121 responses to “Game 2014.115: Tigers at Blue Jays”
jud
Hey Brad…don’t do anything!
Hey Tigers time to “man up”
Coleman
Joe Nathan: ” I was in a tight spot with very good hitters, but again, I pitched my game.” See, that’s exactly the problem–what we got yesterday IS your game right now.
Coleman
Sanchez and Soria both to 15-day DL. Sanchez has a “Grade 2 pectoral muscle strain,” Soria a left oblique strain (I was afraid of that). Dombrowki estimates Sanchez will be out 3-4 weeks, Soria 2-3 (I think that’s being optimistic). Robby Ray gets the call-up to replace Sanchez, no word on who gets the Soria spot. Drew VerHagen is done by the way; he has a stress fracture in his spine.
Meanwhile Nathan remains as healthy and confident as can be. What could go wrong?
jud
Hey David you need to pitch a no-hitter and hope for a tie!!!
Vince in MN
There goes the no-no.
jud
Here is something that always has bothered me and I only have Los Angeles as my sample size. Maybe you Detroit guys can verify. BUT..when the Tigers play out here never, and I mean never do more than 5-6 Tigets come out 5-7 minutes befor a game to run and stretch. Yes I know 9 guys start and two are pitcher and catcher…Never do 9 or 10 or more. I look over at the Angels and 10-15 guys are out 10-15 minutes before a game stretching Every game..Miggy for example usually walks out 2 minutes before the game wanders around and stays for the National Anthem. I have seen him play 10 games out here and not once hage I seen him do a serious stretch warm up. Victor, Jackson, Castalanos, Kinsler, Kelly would be the only ones doing some serious stretching, but never more than 5 minutes. Maybe this is nothing, but it has always bothered me. They did this under Leyland and Asmus both so its the players not necessarily the managers…
Vince in MN
They made the most they could with the gift from Toronto’s defense, otherwise they come up empty. And the rally ends with a typical Avila AB vs a lefty – who could have guessed.
jud
Great inning..good to see JD make a goid swing..everyone cracks Beurle that inning and Avikka takes 3 called K
Vince in MN
Really made Buerhle work that inning – 4 pitches, three outs. Whatever happened to the strategy of the offense taking a few pitches the inning after your pitcher had a long inning, to give him a little break?
jud
30 pitches first inning great approach grind out some at bats in the first…..lets grind out a few more at bats…no…not the swing at everything Tigers …4 pitches….oh by the way were done. 3 is all the hard work we have in us…lets get this game over with…
jud
Thats how much influence Asmus has on this team The whole post game last few days and the pregame today…we got to grind out at bats…we have to take a better approach….yadda yadda yadda! 4 pitches!
Vince in MN
I get the impression that what Smokey Jr. says to the press and what he says to the team are not the same.
Coleman
The rumors of JD’s demise seem to have been premature.
Vince in MN
As are of Avila’s “getting going”.
Vince in MN
AleKKs
TIGERS RULE
Avila’s nickname should be The Statue.
TIGERS RULE
Why was The Statue in the starting lineup today anyway ….. I know, another one of Assmus stupid decisions!
Bill
Best news I’ve heard in weeks. “The tigers are without their manager for the rest of the afternoon”
Vince in MN
Now we get “Deadeye” Gene Lamont running the show. Not sure that is exactly a plus.
Vince in MN
Ausmus was ejected for what?
jud
An add on run giod job!
Alex put his .000 BA on the line there with Runners on 2-3…whew! Saved by another K…only stranded 4 in 3 innings for our boy!
jud
Davis…hell ya!!!!…
jud
If Asmus got tossed for arguing a Alex Avila strikeout he is a very special stupid!!!
jud
Beurhle just what the Doctor ordered for 1 day..thats how we average 3 runs a game and lead the league…with 2-0-1-9
jud
Casty good thinking…steal third and then steal home with Avila batting so you can score!!!
TIGERS RULE
Cross your fingers, have a stiff drink ….. it looks like we won’t be able to avoid our bullpen today!
Vince in MN
Now that Punching Bag Buehrle is out, I suppose we won’t score again – 1 hit in last 3+ innings. With the blowpen waiting, the 3-run lead looks pretty precarious, especially since we are in Closer territory.
Coleman
Scherzer at 106 pitches, just struck out the last 2 batters he faced, he sits for Nathan.
