(*sigh*)
The World Series is over, and for the second time in the last six years, my Tigers are left wondering what the hell hit them. The Giants played the whole Series with lightning bolts shooting out of their eyes, and my Tigers. . . didn't. They just kicked our asses every way they could possibly be kicked, and hats off to 'em. Not much doubt as to who was the better team for those four games. . .
I won't belabor the things you can read elsewhere. Our best pitcher got rocked, and our best hitters (especially young Mr. Fielder) struggled. Frankly, all season long, our hitters, aside from Cabrera and Fielder and Jackson, were disappointing, and prone to long, frustrating slumps. It was bad timing for them to fall into another of their familiar funks in the World Series, but whatchagonnado?
Our pitching actually wasn't that bad. Fister and Sanchez were very good, and deserved better from their bat-wielding teammates. Not to take anything away from the Giant pitchers, but when you hit .159 for the Series, you're not gonna win much.
I don't really mean this as the lame excuse that it's gonna come off as, but, one of these years, I'd like to play one of these things without having to sit for a week before we get there. It's tough to come back from a week off and jump in against a team. . . well, you know, that lightning-bolt thing. . .
-------------------------
Anyway, we'll have a couple weeks of post-season awards, and Tigers have a decent shot to win a couple of 'em. Then we start the process of looking forward to next year, and wondering if we'll be better or worse, or if we can make the playoffs again. For a World Series team, we've really got quite a few holes in our roster, and it would be nice if a few of the more glaring ones could be upgraded. But, overall, we've got enough talent to have realistic hopes of being back in the post-season with some moderate regularity. Perhaps. And once we get there, who knows?
But for now, baseball season is over, and we will return to our regularly-scheduled programming with the next post. . .
Showing posts with label World Series. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World Series. Show all posts
Monday, October 29, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
A New PR. . .
All the leaves are down,
And the sky is gray. . .
OK, not quite all of the leaves are down, but about 90% of 'em are, and the ones that are left are mostly all brown and shriveled. But the sky today was a friendly bright blue, with a few puffy white clouds scattered about. The temperature topped out just below 50F, so I broke out the sweats for my ride yesterday.
I did 32 miles, bringing my total for the year to 1617, a full eight miles more than I did two years ago. And still roughly a month left in the riding season, before the snow and ice and cold of winter set in in earnest. So there's still a decent chance that I could go above 1700 miles for the season, and wouldn't that be cool?
-------------------------
And things are not going well for my Tigers. Their ace aside, they've pitched well enough. Actually, they've pitched REALLY well. But their bats have utterly deserted them, especially in clutch situations, like bases-loaded, one out. In a 3-0 hole, it will take a comeback verging on the miraculous (yes, Suldog, I know about your '04 Red Sox; but that's one in how many hundred 7-game series?). This could be over tomorrow, if we don't start getting a few timely hits.
(*sigh*)
At least my Spartans won. . .
And the sky is gray. . .
OK, not quite all of the leaves are down, but about 90% of 'em are, and the ones that are left are mostly all brown and shriveled. But the sky today was a friendly bright blue, with a few puffy white clouds scattered about. The temperature topped out just below 50F, so I broke out the sweats for my ride yesterday.
I did 32 miles, bringing my total for the year to 1617, a full eight miles more than I did two years ago. And still roughly a month left in the riding season, before the snow and ice and cold of winter set in in earnest. So there's still a decent chance that I could go above 1700 miles for the season, and wouldn't that be cool?
-------------------------
And things are not going well for my Tigers. Their ace aside, they've pitched well enough. Actually, they've pitched REALLY well. But their bats have utterly deserted them, especially in clutch situations, like bases-loaded, one out. In a 3-0 hole, it will take a comeback verging on the miraculous (yes, Suldog, I know about your '04 Red Sox; but that's one in how many hundred 7-game series?). This could be over tomorrow, if we don't start getting a few timely hits.
(*sigh*)
At least my Spartans won. . .
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Random Thoughts on Game 1. . .
I really hadn't planned on doing game-by-game commentary on the World Series (and I still don't), but a few thoughts are oozing out of my perfervid brain this morning. . .
