More good pitching last night, and some Kinsler heroics, and now Zimmerman takes the mound with a wacky lineup behind him looking to get the Tigers back to back sweeps.
Today’s Hey Why Not Lineup
Kinsler, 2B
Aviles, LF
Cabrera, DH
Castellanos, 3B
JD Martinez, RF
Upton, CF
McCann, C
Romine, 1B
Iglesias, SS
For those wondering, Maybin is day to day with wrist soreness.
This clearly is not going to be the low-scoring affair I imagined
Zimmerman not fooling many…probably going to take at least a TD and FG…maybe two TD’s to win today’s game
Didn’t know about Maybin, thanks Norman!
look for Sanchez to get some long relief experience today
Maybe Gibby can work with the Toronto base runners too.
all (the first) 6 hits by TOR all came with 2-strikes on batter… obviously Z is not locating well today
Zim was due for one of these kind of games!..unfortunately!
I know Miggy hit the bomb last night..but he isn’t swinging right, seems like to me…
10 runners..can’t figure out how to get more than 2 in…Brads signature coaching skills….
Best part two decent teams and two series wins…
Zimm not sharp, but feels good physically
http://www.baseballflash.com/detroit-tigers/
The Tigers have 20 games left in June and 10 more before the All Star Game. Of those 30 games they play only 9 at home. Also, there is only 1 day off during the entire stretch. Our pitching staff will be tested. We must get some length from the starters or the ball pen will be shattered. After the 3 games with the Yankees, we have 7 games with the White Sox and Royals. These and the 6 games against the Indians should be the key. We must win 4 of 6 from the tribe and also dominate the White Sox and Royals who are really playing poorly. If we can play .500 for the 30 games, we should still be in the race at the All Star break. If we have any 4 or 5 game losing steaks, we can start planning the 2017 season and seriously looking for our next manager. The July schedule only gets tough at the end when we play the Red Sox and Astros. Right now I’m not sure how they will end up. We have too many question marks and since Brad can sometimes lose us games here and there, who knows? Guess I’ll have to watch to figure it out!
Hey Florida…good analysis…I was gonna post something similar but you beat me to the point with more better detail. While you do a great job of laying out the challenge, the Tigers are entering it in a good position to live up to the task at hand. They have been winning, starting and bullpen pitching are acceptable (as Brad adjusts/fine tunes the seating chart in the bullpen with Greene for Lowe, etc.). Bats are hot and some are improving. While I’d be happy with a .500 road trip any additional wins over .500 will make my day. And of course a sweep of the Yankees is always on my mind! Now if Brad can only demand they play each game with swagger and style!
Agree and concur with the more better analysis, sometimes a season can come down to a 10,20, or 30 game stretch. If their is a good (plus .500) outcome, then we will have some sort of chance at a post season appearance. If not, we will sharpen our collective written knives, and openly lobby for a new Skipper.
Great points Jim, Tony & MS – I know its still early, but I think the next 10 games (all road games) provide a pretty good indicator as to whether DET is contender or pretender. The next 10 games pitching matchups (and projected outcome for DET):
(L) Pelfrey – Sabathia
(W) JV – Tanaka
(W) Fulmer – Pineda
(L) Boyd – Shields
(W) Zimm – Rodon
(L) Pelfrey – Sale
(W) JV – Young
(W) Fulmer – Duffy
(L) Boyd – Ventura
(L) Zimm – Volquez
Enjoy the comments on this road trip…BTW, Shields in his White Sox debut got hammered by the Nats last night. Meanwhile, hopefully we will have no bru-hahas during the four game visit to KC. Which also reminds me of attending a Tiger three-game series two years ago in early May. The Tigers beat and swept the Royals royally and KC fans near me in the stands we crying to me saying their season was over – fini! (And you recall that they made it to Game 7 of the WS.) So like Kevin always sez, “plenty of baseball left.” But it sure feels like a good time to step up in this division!
Also tonight the Tigers may draft Dakota Hudson from Mississippi State. Oh no…more Tiger fans from Mississippi?!?!
MS I heard DET would most like to draft Riley Pint RHP high school pitcher out of KS (throws 100 mph), but he’s likely to get drafted before DET at #9, which means DET drafts either Hudson RHP from MS or a high school OF from CA, Blake Rutherford
…but I think DET drafts a pitcher in the 1st round…and then no picks again until round 4 (because of Zim & Upton signings)
Yeah…drafts are pretty fluid. BTW, Hudson goes to the mound tomorrow for MSU in their College WS quest. And in his prime, didn’t Morneau give Tiger pitchers fits?
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/06/white-sox-sign-justin-morneau.html
CWS DFA’s Latos (SP) brought up a rookie SP and signed Morneau
Also Pelrey is on a winning streak so we shall see what happens tomorrow!
Is that really Ryan Raburn batting cleanup for Colorado? And he promptly triples home 2 runs.
http://www.freep.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2016/06/09/tigers-select-prep-pitcher-matt-manning-ninth-overall-pick/85674408/
DET drafted hard throwing pitcher Matt Manning – high school pitcher didn’t start pitching until Jr year – his father Rich Manning played in the 90’s for Vancouver & LA Clippers…and Matt is 6′ 6″ and supposedly a very good basketball player also… so an athlete whose arm doesn’t already have 1000 innings on it
5 of the first 9 draft picks were high school players
I just hope were competitive on this road trip …and they need to keep some games out of Brads hands…..right now 5-5 very acceptable because the pitching match ups Normin posted slightly favor the Tigers….
https://www.yahoo.com/style/kate-upton-wears-her-butt-160004674.html
…motivation or consternation for JV? …we shall see how this plays out – its worked pretty well over his past 6 starts
Despite motivation or consternation, he must get “comments” from the clubhouse?
…not to mention a fair amount of envy also 😉
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/06/white-sox-promote-tim-anderson.html
CWS DFA Jimmy Rollins – I’m not a CWS fan, but do have to respect their ‘business’ approach at trying to build a better roster…and not shying away from cutting loose veterans that aren’t producing – it certainly sends a message to the rest of their roster.
in our market, anytime there’s a nat’l broadcast, it always the NYY or BOS… except apparently when NYY is playing DET…