Curious Phenomena or Big Problem? Royals 9, Tigers 2
It's the most baffling thing. Mind-boggling, really.
And we're not just talking about Josh Anderson hitting a three-run homer. His first home run of the season. For the Royals. Not the Tigers.
What do the Kansas City Royals have over the Detroit Tigers? How is it that they've been able to win five of the last six meetings between the two teams?
The pitching has been terrible. The lineup hasn't scored many runs. The Royals outscored the Tigers 21-7 in winning two of the three games in this series. And because of all this, the AL Central is still a race going into this weekend's series at Minnesota.
Do we need to begin worrying about Edwin Jackson? (That is, if you weren't concerned already.) For the second consecutive start, he gave up five runs. And he was bad pretty much from the beginning today. Two of the first Royals batters reached base. Soon thereafter, Jackson left a fastball out over the plate for Alberto Callaspo, who smacked it into the left-centerfield gap for a two-run double.
(Callaspo can officially be added to the Tigers Killer club this season, after batting 8-for-21 with two homers and nine RBIs in his last six games vs. Detroit.)
After putting two of the first three batters on base in the third, Jackson put some finality on the day, teeing up a fastball right down the middle to Miguel Olivo. Olivo launched it out to the shrubs in dead center for a three-run homer and a 5-0 Royals lead.
It was already likely to be a struggle for the Tigers against Zack Greinke. But down five runs? Greinke allowed no runs in his five innings, giving up just three hits. He may have pitched longer, had Miguel Cabrera not hit a line drive at his throwing arm in the fourth inning. But after the Royals made it 8-0 in the bottom of the fifth (more on that later), there was no sense in pitching Greinke any more.
So what is the deal? Could it really be as simple as the Royals just being a bad match-up for the Tigers? (Robinson Tejeda, Callaspo, Billy Butler, etc.) Probably not. Was Detroit looking ahead to this weekend with the Twins? Perhaps, but that just sounds like an excuse.
Regardless, the mystery isn't going to be solved this season, as the Tigers are (thankfully?) done with playing the Royals. If the Tigers were indeed more preoccupied with the Twins and White Sox, they'll have ample opportunity to address those concerns over the remaining 12 games on the schedule.
Whimper:
As poorly as Jackson pitched today, at least he can say he didn't give up a homer to Josh Anderson. Anderson didn't even display warning track power while he was with the Tigers. (And hadn't with the Royals, either.) No, this singular honor goes to Armando Galarraga, who showed that he's not to be counted on for meaningful contributions down the stretch.
Galarraga faced six batters. Five of them reached base. He hit one with a pitch. Only 11 of his 21 pitches were thrown for strikes. Merriam-Webster might be changing their definition for "disaster" as you read this.
Comment of the Day:
Doomsayers - think on this:
The ’06 Cards finished 5 games over .500 & lost 9 of their last 12 going into the playoffs…
by moonshineboy
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i am so panicked...
I may need two of those buttons.
by rook34 on Sep 17, 2009 6:58 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
Well
The most alarming thing to me is how many HRs Jackson has been giving up lately. With Greinke pitching we all knew it would be a tough win, but I don’t think such a blowout against our favor was widely expected. Every start from now by Verlander, Jackson, and Porcello needs to be solid and have the offense to back it up. Bonine and a less than 100% Robertson are not expected to be handing out wins (although beating such expectations would be much welcomed). We need a strong weekend. And to stay cool. Fans included.
by ryan_matthews28 on Sep 17, 2009 7:07 PM EDT reply actions
beckham leaves em loaded....
1-0 bad guys.
by rook34 on Sep 17, 2009 7:08 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
also, I cut my hair really short
in hopes that they’ll get better ala magglio… I hope my haircut doesn’t take as long to work as it did for him..
most parts of it stick straight up on its own
at least half an inch shorter than in my photo thing? i dunno
It'll be impossible to make the playoffs with 2 quality starters
With 3 they could do it. Jackson returning to form is the missing piece to get us to the postseason. 3 decent starters will get us .500 the rest of the way, which would be enough. With only Verlander and a 20 yr old, along with a handful of nobodies, we’re done.
Baseball Geek
by StorminNormanCash on Sep 17, 2009 9:56 PM EDT reply actions
While not updated for today...
http://www.sportsclubstats.com/MLB/American/Central/Tigers_ChanceWillMakePlayoffs.html
We can deduce the Tigers still have an over 80% chance of making the playoffs.
Extreme confidence or naysaying is never good.
that' the way to be
When they were 7 games up, I was quietly confident. When they are 4 games up, I am not enjoying it. But I know how hard it is for the Twins to catch up in that short of time without a total collapse. And it’s not like the Twins are a great team either. So it’s possible to lose, but unlikely.
by Kurt Mensching on Sep 17, 2009 10:38 PM EDT up reply actions
Realllly glad. . . .
. . . that I missed this game! Didn’t see the need of watching the replay. I am finding it hard to believe that Jackson took the place of Inge as My Tiger earlier this year. He’s not the workhorse he was early in the season. Would love to see him come out on fire next start to prove he’s still something special.
ballgirl13
CRAM IT HAWK
On a day when we feel terrible, it’s nice to revel in the misery that is the White Sox.
Jenks blew a 3-1 lead (Danks was amazing) with two solo homers in the ninth, one with 2 outs.
The Mariners dragged them to 14 innings. Ichiro just hit a walkoff single.
The Sox remain 7 back in the loss column. They now get to fly back to Chicago. They should arrive about 5 am. Tomorrow night they get the Royals, who, as we know, aren’t much fun to entertain right now.
They aren’t dead yet, but it’s awfully, awfully close after tonight.
I think being 7 games back in the loss column this late actually does make them dead
Unless they go undefeated or something.
by Kurt Mensching on Sep 17, 2009 10:46 PM EDT up reply actions
about Jackson
tonights Mlive has a post game webvideo with Leyland speaking about Jackson not throwing his slider and offspeed pitches. Sooner or later hitters will and are catching up to the fastball. At first I thought he had a tired arm with his games not as good as April – July, but he is still throwing 95-96. Now he could still have a tired arm and not getting the same movement as before on the fastballs. I just hope there is no problem with his throwing the slider as in forearm-elbow as in TJ type problem. See what losing to the royals does to even an old fard like me, worrying about stuff that is probably imagined. God now 9 games on the road with a 30 and 42 record.
weekend
tigers need to win the first game cuz pavano is saturday and robertson sunday. if they win on friday they might game confidence on saturday and anything can happen if robertson pitches so tmrw is a MUST win game.
The bottom line.
Its time for the tigers to show what there made of.Otherwise Twins will be in the post season.The tigers will have to wait next year,and wonder how they blew it.Its now or never tigers no excuses.

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