gehringer_2

the whole psychology and habit around closing is just that, psychology and habit. Jim Leyland showed us in '06 that using your best reliever when the leverage was highest should be the way to go, but the habits formed in baseball culture, which includes the fans, the press, management and even the players, all pressure teams to have closers. It make very little actual sense statistically or tactically. Even the argument that the 9th is somehow harder to pitch is only true because players have come to believe it.

I also wonder if any other guys in the clubhouse got subcllnical cases of the bug that felled Maeda.

If they get off the blow out win, one run loss merrygoround those numbers will be more satisfying. If you just stop expecting Baez to exceed a 220 BA, then what we're waiting for is Greene, Torkelson, and CF - either for Perez to keep it up or for Parker to come back better. A 3 hitter swing is really all it take to move a line-up from futile to productive.

Right, but he might well have have been there with the advantage of already moving toward 3b. Riley almost has to overrun that ball and then come back or maybe circle it alittle to be in decent position to throw.

Perez hitting the wall a little - down to 220 over his last 7 games. Next week or two critical for him to adjust. Canha picking it up a little. Urshella and Jake contributed. Kelly has been OK the last few games. Still need Green and Torkelson the get their acts together.

Riely can't throw when he's hitting either. I wonder if Parker were out there if he takes that, and having the better throwing angle holds the runner. Parker's arm isn't great but it's better than Rileys..... But it didn't matter in the end.

The flip side is he has Foley in better shape for tomorrow. Strategies always look better after the fact when they work. 🙄

would have been nice to have an arm in LF that could have held that runner.

Riley not seeing anything well. Was a mile from the 1st pitch breaking ball, froze on the strike out breaking ball.

Holton was warming up.

7 total base runners in 7 innings. That's a WHIP of 1.0 for the opposition pitcher. Poor.

That AB is a lesson in the importance of delta velo. Faedo came in with 95, Schnieder fouled it off. Came back with 85 and Schnieder nailed it but was way in front and it whistled foul. Then Faedo threw 92 and Scheider nailed it. So why? He's shown you want he can't hit and you pitched right into it.

Gio took it a little easy on that throw and it fooled Canha. Would have been better to have just thrown it hard.

7 pitch inning for Olsen with 3 hard hit ground outs. Javy and Gio pick'n em.

Perez with a 98mph line drive At'em ball.

Keith's worst AB of the week. He came into the game hitting over 400 in his last 50PA.

Current US immigration law is so completely screwed up - there is no way any of these good Chinese folks qualify for political asylum under any reasonable definition, and I would note the Senate GOP just refused again to visit the issue. Now on the other hand, these folks probably do have the skills to come the US under an H1 or green card system that was actually working and should have been allowed to apply that way.

We need to get some RH bats going. Canha, Rogers, Urshella, Ibanez, Tork, Baez, all pretty non-productive over their last 50 PA.

Yup. Have to 2nd the emotion. The Jays gave this one away in the 4th without all that much help from the Tigers. 2 HR is nice but 7H and only 2 by RH bats. McKinstry again made his case for Javy to stay at short. Still, it's a win.

McGonigle and Clark each on base 3 times tonight in 6-5 loss. McGonigle 12BB, 12K in 91 PA, Clark 26BB 28K in 170 PA Parker 2/3 3B BB.

yeah, I'm older than that and was able to pretty much pay my own way through at UM from my second year on and graduated with zero debt. Kid's not being able to support themselves at upper level schools like UM is a terrible indictment of US social policy over the last 40 yrs. It's become one big profit center for the loan industry instead. Pretty much the same for the SO. She finished owing a total of $3K, and we though that was pretty bad.

Greene tagged one ball tonight, but the other ABs were pretty meh.

very nice

Let's have a win tonight, shall we?

can I love half the staff?