06/28/2026 1:40p EDT Houston Astros vs Detroit Tigers

[monkeytargets39]

Just now, NorthWoods said:

Stop hiking.

We should all hike every day from the 7th - 9th inning.  Getting good exercise and fresh air instead of putting unnecessary stress on our hearts.  Lee is onto something here.

[NorthWoods]

1 minute ago, gehringer_2 said:

The thing is, as team, they aren't really in bad shape even after the loss of Skubal, and if they do get at least one starting bat out of Skubal they shouldn't be in bad shape next season - if there is one. But they have really bungled a couple of things they need to fix. They came into this season needed 3b and BP help and this off-season was pretty much a disaster in terms of the BP, and they have bungled Colt Keith. Give him a position and play him or trade him, but they are driving his value to zero as surely as if he was the kid that stole Harris' lunch money in 3rd grade.

I agree.   Find  young relievers even if not "proven", quit signing up the overpaid, washed up detritus of other's bullpens.  The core of a good starting staff is there.   Flip every player you can for OF help.   I believe the INF can be sorted.   

[gehringer_2]

3 minutes ago, NorthWoods said:

Stop hiking.

Lee can keep HIKING but the Tiger BP should definitely stop WALKING.

[monkeytargets39]

2 minutes ago, NorthWoods said:

I agree.   Find  young relievers even if not "proven", quit signing up the overpaid, washed up detritus of other's bullpens.  The core of a good starting staff is there.   Flip every player you can for OF help.   I believe the INF can be sorted.   

Or convert some of our starters into our leverage relievers.  Not that I want Montero out of the rotation but he looked fantastic when we used him in relief.  Madden seems like he could fit that role as well.   Hurter is solid as well.  They can assemble a good pen if they really try and manage it properly.  

[Tiger337]

7 minutes ago, NorthWoods said:

Stop hiking.

I thought about that, but bad things happen late in the game regardless of whether or not I am there to see it.  

I used to take naps and the the Tigers would be in the middle of a rally when I woke up.  

[tiger2022]

8 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I thought about that, but bad things happen late in the game regardless of whether or not I am there to see it.  

I used to take naps and the the Tigers would be in the middle of a rally when I woke up.  

That brought back a memory.  I was just a kid when Gibson hit the home run off Eckersley and fell asleep during that game and woke up right during his swing to win the game.  The ball was in the air.

[NorthWoods]

Tidbit.

 

[gehringer_2]

21 minutes ago, NorthWoods said:

Tidbit.

 

well, if it were me I'd charge two errors. The runner reached because the throw was off line, but it's an easy stop for Keith if he has the sense to step off the base and field the throw,  something every 1b has to understand has to be done sometimes, so the runner getting to 2nd should properly be Keith's error because that throw can be easily caught with ordinary effort. 

This also goes to something Tork did the other night on a similar play when the runner was safe but he did catch the throw by turning across the line of the throw to get more cross reach. He didn't try to stretch toward the throw - he sacrificed some time to make sure he caught it. Maybe he didn't have to do that and could have gotten the out, which is a fair critique,  but Keith's fail on a similar play does illustrate what Tork was trying not have happen.

[SoCalTiger]

3 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

well, if it were me I'd charge two errors. The runner reached because the throw was off line, but it's an easy stop for Keith if he has the sense to step off the base and field the throw,  something every 1b has to understand has to be done sometimes, so the runner getting to 2nd should properly be Keith's error because that throw can be easily caught with ordinary effort. 

This also goes to something Tork did the other night on a similar play when the runner was safe but he did catch the throw by turning across the line of the throw to get more cross reach. He didn't try to stretch toward the throw - he sacrificed some time to make sure he caught it. Maybe he didn't have to do that and could have gotten the out, which is a fair critique,  but Keith's fail on a similar play does illustrate what Tork was trying not have happen.

That's a good analysis and not something I thought of at the time. 

[casimir]

1 hour ago, Adullin said:

I still want to believe 

Same here.  They’ve not played like they are a contender.  But it’s still June and the math has not eliminated them.

[Sports_Freak]

1 hour ago, NorthWoods said:

I agree.   Find  young relievers even if not "proven", quit signing up the overpaid, washed up detritus of other's bullpens.  

This. Totally correct. When we had our "pitching chaos" in 2024, it was mostly young and unheard of relievers. They were trying to make a name for themselves by proving themselves. We seem to have gotten away from that.

[casimir]

10 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

This. Totally correct. When we had our "pitching chaos" in 2024, it was mostly young and unheard of relievers. They were trying to make a name for themselves by proving themselves. We seem to have gotten away from that.

