85-63, Magic Number is 10.
Gotta hop on a plane, so a few disjointed thoughts.
Tigers lose a playoff type game last night in a game where the AL’s best pitching flexed some muscle and completely shut down the Tigers. I wasn’t able to tune in early but did catch the Infante double. I agree with Brookens’ decision to send Fielder there, though I hardly agree that it takes “2 perfect throws” as the second throw from Escobar was actually pretty marginal but still got a slow Fielder. The Tigers weren’t hitting at all and there was no reason to think that Holaday was going to change that much (or anyone else on the bench).
But the Royals are a good team playing for something, and the Tigers were in a position to take the game to extra innings because their pitching was almost as brilliant as that of the Royals’.
I thought Hosmer’s statement that last night’s win was the “biggest of his career” was hilarious, and I expect that he had a few laughs at the expense of the Twitter when he got home.
The fact that the Tigers have been thrown out so much at home is a reflection of poor team speed (not a surprise) and more opportunities than their competitors. Let’s not be too upset about that.
I’m traveling today, so I won’t get to post the lineups. Someone please do when they are up.
Gotta win the series today. More importantly, Max needs to get on track. Hard to believe that Jeremy Guthrie has more wins that Justin Verlander.
I admit it, I love the expanded wild card.
Comments
42 responses to “Game 2013.149: Royals at Tigers”
Brayan Pena is hoping the Tigers will want him back next season. So am I.
http://www.freep.com/article/20130910/SPORTS02/309090172/detroit-tigers-brayan-pena-next-season?odyssey=obinsite
Interesting quote in the story: Pena gives the credit for his improved hitting to “Mac and Toby and my teammates.” First mention I’ve heard of Toby Harrah still working as hitting instructor in a long time.
He also has hired a personal chef and nutritionist for the offseason and plans to lose 25 pounds.
Iglesias gets the day off. The fact that this isn’t the normal Sunday lineup missing Hunter or Jackson hints that Leyland might think this is a key game.
1. Jackson CF
2. Hunter RF
3. Cabrera 3B
4. Fielder 1B
5, Martinez DH
6. Dirks LF
7. Infante 2B
8. Avila C
9. Santiago SS
that chef could help a few of the Tigers….especially if he can teach hitting on the side!
hey Alex, way to go…where you been all year??
Poor base-running is a big Tiger liability. Santiago should have been standing on 3B after the AJax single to right field and then come home on the deep fly-out by Torii.
the Tigers are beyound slow and have zero aggressive base runners..Miggy when healthy is actually one of the best. But that slow and lack of agressive running leads to at least 1+ base running mistakes a game..162 a year seems right watching them every game
the most frustrationg thing about the Tigers is right here..8 hits in 3 innings for 2 runs…and 2 hits for KC for 1 run….happens all the time
and the Tigers inability to run bases means they usually need 3-4 hits to get a run
There you go, a single + double with 0 outs = 0 runs.
frickin..pathetic..three crap swings just like last night…0-9 RISP in 4 innings
Guthrie is a pretty good pitcher. Sometimes you just have to tip your cap and say “that’s baseball”.
We better hope the Royals don’t sneak into the playoffs some how.
I came close–I was saying “that’s %*#!!”
Normally one of those grounders to the right side would have scored the run, if not for having Cabrera on 3rd.
11 hits off of Guthrie on 66 pitches. I guess the game plan today is just to go up there hacking, but regardless of the game situation. A little more patience may be warranted in those RISP situations.
Luckily we’ve got Cy Scherzer out there.
Anybody else ready to be done playing the Royals? This team always seems to always come up short against Kansas City…. No offense again today…
some big time pitches right there..MAX!!!!
Scherzer fortunately had enough gas to get through the 7th inning, but at 116 pitches he should be done now. On to our role player bullpen of LOOGY Smyly, 8th Inning Guy Veras and Closer Benoit.
By the way, whatever happened to Bonderman, Downs and the other Pre-8th Inning Guy guys? Guess we haven’t needed them lately, but one wonders why they bothered to bring them back up. Maybe the suits are just being nice and letting them log some MLB time before they get the chop at the end of the season.
Not seeing them in the last couple series does say something about the confidence level there, you’d suppose.
Great…Bullpen is going to blow this, but it is really the offense at fault in this one…
Seriously….scores on a wild pitch to only have Hosmer ground out…. And now the hapless offense has to somehow when this before the bullpen gets another chance to blow it…
Ugh….So ready to be done playing the Royals….
That should be “win”, not “when”, clearly grammar fails me when the Tigers enrage me when playing the Royals…
Tiger screw up number 1,232,343….All because the team that leads baseball in scoring CAN’T SCORE…oh ya stolen base number 1,432,554
Boston leads the majors in scoring.
hell…frickin….ya!!!!!! AA
Anybody know how many times third has been successfully stolen vs Tigers this year. Seems like a lot of that has been going on recently.
I don’t think 3B has been stolen a great number of times, but I’m almost positive the Tigers haven’t thrown out anyone attempting. They did get a guy hung up between second and third once or twice.
Avila! It is nice to have his bat heating up…
Avila’s first two homers since coming back from concussion DL couldn’t be more timely. He has been hitting very well since then: .350 in 40 ABs before today.
HUGE WIN……and under no circunstances do we want to play KC again this year!!!!!!!!!
KC won’t recover from today..they will roll over for the Indians this week and be done…but watch out next year!!
for as much crap as we have given Avila, especially me, he has been big the past couple of weeks!
His numbers since the break are pretty amazing, considering that he doesn’t look much better up there most of the time and still strikes out a boatload.
Avila’s HRs this season have been worth their weight in gold. I can name at least 4 huge ones – Houston, Cleveland, Washington, and today. I’m forgetting at least one game-winner. No one but Cabrera has had that kind of HR impact this season, I don’t think.
Scherzer 12SO no win, Smyly WP a run to get the victory. That’s baseball!
Yep. That 5th inning was enough to make your blood boil.
Guthrie almost outpitched Scherzer. Sometimes gutting it out (with a pitch count in great shape) beats being dominant. Not today, I’m happy to say.
Smyly purposely blows saves ….. so he can get the wins.
Yeah, he didn’t deserve the win. But at least he didn’t lose it.
I like Kevin’s contrary take on sending Fielder Saturday night, but I still maintain that the odds of Fielder scoring from 1B on a double to LF are considerably lower than that of any Tigers hitter reaching base.
I had gotten over it, and then I read Leyland’s comments. The “besides, everyone is assuming the next guy gets a hit, there’s no guarantee if we pinch-run that the next guy gets a hit” (paraphrased). Um, yeah, and if he doesn’t, you’ve taken out Fielder for no reason. Oh, and also, THE GAME IS OVER. The only reason NOT to pinch run is if you ASSUME the next batter gets a hit, and then you don’t score after, and them you won’t have Prince to bat in the 11th. Dumbest comment ever.
Cleveland pounded Sale for 6 runs, he didn’t even finish 6 innings.
Could be worse. The Rangers just lost their 6th in a row at home. They are toast for the division, and will have to pull it together to hold a wild card spot. The bad news is, Detroit’s probable playoff opponent is Oakland. They are a steamroller right now, and they will have home field.
Sale gets bombed..must be saving himself for his next start against the Pussycat offense!