34-28, 1st place, 2.5 games up, 3-7 last 10, 1-0 last 1.
Tigers return home from a quick rain shortened three game set in Chicago to face the Twinkies for three.
I’ll be honest. Last night’s Scherzer shutout wasn’t as enjoyable as it should have been, mostly because we still need 10 more of those in a row to get back to where we were mid-May. Couple that with my new Pavlovian response to “closer situation”, and I could barely listen to good ol’ Dan D. But the Tigers win as they are inclined to do every third day, and hope re-springs.
Smyly v. Kyle Gibson tonight
Sanchez v. Deduno tomorrow at 4:08
Porcello v. Nolasco Sunday at 1:08
Bryan Holaday has been doing everything right as of late – hitting, calling good games, not throwing the ball into left field, but unfortunately he bats right handed, so we may not see him until Monday. I know that it’s easy to point heavy blame at Ausmus right now, so I’ll go ahead and do it. Where is the creativity and reason? Where’s the fire? Where’s the rational thinking? Yes, we’re running more, but that’s b/c we have those assets now. I’m still seeing rather traditional managing – not what I was expecting.
Tonight’s [insert name here]’s Due Lineup:
1. Kinsler, 2B
2. Jackson, CF
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Martinez, DH
5. Martinez, RF
6. Kelly, LF
7. Castellanos, 3B
8. Avila, C
9. Romine, SS
Comments
47 responses to “Game 2014.63: Twins 2, Tigers 0”
It’s Smyly’s birthday today. I think the lineup was a prank gift.
I wondered about that, too. I guess the exploding golf balls and fake dog turds were sold out.
Ya gotta play your reserves. To keep ’em fresh don’t ya know.
Jam out Mr. Smyly!
Good thing too, we couldn’t afford any more runs considering we’re facing Cy Gibson.
Twins have drawn 246 base on balls…The Tigers have drawn about 10…….”we don’t need no stinkin walks!!!!”
In order to walk yohave to not swing 4 times and that ain’t gonna happen much!
Su….sits just to sit….what does a 22 year old need to “rest”.for especially when he is going good.
Replacing Holaday and Suarez with Romine and Avila is just plain cruel!!!
no kidding. that call is baffling to me. 22 y.o. needs to rest so we can play the guy belongs in A ball.
Seems like there was another Tiger manager a while back that did this. Who was that now, hmmmm?
Hunter doesn’t make that catch that JD just made.
Smyly and Little Ricky Porcello are the same age but they took different routes to the MLB. Smyly to college and Little Ricky quickly thru the minors. While both are different types of pitchers, which do you think is the better route?
College isn’t for everyone…and it takes great discipline to make it thru the low minors on your own…so I think it depends on the individual player
Blind squirrel alert.
double alert
We finally get something from the slug offense an Miggy kills BOTH rallys….time to watch hockey!
Cy Gibson, the latest bum off the street isn’t giving us much of a chance!!…maybe if he threw a few ubderhand!
Gibson is actually pretty good and projected s a top of the rotation starter for the twins. 4 times this season (now 5) he has allowed 0 runs in 6 innings or more. Other times not so much, but when he is on, he is very good.
Cap tipping +1
The squirrel had his glasses on tonight.
Kinsler has been useless at the plate the last two weeks, maybe he needs a day off.
Hey Kinsler do you even remember the last time you dud something with the bat????
Gee, I can hardly wait for Smarty to tell us how great the Tigers played tonight…..
Good to see Joe N is back in top form. Stick a fork in this one.
Fork was almost the same word I used.
Whats harder to watch.. Nathan pitch or the Tigers bat????
The best part of this inning is Joe won’t be available tomorrow!!!
I think I figured out what is wrong with Nathan: he has Verlanderitis.
Asmus -2
this line up stunk
and putting Joe in at all
Nice tune up for Nathan, he looks ready to blow a real save.
At Bat app says “Phil Coke replaces Phil Coke”. Just our luck.
