22-17, 1st place, tied w/Cle.
Yu gotta be kidding me. That was awful. Worst inning of Verlander’s career.
Let’s move on to the next game as soon as possible.
We’ll need little Ricky P to step up tonight or else we’ll be in danger of a very nasty 4 game series. (1-3 always feels like getting swept to me, and 2-2 on the road feels like a win).
The Rangers will throw out rookie Nick Tepesch. Tepesch is 3-3 on the year with a 4.03 ERA and respectable 1.26 WHIP. He strikes out enough (7.10/9) and doesn’t walk a lot (2.36/9), but he doesn’t have great stuff. Here’s a portion of a good scouting report on Tepesch from early April: Tepesch has a four pitch mix of fastball, cutter/slider, curveball and changeup, and while he’s not an overpowering pitcher, he’s got a shot at having a solid major league career because he can throw his pitches for strikes and battle hitters even when he’s not got his best stuff. He’s not the type of high ceiling guy who gets prospectphiles’ pulses racing, but he’s a solid under-the-radar prospect who is likely going to get five or six starts at the major league level to show that he belongs.
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A few notes:
– Leyland may be changing up the bullpen rotation? No way.
– A QS tonight would be 4 in a row for Porcello…he didn’t do that once last year.
I’ve got to get on the road this afternoon, so someone please post the lineup when it’s out.
Tonight’s Lineup:
1. Dirks, LF
2. Hunter, RF
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Martinez, DH
6. Avila, C
7. Peralta, SS
8. Kelly, CF
9. Santiago, 2B
Smokey is a bumbling hypocrite! He said earlier that Avi would not be up with the team unless he is a regular, otherwise he would stay in Toledo where he would get the playing time needed to better his skills. Why is he up here and not seeing regular playing time? Instead he plays the Donkey.
I would also like to see Tui take over for VMart to see what he can do on a full-time basis at DH or at the very least platoon one day play one day sit.
This should also be done with AA and Pena.
Garcia is up because Jackson is out. The Tigers are short a guy. Avisail is the Mud Hen most likely to help the team off the bench in the short term. Barring something unforeseen, Jackson back = Garcia down. Nothing hypocritical about it.
He would help the team more playing a regular CF instead of Kelly!
interesting that everyone steals against the Tigers but the Tigers do not try stealing against anyone..hmmm
Smokey has no creativity!
Well…THAT was creative. I would be shocked if the Tigers don’t lead the league in players thrown out at home.
It had to have been a perfect throw to get him, as it was, unluckily for us.
Bad situation to take the risk, would have had a runner at 3rd with 1 out and the cleanup hitter up.
if they don’t lead in that category the for sure lead in the slides into home that could mame or kill a person
Yeah the Tigers still have some serious baserunning issues, and you can turn wide, but when you do you have to run more distance and the guy thrown out at home took a wide turn and ran an incredibly long way and was thrown out with plenty enough time. So did the 3B coach account for how extra far the runner would run when he thought he could score, or do we not think about those things or teach them how to run properly? It’s a rhetorical question since I’m sure it’s a combo of those things, but either way we need to figure out a better way to train and manage our runners as they still make loads of mistakes. And of course yes it is a problem if you don’t know how to steal effectively. It’s in a good situation a relatively favorable gamble to take and you can’t afford to miss those chances.
It’s like playing blackjack with a beginner who says he doen’t believe in doubling down on 11’s. Well play the game how you want, but the math says that you need to exploit those opportunities to help shore up your overall odds since most often you aren’t going to get as good of a starting hand. When you do, you need to capitalize and make up for it.
The Tigers don’t know how to do this in a number of situations, not just stealing, but bunting choice situations, PH situations, and arguably Relief Pitcher situations if you want to contest those too.
that 5-6-8-9 in the order is downright scary…….that being said whens the last time Hunter or Fielder has done anything to win a game which would make 2-4-5-6-8-9 scary!!!!
For the month Hunter .220….Fielder..226…Martinez .189…..Avila …..194….Kelly ..222 …but led by Santiago at .250
Maybe we could trade for Inge.
No they would want a guy like Raburn in return, somebody they could use, and we just have junk like Santiago and Kelly who are totally worthless and arguably negative overall values by simply existing on our roster.
Porcello is pitching very well.
Miggy….we needed that!
That should count as a hit for Avila….we will take the RBI
Porcello another Excellent job again tonight!
Hunter and Fielder have had a completely different May than April. Victor is still not getting it to drop in. Its pretty frustrating when the offense just seems to go away. Let’s hope the bullpen can hold this one. Especially for Ricky…he deserves it.
let the real game begin!
Good job Ortega. Good job Smyly.
Uh oh, it’s Long-Ball Benoit.
Reverse-Jinx success’
Ramon””Peralta DP…..ya!!!!!
Ok, that looked stupid.
in Little league you learn to bunt towards first with a runner on first because he has to hold the runner on and the 3rd baseman can be in as far as he wants…….oh excuse me I forgot we were talking the Tigers here!!!!
Is Todd Jones available????? he lives in Texas…hurry
Fasten your seatbelts!
That play by Peralta was almost identical to the play that Rod Allen commented on incorrectly in the recent previous game, and this time he made the play exactly as he could have in the other play but just didn’t pull the trigger on the throw. Well he learned from that miscue and did it exactly the right way this time. This guy looks good to make the All-Star team!
And do we have another All-Star on the mound at the moment? 🙂
I predict a stolen base.
Good win!!
I didn’t watch the 9th…I heard the Tigers won….yea!!!!!
Another decent outing by Porcello…and against a good hitting team – good timing with the recent uncertainty at the top of the rotation. I’d take a split in this series.
Porcello solid again…..deserved the win..mumbles did a good job, for a change with pitching / hitting match ups with the bullpen!
I noticed he didn’t bring in Coke to pitch to a RH batter.
Gosh Valverde makes it look so easy. He could have walked two more and been just fine!
LOL
That made me spit up my morning coffee.
You have to be careful ingesting dangerous hot liquids when reading the morning Tiger news. You never know what kind of shocking tale is about to unfold!
oh, I watched it unfold…and I was half-expecting him to load the bases, so your post hit home.
it’s rarely boring when Big Potato takes the mound, that much is certain.
Maybe his nickname should be adjusted to the Big Hot Loaded Potato. You gotta come hungry for that meal.
or, you gotta be loaded to watch.
Well when I go to the ballpark I always get a couple of beers myself, and I’m super cheap, so maybe there’s something to that rule!
I just left the room and peeked in once in awhile….no beer……but I thought about it!