3 Up and 3 Down in the Second Week for the Detroit Tigers
Apr 19, 2015; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Tigers left fielder Yoenis Cespedes (52) and catcher James McCann (34) celebrate after the game against the Chicago White Sox at Comerica Park. Detroit won 9-1. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
The Detroit Tigers had another fun week of baseball as they took on the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago White Sox. The Tigers got their first loss of the season against the Pirates, and then picked up another a few games later against the White Sox.
The team had far more ups than down, a lot like last week. So let’s look at the 3 ups and 3 downs of the second week of the Detroit Tigers season.
3 ups
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Alfredo Simon had a great 8 inning game
One big worry with Simon was that he tried far too quickly and the team would more than likely end up having to use their bullpen a lot on his day of pitching. However in his second start he went 8 strong scoreless innings.
He looked to be on point throughout the game and that was good to see. In a game where he was needed to keep runners off the base paths he did it. The team got the 1-0 win and his outing was one a fantasy owner would be proud of.
Hopefully this going 7 to 8 inning will continue for Simon and we can keep expecting more from him.
The bullpen is doing great
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Week two and the bullpen has yet to blow a game, I would have to say that is a major up for the team. However the bullpen didn’t get a lot of work throughout the week until the end of it.
Still with no Joe Nathan due to injury the Tigers have gotten to see what Soria can do with the closer role and so far it has been nice to see. Soria picked up two saves this week, both came in low scoring affairs where he was leaned on to protect a short lead, and he did.
In the first game of the series with the Chicago White Sox Soria even picked up a win, his first on the season. In 3 innings of work, throughout this week Soria didn’t give up any runs and dropped his ERA to below 2 on the season.
First walk off win of the season
This up you get a fun video. In the opener against the Chicago White Sox the Tigers got their first walk off win of the season. A close game had some interesting choices by the visiting manager in not asking to review a tag, and well it helped moved the winning run into scoring position and they pushed it through.
3 downs
Verlander misses another start
This is a down that is rearing its ugly face again, Justin Verlander is scheduled to miss another start for the Tigers and still has yet to make it back to the rotation. He seems to also to be getting more hurt throughout the days. The injury seems to be migrating down his arm.
In his rehab/simulation game Verlander was taken out early after having feelings of arm soreness and now on the injury reports he is listed as having arm fatigue rather than the triceps injury he first had when he landed on the DL.
This however isn’t the worst news in the world. It seems that Verlander is healing fine, it is just at a slower rate than trainers and Verlander himself had hoped.
Picked up first two losses, one was bad
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One loss came against the Pittsburgh Pirates, which almost was a come back win, but fell short. Not too bad of a loss the Tigers and really was just a game that got a little out of hand and they couldn’t make up the last little bit they needed.
Now, the second loss of the season, well, that was a game that got way out hand, way to quickly and there was a very little chance that the Tigers were going to come back and win the game. Maybe in like another universe, they came back and won, but in this universe they didn’t.
Both losses came with Anibal Sanchez on the mound. Again the first loss wasn’t bad, yet, the loss against the Chicago White Sox was one of those “let’s just forget about that” days. Sanchez gave up 9 earned runs in just 3 innings pitched before the bullpen took over for him.
Sanchez fell to 1-2 on the season and hopefully this isn’t something that stays with him. As a pitcher he has to go back out there and be the pitcher he knows he can be. It would not be great if he goes down this road when we are already a man short in the rotation. Here is to hoping that things get better for Mr. Sanchez and we can see the guy we saw in his first start.
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Martinez is in and out of line up (but looks to be getting better)
Again, this team is hard to poke hole into because I didn’t want to get down to nit picky things that really aren’t a down or an up because they are just baseball things.
I could talk about how maybe we haven’t gotten to play any great teams yet and that maybe we haven’t been tested that much. Or I could talk about Martinez being out here and there, but in reality, those are just nit picky things that isn’t really that big of a deal.
So you know what I guess we won’t do a third down. Let us just be happy that this team is 10-2 and that they seem to be clicking on almost all cylinders and as fans we are getting great baseball every day to watch.
This week the Tigers have the New York Yankees coming to town and then get to have a rematch with the Cleveland Indians which will wrap up the week. Also with no off days, means we are getting treated to a full week of baseball from our Tigers.
What did you think of this week for the Detroit Tigers? Are you happy with the team? Can you poke any holes into this team? Let us know below and don’t forget to stay connected to Detroit Jock City for all your Detroit Tigers news.