Is it a matter of young players proving themselves or is it just the nature of modern day relief pitching that individual relievers just don’t have a very long effective shelf life?  I’d suggest it’s the latter.

[Sports_Freak]

6 minutes ago, casimir said:

Is it a matter of young players proving themselves or is it just the nature of modern day relief pitching that individual relievers just don’t have a very long effective shelf life?  I’d suggest it’s the latter.

Could be. But they seemed to have gone away from the formula that worked so well for them. Many of us complain about the lack of offense but in reality, it's our horribly inconsistent bullpen that has us 14 games under .500.

[casimir]

14 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

Could be. But they seemed to have gone away from the formula that worked so well for them. Many of us complain about the lack of offense but in reality, it's our horribly inconsistent bullpen that has us 14 games under .500.

I wouldn’t let the offense off of the hook so easily.  League average offense is 4.49 runs/game.  The Tigers are at 4.08, ahead of only 7 other teams.  The blown saves stink, no question.  But the offense bears blame just as much as the relief.

[Motor City Sonics]

3 hours ago, monkeytargets39 said:

This bullpen is wiltin’

Awww...........Lawwd 

[chasfh]

50 minutes ago, casimir said:

Is it a matter of young players proving themselves or is it just the nature of modern day relief pitching that individual relievers just don’t have a very long effective shelf life?  I’d suggest it’s the latter.

This, and also, the number of innings pitched for relievers is so low that the same bad stretch that tanks a season for a them is just a bad month or two for a healthy starter.

[gehringer_2]

41 minutes ago, casimir said:

I wouldn’t let the offense off of the hook so easily.  League average offense is 4.49 runs/game.  The Tigers are at 4.08, ahead of only 7 other teams.  The blown saves stink, no question.  But the offense bears blame just as much as the relief.

It always helps to be better in any phase you can. I think you can defend a team construction with strong starting pitching and a somewhat below average offensive, but of course you lose Torres and Baez and slightly below average becomes worse than slightly below average. I can cut them some slack there given injuries are by nature unforeseen.

OTOH, the BP has been outright terrible though and decisions made there have not worked out, and expanding out, how much better would the BP be if the money spent on Verlander and Jansen had gone into other  bullpen arms?  If you want to point to a single set of devastating of FO decisions, that would be it. They had the resource and didn't use it well.

Edited June 29 by gehringer_2

[monkeytargets39]

22 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

It always helps to be better in any phase you can. I think you can defend a team construction with strong starting pitching and a somewhat below average offensive, but of course you lose Torres and Baez and slightly below average becomes worse than slightly below average. I can cut them some slack there given injuries are by nature unforeseen.

OTOH, the BP has been outright terrible though and decisions made there have not worked out, and expanding out, how much better would the BP be if the money spent on Verlander and Jansen had gone into other  bullpen arms?  If you want to point to a single set of devastating of FO decisions, that would be it. They had the resource and didn't use it well.

You could argue we didn’t need Framber (although I didn’t hate the signing).  That money could’ve went to something else as well.

[Tiger337]

1 hour ago, casimir said:

I wouldn’t let the offense off of the hook so easily.  League average offense is 4.49 runs/game.  The Tigers are at 4.08, ahead of only 7 other teams.  The blown saves stink, no question.  But the offense bears blame just as much as the relief.

Yes, both have been a problem.  If either their offense or bullpen was better they could still in the thick of the race.  Excellent starting pitching can cover some deficiences elsewhere, but it can't cover being bad at EVERYTHING else.  Defense is included in that too.  It's been better this month but still below average overall.  

Edited June 29 by Tiger337

[Sports_Freak]

10 hours ago, casimir said:

I wouldn’t let the offense off of the hook so easily.  League average offense is 4.49 runs/game.  The Tigers are at 4.08, ahead of only 7 other teams.  The blown saves stink, no question.  But the offense bears blame just as much as the relief.

Just as much? IDK, yes the offense has struggled but the Tigers bullpen has lost...what? 18 games they were leading in? We may be ahead of only a few teams in average runs per game but we're dead last in bullpen blown games. But either way, a terrible combination. At least our starting pitching is decent...lol

[casimir]

19 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

Yes, both have been a problem.  If either their offense or bullpen was better they could still in the thick of the race.  Excellent starting pitching can cover some deficiences elsewhere, but it can't cover being bad at EVERYTHING else.  Defense is included in that too.  It's been better this month but still below average overall.  

Offense, both getting on base and base running, are awful.  Defensively they are poor as a group, and given the lack of swing and miss from the pitching staff, it’s a recipe for the mess we have seen.