After topping the .500 mark, the Tigers have had a tough time putting together another run to push themselves higher than that.
After sweeping aside the Rockies, the Tigers have lost two of three to the Twins on their turf, split a 4-game series with the hapless Mariners and pulled a pair of wins in a quick two-gamer with the listless Indians. So, they’ve treaded water, but it appears that they may not have the right mix to make a true go of it.
Out for a curtain call, Miggy capped off a 6-run comeback against the Indians on Wednesday
Especially with the Twins and White Sox both playing so well, almost ensuring the Tigers that they will have to be at their best in order to even have their name mentioned in the race.
The All-Star break, and the fact that only one lonesome Tiger (Carlos Guillen, who will be making his 3rd appearance at the mid-summer classic) will be there, may be a good thing. I think that the three days rest will not only give some bumps, bruises, aches and pains well-needed downtime, but it will also allow them to reflect and determine their own direction for the 2nd half of the season.
Improved defense of late, and a steady bat. Congrats Carlos on your All-Star election!
Leading into this break though, the Tigers have gotten their last series off to a rough start. Those pesky, red-hot Twins are in town and the Tigers could send a message by pulling within a game of the 2nd place Twins, but decided to hand over a sure win in the opener. In losing a heartbreaker in game one, the Tigers need to show the Twins (and moreso, the rest of the Central) that they can win within the division and come back strong in the final weekend of the first half.
So, where do we start for what went wrong in this first game? Well, we can blame many things for this late inning implosion. Leyland’s decision to replace a smoking hot Marcus Thames for Clete Thomas, not pinch-hitting youngster Jeff Larish (who did play his best game in a Tigers uniform…) in the 9th? Or perhaps Matt Joyces’ error in the top of the 9th. Maybe it is the bases loaded situation where both Larrish & Pudge struck-out leaving the winning run 90 feet from home for back to back game ending walk-off dramatics.
Today; however in Tiger-Town, there was no storybook ending like the previous evening. In blowing the 6-2 lead, the Tigers allowed the Twins to not only get back into the game with single runs in the 7th and 8th, then extended the game to extra innings with knocking in two in the top of the 9th off of Todd Jones. And this, is where I place the blame.
Yeah, I’m blamin you Todd Jones!
While it’s easy to pick on the “closer” of the Tigers, it’s no mystery that you aren’t going to be over-powered by the leagues 15 overall career save leader. He does know how to close out a game, but it’s obvious that he’s running out of ways to do so. Without a strikeout pitch, Jones relies on contact and his defense to come up with the play and due to that aforementioned error by Joyce, Jones just couldn’t hold on to that lead. I can’t name another closer in baseball that relies on other players as much as #59 does. After putting together a decent run, since June 25th, Jones statistical output resembles the roller-coaster ride that he puts fans through every time he climbs atop the mound.
Here is his line through his last 7 appearances:
6IP, 15H, 9R, 8ER, 1K, 2BB 12.00 ERA
On the positive side, he hasn’t given up a home-run, and has thrown strikes nearly 2/3 of the pitches that he has thrown. (80K’s out of 123 total pitches)
Kinda tough to hold your head up lately, hey Todd?
So how is a pitcher that isn’t getting bombed for multiple runs with one swing, as well as not putting too many guys on base by missing the plate continue to give up runs? That suggests to me that the guy is just getting rocked around, and is an indicator that the batter is either reading his pitches too easily, or he simply doesn’t have the stuff. While Jones has never really had too many 1-2-3 innings all year, he is certainly getting worse of late.
Great guy, and an awesome interview…but it’s just getting old. I mean, it ultimately has to come down to locking games down. I can’t think of another upper-tiered team (be it a stretch or not to include the Tigers in that group) that has a closer that scares the opposition as little as when Jones enters a game. Yes, he’s been in the game a long time, and yes, he’s closed his fair share. However, now may be the time to at least open the door to a more “closer by commitee” with Zumaya, Jones and possibly even Rodney. I mean, why not? It can’t hurt them any more and it will give Zumaya a huge boost and jump-start on what will likely be expected of him in 2009, won’t it?
Zooooomaya is on track to close in 2009, why not start’em early?
With the Tigers still not sure if they are going to be buyers or sellers at the deadline, it’s clear that they can’t continue to hand over games like they did on Thursday night. So, in my opinion, if they don’t plan on having Jonesy back next year, they need to have Zumaya thrown into the mix. He’s a pure energy guy that would thrive in that situation. Yes, he may have some setbacks, and yes he may blow a save here or there. But, so would Todd Jones and he doesn’t fit in your long-range plans, so move in the direction that helps the young flame-thrower grow into the role.
At least with a big heater, he can draw a little fear upon getting the call in comparison to the fear that the 40,000 plus at Comerica experience every time Jones is handed the ball in the 9th.
