Living in Colorado, I rarely get a chance to watch my beloved Tigers. So, imagine my surprise when I turned on the tv last night to see Alex Avila facing Bartolo Colon. A Tiger game on National TV? Imagine my surprise when I realized it was the Yankees on in prime time on ESPN.
But, I had a chance to watch the Tigers, and they were down 2-3 in the bottom of the 7th. I thought to myself, it would be nice to see Avila go yard, since it seems (based on the box scores that I've been watching) that the kid is starting to hit. Imagine my surprise when, on the next pitch, he sends an outside pitch over the left field fence. The Tigers tied it up - maybe their slump will break!
All season I've heard about the failures of the bullpen - except for Valverde. I knew that the middle relief - and of late - the $10 million set-up man - had been failing miserably. So, imagine my surprise when I saw a young rightie with about 300 letters on the back of his jersey (Alburquerque? Wha?) walk the first batter (btw, when did Curtis Granderson learn to work an at-bat to 25 pitches?). Having read a lot about the Tigers' late inning collapses, imagine my surprise when I saw Granderson steal second and the throw from Avila nearly go to center field. However, further imagine my surprise when I saw Granderson overslide 2nd and Jhonny tag him out. Maybe the Tigers' slump ends tonight! And the young pitcher retired the side. A tie game going into the bottom of the 8th? Surely the Tigers can find a run with the heart of the order coming up! Imagine my surprise when the only Tiger in the bottom of the 8th to put a ball in play was the superlative Cabrera. Nofrownmotown has been preaching all season that this team is "Miguel and 8 guys that can't hit." Imagine my surprise to find that prescient.
But it was still tied going into the 9th. I've heard all season about how solid Valverde has been. So, imagine my surprise when I saw him take about 2 hours to give the Yankees a 2 run lead. And imagine my surprise when the Tigers went out 1-2-3 against Mariano Rivera. To be honest, I wasn't very surprised.
I woke up this morning wondering what is there left to say about this team?
ReplyDeleteThank God John picked up the slack.
It's not just the same thing week after week. This is the same crap since 2007. The floundering hitters will eventually work their averages up to something respectable, but they're empty numbers. Where are the hits when it matters? Where is the stolen base in crunch time? Where is the fantastic outfield catch saving a late-inning run?
These guys do not do the little things necessary to win games. That's why they fail.
The team received an infusion of young blood last season due to injuries. Time to continue that trend.
I think it's even more than not doing the little things to win games - they seem to do the little things that give games away. Walking the lead-off man. Wild pitches/past balls at the wrong time. Ill-advised throws that lead to errors and "free" bases for opposing runners.
ReplyDeleteIt feels like ever since the World Series collapse to the Cardinals, when the smart, solidly small ball, make the right play Tigers, found a way to make rookie league blunders (not covering a bag, throwing to the wrong base), the team has forgotten the lessons that are taught from Rookie League through High School.