Price at 106 pitches, just got drilled in the knee and gave up a 2-run bomb, he goes back out there.
Vince in MN
Like I said earlier, Lamont may not be an improvement over Ausmus. They both use the same pamphlet on managing a baseball game that Leyland wrote many years ago, which mostly avows going with your gut when you are not pushing buttons.
Coleman
Here we go! I suggest some rum with this Coke.
Vince in MN
Hopefully it doesn’t go beyond letting the inherited runners scoring.
Coleman
Bad timing for a very rare misplay by Kinsler.
TIGERS RULE
The wheels are starting to fall off the wagon!
Coleman
We’re riding on rims.
Vince in MN
36-39 in their last 75. The wheels fell off a long time ago.
Coleman
Coke vs Bautista is going to require something much stronger than rum.
Coleman
And Castellanos should have been able to get to that. This one isn’t on Coke.
TIGERS RULE
KC is ahead 7-1 in their game.
Coleman
Big Al comes up huge (with an assist from Alex)! The Tigers throw a spare back on the wagon.
Vince in MN
Avila makes up for his normally lousy day at the plate by framing that slider perfectly and then making an on the money throw to nail Reyes at 3rd.
jud
Can’t wait for Asmus to tell us how razor sharp Coke was out of the blowpen!
Huge DP Al, AA, Casty!!!
T Smith
6 outs to go, Tigers bullpen tasked with holding a 1 run game. What are the odds?
Coleman
Make that 3!
Coleman
Actually on the replay it looks like maybe Carrera got in there on time…is anyone on replay duty?
Vince in MN
4 batters, 5 outs, all on Ks. Nice.
Coleman
Big Al strikes out the side, in fact he’s struck out every batter he has faced. I say bring him out for the 9th too.
jud
Al Al with a fine job!!!
TIGERS RULE
Hardy or Nathan ….. pick your poison.
jud
Let the real game begin!
Coleman
I don’t like how these real games go.
Vince in MN
In real games the Tigers lose in walk-off fashion.
Coleman
Tigers should have challenged theirs too.
jud
Maybe u can’t when the manager gets tossed!
jud
Not like we haven’t seen this over and over and over and……..
jud
I am done…Tigers are done..see u tomorrow!
Coleman
Get Joba out of there.
Coleman
Just call him Joeba.
T Smith
Torture. Pure torture.
Our bullpen sucks.
Vince in MN
The bullpen isn’t the only thing that sucks.
Offense vs Buehrle: 9 hits, 5 runs (2 earned) in 3.1 IP.
Offense vs non-Buehrle: 4 hits, 2 BB, 0 runs in 7.2 IP.
This re-run has been going on for almost half the season.
Coleman
Alex Avila, Mr. Extra Innings.
Coleman
I don’t like burning Carrera like that, bad move. Bench is now empty.
Vince in MN
Leyland managed teams have never gotten too many accolades for bench use. Or bench personnel to begin with, come to think of it.
Vince in MN
Hardy is probably done after the 12th. For the 13th pick your poison: Nathan or McCoy.
TIGERS RULE
Lettuce cost us a run with his poor base-running, and possibly a win.
Coleman
Yeah. Then again he’s the only guy who managed a big hit.
Coleman
Oh well. Tip of the cap to Hardy though!
Vince in MN
I think the Blue Jays are waiting for Nathan’s appearance, so they can rub it in.
Can we invoke the unlimited substitution rule if the game goes past the 18th inning? I really want to get Don Kelly out of the lineup.
TIGERS RULE
What happens if you have a player ejected and have nobody left on the bench or in the bullpen?
Vince in MN
One of the pitchers has to come in, and if they are all used up you forfeit the game. Rules are you have to field 9 players.
Vince in MN
I can’t believe that the Toronto pitching staff is only 11th in the AL. They have held the mighty Tigers scoreless for 11.2 consecutive innings now.
Coleman
Detroit has been shut out for 11 innings.
Coleman
Good move by Uncle Geno walking the two big bats.
Vince in MN
Good move by Toronto manager walking the big bat in the top of 16th.
Kevin in Dallas
It just feels like the Blue Jays are trying harder.
Coleman
The home crowd might help.
Coleman
And now comes Nathan, this one almost has to end this way, right?
Vince in MN
Nathan managed to get through the inning, but he is gassed. His FB is sitting at 91MPH. Time to get JV in there, since he is the most rested starter.