Right now Phil Coke is better than Joe Nathan, he just is.
How bad can your pitching life be when you need Phil Coke to come in and save you!!!
I think after tonight’s game Ausmus makes the radical move (to shake the team up and get them going) of naming Phil Coke the new Closer.
And just like that you have to tip your cap. that’s baseball. Yawn.
In a word, pathetic!
3.5 games from last place….been around a lot of ball in my life and there is no life in this team!!!! 2009!
Despite the nice effort by Gibson, the Tigers flat out stink. From the top down.
What a putrid game. I want the two and a half hours back.
Start tomorrow: go on a hike, visit a museum, do something creative, etc. Enjoy.
It’s funny, but I noticed that the 4-0 win over the White Sox had a lot in common (event-wise) with a number of Tigers losses:
Opposing starter better than Tigers starter most of the game
Tigers hitters swinging and missing badly and not doing much of anything against opposing starter
Error by Cabrera
Davis picked off on SB attempt
Holaday/Suarez clown show on the SB attempt
Minus the luck, a two-on, none-out sequence in a crucial juncture as follows: Davis (bad), Kinsler (worse), Cabrera (weak 3rd out)
I find it useful to bear in mind how we gloss over, simplify, and generalize in our hurry to summarize. 7-17 and 17-7 both seem miles away from 12-12. But they’re not. Aside from Scherzer/Porcello, I think the Tigers were better in the 6-5 loss than they were in the 4-0 win. Sometimes that’s how it goes.
A good start from a Tigers pitcher is where “good game” begins for me. So I’m not so down about this one.
The Tigers have lost 29 times now, but I think I could count on less than two hands how many have really bothered me. I don’t know how it happened, but I find myself in the unfamiliar position of resident optimist, it seems. I still like this team and its chances.
I’m still on the optimist side of the ledger, but the JV-regression thing is starting to worry me almost as much as the losing to mediocre AL Central teams (CLE, MIN, CWS & KC)
…so on second thought, maybe I’m really in the ‘cautiously optimistic’ camp – which is familiar territory for Tiger fans
9 for 29 = 31%
Dirks:
http://tinyurl.com/ktcssdg
Apparentl the “mindset that we are not going to lose tonight” was too much to expect two whole days in arow…the mindset of “lets just go thru the motions of just playing” mindset is one we see very often. If you simply watched Kinsler and Cabrerras at bats you will see very little effort…Swing just to swing..its almost a joke watching Hunter pinch hit…this has happened 3-4 times now…hack at the first strike routine GB right to the SS…jog towards first……only Martinez grindsout at bats.
This team can win the AL Central….big deal!!!!!!!! Oakland puts more energy into each game than the Tigers put in in a week of games…
Hmm, I could always watch the games as a form of penance.
Interesting info on Brooks Baseball on their Pitch Fx tool re: Joe Nathan last night. Velocity on the fastball was good, 92 – 95, with nice movement. Sitting at 92 – 95 should be plenty for him.
But he couldn’t throw the 2-seamer for a strike 7 pitches, one strike. Better than had the velocity simply not been there at all. One straw to grasp at.
BTW, if you’ve never seen the Brooks Baseball site and the pitch Fx tool you won’t believe it.
I would concur 80HD, pretty amazing site… the amount of detailed data that is now available would suggest teams should have pretty amazing scouting reports on opposing teams/players/tendencies…to the extent that a team wouldn’t get shutout by a middle-of-the-road pitcher/staff.
…maybe DET can blame it on the full moon/Friday the 13th?
Just looking at some Verlander data. He’s throwing 2 mph harder now than he was this time last season. He has a history in recent years of increasing velocity 2-3 mph over the course of the season. I’d love to know what it all means.
Also, love to know what Jeff Jones drinks – maybe send him a case. I bet MLB pitching coaches drink bourbon. From beer mugs.
This Tiger fan stuff is not for the faint of heart.