I have to admit it felt pretty good to win that one, especially since the game started for me with a creeping feeling that Danny Duffy was going to no-hit the Tigers.
As predicted, JD was the man of the hour again, hitting his 3rd home run of the series and providing the winning run. As Suarez’ flame has quietly dimmed, JD’s continues to burn, and he is the Another Guy of the hour. As in, there’s Cabrera and V-Mart, but we need Another Guy to hit.
Anibal Sanchez continúes to be the Ace of the staff, and Joba Chamberlain pitched a quick and efficient 8th, and Joe Nathan had a flashback 3-strikeout 9th inning. Billy Butler was impressed:
“That looked like the Joe Nathan I’ve faced for years,” Butler said. “All those times with the Twins and then with Texas — the one with a few hundred saves and all those All-Star games. He’s had some tough moments in his career, but that looked like the same guy today.
If just for an afternoon the Tigers looked like a team that was dominant from the mound.
*****
Maybe Miguel is breaking out of his slump. He hit a deep double to left-center that knocked in the first Tiger run. Unfortunately, he took the opportunity to stand and admire his not-a-home-run. Nevermind, there was no harm. Not until the next play when he got picked off from right field as he was walking back to 2nd with his head down. If you watched the replay, Victor stopped running about halfway to first and looked like he was trying to get Miggy’s attention. Hopefully Victor had a word or two with Miguel after the game; he’s probably the only one who could. Cabrera doesn’t look like his head is always in the game lately. And yes, I am holding him to a higher standard than other players.
*****
I was right in the pre-game: Bryan Holaday really doesn’t get no respect. Holaday was rung up on two consecutive ball four pitches, the second of which provided a Great Moment in Lip Reading. His last time up he bunted for a single, and ended up on 2nd when an attempt was unwisely made to get him at 1st. I’ll throw this one out there to the audience: who was the last Tiger who bunted as well as Holaday does?
Gerald Laird was an excellent bunter. But we ran him out of town cause he was better than Daddys boy!…Holaday will get run out next!
The Tigers loaded up on catchers in the draft. I doubt the Tigers will ever get rid of Avila, but they may be anticipating an early retirement for the poor guy.
Alex Sanchez back in the horror days (2002?). As I recall he had over 20 bunt hits one year.
There’s a name I’d forgotten. Just looked him up, he had a great 2004: .322, 19 SB. with 29–29! bunt hits.
good write-up Coleman and I completely agree with your assessment on Holaday’s two K’s…each called 3rd strike should have been ball 4. I do not agree with the ‘star treatment’ (or the opposite for non-stars) that umps and officials occasionally employ in professional sports – where “stars” get preferential calls, while the rookies or 2nd tier players are subject to a higher standard.
In baseball the strike zone should remain constant regardless of who is up or who’s pitching – or the status of the game. Yesterday’s HP ump Guccione was rather erratic during the (5-9) innings I watched – for example Butler leads off the 9th against Nathan, Butler chases an ankle-level outside curve ball for strike 1, Nathan throws a perfect pitch (outside corner at the knees), ump calls it a “ball”…then the count goes to 2-2 and Nathan throws essentially the same pitch (as his 2nd pitch) that the ump called a “ball”, and the ump rings up Butler – who walked away justifiably complaining.
The Butler sequence shows the importance of the balls & strikes calls – and highlights the reason why I’d like to see MLB move toward ‘balls & strikes’ called by an ump using “strike zone” technology. I wonder how many MLB pitchers would like to move to that model?
I noticed the same with the Butler at bat…Holaday must have enjoyed watching Butler lose it, after his own experiences. To add to what you were saying, I find it annoying also that 3-0 pitches are almost automatically called strikes, unless the ball bounces. I wish they’d stop the “courtesy strike” thing, it would speed the game up also.
Funniest part of the 3-0 strike is the ump starting up with the right hand with the pitch half way to the plate….automatic
Martinez and Cabrera have clubbed Kluber at the plate so let’s hope for some more Mojo momentum tonight!