Vince in MN
That is if they want to win! The alternative is just sacrificing the game to keep the rotation intact.
Coleman
Let’s play two!
Vince in MN
Frankly, I’d rather skip JV’s start than Porcellos’s, but he has been better lately so maybe it is a wash. In any case it looks like an additional starter besides Ray is going to have to come up tomorrow.
Coleman
I haven’t seen JV in the dugout, he may have flown ahead to Pittsburgh already.
Vince in MN
Good point, that’s the normal procedure isn’t it.
Coleman
They always do that for the long trips, I’m not sure about the Toronto to Pittsburgh type of trips.
Coleman
Ricky is pumped up, I like it.
Vince in MN
Hopefully he is good for 100 pitches, because he may need it.
Coleman
JV probably has time to fly back.
Vince in MN
Do they have a curfew in Toronto?
Coleman
Rajai should get some sort of special hat for the 0-for-8 effort.
Vince in MN
He did walk once. Kelly might outdo him yet though.
Smoking Loon
Call the 0-for-8 an Octopus, maybe. Meanwhile, Melky Cabrera walked 5 times. Nolan Reimold struck out 5 times. As noted, Torii Hunter had 9 LOB. But so did Jose Bautista.
It’s sort of like neither team could bear to win this one. Toronto finally relented.
Kevin in Dallas
Tigers’ pitchers’ K/BB: 16/13
Coleman
That makes 9 LOB for Two-Hop-Torii…how in the world do you pull that off when you have 4 hits?
Vince in MN
They keep walking VMart to get to him. He’s 39 so he must be tired. As Ausmus would say, you have to know the player’s limits…
Kevin in Dallas
If we lose, we may very well be out of first place tomorrow night.
Kevin in Dallas
Momentum has swung back into our favor. Rally time.
Coleman
The Rally Donkey starts it off.
Vince in MN
There is no Big Mo in baseball, just skill mano a mano, that’s what makes it such a great game.
Vince in MN
Cy Jenkins into his 6th inning of shutout ball.
Vince in MN
Good old pitcher’s fielding.
Smoking Loon
Good old Kinsler, slow to the bag and trying to barehand a ball he could have caught with his glove, his error all the way and his second costly miscue of the game.
Coleman
The first was a routine DP but he tried to do it himself and end up making a weak flip to 1st moving away from the bag…a flip to Romine and it’s a DP. Big picture though, he’s played a brilliant 2nd this season.
Smoking Loon
Oh yes, Kinsler has been outstanding at 2B, no question. Game-changing good many a time. Just not today. Not trying to put him down overall, but I wanted anyone who only saw the E for Porcello (who wasn’t entirely without blame) to know the details. It was also an incredibly good bunt by the talented Mr. Reyes.
Vince in MN
I think we can safely say that the better team won today. You don’t win if you don’t score. 15.2 consecutive goose eggs by the Motor City boys.
Kevin in Dallas
This team has some real soul searching to do. There’s time enough to figure it out.
Vince in MN
I don’t buy the soul searching argument. The sub-.500 results have been going on for a major portion of the last 75 games or so. That’s not a small sample size. Their losing streaks are as long as their winning ones for the most part (with the exception of the fast start being a bit better, but remember by comparison Colorado was a big surprise early on in the NL and what happened to them?). The basic problem in my view is that the team isn’t very well constructed: horrible bullpen, sub-par bench, holes in the regular lineup, Ausmus a weak manager, poor coaching, DD as usual concerned only with splashy upgrades while completely ignoring more basic issues (e.g. <1M/year supporting players in BP and bench). Now, no team is perfect and all have weak spots, but these particular issues are endemic to the organization and have been going on for at least the last 9 years or so, to the point where the results have become predictable. Every year, for the last few anyway, "The Tigers are going all the way", "One of the best teams in baseball", etc. are foisted on the Tiger fan at the beginning of the season only to have the team fall short of the lofty proclamations. It's all a snake oil scam, and after a 30-year hiatus the faithful are ready to buy buy buy and get emotionally caught up in the fevered expectations.
It's not that they are underperforming, so much as they are over-rated (and again, I don't mean just the players). If one can begin to take on that view, it becomes more bearable. But you have to stop swallowing the b.s.
Smoking Loon
I wouldn’t mind new ownership and a complete change of direction myself, even at the cost of some lean years. It’s been fun for a while, the small market Tigers pretending to be the New York Yankees. Maybe 2014 is the last hurrah for all that.
