Baseball Reference Game Preview
Josh Tomlin vs. Drew Smyly for the Sunday day game.
Exactly two months ago, The Bad Times began with three losses in a row to the Indians. Astonishing losses, really. Just like the last three.
Offenses sputter. It happens. Big name, big money closers fail. This also happens. One situation is more dire than the other. What to do with Joe Nathan has become the question of the day.
We need a win and what does Assmus do ….. puts the Lettuce in for Su!
Insightful.
It rhymes, I’ll say that much for it.
Greetings from a cold and rainy Seydisfjordur, Iceland. Hmmm…three loss since I went on vacation….don’t make me come back early!
Do u see the Tigers walking around Iceland. They are playing like they are there!
I just had a local brewe called El Gillo. One more and I will be speaking fluent Icelandic or for that matter could be playing a mean right field. Always a Tiger!
I love it. Keep passing along the updates.
Drew has them iced so far.
He was a bum last week, but I guess that’s baseball.
Nathan alert!
I hate bringing him back out here thus far. This tells me that Ausmus is going to keep wedging him into the closer role.
There is no wedging. He’s it, has been since they signed him, and will likely continue to be through that $20M. That amount of money buys a lot of denial.
The Tigers will eat that contract and let him go after 2014 if things don’t turn around and stay turned around. Just watch.
It’s the “after 2014” that worries me.
Good point. They really can’t give up on him this year, though. If he can’t be trusted with the 9th – and it will take a lot to reach the tipping point with that – they’ll just have to use him somewhere else.
No one’s a sure thing. There was risk in acquiring all the expensive fellows. Martinez, Fielder, Hunter, and now Nathan. Victor wasn’t looking like such a great deal three months into 2013, though he at least had one fantastic previous season as a Tiger in his pocket. The doubters look silly now, and maybe we’ll also look silly eventually for doubting Nathan. Or it could turn out like Sheffield…
Much is made of Nathan’s ERA, which certainly isn’t good, but ERA is one the LAST stats you want to make too much of for ANY reliever, whether good or bad. I don’t have a great deal of confidence in Nathan myself at this point, but I do realize that his ERA reflects a distinct minority of “blowups.”
Thanks, Tigers, we needed that. Thank you Drew Smyly and Torii Hunter.
The fun saga of Miggy as DH continues. I recommend 1B for life. Never DH him again. If Cabrera needs a day off, give him a real day off. Not a start where he takes the day off.
Good win makes a nice birthday present for Mike Illitch. Not a moment too soon.
Great win on the first day of the rest of the season: Cy Smyly, 6 outs from the BP without a run, clutch hitting, brilliant decision by Ausmus to bring Nathan back after last nights debacle in order for him to gain some confidence. If they keep playing like this they’ll make the playoffs for sure, and then anything can happen. I don’t understand how they lost the previous three.
http://tinyurl.com/qztyojl
What kind of baloney is this from Colby Lewis? I think you should play to win no matter what the score. Bunt, steal a base, everything you’d normally do. Crybabies. “Etiquette.” Baloney!
Lewis is an idiot. The object of the game is whoever scores the most runs wins. And it was in the 4th inning(!) of a 4-1 game(!), hardly a blowout. Jeez.
Just your typical Colby vs Colby stuff.
They could have a show on ESPN.
Cleveland’s team OPS is 100 points lower against LH starters, we had the right guy out there today at the right time.
Torii tweeted he was dressed for the road trip, and I clicked in terror, thinking I was about to see Zubaz. Phew!
http://instagram.com/p/qsFvJGqzHZ/
I have to admit I was amused by his hashtags: #lookingbetterthanjustinverlander#miggytoo. One is so much more easily amused after a W!
That is a sharp-dressed man. Haven’t seen the competition he refers to, though.
Thanks Drew…considering you probably make in a year what Verlander makes in a week, you earned every dime of that today. We needed it also, bad.
Pitching match ups with DBacks is good. Need
to keep up the Tigers vs NL destruction, and then hopefully the Tigs can get 1 in Anaheim..we are only going to be able to attend the Fri game. My baseball buddy has a time problem. But we are about 2-20 anyway out here so maybe its good we won’t be sitting there…