Well, the Red Sox showed us who's boss. For now at least. After dropping three of four to the defending champs, the Tigers will try to regroup against a Yankees team that is hindered by injuries right now. The Tigers will also miss Wang and Mussina in the Yankees rotation, which has me feeling like this could be a good three days in Detroit.
However, one stat has me worried concerning the Tigers start. They are 0-18 when scoring four runs or less. 0-18. That's unbelievable to me. The offense has taken it's share of bullets because of inconsistency, however, that one stat indicates the the Tigers need to start pitching better. We have already seen proof that there will be nights that the offense will be quiet, regardless of how many all-stars you have stacked up. That applies to any team, not just the Tigers. The staff has an A.L. high 5.10 ERA and has allowed 199 runs, more than any other A.L. team. When the Tigers begin to pitch better, they can start to make the climb to .500 and beyond. Until then, they will rely on an offense that at times has been feast or famine.
Rod is going on and on and on tonight about how the Tigers hitters are more aggressive tonight and how they're playing with a sense of urgency. What a big load of ####. The only difference between tonight and other nights is that they're facing some terrible pitchers tonight. Keep running your mouth Rod. You sound more and more foolish every night. My father says he turns the sound off when he watches the games because he just couldn't take Rod any longer.
Greetings from the edge!
Like so many others, I am very frustrated !
How do you go from the best team ERA up to this point in 2006 to the worst 2 years later with except for one THE EXACT SAME STARTING PITCHING STAFF.
Is there something I am missing?
What's up with the RISP stat, again I am just not getting it .
Did we get the, this team is to good to be true curse? much like the Yankees in 05.
We all know that you can't hide sucess or failure in MLB, due to the precise stats. This team.... well I'm not going to even say it. It must be something psychological, well basically something intangible. Leyland is my tiger, he needs to go Lou Pinella on these guys.
Mario, who do you think is out of the rotation when Willis comes back? It seems difficult to take Gallaraga out of the rotation when he is pitching well. I know there aren't going to be many who agree, but the bullpen may just be what would put Verlander back on track. He is having trouble with the big inning, but in the bullpen he can go and pitch lights out and get his command back and then step back into the rotation. Perhaps make him the designated pitcher to come into the game after Robertson reaches the requisite 100 pitch count in the 5th inning.
I also think there is a mental aspect that is at the heart of the team's inability to win. Since the 2006 All Star break the Tigers haven't really been consistent. I disagree that you just want to win enough games to get into the playoffs. When you watch the Red Sox you can tell that they are a team that is focused and playing with an indomitable attitude every single night. The Angels have a high intensity that the Tigers do not match. Those teams aren't better on paper, but they are better because of their will to win.
Is a change in coaching (pitching and hitting) needed at this point. The pitchers are not hitting there spots, they've been predictable and to this point unable to adjust. Hiiting? There is no excuse for what has been happening, Granderson can't hit an off speed pitch. Their spark plugs to the offense (Polanco,Granderson) will come around, there to good not to, but a fire needs to be lit, to the coaching staff, and players. I have been to three game this year, to watch lackluster performances.
If I were Chuck Hernandez, I would start packing my bags. What has he done since he came here as the pitching coach? The Tigers don't have any dependable starting pitchers.
Lloyd McClendon should be worried about his job also. The hitting dropped off when Don Slaught left and Lloyd McClendon took over as the hitting coach.
I also think you should write more often. I, like many other loyal Tiger fans have seen a lot of bad teams, but guys like Kell, Kaline and Harwell made the game interesting by telling us about a lot of history. My one complaint with you and Rod is you don't do this. Rod spends way too much time stating the obvious. And I would reprimand my child for using his poor grammar. I realize there are some new listeners, but most listeners are more than well aware of the fundamentals of the game and have a good knowledge of players other than Tigers. We don't need to hear Rod go on and on about Ichiro being a fast runner. Most of us know this stuff. What would've been nice to know was whether his 53 infield hits was a record, if not, who holds the record? You might say we can get those stats from the internet. But I argue that we don't tune you guys in to tell us things we already know. And how about giving scores from other games in progress? Oh, and Rod is absolutely wrong about Bench. I saw him play many times, and he played in an era when every team had at least two rabbits and no one ran on him. In his prime he was without a doubt better than Rodriguez in his prime. Just ask Joe Morgan.
Mario Impemba is in his seventh season as play-by-play announcer on FSN Detroit’s Emmy-winning Tigers coverage.
In addition to Tigers duties, he has done play-by-play on FSN's coverage of MHSAA football and basketball championship games, as well as CCHA hockey and college basketball. In the off-season, he is the radio and television voice of Oakland University Golden Grizzlies basketball.
Before joining the FSN broadcast team, he spent the previous seven seasons as the radio voice of the then-Anaheim Angels and served as a fill-in TV play-by-play announcer during his final three years in Anaheim.
Check out more about the craft of baseball broadcasting at his website, thesoundofbas eball.com.