But that’s for later. For now, the 2014 “product” is still more interesting and entertaining than that of 2013. Wouldn’t you say?
Vince in MN
Maybe I’m just finally sick of same old routine after so many years. The Tigers of ’13 were certainly causing a lot of hair pulling at the end as their 13(?) game lead evaporated to 1 (and then the playoffs, but I’m actually trying to just compare the 162-schedule), but I don’t recall so much inconsistency for such an extended spell as this year. Maybe I’m blocking more bad memories than I am willing to admit though.
No. I’m not. This year IS worse.
Smoking Loon
I’d still maintain that 2013 was worse. (Valverde, V-Mart first half, Peralta suspension, Miggy playing injured, etc.) But August has been trying and is bound to become even more trying. Ask me again September 1.
Vince in MN
I remember some of the bad spells and more of the individual major fails, but was there a (~)76-game stretch last year where they were playing under .500? I’ll have to do some checking.
Vince in MN
Loon, you can give it try, as your eyes might be sharper than mine, but I cannot find any long stretch from ’13 where the Tigers were under .500 which corresponds to this year’s team current -4 over 76 games. There are some ups and downs in there, but they always managed to stay a few games over the mediocre mark during any reasonably lengthy period. And although they lost a fair amount of games where the offensive output was low, there wasn’t as long a stretch where the bats were AWOL like this year (e.g. post-AS game).
Same old, same old. Will make the playoffs because they’re expanded and/or weak division. But what they will do then? Guess you can catch lightning in a bottle.
Stephen
Radio: You have to look at the positive, the bright spots. Lose in 19, put closer on DL. Uh, OK!
jud
27 base runners and can’t score in 16 innings against the 11th ranked pitching staff……this is too unbelievable for words….how many of those LOB were Miggy, vMart, and Hunters at bats!!!!!.
The only consulation is it gives them an excuse for dropping out of first tomorrow night….so long Royals
Smoking Loon
Actually, I find 7 consecutive innings with no runs allowed from the Tigers bullpen – the actual bullpen, Porcello not included – more astounding than anything. I’m getting used to scoreless innings from the Tigers offense, doesn’t really faze me anymore.
TIGERS RULE
You didn’t think they were going to pull this off with the scrubs playing!
jud
Who are the scrubs and who are the real players???? Now thats the question…
Kevin in Dallas
This team really is poorly managed; to wit:
– Kinsler’s inability to turn the double play in the 7th
– Castellanos moving out of position in a ground ball in the 7th
– The Davis & Romine baserunning gaffes
– Porcello not being able to field a bunt
They just don’t play good, smart baseball. It’s a team-wide problem.
Vince in MN
Nobody is perfect and players will make physical and mental errors even if they practice the fundamentals regularly, but the Tigers seem to be more deficient in this area, if past history is any guide anyway. One has to wonder if this isn’t a long standing organizational defect.
Comments
121 responses to “Game 2014.115: Tigers at Blue Jays”
Hey Brad…don’t do anything!
Hey Tigers time to “man up”
Joe Nathan: ” I was in a tight spot with very good hitters, but again, I pitched my game.” See, that’s exactly the problem–what we got yesterday IS your game right now.
Sanchez and Soria both to 15-day DL. Sanchez has a “Grade 2 pectoral muscle strain,” Soria a left oblique strain (I was afraid of that). Dombrowki estimates Sanchez will be out 3-4 weeks, Soria 2-3 (I think that’s being optimistic). Robby Ray gets the call-up to replace Sanchez, no word on who gets the Soria spot. Drew VerHagen is done by the way; he has a stress fracture in his spine.
http://beck.mlblogs.com/2014/08/10/tigers-place-sanchez-soria-on-15-day-dl/
Meanwhile Nathan remains as healthy and confident as can be. What could go wrong?
Hey David you need to pitch a no-hitter and hope for a tie!!!
There goes the no-no.