First, I feel like I should apologize to my Giant-fan friends - that was not the real Justin Verlander you saw last night. I think it's safe to say that a week off didn't do happy things for his sharpness. Truthfully, though, even The Best Pitcher in Baseball has his off-nights; it's just that Game 1 of the World Series is a god-awful time to have one. His record this season was 17-8. Sometimes, his hitters didn't hit behind him; sometimes his bullpen left him with a no-decision in a game he should have won. But he did have a couple games this year (unlike 2011) where he got rocked around a bit. I'm not old enough, though, to remember the last time he left after four innings. He has occasionally been prone to getting 'over-geeked' and overthrowing when things go against him. I think that Pagan's freakish little double with two out in the third flustered him, just a bit (and Scutaro's single was just the dictionary definition of 'clutch'). Then he started trying to throw the ball through the wall, and when he does that, it never goes well for him. The fourth inning, he was all over the place, and when Zito got the RBI single. . . well, you just throw your hands up and realize it's not gonna be your night. . .
And Pablo Sandoval. . . what can I say? Did somebody give him an injection of blood from Babe Freakin' Ruth? This guy hit 12 homers this year? With 63 RBIs? No freakin' way! And his second homer off Verlander was a low-and-away fastball; not exactly a fat pitch. So now, including the All-Star game, Sandoval's batting line against The Best Pitcher in Baseball is - three plate appearances, two homers and a triple, six RBI. That's a slugging percentage of 3.667. I'm sure even Sandy Koufax had guys who were inexplicably hard for him to get out, but that's ridiculous. I can only echo Verlander himself and say, "Wow!"
But then, it's only one game. And my Tigers made a whole season out of grinding their way back out of a hole of their own digging. I'm sure it's already forgotten, and their minds are on tonight's game (at least, they'd better be). I was a little annoyed at the way so many of the national commentators were saying that it was all over if the Giants beat Verlander in Game 1. It's not like our other starters are dogmeat; I can believe that they might not exactly be household names around the National League, but Fister, Sanchez and Scherzer are pretty darn good in their own right. So I'm not remotely conceding defeat.
Besides, I think the Giants are falling into their own trap, jumping out to an early lead in the Series. They're never gonna get enough elimination games for themselves if they keep playing like this. . .
First, I feel like I should apologize to my Giant-fan friends - that was not the real Justin Verlander you saw last night. I think it's safe to say that a week off didn't do happy things for his sharpness. Truthfully, though, even The Best Pitcher in Baseball has his off-nights; it's just that Game 1 of the World Series is a god-awful time to have one. His record this season was 17-8. Sometimes, his hitters didn't hit behind him; sometimes his bullpen left him with a no-decision in a game he should have won. But he did have a couple games this year (unlike 2011) where he got rocked around a bit. I'm not old enough, though, to remember the last time he left after four innings. He has occasionally been prone to getting 'over-geeked' and overthrowing when things go against him. I think that Pagan's freakish little double with two out in the third flustered him, just a bit (and Scutaro's single was just the dictionary definition of 'clutch'). Then he started trying to throw the ball through the wall, and when he does that, it never goes well for him. The fourth inning, he was all over the place, and when Zito got the RBI single. . . well, you just throw your hands up and realize it's not gonna be your night. . .
And Pablo Sandoval. . . what can I say? Did somebody give him an injection of blood from Babe Freakin' Ruth? This guy hit 12 homers this year? With 63 RBIs? No freakin' way! And his second homer off Verlander was a low-and-away fastball; not exactly a fat pitch. So now, including the All-Star game, Sandoval's batting line against The Best Pitcher in Baseball is - three plate appearances, two homers and a triple, six RBI. That's a slugging percentage of 3.667. I'm sure even Sandy Koufax had guys who were inexplicably hard for him to get out, but that's ridiculous. I can only echo Verlander himself and say, "Wow!"
But then, it's only one game. And my Tigers made a whole season out of grinding their way back out of a hole of their own digging. I'm sure it's already forgotten, and their minds are on tonight's game (at least, they'd better be). I was a little annoyed at the way so many of the national commentators were saying that it was all over if the Giants beat Verlander in Game 1. It's not like our other starters are dogmeat; I can believe that they might not exactly be household names around the National League, but Fister, Sanchez and Scherzer are pretty darn good in their own right. So I'm not remotely conceding defeat.
Besides, I think the Giants are falling into their own trap, jumping out to an early lead in the Series. They're never gonna get enough elimination games for themselves if they keep playing like this. . .
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
It's On!
The World Series starts tonight, Game 1 in San Francisco as my Detroit Tigers go against the San Francisco Giants, much beloved of Uncle Skip and others.
We'll see if the six days off between dispatching the (stunningly hapless) New York Yankees and the beginning of the next round translates into 'rusty' or 'well-rested'. The same thing happened in 2006, and it didn't work to my Tigers' advantage.
We've got the Best Pitcher in Baseball on the mound for us tonight, and the Best Hitter in Baseball (who just happened to win the Triple Crown this year) playing third base for us. And a few other decent players, besides - our first baseman and center-fielder are pretty darned good, and our other three starting pitchers (NOT named Verlander) are pretty good, too.
