Monday Night Snoozeball: Athletics 7, Tigers 1
Do we blame this one on the schedule? Were the Detroit Tigers a bit lethargic, playing on west coast time? Most of us watching in the eastern time zone were feeling kind of groggy by 10 p.m., so maybe the Tigers were dragging, too.
The lineup certainly appeared to be in a daze, racking up 14 strikeouts against four A's pitchers and only managing six hits for the night. Curtis Granderson went 0-for-5. Placido Polanco, 0-for-4. Ryan Raburn also went 0-for-4, with three strikeouts. (Does "taking the collar" refer to going hitless, or to striking out in all of your at-bats? I thought it referred to the strikeouts, but can't remember for sure.)
Once again, Tigers batters made a mediocre pitcher look good (a troubling pattern we touched on in a Q&A with Athletics Nation yesterday). And they hammered Brett Anderson back in May at Comerica Park. What was the difference this time? Anderson's eight days of rest? Maturity as a pitcher? Did the Tigers have a poor approach at the plate? All of the above?
Rick Porcello didn't seem particularly awake, either, as he pitched one of his worst games of his rookie season. He allowed nine hits, his highest total since his first major league start, and lasted just 4.1 innings, the second shortest outing of his 15 appearances this year.
It's also notable that Porcello didn't strike out any batters for the first time this season. Perhaps that's not a big deal since he's not truly a strikeout pitcher, and has had quite a few starts in which he only notched two or three strikeouts. But it might also indicate that he fooling many Oakland batters, either.
With a full night to adjust to west coast time, perhaps the Tigers will show up with a better effort Tuesday night. Or does the clock change tend to weigh more heavily on the second day in different time zones? We'll find out soon enough.
Purr:
Can we give the Roar to Luke Hochevar and the Kansas City Royals, for beating the Twins and helping Detroit maintain its four-game lead in the AL Central? Okay, we'll keep it Tigers-centric, but only with a Purr.
Maybe the most intriguing aspect of last night's game was the debut of Taiwanese reliever Fu-Te Ni. Yes, he served up a bazooka shot of a home run to Ryan Sweeney. And that was kind of a surprise, since he's a left-hander. But lefty hitters tend to like those pitches down-and-in, and that's exactly where Ni put a fastball. Other than that, however, Ni looked like someone who could be a valuable weapon out of the bullpen against left-handed hitters. He struck out three batters (including Jason Giambi and Jack Cust) in 1.2 innings and didn't walk anyone. Mixing a four-seam fastball with a slider and change-up, Ni threw 21 of 27 pitches for strikes.
Comment of the Night:
by StringTheory
And this is your runner-up (since we try to keep the swears off the front page posts), along with another link for context.
11 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
I think this is one of the
saddest losses I’ve seen all season. And I don’t believe would could have done any better had we constantly been hit by pitches, because we couldn’t even get the runners in we had on base that actually hit the ball… ( 9 stranded last night and 14K) uhgg. We have some important games coming up, so these guys need to get it together.
Welcome to Detroit>>Where the weak are killed and eaten.
I Dont Know If....
….You can blame the time change on this one…I mean they were playing in Rexas…..Its not nearly as long a flight as it isfrom Detroit….however they did look awful at the plate.
by BennieBladesFan on Jun 30, 2009 9:55 AM EDT reply actions
To be fair, the potential is there for Anderson. He did strike out better than a batter an inning in the minors and he’s a young guy still learning how to do it in the majors. Couple weeks ago, he shut out the White Sox for seven innings. Playing a team like the Tigers have been more often than not recently probably played right into his hands.
by Kurt Mensching on Jun 30, 2009 11:21 AM EDT reply actions
Apparently I'm the only one who has a bedtime?
Wow, lots of comments for this game.
Looking at Ni’s numbers this morning, damn! Looks like he only had one bad pitch that he got beat on. EVERYTHING else was strikes.
Caffeine is a fabulous, fantastic, and amazing chemical compound. :-)
"A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with." -- Tennessee Williams
Yup.....
….Great movement….topped out at 87 88 i think…..But his pitches move
by BennieBladesFan on Jun 30, 2009 12:37 PM EDT up reply actions
Off-Topic, but...
Remember back on Opening Day, when Blue Jays fans were throwing things at Josh Anderson? Apparently, they’re at it again. A couple of women threw beer at BJ Upton last night.
http://tigersamateuranalysis.blogspot.com
by SabreRoseTiger on Jun 30, 2009 12:03 PM EDT reply actions
Not to mention a terrific Photoshop job.
MUCH better than anything that FSN has come up with.
http://tigersamateuranalysis.blogspot.com
by SabreRoseTiger on Jun 30, 2009 1:12 PM EDT up reply actions

by 



