Here is something that always has bothered me and I only have Los Angeles as my sample size. Maybe you Detroit guys can verify. BUT..when the Tigers play out here never, and I mean never do more than 5-6 Tigets come out 5-7 minutes befor a game to run and stretch. Yes I know 9 guys start and two are pitcher and catcher…Never do 9 or 10 or more. I look over at the Angels and 10-15 guys are out 10-15 minutes before a game stretching Every game..Miggy for example usually walks out 2 minutes before the game wanders around and stays for the National Anthem. I have seen him play 10 games out here and not once hage I seen him do a serious stretch warm up. Victor, Jackson, Castalanos, Kinsler, Kelly would be the only ones doing some serious stretching, but never more than 5 minutes. Maybe this is nothing, but it has always bothered me. They did this under Leyland and Asmus both so its the players not necessarily the managers…
They made the most they could with the gift from Toronto’s defense, otherwise they come up empty. And the rally ends with a typical Avila AB vs a lefty – who could have guessed.
Great inning..good to see JD make a goid swing..everyone cracks Beurle that inning and Avikka takes 3 called K
Really made Buerhle work that inning – 4 pitches, three outs. Whatever happened to the strategy of the offense taking a few pitches the inning after your pitcher had a long inning, to give him a little break?
30 pitches first inning great approach grind out some at bats in the first…..lets grind out a few more at bats…no…not the swing at everything Tigers …4 pitches….oh by the way were done. 3 is all the hard work we have in us…lets get this game over with…
Thats how much influence Asmus has on this team The whole post game last few days and the pregame today…we got to grind out at bats…we have to take a better approach….yadda yadda yadda! 4 pitches!
I get the impression that what Smokey Jr. says to the press and what he says to the team are not the same.
The rumors of JD’s demise seem to have been premature.
As are of Avila’s “getting going”.
AleKKs
Avila’s nickname should be The Statue.
Why was The Statue in the starting lineup today anyway ….. I know, another one of Assmus stupid decisions!
Best news I’ve heard in weeks. “The tigers are without their manager for the rest of the afternoon”
Now we get “Deadeye” Gene Lamont running the show. Not sure that is exactly a plus.
Ausmus was ejected for what?
An add on run giod job!
Alex put his .000 BA on the line there with Runners on 2-3…whew! Saved by another K…only stranded 4 in 3 innings for our boy!
Davis…hell ya!!!!…
If Asmus got tossed for arguing a Alex Avila strikeout he is a very special stupid!!!
Beurhle just what the Doctor ordered for 1 day..thats how we average 3 runs a game and lead the league…with 2-0-1-9
Casty good thinking…steal third and then steal home with Avila batting so you can score!!!
Cross your fingers, have a stiff drink ….. it looks like we won’t be able to avoid our bullpen today!
Now that Punching Bag Buehrle is out, I suppose we won’t score again – 1 hit in last 3+ innings. With the blowpen waiting, the 3-run lead looks pretty precarious, especially since we are in Closer territory.
Scherzer at 106 pitches, just struck out the last 2 batters he faced, he sits for Nathan.
Price at 106 pitches, just got drilled in the knee and gave up a 2-run bomb, he goes back out there.
Like I said earlier, Lamont may not be an improvement over Ausmus. They both use the same pamphlet on managing a baseball game that Leyland wrote many years ago, which mostly avows going with your gut when you are not pushing buttons.
Here we go! I suggest some rum with this Coke.
Hopefully it doesn’t go beyond letting the inherited runners scoring.
Bad timing for a very rare misplay by Kinsler.
The wheels are starting to fall off the wagon!
We’re riding on rims.
36-39 in their last 75. The wheels fell off a long time ago.
Coke vs Bautista is going to require something much stronger than rum.
And Castellanos should have been able to get to that. This one isn’t on Coke.
KC is ahead 7-1 in their game.
Big Al comes up huge (with an assist from Alex)! The Tigers throw a spare back on the wagon.
Avila makes up for his normally lousy day at the plate by framing that slider perfectly and then making an on the money throw to nail Reyes at 3rd.
Can’t wait for Asmus to tell us how razor sharp Coke was out of the blowpen!
Huge DP Al, AA, Casty!!!
6 outs to go, Tigers bullpen tasked with holding a 1 run game. What are the odds?
Make that 3!
Actually on the replay it looks like maybe Carrera got in there on time…is anyone on replay duty?
4 batters, 5 outs, all on Ks. Nice.
Big Al strikes out the side, in fact he’s struck out every batter he has faced. I say bring him out for the 9th too.
Al Al with a fine job!!!
Hardy or Nathan ….. pick your poison.
Let the real game begin!
I don’t like how these real games go.
In real games the Tigers lose in walk-off fashion.
Tigers should have challenged theirs too.
Maybe u can’t when the manager gets tossed!