That said, the Tigers are far from a perfect team; they're not the '84 Tigers, just cruising through the playoffs on their way to coronation. Beyond the three guys I just mentioned, our hitting has been, uh, sporadic for most of the season, tho a couple guys have decided to get hot at the best possible time; hopefully, they can keep that going for a few more games. Our defense isn't very good, either, but when Verlander and Scherzer are striking guys out by the bushel, that might possibly be less of an issue. And our bullpen has struggled for much of the year; it's a good thing our starters have been so amazing in the post-season, because there's not a lot to inspire confidence once they leave the game.
So we will see. I don't know that much about the Giants, beyond the fact that their pitching might be just as good as ours (Verlander aside). I'm told that young Mr. Posey is quite a ballplayer, and of course, there's the matter of that bases-loaded triple that Mr. Sandoval hit off Verlander in the All-Star game. So I take nothing for granted.
But it's baseball; it's the World Series, and it's the Tigers. I do intend to enjoy the ride. . .
We'll see if the six days off between dispatching the (stunningly hapless) New York Yankees and the beginning of the next round translates into 'rusty' or 'well-rested'. The same thing happened in 2006, and it didn't work to my Tigers' advantage.
We've got the Best Pitcher in Baseball on the mound for us tonight, and the Best Hitter in Baseball (who just happened to win the Triple Crown this year) playing third base for us. And a few other decent players, besides - our first baseman and center-fielder are pretty darned good, and our other three starting pitchers (NOT named Verlander) are pretty good, too.
That said, the Tigers are far from a perfect team; they're not the '84 Tigers, just cruising through the playoffs on their way to coronation. Beyond the three guys I just mentioned, our hitting has been, uh, sporadic for most of the season, tho a couple guys have decided to get hot at the best possible time; hopefully, they can keep that going for a few more games. Our defense isn't very good, either, but when Verlander and Scherzer are striking guys out by the bushel, that might possibly be less of an issue. And our bullpen has struggled for much of the year; it's a good thing our starters have been so amazing in the post-season, because there's not a lot to inspire confidence once they leave the game.
So we will see. I don't know that much about the Giants, beyond the fact that their pitching might be just as good as ours (Verlander aside). I'm told that young Mr. Posey is quite a ballplayer, and of course, there's the matter of that bases-loaded triple that Mr. Sandoval hit off Verlander in the All-Star game. So I take nothing for granted.
But it's baseball; it's the World Series, and it's the Tigers. I do intend to enjoy the ride. . .
Friday, October 19, 2012
World Series Bound (Again)
Once again, for the eleventh time in history, and the fourth time in my young life (and the second time in my bloggerly existence), my Tigers are headed to the World Series. Woo, as they say, Hoo!
I don't know if I can handle this properly, or not; the Tigers, in my lifetime, have been pretty much of a once-every-twenty-years-or-so team, when it comes to the World Series. For them to make a third post-season appearance (to say nothing of that Game-163 thing in '09), and a second World Series, in six years, just seems sorta, I dunno, extravagant. I mean, is it our turn again already? Not, mind you, that I'm complaining. . .
As things turned out, it was the Tigers' unpleasant duty to bring an end to the Oakland A's Feel-Good-Story-of-the-Year in the first round, but not before getting to the winner-take-all 5th game. But then, Justin Verlander (known in these parts as The Best Pitcher in Baseball, or TBPiB, for short) just kinda squeezed all the life out of the poor A's in the deciding game. Somewhere along the way, we started noticing that, hey, ALL our starting pitchers are pitching REALLY well; not just Verlander, but Doug Fister, Max Scherzer and Anibal Sanchez, were just stifling the opposing bats to a pretty incredible degree. Against the A's, our four starters had a combined Earned-Run-Average (ERA) of 1.30, and only allowed 21 hits in 34-2/3 innings; the A's hit a combined .176 against them. For those of you who don't follow baseball, or for whom baseball statistics are drooling-stupor-inducing, I'll just say that those are just mind-bogglingly good numbers, and all the moreso against a team that was good enough to make the playoffs, and had won 9 of its last 11 games, and 33 of its last 46, before the playoffs.
After dispatching the A's, we moved on to face the dreaded New York Yankees in the League Championship Series, and our pitching got even better (altho, to hear the New York media tell it, the Yankees were a bunch of mentally-defective degenerates, so the Tigers could hardly help sweeping them away; but those degenerates somehow managed to win 95 games this season). The Yankees only scored six runs total in four games against the Tigers, and four of those were in a single, epic melt-down of an inning, against our erstwhile one-time closer, who has struggled all year, but most especially in the playoffs. In 27-1/3 innings, our starters allowed two runs and 13 hits; those are simply ridiculous numbers.
