Alright, Tigers fans, the hating on Inge can stop for now, okay? Sure, I was rather upset at his not one, but 2 bad plays in the 10th inning of last night's loss to the Rays, but moving on is necessary. Inge blew the last play by not throwing to first (whether he admits his faults or not) and Leyland threw him under the bus for it. Fine. A new day has come, and a Tigers win could quickly turn that around.
Though today's lineup wasn't exactly imposing, with Miguel Cabrera welcoming a new son to the world, Brennan Boesch still having issues with his thumb, and Alex Avila finally getting a day off. Nonetheless...
Austin Jackson hit a no-doubter into the stands on just the third pitch of the game, and that would ultimately be the winning run (Jackson added a sac fly for good measure) as the Tigers won 2-0 today over the Rays, taking 3 of 4 at the Trop against what is deemed a pretty darn good young rotation that Tampa has. But while 2 runs of support isn't very many, it was enough for support-starved Doug Fister, who pitched 7 brilliant innings and got his third win as a Tiger, matching the amount he had when he was traded from Seattle to Detroit (Fister was 3-12 when traded, 3-1 since). Joaquin Benoit gave up a base hit but would strike out the side in the 8th, before Jose Valverde allowed a hit and a walk - and was bailed out by Matt Joyce's poor baserunning as he was doubled off first base after a fly ball to Ryan Raburn. It's his 38th save of the season, as he continues to be flawless in that department.
So once again, this is why the games are played: not the best Tiger lineup, but good enough to roll. Tigers fans can now settle down on another front: the trade that brought Fister to Detroit. Outside of 1 bad outing, he's been exactly what the doctor ordered. Command is there, works at a brisk, Mark Buehrle-esqe pace, and with the proper support from his offense can be a big winner despite that crooked 6-13 record he now has.
As for Brandon Inge, the next time he comes clean on his mistakes might be the first time. If he truly believes that going to second with that throw was the right move, then he should never be allowed onto the field again. His range is good enough to have fired that ball to first base, thus getting the Tigers into the 11th with another chance to win. That's not to say they could have won; judging by the way they had been hitting all night long, but mental mistakes like that in this stretch run is something this already defensively challenged ballclub could do without.
Wait a minute: didn't I say it was time to move on from this? Onward. Next stop, Minnesota.
Showing posts with label Tampa Bay Rays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tampa Bay Rays. Show all posts
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
An Unexpected Win?
I viewed last night's game as a bit of a "throw away game," mostly because of lowering my expectations whenever one Brad Penny takes the mound for the Tigers.
Easy to think that, not just because of Penny's season-long inconsistencies, but add that the Tigers had made Joaquin Benoit and Jose Valverde, the back end of the bullpen, unavailable for last night's game. Also add Tampa Bay Rays pitcher David Price, young stud lefty who in his short career has dominated the Tigers.
Add in the cliche, "the games aren't played on paper" and we have ourselves the Tigers 5th straight win. I wouldn't call Penny dominant by any stretch either, as he missed the strike zone on his first pitch to almost everyone he faced. And with a few missed opportunities against Price early, it could have spelled doom for the winning streak. Instead, Penny gutted out 6 1/3 innings of work and only gave up 1 run. Remarkable, as he wasn't getting adequate run support, albeit vs a good young pitcher.
The bullpen did the rest, with Daniel Schlereth and Ryan Perry pitching the rest of what would be an interesting 7th inning, as Schlereth would allow the bases to load up with Rays before Perry was brought in to get the final out. Enter Phil Coke, who'd failed as a starting pitcher this season, to pitch what would end up being a 50 pitch, 2 inning save as the Tigers would win 2-1, also thanks in part to a 2-run seventh inning in which "Titanium Catcher" Alex Avila and Jhonny Peralta drove in runs for the Tigers. Coke struck out 5 batters, and ended the game with a 10-pitch battle against Ben Zobrist, with 2 runners on, by grounding out to Miguel Cabrera to end the game.
Nobody should expect to win every game, but in that same thinking, nobody should expect to lose what I just called a "throw away game" either. The Tigers beat Price for the first time in his career, and have given themselves a chance to win this 4-game series tonight with Max Scherzer on the mound. And thanks to that win, the Tigers own a 6 game lead over Cleveland (who split a doubleheader yesterday) and 6.5 over Chicago, who lost in walk-off fashion vs the Angels last night.
I myself will take victories like this all the time, even though those last 3 innings were gut-wrenching with the Tigers moderately erratic bullpen. A win's a win, and that's ultimately what matters.
Easy to think that, not just because of Penny's season-long inconsistencies, but add that the Tigers had made Joaquin Benoit and Jose Valverde, the back end of the bullpen, unavailable for last night's game. Also add Tampa Bay Rays pitcher David Price, young stud lefty who in his short career has dominated the Tigers.
Add in the cliche, "the games aren't played on paper" and we have ourselves the Tigers 5th straight win. I wouldn't call Penny dominant by any stretch either, as he missed the strike zone on his first pitch to almost everyone he faced. And with a few missed opportunities against Price early, it could have spelled doom for the winning streak. Instead, Penny gutted out 6 1/3 innings of work and only gave up 1 run. Remarkable, as he wasn't getting adequate run support, albeit vs a good young pitcher.
