Detroit Tigers, 19-21, 4 games behind Cleveland, and tied with Pittsburgh.
So much for the theory that the Verlander performance would provide a big spark: the Pittsburgh McCutcheons evened the series with a 4-3 win, and added insult to injury by taunting them with Jason “Gas Can” Grilli. It was all too much for Grilli, who is now listed as Day-to-Day on the Pittsburgh injury report.
Sparky Anderson once said, “You can’t tell anything about a baseball team until 40 games have been played.” Well, the Tigers now have 40 under their belt. What do you think?
This afternoon the Tigers look to take the series behind the arm of the enigmatic Max Scherzer. The Pirates counter with right-hander Kevin Correia, who last won on April 15th.
After today’s game the Tigers get a long day off, then hop on the bus for Cleveland for a key 3-game series against the division leaders.
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Random stat of the day: Baltimore leads the AL with 27 wins, and also leads the AL in GIDP with 46. 2nd most GIDP belongs to the worst team in the league, Minnesota, at 44. Detroit is 3rd with 39. Make of that what you will.
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Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Brennan Boesch. Delmon Young had another good game yesterday. We finally have something going from the 5-hitter. Now if we could only get something from the 6th spot. Boesch has quietly been heating up, and is in the midst of a 12-game hitting streak. Leyland bumps the struggling Avila down the lineup and moves Boesch up to 6th.
Tonight’s Return of Raburn Lineup:
- Don Kelly CF
- Andy Dirks LF
- Miguel Cabrera 3B
- Prince Fielder 1B
- Delmon Young DH
- Brennan Boesch RF
- Jhonny Peralta SS
- Alex Avila C
- Ryan Raburn 2B
I see Raburn has returned to his old ways after that one good game…
Max is mad, but the bats are sad.
Who is going to get something started here?
Every pitcher this team faces apparently has Cy Young potential…that, or the offense is just horrible, still… More than likely it is the latter…
We can always just wait until we get to their bullpen. Oh, wait, Pittsburgh actually has the best BP in the NL, with an ERA of only 2.60. Nevermind.
hey Smokey do you think after Avila hit his ninth consecutive nine hop ground out..maybe he needs to get a game off..
howd you like to be a starting pitcher on this team knowing if you make two mistakes in the whole game..you are not going to win
One of Scherzer’s problems is that he makes too many of those kind of mistakes (he is a flyball pitcher). Fortunately the bases were empty both times today, but more often than not there have been runners on when he gives up the bombs – 8 in 48 innings after today, so we are looking at a potential 35-40 HR year from Max. Some pitchers can get away with high HR rates (Bert Blyleven and Catfish Hunter come to mind), but for the average tosser with a mediocre WHIP it is invariably going to spell trouble. 15 Ks today shows that Scherzer had something going, and hopefully he will prove to be much more Mad than Bad going forward. However, I remain, as always, skeptical after only a game or two.
KC will soon pass by us if we don’t start winning some games.
This is going to be yet another wasted well pitched game by this team… Absolutely no discipline or production from the plate yet again, as this team continues its slide into being considering one of the most expensive boondoggles Detroit fans have experienced…
Great game by Max, new career high with 15 K. Too bad Cy Correia is shutting down Detroit (with only 74 pitches through 6 innings).
how about bringing in Francona…I don’t care if they have chicken, beer or pizza in the dugout…this has to end.. Its hard to even stay awake during the games..
This is 2008 all over again…expectations of a powerhouse offense, actual results, not so much. If today holds up, the Tigers will have scored 3 or fewer runs in more than half of their games.
That is an ugly statistic…
That little bit of clown show could be the break we are looking for.
Voila! Delmon comes through (they ruled Fielder’s hit a double to SS!).
clown show success…
Our Clown Show Conversion Rate is actually decent…we have done especially well with the R3L2O Wild PItch.
That was a rather quick hook for Correia.
I hope Avila strikes out over a GIDP.
That helped, now the worst player on the team at getting a R3L2O, needs to get it done.
Not the hardest hit ball, but, that is why averages are up 100 points when the infield is in…Very good at-bat.
That was the GIDP ball (with infield back), averted by Clown Show Action.
and one of Avilas nine hoppers gets thru…thanks to more clown show action by Pitts…yea!!!
Whoa! Offensive surge! Now… does Leyland bring in Dotel, Benoit, or Putkonen? What is the gambler thinking today? Maybe even Balester?
LEAVE SCHERZER IN!!!
no blowpen today…… 🙁
15 K’s out of 21 possible is worth 2 more innings……
Rayburn hit and run….hahahahaha…that has a real chance of succeeding!
Actually they call it the Whiff-and-Run, and it worked.
a win is a win is a win…nice job Mad Max!
And success for the much-maligned bullpen.
In one weekend one tiger pitcher almost gets his third no hitter. Only Koufax and Ryan had more. And mad max would’ve set the tiger record for most strike outs in a game and perhaps a chance for the all time record as well. But Old smokey who can’t even exceed a .500 won loss record kept it from happening.
After this next 10 game road trip, DET returns home to face the Yankees…
Jud
On the phone, Raburn asked that I refer to you as Thud – instead of Jud.
I said ‘Sure Ryan”….. just not sure how much longer I’ll be checking-in there.
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Coleman
Do you ever talk Tigers without a number attached? There’s so much more to the game than sabers.
LOL
Actually 43% of my comments do not contain numbers, which is up
14% since last season, and 11% over my career average.