22nd
July
2008
So, they can certainly hit…
posted in 2008 season, KC Royals |Tigers 19
Royals … does it matter?
Recap:
- Words that in March I never thought I’d be typing: It’s nice to finally beat the Royals.
- The offense came alive and scored nearly as many runs in the eighth inning (10) as it did the previous six games against the Royals (11), as FSN was wont to point out throughout the night. But it brought up an interesting question: just how fricken bad were the Tigers at the start of the year? I remember it being brutal, but my god, they didn’t even average two runs per game? wow.
- Awesome Tiger batters? Too many to name them all. So I’ll go with Miguel Cabrera (5 hits, 6 RBIs) and Matt Joyce (4 hits, 5 RBIs).
- Joyce hit his 10th homer.
- And we cannot forget to mention that Zach Miner’s performance was anything but minor (har har har). He went six innings, allowed three hits and no runs. He struck out 1 and walked 1. He tossed 56 strikes in 88 pitches. And most importantly of course: he won.
- Freddy Dolsi did fine his first inning, struggled the second after a long, long top of the eighth inning. I guess it’s forgivable.
- And most important non-Tiger feature of the day: The Royals shortstop (backup now, starter previously), Tony Pena Jr., pitched! And had a 1-2-3 inning. Wow.
- To note, the great thing about the Tigers playing the Royals is we got a JoePos blog about it. Not to be missed! He also writes about Jimmy Gobble, the Royals reliever who gave up 10 runs.
- I was disappointed the Tigers again failed to score 20, but the AP gamer tells us this is the first time in 58 years a team scored 19 runs three times in a season. Those Red Sox did it four times that season.
- Also in that story, I like Miguel Cabrera’s philosophy: “When you score runs and drive in runs, you win games.”
- Makes sense.
- Twins and White Sox lost.
Analysis:
- A typically Tiger move this season would be to sweep the Royals and maybe take 2 of 3 from the White Sox (or heck, let’s go for it all and say sweep them, too), for no better reason than to get our hopes and expectations up before chopping them down. Then repeat the move around Labor Day.
- And make no mistake: While I am no believer in concrete “This is a huge series!” kind of statements, this is a huge week for the Tigers. If they were to roll over, maybe they’d end up sellers at the trade deadline. Not that there’s much to sell. And if they do a good job and win a lot, they’ll be right back in the division hunt. Or, I suppose, they could split the difference and we won’t really learn much of anything, but the sand will continue slipping through timer.
- This is a manic-depressive year. So my gut tells me, they’re going to rally and have a good week. What comes after that, well, who knows. Let’s hope they break pattern sooner than later.
I agree this week may be the tipping point. Win both series and you’re a contender. Lose one of them and you’re not.
Go Tigers!
I know, it’s tough to get your hopes to high since it seems like we’ve been burned for doing that this season. However, how huge would a 5-1 week or (gulp) a 6-0 week be against the Royals and White Sox?
“When you score runs and drive in runs, you win games.”
A very wise man, that Miggy.
I think I’m going to need psychological help after this season, Blake. It wold be huge because they’d probably be about 3 (or 4) games behind the Twins at that point and that’s certainly in the hunt by any sane description of the term. And if the Tigers have finally gotten over that losing to the Royals thing, they have plenty of games against them to end the year. So that’s a bonus.
Gotta win both series if the Tigers are going to be in this race. Time is running out to make the big move.
Aunt Thomasine always used to say: Pounding away in Kansas City might be fun, but it doesn’t quite cook the dinner.