Honestly, it feels a little odd to be sitting here, waiting for the World Series to start, after the season we had this year. Virtually everyone expected the Tigers to run away with the Central Division this year, especially after signing Prince Fielder to augment what was already a pretty potent offense. But the team seemed to be playing in molasses all year. Doug Fister, who had pitched so well for us in 2011, spent the first half or more of the season on and off of the injury list, and Max Scherzer got off to a horrible start. Our hitting was inconsistent, and maddeningly un-clutch; I can't think of how many times a runner on third base with no outs failed to score, or how many times we hit into double-plays with the bases loaded and one out. Plus, when our starters pitched well, our bullpen would blow the games at the end. 58 games into the season, the Tigers' record was 26-32, and they were six games behind the division-leading Chicago White Sox.
Eventually, they started to play better, but all season long, it was three steps forward, two steps back. They'd go on a 13-2 run, and follow it with a 2-6 stretch, followed by a 6-0 run, then 1-5. As late as September 17, they lost a critical game against the White Sox that left them three games behind with 16 to play. And on the 23rd, they lost both ends of a doubleheader against the Twins (the freakin' TWINS!), when winning even one of them would have pulled them into a tie for first. As a fan, it was continuously, maddeningly frustrating.
But the Tigers won eight of their final ten games and surged past the White Sox , who were stumbling just as we were hitting our stride. At the same time, Miguel Cabrera went on a personal tear of his own, that ended with him winning the Triple Crown, the first hitter since 1967 to accomplish that feat. We ended up winning the division by three games.
And I recalled thinking that, if we could just make it into the post-season, our pitching was good enough to possibly carry us pretty far. Little did I know. . .
At the moment, it looks likely that we'll be facing the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series, for the fourth time (unless Uncle Skip's Giants can pull off another three-game, come-from-behind miracle). The Cardinals beat us the last time we were in the Series, in 2006, so there's a certain sentiment in these parts that wants to see the rematch. But, really, we just want to play the Series against whoever shows up, and, hopefully, win.
It's funny - the first two times I watched the Tigers in the World Series, in '68 and '84, they just kicked ass all season long, and carried it over into the playoffs. I'm not used to this sneaking-in the last couple days thing.
But - good times to be a Tiger fan. Good, good times. . .
Go Tigers!!!
-------------------------
It's actually kinda nice, in a way, that the World Series doesn't start until next Wednesday. My Spartans play their annual Rivalry Game against our Sister School from down the road this weekend, and it's nice to have a brief break from the Tigers, so we can concentrate all of our passion and energy on the football game for the weekend. My Spartans have won the last four in a row against the maize-and-blue (well, they call it maize; we call it corn), but this season hasn't gone quite as well for the ol' alma mater. Not that the Wolver-persons are all that and a bag of chips, but for us to extend our winning streak against them would be a bit of an upset. We'll see. . .
Go Green! Go White! Go Spartans!
*************************
(add, 22 Oct)
(*sigh*)
Well, my Spartans couldn't extend their winning streak over their in-state rivals this past weekend, losing 12-10 on a last-second field goal. The game was right there for them to win it, but it's just been that kind of season for 'em. Ah, well; I suppose we have to let 'em win every five years or so, or they won't want to play with us anymore. . .
But hey, maybe there'll be some kind of karmic balance, and it'll bode well for my Tigers in the World Series. We still don't know who we're gonna play come Wednesday night; Uncle Skip's Giants came back from the brink, and play a deciding Game 7 tonight, the winner of which will be our World Series opponent. . .
I don't know if I can handle this properly, or not; the Tigers, in my lifetime, have been pretty much of a once-every-twenty-years-or-so team, when it comes to the World Series. For them to make a third post-season appearance (to say nothing of that Game-163 thing in '09), and a second World Series, in six years, just seems sorta, I dunno, extravagant. I mean, is it our turn again already? Not, mind you, that I'm complaining. . .
As things turned out, it was the Tigers' unpleasant duty to bring an end to the Oakland A's Feel-Good-Story-of-the-Year in the first round, but not before getting to the winner-take-all 5th game. But then, Justin Verlander (known in these parts as The Best Pitcher in Baseball, or TBPiB, for short) just kinda squeezed all the life out of the poor A's in the deciding game. Somewhere along the way, we started noticing that, hey, ALL our starting pitchers are pitching REALLY well; not just Verlander, but Doug Fister, Max Scherzer and Anibal Sanchez, were just stifling the opposing bats to a pretty incredible degree. Against the A's, our four starters had a combined Earned-Run-Average (ERA) of 1.30, and only allowed 21 hits in 34-2/3 innings; the A's hit a combined .176 against them. For those of you who don't follow baseball, or for whom baseball statistics are drooling-stupor-inducing, I'll just say that those are just mind-bogglingly good numbers, and all the moreso against a team that was good enough to make the playoffs, and had won 9 of its last 11 games, and 33 of its last 46, before the playoffs.
