Results tagged ‘ Texas Rangers ’
Tigers Drop Fourth Straight
Chicago White Sox 13, Detroit 9
Despite the presence of formidable arms in Jon Garland and Justin Verlander, pitching had very little to do with the outcome of Thursday’s game between the White Sox and the Tigers. Like many games so far this season for the Tigers and, really, all around the league (even if you just look at yesterday), this game was all about offense. I’m in a hurry today, so if you’re wondering what I’m talking about, take a look at the box score (above).
A bad day from Justin Verlander is completely acceptable at this stage in the season. He’s going to have a few of those. So is Joel Zumaya. So is Bobby Seay. So is Jason Grilli…and Jordan Tata. Okay, so we have a lot of young guys in the bullpen; fortunately, we have a lot of GOOD young guys in the bullpen. These guys are green, but they will come around quickly if they’re about to stick around.
STRIPES AND STREAKS
The Tigers have now dropped four in a row. To a certain degree, these losses have been close. Take Thursday’s game for example; the Tigers answered the White Sox’ 2 homeruns in the first inning with a run before they came back from 10-2 in the 4th and eventually made it 10-8 in the 6th and before they made a threat in the bottom of the 9th. I wrote this game off as a blowout at least twice only to come back and start paying attention because the Tigers were scoring runs and trying to come back. I would not call any of the 4 losses boring, I’ve been on-edge several times througout these games. This leads me to conclude that, by far, I prefer blowouts. I prefer blowouts when the Tigers are the ones dealing them.
It’s time for the Tigers to put an end to this losing streak. Dropping four straight games doesn’t look good and it isn’t. Really what they’ve done is take 3 of 4 from the Rangers and get swept by the World Series Champion Chicago White Sox. In Week 2, I’m not crying. The Tigers need to build momentum by taking this series at home against the Cleveland Indians before heading out on a 9-game West Coast road trip. The Indians have dropped their last two games and Kenny Rogers is poised to bounce back from his start against Texas last Sunday.
I wrote last week that the results of the series’ with Texas and Chicago wouldn’t really affect my view of how this season is shaping up. I’m glad that I didn’t have time/ability to write here during last weekend as the Tigers rolled to 5-0, because I’d probably pulling up a chair to a table set with words for me to eat. As a friend pointed out to me this week, if the Tigers had mixed wins and losses to arrive at 5-4, Tigers fans would still be feeling pretty good. After loss number four, I’ll take a page from Jim Leyland’s book and say, "So what?" As opposed to his predecessor, Jim Leyland gives me comfort in the even-tempered and consistent manner he carries in responding to both wins and losses. The season is young and with all of the first’s of the season out of the way, the Detroit Tigers need to settle into the grind (to take another page from Leyland’s book). Part of that will be learning to respond well to losses, as well as (hopefully) wins.
NOTES ON THE WHITE SOX
Jim Thome can stay out of Detroit. We’re all watching Chris Shelton right now, but watch out for Jim Thome; he’s just 1 homerun behind Shelton, having enjoyed a dinger in each of his games at Comerica this week.
Bobby Jenks was not convincing in the closing role. He came into the bottom of the 9th in Wednesday’s game and gave up 2 earned runs, including Shelton’s 6th homerun of the season. Last season, the White Sox lived on 1-run games; performances like the one Jenks turned in on Wednesday are not going to be acceptable to this team. Rolling into the 9th, the Tigers had been dominated by Contreras; it was Jenks that made that game close.
Though the games were close, Chicago’s games with Detroit were well executed on the part of the White Sox; I think this shows that Ozzie Guillen is taking Detroit seriously.
Don’t Spend It All in One Place!
Detroit Tigers 14, Kansas City Royals 3
How to silence the Detroit bats on Wednesday? At least 5 of 6 of the Kansas City pitchers couldn’t really tell you and I don’t know who would approve of Mike Wood’s answer anyway.
The Tigers were focused and aggressive at the plate. Here are 2 BIG things that I noticed:
- Whether a strike or a ball, Tigers batters took the first pitch in vast majority of the at-bat’s (except when there were 2 outs).
- Tigers batters were obviously being told to swing away when there were 2 outs.
Curtis Granderson (3-for-6; 2B, HR) showed up on Wednesday, with power. How about that? I expect that his production will be intermittent early on, but this should not be the last time we see him have a day like this.
WELCOME BACK PUDGE
(How long will you be staying with us?)
Ivan Rodriguez turned in a stellar set of at-bat’s in Wednesday’s game, going 5-for-5 with 3 doubles, a homerun and 5 RBI’s. Pudge explained himself, saying:
"This is my 16th year in baseball, and I always play this game like it’s my first. I love this game. Last year I didn’t have that. This year, I have it."
From Pudge, that’s 1 solid outing.
Right out of the gate, Chris Shelton is on. This season at the plate, his struggles will be:
- Adjusting to the scouts; meaning pitchers approaching him differently. Shelton struggled with this last August, as the advance scouts became all-too-aware of who he was. All he needs to do to overcome that is to do what he does so well; be patient and adjust.
- Situational hitting; pressure from Leyland to do different things at the plate, based upon the situation, even as he adjusts as described above.
Chris Shelton is poised to have a full break-out season. I can’t wait to watch.
WHERE’D-YA-GO MAGGLIO?
In the second game of the season, Magglio Ordonez went hitless in Wednesday’s victory, though he did turn in a sacrifice-fly in the first inning; scoring Placido Polanco and advancing Ivan Rodriguez. I think Maggs’ line on Wednesday had something to do with when his AB’s came, however, I would have felt much better if he’d had a hit or two to go with the SF.
Take a look at this summary of his plate appearances and maybe you’ll feel a little squeamish about the clean-up hitter too:
- 1st Inning – 0 outs, sacrifice fly on the first pitch.
- 3rd Inning – 2 outs, ground-out with a runner on first.
- 5th Inning – 1 out, strikes out as the first batter faced by RP Luke Hudson.
- 7th Inning – 0 outs, ground-out with a runner on second.
- 8th Inning – 2 outs, ground-out with a runner on second.
OTHER NOTES
What’s up with referring to taking both of the games in a two-game series as a sweep? I realize that, technically, that IS a sweep. But after a hitter goes 3-for-3 in the first game of the season, no one is raving about how he’s batting a thousand! Technically, the Detroit Tigers are first place in the AL Central; but this writer isn’t making any post-season predictions. It just seems kind-of lame to me. But if you check out some of the detroittigers.com articles or watch the FSN pre-game tonight, I’m betting you’ll come across at least a few instances of the S-word.
I’m going to be out of town starting Thursday thru Monday; expect comments on the Texas series and the Home Opener on Monday night.
THE BIG PICTURE
People will look at the Detroit/Kansas City series and say, "Well, someone has got to win."
They’re right.
However, I’m glad to see that it’s the Tigers who are winning so far, because in recent history, KC has been pesky for the Tigers.
Reflecting upon this opening series with KC, I was going to say that we’ll have a better idea of what to expect this year after these upcoming games with the Texas Rangers and the Chicago White Sox. After giving it some thought, nothing will really surprise me after those games, regardless of the outcomes.
Detroit started its last 2 seasons with a strong April and a continuation of that pattern this year is entirely possible. I don’t think I’ll start forming a real opinion or getting excited about this season for the Detroit Tigers until mid-May.
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