Not like we haven’t seen this over and over and over and……..
I am done…Tigers are done..see u tomorrow!
Get Joba out of there.
Just call him Joeba.
Torture. Pure torture.
Our bullpen sucks.
The bullpen isn’t the only thing that sucks.
Offense vs Buehrle: 9 hits, 5 runs (2 earned) in 3.1 IP.
Offense vs non-Buehrle: 4 hits, 2 BB, 0 runs in 7.2 IP.
This re-run has been going on for almost half the season.
Alex Avila, Mr. Extra Innings.
I don’t like burning Carrera like that, bad move. Bench is now empty.
Leyland managed teams have never gotten too many accolades for bench use. Or bench personnel to begin with, come to think of it.
Hardy is probably done after the 12th. For the 13th pick your poison: Nathan or McCoy.
Lettuce cost us a run with his poor base-running, and possibly a win.
Yeah. Then again he’s the only guy who managed a big hit.
Oh well. Tip of the cap to Hardy though!
I think the Blue Jays are waiting for Nathan’s appearance, so they can rub it in.
Dave Dombrowski, the voice of Reason:
http://www.freep.com/article/20140810/SPORTS02/308100142/detroit-tigers-dave-dombrowski-offense
Can we invoke the unlimited substitution rule if the game goes past the 18th inning? I really want to get Don Kelly out of the lineup.
What happens if you have a player ejected and have nobody left on the bench or in the bullpen?
One of the pitchers has to come in, and if they are all used up you forfeit the game. Rules are you have to field 9 players.
I can’t believe that the Toronto pitching staff is only 11th in the AL. They have held the mighty Tigers scoreless for 11.2 consecutive innings now.
Detroit has been shut out for 11 innings.
Good move by Uncle Geno walking the two big bats.
Good move by Toronto manager walking the big bat in the top of 16th.
It just feels like the Blue Jays are trying harder.
The home crowd might help.
And now comes Nathan, this one almost has to end this way, right?
Nathan managed to get through the inning, but he is gassed. His FB is sitting at 91MPH. Time to get JV in there, since he is the most rested starter.
That is if they want to win! The alternative is just sacrificing the game to keep the rotation intact.
Let’s play two!
Frankly, I’d rather skip JV’s start than Porcellos’s, but he has been better lately so maybe it is a wash. In any case it looks like an additional starter besides Ray is going to have to come up tomorrow.
I haven’t seen JV in the dugout, he may have flown ahead to Pittsburgh already.
Good point, that’s the normal procedure isn’t it.
They always do that for the long trips, I’m not sure about the Toronto to Pittsburgh type of trips.
Ricky is pumped up, I like it.
Hopefully he is good for 100 pitches, because he may need it.
JV probably has time to fly back.
Do they have a curfew in Toronto?
Rajai should get some sort of special hat for the 0-for-8 effort.
He did walk once. Kelly might outdo him yet though.
Call the 0-for-8 an Octopus, maybe. Meanwhile, Melky Cabrera walked 5 times. Nolan Reimold struck out 5 times. As noted, Torii Hunter had 9 LOB. But so did Jose Bautista.
It’s sort of like neither team could bear to win this one. Toronto finally relented.
Tigers’ pitchers’ K/BB: 16/13
That makes 9 LOB for Two-Hop-Torii…how in the world do you pull that off when you have 4 hits?
They keep walking VMart to get to him. He’s 39 so he must be tired. As Ausmus would say, you have to know the player’s limits…
If we lose, we may very well be out of first place tomorrow night.
Momentum has swung back into our favor. Rally time.
The Rally Donkey starts it off.
There is no Big Mo in baseball, just skill mano a mano, that’s what makes it such a great game.
Cy Jenkins into his 6th inning of shutout ball.
Good old pitcher’s fielding.
Good old Kinsler, slow to the bag and trying to barehand a ball he could have caught with his glove, his error all the way and his second costly miscue of the game.
The first was a routine DP but he tried to do it himself and end up making a weak flip to 1st moving away from the bag…a flip to Romine and it’s a DP. Big picture though, he’s played a brilliant 2nd this season.
Oh yes, Kinsler has been outstanding at 2B, no question. Game-changing good many a time. Just not today. Not trying to put him down overall, but I wanted anyone who only saw the E for Porcello (who wasn’t entirely without blame) to know the details. It was also an incredibly good bunt by the talented Mr. Reyes.
