Haul It Back in the Yard

Rod Allen was still giddy during the "Tigers Live Postgame" show.  Aren't we all.

Well, it's nice to say that the opposing team got Verlander-ed tonight.  I mean, Lee pitched well, but we had some hits off him and didn't capitalize.  The Indians didn't really have anything on which to capitalize.

11 Ks

2 hits

no hits from 2nd-6th innings

complete. game. shutout.

Oh, yeah, and then there's the game saving play by lil CJ.  Baby, you're going out on the town tonight, and Verlander's paying.  I'm hopping in my car right now, getting on the turnpike and hitting every bar in Cleveland to join the party.

Nice chaser to make us forget last night.

Slammed

Sometimes I am unable to write a post immediately following a bad loss.  I first attempt to cool myself off by slamming a few doors with all possible force.  I've had a mirror come unmounted from the back of a door and shatter all over the floor in a trillion polygonic granules.  My, wasn't it humbling (and hazardous) performing clean-up on that mess.   If that doesn't do the trick, I've got to break out the big guns and watch my copy of the no-hitter that I downloaded off i-Tunes.

All of this is done to spare the reader from invectives spewed in a disorderly jumble.  There certainly are times when an angry post is appropriate and cathartic.  In fact, it's why I started this blog after the 2008 season.  I just had so much bile poisoning my system, it had to be released.

So much for the blow-hard intro.  My point here is that last night's loss is now becoming a pattern.  We get Greinke-d, Buehrle-d, Pavano-ed.  Who's next?  Is Cliff Lee gonna make a run at a perfect game too?  Actually, that would NOT follow the pattern.  We usually follow up such a loss with a win.  We're playing .500 ball right now, and while that's a sight better than last year, it's not entirely satisfying.  I'm feeling that our team has a legitimate shot at contending.  We'll soon know whether Willis and then Bonderman can help boost us up to the next level.

If not, and in the wake of more tainting of our game coming to light, I may just move to following and blogging  my son's rec league team.

What Lies Beneath

A trail of tears leads me to this place.  Magglio Ordóñez finds himself floundering at the one place he's been most outstanding his baseball career:  the plate.  El Campeón Bate 2007 is currently carrying a .232 AVG, and has gone 0-4 the last game, and oh, yeah, the game before that too.

In an MLB.com article by David Just, we get a hint of an explanation.  It sounds like there are personal problems afoot for our 2006 ALCS hero.

Jim Leyland says:

"He's got some other things on his mind."

Collective shudder.

We all know how personal problems can devastate a player's game, and rightly so.   Baseball is only a game after all, and one that requires a lot of mental concentration.  Amid personal ruin, I can imagine myself hunched over my computer alternately stifling sobs and sputtering angry words through clenched teeth, working at approximately .032 efficiency.

Just look at Pudge in 2005.  The team stunk, he was going through a divorce, and that was a cocktail for utter chaos in the clubhouse for him.  He hit. 276 in 2005, sandwiched between .334 in 2004 and .300 in 2006.  Although he had a very good defensive year in 2005, I'm attributing his offensive blip to his personal problems.   That is very sound logic, and there are no other factors that could have affected his plate production.  I can hardly stifle my own rebuttal to that statement, but just go with it, okay?

Anyway, I'm worried about My Tiger.  Hope everything's gonna be all right for him, both on and off the field.

Seriously?

Please tell me I was dreaming, and that we did not have another disastrous inning last night.  Crap, I just saw the evidence on SportsCenter.  Edwin Jackson may begin to get a little cranky if he continues to receive this paltry level of run support throughout the season.

Carlos Guillen is now battling a sore shoulder?  And why would he not be on the DL at this point?  You can't successfully battle two injuries.  I absolutely love Carlos Guillen, but he can't be kept in the lineup in his battered condition.  It's really hard to say this, but he looks brutal in left right now, too.  He's not getting to those deep balls even though he's playing deep.  Ugh.

In divisional news, Zack Greinke continues to dominate to the tune of a 0.40 ERA.    Last night he threw a complete game, shutting out the White Sox, while striking out ten.  I can only hope that on our next series against the Royals, we somehow miss his turn in the rotation.  In a way, it's exciting to see someone dealing like that, but when he's in our division, it has the tendency to take some of the fun out of it.

Monday Night Madness

I will “gracing” the CoPa with my presence at tonight’s game—ha ha.  I hope I don’t bring a hex with me as I just found out my son’s baseball team is the Twins.  I must admit that I do like the TC logo on the caps.  It’s 80s night at the ballpark tonight (groan).  I’m not too into the hokey themed nights like Country Night, etc.  Absurdly, I go to the park to watch the ballgame being played.  It’s also a promotional night in which the first 10,000 fans receive a Jack Morris replica jersey/t-shirt.  Is jersey/t-shirt an oxymoron?  I never make it the park that early, so I’m sure I won’t get one anyway.  The weather is expected to be picture-perfect, so play ball!

I’m looking forward to my first live look at Mr. Jackson.  While scrutinized at the time (by myself and a lot of others), the trade is turning out well for us so far.  I still believe Matt Joyce will be a quality player, and I’m interested in his career/progress.  But, it turns out we really needed another starter, what our left-handers’ pitching skills going AWOL and Jeremy Bonderman’s extended rehab.

Last year, I somehow made it into two video highlights due to the Puma hitting opposite field home runs right into my section.  My son said he hopes I get into another one this year.  I tried to explain how unlikely that is, but hey Miggy, if you wanna jack one into my row, have at it!  However, everyone made a lot of fun of me in those clips, so maybe I should lay low.  I’m starting to feel like Kathy Lee Gifford with all these mentions of my son, so I’m gonna try to limit that.  No sense in alienating and annoying your readers.

See you at the park tonight!

Color Me Conflicted

A couple things about our Tigers are starting to get real old.

First, the top of our lineup's slump.  I'm so tired of hearing how many of them are slow starters, they'll get it going, blah, blah, blah.  It's May now.  Let's go ahead and GET it going, k?  I can't stomach too many more feeble GIDP.  The bottom of our lineup, while performing more than admirably, can't carry us all season.

Second, these stinking games in which one bad inning does us in, usually highlighted (lowlighted) by a poor defensive play.  Once again today, what was essentially an error (but scored a hit) by Raburn, costs us 5 runs.  That should have been out number three.  Miner had just done a brilliant job getting Sizemore to strike out.  Then the inning's extended and ka-blowey, a five run lead evaporates.

The euphoria inspired by Adam Everett's slam is quickly replaced by a sickening knot deep in my gut.

Now, that being said, we did pull off the W today.  So, for that, I am thankful.  But I do hope we can resolve the aforementioned items of concern.

Sincere Apologies

I did not know that I had the ability to predict the future.  My last post was an ominous foreshadowing of the game that was to follow.  For that I am sorry.  I'll refrain from such fortune-telling in the future.

If you're feeling bad about the Tigers three-game skid right now, imagine yourself a Pirate fan.  They've now gone 22 innings without scoring a run.  Eeks.