Results tagged ‘ Chicago White Sox ’

All In All, It Could Have Been Much, Much Worse

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

All in All, It Could Have Been Worse

by Rich Kincaide

The Tigers ended their 7- game losing streak Wednesday night with a 4-1 win over Texas and moved back to within 2.5 games of first-place Chicago as the White Sox, three outs away from an 11-inning, 1-0 series sweeping win at Seattle, instead permitted the M’s to score twice in the bottom of the 11th to pull out a 2-1 Seattle victory.

So, when you look at what could have happened, the Tigers got out of this mess–this mess being their season’s-longest losing streak–in much better shape than they realistically could have hoped would have been the case.  If Minnesota hadn’t beaten the White Sox a couple of times over the weekend, and had the Mariners not come back the way they did, Detroit could well have wound up 5.5 games out of first, not two-and-a-half.

I was very much impressed (again) by 25 year-old Max Scherzer tonight.  You could make the case that since he returned from a “you’re not pitching well enough to stay up here right now so go down to Triple A Toledo and get your act together” demotion in May, Scherzer has been the best starter Detroit has got.   He was seven innings strong tonight, 123 pitches strong tonight.  His finest moment came in the 4th when he allowed a leadoff triple and stranded the runner right there where he was. 

The Tigers got a huge 2-run homer early from the bat or whatever it is that Gerald Laird has been holding in his hands when he steps into the batters box.  That would be the crude wooden implement which has produced for Laird a batting average which so far has yet to go north of .200 this season.  (Laird entered the season with a career BA of .247., for the record.)

The Tigers added a pair of add-on runs in the 7th and then, after Scherzer gutted his way out of a two-on with one out scenario in the 7th with the final few of those 123 pitchers, Phil Coke threw gas in the 8th, dismissing the Rangers on 12 pitches, fanning two of his three hitters.  Jose Valverde, El Papa Grande himself, finished ‘em off in the 9th, although not in the 1-2-3 dominant style to which we have become accustomed.  Valverde gave up a shutout-spoiling run without permitting a hit.

Toronto’s coming to town next for four starting with a daytimer tomorrow.  They’ll be tough.  The Blue Jays have won 48 games this year.  Detroit has won 49.  Get the picture?

See you down at the ballpark!