The bullpen did the rest, with Daniel Schlereth and Ryan Perry pitching the rest of what would be an interesting 7th inning, as Schlereth would allow the bases to load up with Rays before Perry was brought in to get the final out. Enter Phil Coke, who'd failed as a starting pitcher this season, to pitch what would end up being a 50 pitch, 2 inning save as the Tigers would win 2-1, also thanks in part to a 2-run seventh inning in which "Titanium Catcher" Alex Avila and Jhonny Peralta drove in runs for the Tigers. Coke struck out 5 batters, and ended the game with a 10-pitch battle against Ben Zobrist, with 2 runners on, by grounding out to Miguel Cabrera to end the game.
Nobody should expect to win every game, but in that same thinking, nobody should expect to lose what I just called a "throw away game" either. The Tigers beat Price for the first time in his career, and have given themselves a chance to win this 4-game series tonight with Max Scherzer on the mound. And thanks to that win, the Tigers own a 6 game lead over Cleveland (who split a doubleheader yesterday) and 6.5 over Chicago, who lost in walk-off fashion vs the Angels last night.
I myself will take victories like this all the time, even though those last 3 innings were gut-wrenching with the Tigers moderately erratic bullpen. A win's a win, and that's ultimately what matters.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Valverde, the NON-Saver
The Tigers started their 7-game road trip on a high note, beating the Tampa Bay Rays 5-2, notching win number 19 for Justin Verlander, the first pitcher to reach that win level this year. A rather ho-hum performance from Justin: 7 innings, 1 run, 3 hits, 3 walks, 8 strikeouts. You'd think it be moderately difficult to find fault in a game in which the Tigers would win their 4th straight ballgame, and increasing their division lead to 5.5 games over the Chicago White Sox AND the Cleveland Indians. But I will try my best and do it anyway.
Because all of us hate to see Jose Valverde when it is NOT a save situation.
But Jim Leyland does it anyway, because Ole Smokey doesn't really listen to what the fans have to say (not even a 6-yr-old girl), because if the fans pulled the strings, in hindsight, this team would theoretically be 127-0 right now. Leyland tends to out-manage himself on most days, such as going with lineups that might be righty-heavy for a lefty pitcher (queue tomorrow's lineup, to be sure)... And pitching match ups aren't any different in his world.
According to my quick research on baseball-reference.com, I noticed that Valverde does have 2 months out of this season where he has not given up a run in his non-save appearances (April and June). The numbers don't lie for the remaining months of the season, though. In May, he gave up 9 runs (8 earned), in July he gave up 6 runs, and so far in August he's allowed 3 runs (1 earned, and that was tonight). Overall, in a mere 19.1 innings pitched in non-save situations, he's given up 18 runs (15 ER), good for an ERA of 7.07.
Closers have a different mentality. Jose Valverde is just a different cat altogether. If you are going to send a character like that out there when he can't get the save, he may relax a bit too much, or lose focus. Either way, chances are, he's going to lob a few too many pitches, (22 tonight, only 11 strikes) and suddenly he's unavailable to pitch the next night. Who becomes the Tigers closer then? Not Joaquin Benoit either, also declared unavailable tomorrow night.
Valverde might be perfect in his save chances this year, but he's a bumpy roller coaster ride when that stat doesn't matter. Even though he won't, Jim Leyland needs to dig elsewhere in his bullpen to get those last 3 outs. As it is, should the opportunity arise tomorrow night, he's going to have to.
Because all of us hate to see Jose Valverde when it is NOT a save situation.
But Jim Leyland does it anyway, because Ole Smokey doesn't really listen to what the fans have to say (not even a 6-yr-old girl), because if the fans pulled the strings, in hindsight, this team would theoretically be 127-0 right now. Leyland tends to out-manage himself on most days, such as going with lineups that might be righty-heavy for a lefty pitcher (queue tomorrow's lineup, to be sure)... And pitching match ups aren't any different in his world.
According to my quick research on baseball-reference.com, I noticed that Valverde does have 2 months out of this season where he has not given up a run in his non-save appearances (April and June). The numbers don't lie for the remaining months of the season, though. In May, he gave up 9 runs (8 earned), in July he gave up 6 runs, and so far in August he's allowed 3 runs (1 earned, and that was tonight). Overall, in a mere 19.1 innings pitched in non-save situations, he's given up 18 runs (15 ER), good for an ERA of 7.07.
Closers have a different mentality. Jose Valverde is just a different cat altogether. If you are going to send a character like that out there when he can't get the save, he may relax a bit too much, or lose focus. Either way, chances are, he's going to lob a few too many pitches, (22 tonight, only 11 strikes) and suddenly he's unavailable to pitch the next night. Who becomes the Tigers closer then? Not Joaquin Benoit either, also declared unavailable tomorrow night.
Valverde might be perfect in his save chances this year, but he's a bumpy roller coaster ride when that stat doesn't matter. Even though he won't, Jim Leyland needs to dig elsewhere in his bullpen to get those last 3 outs. As it is, should the opportunity arise tomorrow night, he's going to have to.
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