I think we can safely say that the better team won today. You don’t win if you don’t score. 15.2 consecutive goose eggs by the Motor City boys.
This team has some real soul searching to do. There’s time enough to figure it out.
I don’t buy the soul searching argument. The sub-.500 results have been going on for a major portion of the last 75 games or so. That’s not a small sample size. Their losing streaks are as long as their winning ones for the most part (with the exception of the fast start being a bit better, but remember by comparison Colorado was a big surprise early on in the NL and what happened to them?). The basic problem in my view is that the team isn’t very well constructed: horrible bullpen, sub-par bench, holes in the regular lineup, Ausmus a weak manager, poor coaching, DD as usual concerned only with splashy upgrades while completely ignoring more basic issues (e.g. <1M/year supporting players in BP and bench). Now, no team is perfect and all have weak spots, but these particular issues are endemic to the organization and have been going on for at least the last 9 years or so, to the point where the results have become predictable. Every year, for the last few anyway, "The Tigers are going all the way", "One of the best teams in baseball", etc. are foisted on the Tiger fan at the beginning of the season only to have the team fall short of the lofty proclamations. It's all a snake oil scam, and after a 30-year hiatus the faithful are ready to buy buy buy and get emotionally caught up in the fevered expectations.
It's not that they are underperforming, so much as they are over-rated (and again, I don't mean just the players). If one can begin to take on that view, it becomes more bearable. But you have to stop swallowing the b.s.
I wouldn’t mind new ownership and a complete change of direction myself, even at the cost of some lean years. It’s been fun for a while, the small market Tigers pretending to be the New York Yankees. Maybe 2014 is the last hurrah for all that.
But that’s for later. For now, the 2014 “product” is still more interesting and entertaining than that of 2013. Wouldn’t you say?
Maybe I’m just finally sick of same old routine after so many years. The Tigers of ’13 were certainly causing a lot of hair pulling at the end as their 13(?) game lead evaporated to 1 (and then the playoffs, but I’m actually trying to just compare the 162-schedule), but I don’t recall so much inconsistency for such an extended spell as this year. Maybe I’m blocking more bad memories than I am willing to admit though.
No. I’m not. This year IS worse.
I’d still maintain that 2013 was worse. (Valverde, V-Mart first half, Peralta suspension, Miggy playing injured, etc.) But August has been trying and is bound to become even more trying. Ask me again September 1.
I remember some of the bad spells and more of the individual major fails, but was there a (~)76-game stretch last year where they were playing under .500? I’ll have to do some checking.
Loon, you can give it try, as your eyes might be sharper than mine, but I cannot find any long stretch from ’13 where the Tigers were under .500 which corresponds to this year’s team current -4 over 76 games. There are some ups and downs in there, but they always managed to stay a few games over the mediocre mark during any reasonably lengthy period. And although they lost a fair amount of games where the offensive output was low, there wasn’t as long a stretch where the bats were AWOL like this year (e.g. post-AS game).
http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/DET/2013.shtml
Same old, same old. Will make the playoffs because they’re expanded and/or weak division. But what they will do then? Guess you can catch lightning in a bottle.
Radio: You have to look at the positive, the bright spots. Lose in 19, put closer on DL. Uh, OK!
27 base runners and can’t score in 16 innings against the 11th ranked pitching staff……this is too unbelievable for words….how many of those LOB were Miggy, vMart, and Hunters at bats!!!!!.
The only consulation is it gives them an excuse for dropping out of first tomorrow night….so long Royals
Actually, I find 7 consecutive innings with no runs allowed from the Tigers bullpen – the actual bullpen, Porcello not included – more astounding than anything. I’m getting used to scoreless innings from the Tigers offense, doesn’t really faze me anymore.
You didn’t think they were going to pull this off with the scrubs playing!
Who are the scrubs and who are the real players???? Now thats the question…
This team really is poorly managed; to wit:
– Kinsler’s inability to turn the double play in the 7th
– Castellanos moving out of position in a ground ball in the 7th
– The Davis & Romine baserunning gaffes
– Porcello not being able to field a bunt
They just don’t play good, smart baseball. It’s a team-wide problem.
Nobody is perfect and players will make physical and mental errors even if they practice the fundamentals regularly, but the Tigers seem to be more deficient in this area, if past history is any guide anyway. One has to wonder if this isn’t a long standing organizational defect.