Last night was the sigh of relief game of the series.
Tonight we bounce onto the rubber game with a classic matchup, ex-Nat Zimmerman vs. ex-Tiger Scherzer.
Tonight’s We Can Still Take This Series Lineup:
- Kinsler, 2B
- JD Martinez, LF
- Cabrera, 3B
- V Martinez, 1B
- Upton, LF
- McCann, C
- Gose, CF
- Iglesias, SS
- Zimmerman, P
Iggy? Didn’t see that coming!
http://www.mlive.com/tigers/index.ssf/2016/02/source_dan_dickerson_mario_imp.html
So confusing to me.
Supposedly Mario and Rod really don’t like each other, that is one way to minimize the conflict. Another way would be to replace Rod with a Gibson or Morris sometimes. Oh wait, they are doing that also.
Holy cow, Scherzer has K’d 8/9.
neither did Scherzer…who’s K’d Cabrera twice on 6 pitches, and pretty much mowed down everybody else (9 Ks through 4 IN)…need to get to their bullpen (which is quite good) ASAP
Just showing off.
Pitching matchup as advertised, for a change.
Agreed.
Zimmerman 68 pitches through 5, Scherzer 64… DET needs to hang some pitches on Scherzer
…like a 10-12 pitch AB from VMart
Either that or Upton has talked the team into trying his style of hitting!
DET clubhouse might run out of golden sombreros tonight
How about that. Upton has failed to hit everybody and almost puts one out on Max. We need to score this run.
Anybody but Victor on base and that hit scores a run.
yup a 394 ft (should have been RBI) double – followed by two K’s (McCann & Gose – each w/3 for the night)
Even if we lose, this has been worth watching. Glad we don’t see Max too often.
Agreed, when Max is on like this it’s hard to do much.
I’m not sure I would try Lowe again. Hope he keeps it at 3 runs.
Brad Ausmus, the Lowe Rider
JD!
JD is back.
Casty needs to bat
If Scherzer were a Tiger, he would have been relieved by now. Just ask Leyland.
Do you believe this?
Why in the world isn’t Castellanos batting???
I’d be hitting Casty for McCann here. It’s like Brad wants Scherzer to set the record.
JUST LETTING MCCANN BAT SHOULD GET THIS CHUMP FIRED!
Well, one thing we hadn’t done during this awful streak was set any futility records. Now there you go.
IN ANY CASE, GREAT WORK BY MAX.
It’s one thing to lose to a great performance like Max had but it is criminal not to bring up your best hitter representing the winning run up to bat. There is nothing that will ever get me on his side again. Do you think the players don’t realize how stupid this was? Should be a great plane ride to Baltimore.
Tip of the cap to Scherzer…twas nice when DET had a few aces (SPs) that could be counted on to come up big.
Obviously Scherzer was ‘dialed in’ all night, but DET didn’t do much to take him out of his rhythm either.
Going into the 9th it was clear Baker was going to let him go for the K record, especially after JD leads off w/HR and Baker leaves him in. Then Cabrera K’s, but VMart gets another hit, and Romine comes in to pinch run – why not steal Romine w/Upton at the plate? – why not get the tying run in scoring position? …what did you have to lose – 1B was loosely holding him on but Scherzer was dialed in on the hitter after one lazy toss to 1B? if nothing stealing Romine might disrupt Scherzer’s focus – or if Romine gets thrown out, that’s 1-less K for Max
Lastly…as Kevin and Tony pointed out, why not pinch-hit Castellanos (hottest hitter on the team, 2 HRs in the past two games) for a guy (McCann) batting .108 and who had struck out 3X on 9 pitches in his 3 previous AB’s? …again, what do you have to lose?
…to be clear, i’m not hanging that loss on Ausmus – clearly Scherzer was phenomenal tonight
my intended point, was to suggest DET might have possibly tried a few more little things to disrupt Scherzer… a Gose and/or McCann bunt in their first few AB’s? batters stepping out more, etc. – you know, possibly employ some NYY rhythm changing tactics, we’ve seen in yrs past against DET ‘aces’
why get in a hurry to get Scherzer through his big night when its a cab or short bus-ride for DET from DC to BAL?
If you think back to the Victor pinch hitting with 1st base open, bringing Lowe in a day after he was bombed and tonight with Casty, I can not think of a reason NOT to fire him. That is not to say we would win the game. After all, Max might have K’d him on 3 pitches, but the point is he let McCann come up and kept Casty on deck. Casty has to be mad as hell.
http://www.freep.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2016/05/12/detroit-tigers-steven-moya/84274116/
As per Tony’s recent request, DET called up OF Moya, who’s been tearing up AAA – and Hardy was optioned to Toledo… good move on both counts, Hardy has not looked good all year… and DET really needs much better production from every OF position – so good time to see what Moya can do in that regard
Norman, please don’t use terms like that or someone may think I’m in charge of this mess! If I were you can be sure I would have given Casty the opportunity to be Max’s 21st K. What I’m worried about is that Moya will replace J-Up and not Gose in the lineup. While J-Up has been disappointing he is still better than Gose who not only fails to hit but suffers from mental lapses. Even so, giving J-Up a couple of days off may help him.