Det 83-66 —
KC 81-67 1.5
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Oak 83-66 +1.5
KC 81-67 —
Sea 80-68 1.0
Tor 77-71 4.0
Cle 76-72 5.0
NYY 76-72 5.0
Sep-tober is in full swing.
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The Tigers fly into Minnesota for a 3 game series. They’ll have an off day on Thursday and then the weekend set in KC. Minnesota is having a hard time finding reason in baseball life right now, having lost 8 out of 10. I could say more on this, but I’ll let you look at the probables below and arrive at your own conclusions.
Tonight: Scherzer v. Swarzak – 8:10 PM
Tues: Porcello v. TBA – 8:10 PM
Wed: Price v. TBA – 8:10 PM
Baseball-Reference game preview here.
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Confession – boy was I wrong about Phil Coke. Sometime in late May, I wrote something to the effect of “Phil Coke does not belong in the Major Leagues.” Well, my motivation technique (we’ll call it that in hindsight) worked, as the guy has perhaps become the most dependable arm in the bullpen. Seriously. I know that sounds crazy, but check this out. In Phil Coke’s last 42 appearances, he’s thrown 38.1 innings, with a 2.35 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, and .666 OPS against. (You can contrast that against his first 15 appearances covering 2 months, where he gave up 13 ER in 17 1/3 for a 6.75 ERA, 1.73 WHIP and .935 OPS against). In his last 9 appearances he’s allowed 7 hits and 2 BB in 8 1/3, with 0 ER and a .515 OPS. Remember how dominant he was in the 2012 playoffs? We could be getting back to that.
1. Ian Kinsler, 2B
2. Torii Hunter, RF
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
4. Victor Martinez, DH
5. J.D. Martinez, LF
6. Nick Castellanos, 3B
7. Bryan Holaday, C
8. Andrew Romine, SS
9. Rajai Davis, CF
Swarzak starting for the Twins. I thought they gave up on that idea a long time ago. Oh well, their starting pitching, with the exception of Hughes, and ocassionally Gibson, has been atrocious again this year, so I guess it is experiment time. Don’t underestimate their offense though. I hope Martinez, Martinez and Company can put up a bunch of runs just to be on the safe side. No snoozing please.
No game on XM radio. What gives?
Holaday is having a holiday out there.
Holaday’s holiday holocaust attempting to hit the hemp-wound hemisphere for the holistic perfect cycle
He must not be framing those pitches well though.
Romine playing VG SS and chipping in a few hits lately sure is helpingthe team!
Here comes my guy.
Joba is the new Ian Krol!
6-0…gimme a Break!!
And it should have been more. What I said earlier.
Ask and ye shall receive.
Sep-TOBER!!!
CWS holding on…3-2 over KC going to the 9th.
SEP-TOBER!!!
#DoinItForTheRotation
#DoinItForTheLousyPitching
Now that’s how it’s done in MLB. To hell with the Twins and their stupid bunts, bloops and BS station to station play. Nothing beats a couple of bombs by a couple of major leaguers!
So who gets to pitch the 9th? Just say no to Sloppy Joe Blow!
It’s Scoria.
Well the late dinger is sure working this month!!!! Wow!
Nice play by Kelly; Castellanos might not have gotten that one either.
Agreed.
Two out – tying run at 2nd for KC, bottom of the 9th.
Advanced to 3rd on a WP. #Sep-Tober
KC just tied it up. Winning runner now on 2nd. Two outs.
And they score him on an infield single. How Royals of them.
Our boy Donkey…very nice play!
Royals score in the 9th on a double + stolen base + wild pitch. How very Royals of them.
Makes our win that much better.
The Royals are an irrelevant second place team. Pay no attention until we play them. I’m thinking about the Orioles and Angels already.
Hopefully Soria has his command back. Despite the leadoff double he at least didn’t WALK anybody.
getting Soria back to form would be great… as there’s not a lot of reliability from anyone in DET’s bullpen
lead-off walk(s) for a reliever are especially nerve wracking!!!
Although he started well, Chamberlain has been less than inspiring in the second half. He’s a FA at the end of the season and I’m not sure he’s worth bringing back next year. Of course I could say that about 90% of our bullpen hands this year.
It’s been a while since Good Joba. He’s a great guy to have on team, and I think the same of Phil Coke, but I’d be inclined to let ’em both go.
Good point, Vince. Double was kinda cheap as well.
I think Soria is the closer in 2015. It would be nice for Nathan to go out in a blaze of glory this season – well, let’s make that “finish well,” because I haven’t seen anything glorious or blazing in 2014. But if there’s a way to let him go elsewhere, I hope the Tigers do. Not really up for a repeat.
nice to see the DET offense overcome some shoddy pitching tonight…
and CWS bullpen gave KC a win tonight…
This one was tense. Max and Joba nearly gave it away. Kyle (Ryan) and Torii and Miguel and Don and Joakim took it back. Losing this one would have changed our outlook in a hurry.
Six games left against this pesky team, this offensive superpower. Will it ever be easy? This one sure started that way.
The Tigers have a better record than the (irrelevant, second place) Oakland A’s. Wow. Who saw that coming?
OAK isn’t exactly irrelevant, since if the season ended today, they and KC would be the two wild card teams. Yeah, early on they looked like a 100-win team, but now it looks like the Angels will hit that mark.
And such worries me as the Tigers record against AL Western Division teams isn’t too good.
No, the A’s aren’t irrelevant. Figured I had to call them that after doing it to the Royals. Have to gloat about first place while we can.
Yes, West is trouble for the Tigers, always. Except for the A’s, Yankees of the West as far as Detroit is concerned.
Having to go through the Angels to get to the WS would be the true test for the Tigers. It would probably be better for them going into the WS, really. Beat the best, become the best. Sounds good, anyway.