Miner starting day game
Maroth became ill overnight and is being sent home this afternoon to avoid getting anyone else sick in the cramped visiting clubhouse at Fenway Park. Zach Miner was already being recalled as an extra reliever for the doubleheader, but today was going to be his turn at Toledo anyway. His stats aren’t looking good, but he had a strong outing in his last start there.
Jason Beck
For starters, I think that our pitching was great. Miner looked like his old self that we saw early last year. Brydak is great, and Mesa did well. But what it is about this Tigers offense?? It seems like they make a habit of making Cy young candidates out of pitchers that have been struggling. They did it last Sunday against Minnesota and last week against Seattle. It can be so frustrating to watch. We have lost most of the low scoring games this year. It seems as though if we don’t score 5 or more runs we lose more often than not.
What is it that we couldn’t figure out about Tavarez that lesser teams could. This was a game that was really there for us to win. Tonight will be much tougher.
GO TIGERS
The game started too early so I had to miss it. What happened? How did we only get four hits off Tavarez? Was he really on today? And Byrdak struck out five of six hitters???? Who’s he think he is, Sandy Koufax?
Sounds like a good, but wasted, effort by Miner. Here’s your chance to get rid of Grilli, Dan.
Now just watch them go light up Schilling tonight. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised.
I can’t say that Tavarez didn’t do a good job, but he was not unhittable. I believe that he walked 4 batters 2 in one inning. I mean seriously I hate to repeat myself, but they made him look like Cy Young candidate, not very patient. I thought that it was a pathetic offensive display.
I have to say also I thought there was some bad officiating, that really only hurt the Tigers, even though it went both ways. No one can tell me that Crisp wasn’t out of the basepath. Run scores. Then Youklis should of been called out on strikes in the 3rd, then a few pitches later he singled and drove in a run. Granted Guillen had an error and that would of made it over as well, but come on. Then in the 5th while we had a runner on Tavarez balked (I believe and so did Rod and Mario) If all other things remained the same a run probably would of scored since Tavarez walked two in that inning. Anyway all forces were against us.
I love my Tigers, and I have been there through thick and thin, but I was definately frustrated today. I happen to have the day off today, so I was excited to be able to watch them but I wish I wouldn’t have except for an excellent pitching performance by Byrdak.
Well gk I didn’t have the day off and must say I’m surprised, and disappointed, the Tigers could only score 1 run against a 6+ era guy who’s now 2-4 thanks to the Tigers. Sheesh. These struggling pitchers are just the ones the Tigers need to be patient with, but never are. Rich, hopefully they do light up Schilling tonight. Win the one you’re not supposed to after losing the one you should have won. Durbin needs to have a solid outing. A lot of intriguing discussion about Casey today. (Good to hear from you Rube.) The whole handling of Shelton last year was the most frustrating and disappointing part of the season for me. I wasn’t happy with the Casey acquisition and thought Shelton was given a raw deal. Having said that, I slowly developed a respect for Sean for his good attitude and clubhouse presence. This year I’ve been pulling for him and while I can’t disagree with the negative comments, there are some other players struggling also. It’s his run production that’s been disappointing. Casey has turned in some sparkling plays at first, each one arguably equaling a good hit offensively. At this point I’d start Thames for the lefties. You can always insert Casey defensively with late leads or pitching changes. JL has adopted this formula for the most part already. I would have no qualms about giving Shelton another chance, regardless of his Toledo struggles. I think he is one of those guys who needs the challenge to raise his level. Clevlen is another one of those guys imo.