mtutiger

Haaasse! The Pumpkin strikes!

His walking the leadoff guy and looking sharp against everyone else thing today was weird... Maybe just better out of the stretch?

Mullins has to be one of the hardest guys in the league to double up... somehoe, Tigers have done it in two games in a row. Baseball!

Hope Peralta can get thru 5... that would be ideal

I hope not lol

Crap...

Ben McDonald, former Orioles pitcher. Actually like him, although I can understand how he might not be everyone's Cup of tea...

Random, but looking at Phil Garner's Wikipedia page, his 2005 Houston Astros (who would go onto make the World Series) lost 30 of their first 45 games. Maybe all hope isn't lost yet? Lol

The thought process may be that bringing him back out risks his availability for today. Even so, it's better to risk that than to turn to Barnes there... 4-0 isn't a save situation, but going to Barnes seems more like a 6+ run lead kinda move

Somehow Nitkowski managed to get on with the Rangers to be a color commentator. Can't stand him, makes Jack Morris seem humble by comparison

Thinking back on it a little more, a corollary game for how last night played out that didn't work out was the Eric Haase defensive meltdown game in Minneapolis. Soto wasn't on a leash that night, and to the extent anybody may have gotten up to start warming in the BP (I believe it was Barnes IIRC), it seemed less about relieving Soto in that moment and more about preparing for extra innings. The situation isn't entirely the same (other leverage relievers had been used, Will Vest was viewed differently at the time, Chafin was still on IL, etc.), but having said that, Hinch does deserve some credit for acting as quickly as he did last night and it may be a sign that Soto is on a shorter leash now.

The pressure on Soto (and to a lesser extent Fulmer) kinda ratcheted up regardless by the play of those below them. Particularly with Vest having to bail him out last night. It's a results oriented business, and the Tigers bullpen has a couple of young arms who, both in terms of peripherals and in terms of command and quality of stuff, are just outpitching the big dogs right now. That should be all the pressure they need to act.

The most successful version of this bullpen has Gregory Soto in it.... you aren't DFA'ing him, I get it. But man, I don't know how you can trust him in leverage situations at the moment. Hitting the first two batters, particularly the second one in a 2-2 count? You can't do that as a closer and expect to close the win out. They got lucky tonight... they really need to consider giving a little more runway to both Lange and Vest in leverage going forward and give Soto a breather.

Gonna have to buy the bulk pack of Tums at Costco tomorrow lol

Soto has such electric stuff, but he can be ugly if he cannot exhibit control.

He's vesting his options

I'm sure the reasons were justified at the time, but I can't believe the Mariners gave Vest back

Yes!!!!!! Maybe let Vest save some games for a while... Jesus

We'll see what happens here, but they need to give Soto a breather from save opportunities for a while.

Will Vest now up

Yiiiiiiikes

Can't do that with the 9th man in the lineup...

The only thing that saved Lange there was that he'd barely thrown the fastball up until the Mullins AB