
oh and I thought they were talking about Lamont!
why did I think the Tiger lack of offense would do exactly what they did or didn’t do today….they must have early dinner reservations somewhere like they usually do first game in a new city….pathetic attempt to try and win a game!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oliver was very impressive. I didn’t know he threw that hard. His mechanics looked nice also.
Why do all of you hate this team so much? Nothing to cheer about – what about their second round draft pick last year making a great debut? Why is it that the Tigers offense is awful but the Braves could only manage two stinking runs against a guy who was struggling in college last year.
Yes, the Tigers haven’t been as good as a typical team at scoring a runner from third with less than 2 outs. The league average is 50%. The Tigers are at 46%. If they were average they would have scored exactly six more runs this year. Yes, it probably would have made the difference in a win at some point in the season, but it isn’t nearly as bad as it is often made out to be.
I understand lamenting and comiserating but jeez. Look around. This isn’t a great team but they aren’t bad either. They have an MVP caliber player, a ROY caliber player. An ace. Two comeback player of the year candidates. Two players competing for the batting title, and one of the best bullpens in the game. That doesn’t exactly suck.
Thank you. This place has been getting awful lately.
Holy crap Bilfer, I just ran the same numbers myself. 6 runs over the course of 72 games is once every 12 games. They have played 19 1 run games going 10-9. So even rounding up where the Tigers lost a run in two of these games. One was a win hence the 50/50.
Therefore the “unacceptable” runner on 3rd less than 2 outs Tigers percentage has cost the Tigers the chance at winning exactly 1 game the whole season. I say chance because you still have to win the game in extras.
1 game in baseball equates to about 4 minutes of a football season. Getting this fired up and incedulous after every game is like making the same proclamations after every drive in a football season.
I agree! And I’ve even been on vacation so don’t be blaming me aka Chief Dark Cloud. C’mon people, Inge’s OPS+ is ALMOST at league average. Let us dance until the dawn.
I do not think that this team, the manager, or the general manager are infallible, but the criticisms here are sometimes so off base it just seems like haters-being-haters-just-for-the-sake-of-hating.
The Tigers bunt quite a bit for an AL team. Look it up and quit being a hater.
Haven’t posted in a while, but thanks Bilfer. Your blot is a daily read and I always try to get a pulse of the people in your comments section. It is, however, pretty obnoxious to see people hate. If you hate the Tigers so much, then stop watching. There are a million other things to do than watch a game and complain. I know it could be worse, it could be freep or mlive comments. That said, its a 162 game season. Teams lose. Then they win.
Here’s to the present and the future. Cheers!
Much of it is in jest. It’s hard to say that anyone who actually follows every one of 162 games, like many on this list do, hates the team. Just part of the analysis. Sounds a little worse when we lose. It will be better tomorrow. That is, unless Ol Smokey runs out the Three Dog Night roadies instead of a normal, logical lineup and puts Milt Wilcox on the mound. I’d put it at 50/50.
Amen to that… i didn’t get the pollyanna directive memo declaring anything resembling criticism to be off limits when directed at the Tigers.
In addition to supporting your team, pointing out their flaws, questionable decisions and uncomfortable stats are part of being a fan… sure some of us tend to highlight negatives more than positives, but i’m with Kevin in that most of it comes from a basis of irony and/or humor (or an attempt at it anyway) and from fans that want their team to win and get better. For me, i appreciate the fact that the Tiger fan base includes both ‘glass half full’ and ‘glass half empty’ fans – both sides need an occasional dose of reality… so Bilfer’s comments are also welcome.
Bilfer, we get frustrated watching guys make first pitch outs in the late innings of close games. We get frustrated at the team’s lack of ability to hit a routine flyball to CF when there is a man on third and less than two out. We get frustrated watching Brandon Inge repeatedly take half-hearted check swings on an almost daily basis. It is quite the opposite of hating the team. We love the team and want them to win so badly that ALL flaws are magnified, and discussed here among like-minded fans (i.e. fans who want the Tigers to win but can express their frustration through dark humor/sarcasm).
Got back from the game a bit ago, a few observations.
1. Oliver was good tonight, a few loud outs and besides the couple string of hits in the second this was a gem. He works pretty slow, wondered if anybody else noticed this.
2. Damon and Inge looked horrible at the plate today, horrible. Avila hit that ball a ton to straightaway, he also had a rocket that he pulled foul. He is seeing the ball well right now.
3. Bonine did not look good probably continued due to rust.
4. Jackson didn’t stand a chance of hitting Wagner.
Tigers fans represented well tonight, should be able to get some hits and runs off kawakami tomorrow, hopefully max continues his good outings. I’ll be at the game tomorrow again, I’ll update tomorrow night.
I thought it was a great game. Carlos made some bad plays but he’ll make up for it. Just didn’t do it tonight. Oliver is extremely mature for his age and looked dominating out there.
Wagner looked like he could have blown away any team tonight.
1. I noticed that Oliver is a bit of a slow worker, especially with runners on base. He did a very nice job overall though, he’s got a very good fastball and a decent slider. His changeup is still a work in progress. He throws strikes, which is nice to see.
2. I thought there were quite a few guys that had a bad approach tonight, they seemed to be over-aggressive and swung at some very borderline pitches. They helped Medlen out a lot, I thought.
3. Bonine has been unbelieveable all year, he’s entitled to give up a run now and then.
4. To echo Kathy’s comment, nobody stood a chance of hitting Wagner in that one. Pretty impressive display of power pitching.
Forgot to mention the good defense work that the left side had tonight. I was sitting behind Inge and that backhand play he made was sick.
Great, I just got kicked out of the fine drinking establishment I had been enjoying, and this a mere 20 minutes into my Inge Dance…and dawn still so far away…
Three stars:
1) Coleman 9:27pm
2) Stormin Norman $ 10:27pm
3) Coleman 12:49am