How Was The Game? (April 4, 2013)
Kind of a meltdown.
Twins 8, Tigers 2
At different points this afternoon, different storylines sought to grab the headline. When the game began, I was expecting to write about how well Rick Porcello performed with his new curveball (5.2IP, 3ER, 2BB, 2K), but that faded quickly as the innings wore on. Porcello threw some encouraging curveballs and went deeper into the game than Verlander or Sanchez had, but was relatively average and gave up a couple of gopherballs to Willingham and Plouffe. The Tigers finally looked poised to breakout after the first two men reached in the 7th inning, but a strikeout by Hunter, a walk to Cabrera, a strikeout by Fielder, and a popout by Martinez dashed those hopes. Dirks led off the following inning with a four pitch walk, but was stranded by Peralta and Avila. The wheels came off in the Twins 5 run 8th and the Tigers went quietly in the 9th.
It wasn’t a great showing by the team, particularly the offense. Porcello pitched well enough to beat the Twins and the offense came up short in numerous situations that could have changed the dynamics heading into the disastrous bottom of the 8th. Entering the 9th inning on Wednesday, the Tigers were three outs away from taking the series and setting up a sweep, but over the next ten innings of baseball they let that slip away and will leave the Twin Cities with a 1-2 record on the young season. Certainly the Tigers’ bats will wake up as the season hurtles forward, but you never like to lose 2 out of 3 to an inferior team, even if it was on the road and in the cold.
The Tigers will send Doug Fister to the hill tomorrow against Ivan Nova and the Yankees for the home opener at Comerica Park. If you’re heading downtown tomorrow, enjoy it for me. It will be the first Opening Day since I moved to North Carolina and the idea of not being there is a touch depressing.
Let this be your reminder that it’s a long season and anything can happen on any given day. The Tigers will be fine and now isn’t even close to the time for panicking. Unless you read the news about Valverde. In which case, you might be feeling some tightness in your chest. That’s normal and to be expected. Try to breath.
The Moment: Fielder K’s down by one with the bases loaded and one out in the 7th
How Was The Game? (April 3, 2013)
It turned into a sneaky pitcher’s duel, but slipped away at the end.
Twins 3, Tigers 2
You wouldn’t have expected it in the early goings, but this one actually turned into a low scoring affair. Sanchez had trouble with his control early, but both he and Kevin Correia had good movement on their pitches and kept both teams off the basepaths for the most part. Sanchez, like Verlander on Monday, went only 5 innings but didn’t allow any runs. Leyland mixed and matched out of the pen again for 12 outs, ultimately calling on Phil Coke to finish the game. Unfortunately, things didn’t go well. Coke came on with a man on first and allowed a single to right center and then a walk off double to left center. The double should have been caught but Dirks and Jackson both expected the other to make the play. It would have been a game-tying sac fly anyway, but the winning run wouldn’t have scored. The strikezone was pretty generous all day, but that didn’t bother Austin Jackson who worked a 10 pitch, 2-out walk in the 3rd inning to set up the Tigers first run of the game. This game didn’t feature great pitching, but it featured effective pitching in front of one of the smallest crowds ever at Target Field and provided us with the first Phil Coke Finger Point of the new year. Rick Porcello will take the hill tomorrow at 1pm and will try to win the series before saddling up and heading to Detroit for the home opener Friday.
The Moment: Jackson works a 10-pitch walk with 2-outs in the 3rd.
How Was The Game? (April 1, 2013)
[Our daily recaps at New English D will follow this mold for the rest of the season. The first line will be the answer to the question that my mom used to pose to me any time I got home from a game. She’d ask, “how was the game?” Here, I’ll answer that question, give you the score, and provide the type of summary I would to her in a paragraph or two.]
It was baseball.
Tigers 4, Twins 2
The Tigers got off to a good start scoring two runs in the first and one in the second before both pitchers settled in during the middle innings. Verlander was good (0 R, 2 BB, 7K) but scarce, only throwing 5 innings and 91 pitches. Smyly didn’t have good command out of the bullpen but didn’t let the game unravel either before yielding to Alburquerque, Benoit, and Coke to get the final eight outs. Hunter had a nice showing in his Tigers debut and Fielder, Peralta, and Infante joined him with multi hit games of their own.
It probably wasn’t the best played game of the day, but it was just really good to have the Tigers back in our lives. We’ll have to keep our eye on Smyly out of the pen and if this was just a one time blip or if he’s having trouble getting loose mid-game. I’m a big fan of the way Leyland played the matchups rather than looking to fit guys into defined roles early. The weather made it tough on everyone, but the Tigers took care of the Twins on Opening Day and improved to 1-0 on the season.
The Moment: Prince Fielder sliding on his face while scoring on a wild pitch.
New English D 