A Little Baseball, A Little Hockey, Too

  • I would have watched the Blackhawks beat the Sharks 2-1 in Game 1 of the NHL
    Western Conference Final yesterday, really I would have, but I was watching the
    Twins v. The Team That Shall Not Be Named live from the stadium named for The
    Team That Shall Not Be Named instead.  TTTSNBN had a 3-1 lead over Minnesota
    after 7 which was good since it is the Twins that the second-place Tigers are
    trying to catch for the Division lead. (I can’t remember the name of the
    Division in which the Tigers play but it’s either the AL “North”, the AL
    “Central” or the AL “Norris”.)  TTTSNBN brings in Joba Chamberlain, their
    8th-inning specialist, to serve and protect that 2-run lead but he’s not
    particularly special on this day and the Twins load ‘em up on him with two
    outs.  No problemo.  The Evil Wearers of the Pin-Stripes bring in Mariano
    Rivera, a.k.a “The Best Closer in the History of Organized Ball” to record what
    should be an altogether routine 4-out save.  But Rivera goes three-and-oh on Jim
    Thome before walking him on a full count to force in a run and then gives up a
    Granny to Jason Kubel–whoever he is–and the Twins lead 6-3 and the game is
    over.  So Detroit, a 5-1 winner over the Red Socks (sorry, Spellcheck sez it’s
    Socks, not Sox and who am I to argue?) is not a game and a half off the lead but
    rather two and a half back all thanks to the New York bleeping Yankees who suck
    and who always have sucked and who always will suck and that’s all there is to
    say about that.
  • So, I missed seeing the Chicago’s beat the San Jose’s 2-1 and I missed
    seeing Blackhawk goalie Antti Niemi or whatever his name is, I had to look it up
    and besides, I thought he was Chi’s backup goalie anyway, stop 44 of 45 shots
    which must have been quite a performance on his part unless they were all on
    dump-ins by San Jose which they probably were not.  I suppose I could watch the
    10-minute video game re-cap on NHL.com to get up to speed, and maybe I will.
  • I missed the Canadians/Flyers game, too.  This maybe isn’t such a great
    column, ‘ya think?  I thought they’d be playing the two Conference Finals on
    alternating nights meaning I thought Game 1 of the Eastern series would be
    tonight so I would up watching the finale of “The Pacific” on HBO last night.  I
    can tell you that that was pretty good, if it helps.  Reminder to self:  Always
    check the Program Guide!!!
  • Montreal, in spite of being nipped 6-0 by Philadelphia in Game 1, matching
    the worst margin of defeat in Canadiens playoff history except for when they got
    beat this one time by 7 goals back in 1919 which I am not sure should even
    count, is my team in this match-up of Teams of Destiny. 
  • Montreal is a Team of Destiny because when I saw it was #8 seed Montreal v.
    Alex Ovechkin and the #1 seed Washington Capitals in Round One and I said, “No
    way Montreal wins.”  Canadiens beat ‘em in 7.  They won on account of their
    goalie Jaroslav Halak.  Remember, Halak battled for the starting job all season
    with Carey Price and was even replaced by Price after Montreal lost a couple of
    games to the Caps.  After Price got lit up, Halak went back in and stopped 131
    of 134 Washington shots (.978) in the last three games and Canadiens pulled off
    one of the biggest playoff upsets, ever. Measurably.  Washington–first overall
    in the NHL standings this season (enjoy that President’s Trophy, boys)–finished
    33 points ahead of Montreal.  There have been only four occasions where a team
    knocked off a playoff opponent when that team had finished more than 33 points
    ahead of them.  So, statistically, this tied for the 5th-biggest playoff upset
    in NHL history.  Then it was Montreal v. Sidney Crosby and the defending Stanley
    Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins in Round 2 and I said, “No way Montreal wins.” 
    Canadiens win in 7 again.  Montreal is outshot 18-3 in the 3rd period of the
    final game and Halak stops all 18. They are a Team of Destiny.
  • Philadelphia is a Team of Destiny for becoming the 4th team in all
    best-of-seven series’ in all sports ever played to overcome a 3-games-to-none
    deficit and win and because they happen to have a documentary about their
    previous Cup-winning teams (see: Broad Street Bullies) in the rotation on the
    HBO family of networks right now.  Playing their own Game 7, on the road
    naturally, the Flyers overcame a 3-0 Boston lead.  It was the first time this
    season Boston lost a game in which they led 3-0 (they had been 15-0) and the
    first time the Bruins lost a game in which they led by 3 goals at any point (had
    been 18-0).  These are the factors which make Philly a Team of Destiny.
  • Oh, and this is weird.  While it’s the #1 seed (San Jose) v. the #2 seed
    (Chicago) in the Western Conference Final, it’s the #7 seed (Philadelphia) v.
    the #8 seed (Montreal) in the Eastern Final.  A 7-8 Conference Final matchup is
    unprecedented and has never happened before, either.
  • But, back to baseball. The Tigers went 5-2 in against TTTSNBN and Boston
    last week.  Wow.  I did not see that coming.  Meanwhile, Detroit made some
    personnel moves.  Max Scherzer was demoted to Triple-A Toledo after getting his
    brains beat in (again) v. the Red Socks Friday.  When Scherzer gave up that
    3-run homer to David Ortiz in the first inning (you remember, that 450-foot Moon
    Shot to center) his line from that point working back to include his previous
    13.1 Innings Pitched was, well, a little untidy:  26 Runs (Earned), 31 Hits, 5
    HR and 8 Walks.  ERA is Earned Runs Allowed x 9 / Innings Pitched .  In this
    case, that works out to 17.59 and that, friends, will get you sent down.  His
    replacement, Armando Galarraga, looked terrific yesterday (1 earned run in 5.2
    innings).  It was of note who replaced him Sunday.  Jeremy Bonderman came out of
    the bullpen for the first time this season, taken out of the rotation after
    starting the year with six starts which can best be described as inconsistent. 
    And one other thing, Dontrelle WIllis walked 7 in three-and-a-third Saturday
    night.  Don’t think the brain trust isn’t a little worried about that.  It was
    control, actually the lack thereof of course, which knocked Willis out of
    Baseball for basically the last two seasons.  If he’s lost the strike zone
    again…
  • Chicago–soon to become the next team to fire its manager–brings their 15-22
    record to town tonight.  They are already 9 games out of first in the AL
    Norris.  Or whatever… 
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