Well that was a relief.
Some of our commentators suggested that it was time for some veteran leadership. As if on cue, Torii Hunter emerged before the game decked out in the dreaded Zubaz, and proclaimed that despite all the Twitter flak, there was no Zubaz Curse. “I was in my Zubaz before the game, just to let them know that it had nothing to do with anything.”
And thus was the curse broken. Joba was relieved, since he started the whole Zubaz thing and was taking the brunt of the criticism. “Torii wore a full Zubaz uni [pregame]. So for everybody on Twitter, it’s not the Zubaz. Don’t knock the Zubaz.” (Quotes courtesy of Jason Beck tweets).
I suspect Torii was just having a teammate’s back here (isn’t that part of what leadership is about?), but the Tigers finally had a good start, good hitting, and good bullpen work, and Hunter himself went 3-4 with a home run.
The Tigers look to make it two in a row tonight, and clinch their first series win since they were in Boston. Eugenio Suarez will be making his first start at shortstop; Alex Avila will be given a cautionary rest (he passed the concussion test), and Bryan “Wheels” Holaday will get the start. Player to watch: Nick Castellanos, who has had two consecutive three-hit games.
Tonight’s Suarez Soiree Lineup:
- Davis LF
- Kinsler 2B
- Cabrera 1B
- Martinez DH
- Hunter RF
- Castellanos 3B
- Jackson CF
- Holaday C
- Suarez SS
Comments
48 responses to “Game 2014.58: Tigers 8, Red Sox 6”
Lester with already 54 pitches through just the 2nd…nice to see an opposing pitcher with a high (early) pitch count for a change…
Jason Beck posts: “Holaday now tied for 6th in AL in bunt hits. Everybody else on the leaderboard would be considered speedy”
…a lot more positives can happen when a hitter puts the ball in play as opposed to a K. One would think sub-.220 hitters would open their minds to this concept.
welcome to the bigs Mr Suarez…and LH hitting SS… good start…
God bless you Saurez! May you have many more.
I hope you hit many more so I can learn how to spell your first name.
Just call him Su.
Whatever they did with Casty..I am all for it the dude is hitting!
Ordering my Suarez jersey now.
This win is a must-win for my sanity. Probably much less important in the Tigers’ clubhouse.
SS Su is AOK!
You know the most impressive thing Su has done all day , considering he has done alot .he actually took a 3-2 pitch that bounced up there for a walk Davis..Hunter..Jackson. Avila all would gave swung and missed
Uh oh
Ausmus isn’t any better at managing his “aces” than Leyland was. Scherzer should have been gone after the 6th.
Scherzer has not been good today. A quality start from another pitcher other than Smyly every now and again would be nice.
I agree, as of late, the 4th and 5th starter has been Scherzer and JV…in that order…
…unless Scherzer gets back to ’13 form, I wonder if the thought crosses his mind about not signing DET’s generous/substantial recent contract offer
Or the time before, or the time before, or the time before. His last quality start was May 16th.
And the play of the game just might he Max talking Smarty into letting him face Ortiz…Coke was in the pen and was coming in to face Poppi…Sox got 1 …would have gotten 3….
First time Tigers scored 8 runs since that Al/Nathan disaster in Cleveland.
…this BOS – DET is starting to look vaguely familiar
hauntingly familiar
Foeget the schedule…can we just play Boston every day!
The BOBs..8 hits…4 runs…3 rbi….that might be beyound our research dept!!!
Seems that Joe Blow is returning to form.
Nathan’s still a “Tiger Killer”.
Brilliant shift
Hey Joe…..heres a novel idea…1 out, 2 out then 3 out!!!!!!!!
Can anyone explain why Nathan is pitching tonight? Didn’t he pitch last night? Don’t we need him available for tomorrow?
no…yes…no
We’ve got to “get him going.”
Yeh …. right out of town.
I realize that assumes he’s the closer still. He’s got a legit 7+ ERA. This has got to end.
why not leave Chamberlain in for the 9th?
Every right fielder in baseball catches that foul ball!!!…defensive replacement !!!!
didn’t see the game, but saw that foul-ball-fail by Hunter last night w/2 outs in the 9th… pretty sad, especially considering the context of the game (and who was on the mound)
two older DET players who (this year) are certainly not re-living past strengths: Hunter on defense, and Nathan on the mound… and i guess if he were ‘older’, one could lump JV into that category
Get him the hell out of there!!!!!!!!!!!
BTW – coming into this game, Verlander had a higher WHIP than Nathan. Let that sink in.
Piece of cake!!!
Closer Clown survives.
Perhaps Ausmus is smarter than all of us.
Sunday night’s post-game “well, usually we’d go to Nathan there in the save situation, but since he pitched Fri and Sat, and no off-day on Monday, I felt it best to let Joba come in and nail down the 4-3 win. But Nathan is still our guy (wink).”
sure “a win is a win”, but what was an impressive win (offensively anyway) was tainted a bit in the 9th
Ausmus’ handling of Nathan recently reminds me of JL’s persistence with Valverde – I’m not grasping the logic
Aces must throw 115-125 pitches per game no matter what, the 8th-inning guy pitches the 8th inning, the closer pitches the 9th inning, etc. They have defined roles, and dammit that is what they are gonna do.
Nathan is now officially worse than Coke. So now we have two guys taking up space in the bullpen that you can’t afford to hand the ball to.
Not trying to defend Nathan but once again if we play solid D he was out of the inning again…
After 2 hits and a wild pitch though.
Castellanos became the first Tigers rookie to have three straight three-hit games since Rick Peters in 1980
You have a future in the Research Department.
For some perspective on a Mgr’s handling of his pitching staff – last night i watched the tail end of the CWS – LAA game. CWS’ LHP Sale breezed through LAA lineup thru 7 inning (allowing only 3 singles).
Sale starts the 8th with a 100 pitch count and CWS leading 5-0 – gives up two hits and a run, then an error (that could have been a DP), then another hit, bases loaded. Trout coming up – Ventura leaves him in… Trout hits a 3-2 changup over CF fence – grand slam, tie game. Ventura brings in Petrinka, w/1.49 ERA, gets two outs then gives up 3 hits, LAA take the lead 6-5. And that’s how it ended.
The moral: this type of sh*t happens often with other teams and other Mgrs, its just more magnified when it happens to the team you’re following.
potential added bonus: Sale’s confidence may be a little shaken, as he pitches game 4 of DET’s series in CHI beginning tomorrow.
What I take from that example is that Ventura is no better at handling a pitching staff than Ausmus. Because he stuck with his “ace” too long, doesn’t make it OK for Smokey Jr. to do so. It’s managing by the rote role-play method rather using the facts on the field. You are undoubtedly correct that this happens regularly with other teams as well. However, as I see it, the moral is (or should be): pay attention to what is going on, don’t play favorites; if the guy is gassed, get him out of there no matter what his name/fame happens to be. Sure, the bullpen may collapse, but in general I believe that you are better off with a fresh pitcher rather than sticking with a tired one who is going through the opposing batting order for the fourth time. And especially if he is playing Judy to the other team’s Punch, pulling the plug should be a no-brainer. I’m perfectly happy to see other managers misuse their pitching staffs, but I don’t want mine doing so. After eight years of Leyland, this is a particular sore point with me.
I’m with you on this Vince…