After dispatching the A's, we moved on to face the dreaded New York Yankees in the League Championship Series, and our pitching got even better (altho, to hear the New York media tell it, the Yankees were a bunch of mentally-defective degenerates, so the Tigers could hardly help sweeping them away; but those degenerates somehow managed to win 95 games this season). The Yankees only scored six runs total in four games against the Tigers, and four of those were in a single, epic melt-down of an inning, against our erstwhile one-time closer, who has struggled all year, but most especially in the playoffs. In 27-1/3 innings, our starters allowed two runs and 13 hits; those are simply ridiculous numbers.
Honestly, it feels a little odd to be sitting here, waiting for the World Series to start, after the season we had this year. Virtually everyone expected the Tigers to run away with the Central Division this year, especially after signing Prince Fielder to augment what was already a pretty potent offense. But the team seemed to be playing in molasses all year. Doug Fister, who had pitched so well for us in 2011, spent the first half or more of the season on and off of the injury list, and Max Scherzer got off to a horrible start. Our hitting was inconsistent, and maddeningly un-clutch; I can't think of how many times a runner on third base with no outs failed to score, or how many times we hit into double-plays with the bases loaded and one out. Plus, when our starters pitched well, our bullpen would blow the games at the end. 58 games into the season, the Tigers' record was 26-32, and they were six games behind the division-leading Chicago White Sox.
Eventually, they started to play better, but all season long, it was three steps forward, two steps back. They'd go on a 13-2 run, and follow it with a 2-6 stretch, followed by a 6-0 run, then 1-5. As late as September 17, they lost a critical game against the White Sox that left them three games behind with 16 to play. And on the 23rd, they lost both ends of a doubleheader against the Twins (the freakin' TWINS!), when winning even one of them would have pulled them into a tie for first. As a fan, it was continuously, maddeningly frustrating.
But the Tigers won eight of their final ten games and surged past the White Sox , who were stumbling just as we were hitting our stride. At the same time, Miguel Cabrera went on a personal tear of his own, that ended with him winning the Triple Crown, the first hitter since 1967 to accomplish that feat. We ended up winning the division by three games.
And I recalled thinking that, if we could just make it into the post-season, our pitching was good enough to possibly carry us pretty far. Little did I know. . .
At the moment, it looks likely that we'll be facing the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series, for the fourth time (unless Uncle Skip's Giants can pull off another three-game, come-from-behind miracle). The Cardinals beat us the last time we were in the Series, in 2006, so there's a certain sentiment in these parts that wants to see the rematch. But, really, we just want to play the Series against whoever shows up, and, hopefully, win.
It's funny - the first two times I watched the Tigers in the World Series, in '68 and '84, they just kicked ass all season long, and carried it over into the playoffs. I'm not used to this sneaking-in the last couple days thing.
But - good times to be a Tiger fan. Good, good times. . .
Go Tigers!!!
-------------------------
It's actually kinda nice, in a way, that the World Series doesn't start until next Wednesday. My Spartans play their annual Rivalry Game against our Sister School from down the road this weekend, and it's nice to have a brief break from the Tigers, so we can concentrate all of our passion and energy on the football game for the weekend. My Spartans have won the last four in a row against the maize-and-blue (well, they call it maize; we call it corn), but this season hasn't gone quite as well for the ol' alma mater. Not that the Wolver-persons are all that and a bag of chips, but for us to extend our winning streak against them would be a bit of an upset. We'll see. . .
Go Green! Go White! Go Spartans!
*************************
(add, 22 Oct)
(*sigh*)
Well, my Spartans couldn't extend their winning streak over their in-state rivals this past weekend, losing 12-10 on a last-second field goal. The game was right there for them to win it, but it's just been that kind of season for 'em. Ah, well; I suppose we have to let 'em win every five years or so, or they won't want to play with us anymore. . .
But hey, maybe there'll be some kind of karmic balance, and it'll bode well for my Tigers in the World Series. We still don't know who we're gonna play come Wednesday night; Uncle Skip's Giants came back from the brink, and play a deciding Game 7 tonight, the winner of which will be our World Series opponent. . .
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
