Another day, another pair of blown saves. With that, so is another opportunity for the Tigers to gain a bit of momentum in what is turning into a big farce of a race for the divisional title.
THUMBS DOWN TO THE TIGERS BULLPEN!I’m not quite sure what it is about save opportunities and the Tigers bullpen, but I am getting extremely tired of writing about it, but even more sick to my stomach watching it unfold. Now, I wasn’t one of the crazies that stayed up and watched into the wee hours of the night; however, I did catch bits and pieces up to the 12th inning and to be completely honest, it was more or less to be able to see how the Tigers were going to blow it on this occasion.
Watching the Tigers ‘pen is equal to waiting for a bomb to go off…
At least they didn’t disappoint me, and continued with their newfound success of finding new ways to collapse, as once again Kyle Farnsworth (who has officially pitched 3.1 innings this go ‘round with the Tigers and has been bombed for three rockets in key situations) co-stars in the production. Just a thought, but does something happen when players suit up in the old English ‘D’ and have to enter the game when it is on the line?
Yesterday chalks up the 20th blown save (in 42 opportunities, for the 3rd worst conversion percentage of 52%) the Tigers have experienced this season. Can you believe that? 20 games the Tigers have led in the latter portion of the game only to have the bullpen allow their opposition to take them over. Mind you, blown saves do occur, but the Tigers save opportunities are few and far between, and when you want to act like you are in a pennant race, blowing half of the games that you have an opportunity to lock up is purely unacceptable.
Just imagine if the Tigers had locked up somewhere around the league average of about 71% conversion. That would equal 30 wins of the 42 opportunities (rounded up from 29.68) which would represent an extra 10 wins from the 20 they have successfully coverted. You do the math, as they are presently 55-57 and an extra 10 wins puts them at 65-47 or 2.5 games up on the White Sox for the Central lead.
Makes you think upcoming free-agent K-Rod would look nice in Tiger colours, doesn’t it?We have been hard on Todd Jones for his inability to have a clean finish; and while I won’t let him off the hook one bit, the rest of the Tigers arms have provided a measly 2 saves in 21 opportunities.
Trust me, I’m not begging for Jonesy to re-take the reins!It has gotten so bad that in listening to last nights’ game, even when up 6-1 I had a feeling that it just wasn’t going to be enough. Slowly; but surely, the Sox starting chipping away and I knew the inevitable would happen. No one in the ‘pen wants to be designated the closer, because no one is ready, or able to do so.
So that’s it folks, officially write the season off if you already haven’t, because the rest of the games are just a formality. This team deserves everything that this season has brought them as they have “dodged, ducked, dipped, dived and dodged” every chance and opening possible. There are obviously some elements missing with this team and while an increased payroll provides the aw factor and the potential on paper, the character and unity that championship teams emit has to be considered priceless.
