Detroit (33-27) out to even it up against Chicago (32-33) tonight, with JV up against John Danks. Expect “The Justin Verlander Thread” after this one. To ponder the question of how Justin could have just no-hit the Sox at the Cell after tying us in knots all season, of course.
OK, let’s keep Victor in the lineup and off the field, please. More Eugenio Suarez! Unless we can reach an agreement on resigning ourselves to the Avila Deal, we may need “The Alex Avila Thread” as well. Less clown show! 33-27? Yeesh. That’s starting to look a little too AL Central for my tastes.
Gotta win this one. Rain could be a factor, so maybe I should say “gotta get this one in.” No more postponements! Tonight’s “Stave Off The Return of the Funk” lineup to follow…
There’s a post in the Motor City Tigers Blog by Matt Pelc titled “Do the Tigers Lack Leadership?” that was picked up by todays Free Press. In it, he recalls a time during a Stanley Cup run when Yzerman stood up and called out the team for lackluster play. The Wings, of course, went on to win the Cup.
In the article Pelc asks who among the current Tigers has the chops/personality to do the same. He dismisses the current players for reasons you can probably guess.
Verlander/Scherzer – Play only every fifth day and have their own problems to address now.
Cabrera – Not his personality, focuses on his own performance.
Hunter – Prominent but more comic relief than stature.
Kinsler – Resisted such a role with the Rangers after Michael Young departed.
I think he missed what to me is the obvious choice and that’s VMart. Many times I’ve seen him described as the teams “tribal elder” who chooses the music in the clubhouse and to whom younger players turn for advice. He has the stature and cast iron credibility to speak and be taken seriously by all.
Whether he has the personality and will to do it is another question. I’d love to see it.
I really don’t see a lack of effort from anyone out there, other than guys occasionally wasting at bats. Victor never does.
I’m inclined to agree with you on the effort and the wasted at bats. I was thinking in terms of a bit of a shakeup. I don’t see what else there is to do with the current roster that offers more than an incremental gain.
i think having a live bat or two in the bottom half of the lineup would make a huge difference. Castellanos looks so good for a while, and then so bad at others; Suarez so far looks too good to be true. But if one or both of these guys become any kind of threat at all, it changes a lot of things. Not only do the opposing pitchers no longer get breather innings, but it takes pressure off the other guys to do everything, and they will have better at bats also.
If Casty and Su are for real, then Avila will no longer have to do everything. He can then concentrate on his pitch calling and framing. If he runs into one every 15-20 ABs that will be frosting on the cake. At one time catchers were considered the field generals of the defense because they can see everything going on on the field. Perhaps this is an outdated concept now. Personally, ilike the idea of someone in command on the field. Perhaps Alekkks can be that guy. “Colonel” Avila, although it may conjure up images of a South American dictator for some, is still more appealing than “Mr.K”.
Six wins out of the last 21 games….six quality starts after the last 21 games…hmmm!?!? This may be a long and ugly drought.
We play solid D last night and we win 5-3….we need JV to start producing . I am getting a little tired if I am doing this and I am doing that and I am doing better…I am the leader of the What have you done lately group and JV there isn’t much to go on….so shut up and earn that $20 mil.. .
Game postponed due to rain.
Normally I’d be bummed, but they need another day off…and so do I.
With Verlander going, I was going to find something better to do tonight anyway (there are only so many hours in a day). Unfortunately, I’m sure he gets bumped to Weds game, so now it looks like I will have to find something else to do tomorrow as well.
Saw it coming, but still disappointed. Another postponement not what we need. 4 makeup games now?
Kevin…this web change is really looking good. Nice work…..
Lets see we are 2.5 games in first and/ or 4.5 games out of last!!!
at least with 4 game lead in the loss column we only need to win acouple of those four games where if you are behind by four losses you have to win all four…if this makes sense!
It’s like the old Irish joke: “Is this a private fight or can anyone join in?” We are now officially engaged in a 5-way battle for 5th place.
He he. The race to the bottom. Seen that way, this 6-15 roll is pretty impressive. The key is losing with enough consistency.
A quiet evening at the old DTW.
Rajai does not seem to be the guy you want up with R3L2O
Or at all, pretty much, over his last 28 games.
Impossible for me to imagine this ending well. Going to bed. They do better if I don’t watch.