Athletics lineup: 1. Coco Crisp (S) CF 2. Josh Donaldson (R) 3B 3. Jed Lowrie (S) SS 4. Brandon Moss (L) RF 5. Yoenis Cespedes (R) LF 6. Seth Smith (L) DH 7. Alberto Callaspo (S) 2B 8. Daric Barton (L) 1B 9. Stephen Vogt (L) C[/*] Milone (9-9)
Tigs lineup? your probably so annoyed with me Will. I really do check here though before the games to see what you got, like I said before. you do a really good job with it. speaking of doing a good job, do we have a new Wings writer yet?
Leyland still hasnt made up his mind. I should have them soon. lol...Im not annoyed at all. Im having fun with this stuff, just been a bit under the weather and still feel hesitant to take on a writing responsibility. Can you write when you feel like it, or do you have to do so much in a certain amount of time? I just have alot already on my plate and I dont want to say I'll do something and then screw it up. Sounds like it might be fun. I better talk to Tim and make up my mind soon, or they will have already dropped the puck.
Ive only written one thing. got some ideas for more but havent put anything together. I wont have time for this for a few weeks when I go work out of town so Ill squeeze atleast one more in before I go. like I said you gotta get with Tim. its stress free and I think on your own schedule. believe me Im gonna have a real full plate soon. Ive been burning a months worth of vacation time lately. thats about to end soon
Todays lineup has Avila back. 1. Austin Jackson (R) CF 2. Torii Hunter (R) RF 3. Miguel Cabrera (R) 3B 4. Prince Fielder (L) 1B 5. Victor Martinez (S) DH 6. Omar Infante (R) 2B 7. Matt Tuiasosopo (R) LF 8. Alex Avila (L) C 9. Jose Iglesias (R) SS[/*] Verlander (12-9)
ya, raining steady here, plenty to come, luckily, looks like the worst of the stuff is passing to my west. severe tstorm watch till 10.
I see that. The game started on time, but a delay later looks likely. Cant tell with the weather, though.
Verlander just doesnt have 'it', right now. Over 30 pitches in the first inning. Strange, he's hitting 97mph...just cant locate.
the radar loop is actually kinda encouraging. the heavy rain that passed over me looks like it will miss comerica to the east, and there may be nothing but light sprinkles for a while.
Somethings gotta be wrong. Plenty of velocity, just no late movement. Hope its nothing serious and he can get a handle on it. Here comes the tarp...
Rain shortened game and another loss for the Tigers, 6-3. Back to back poor starting pitching...not used to that this season.
the Verlander thing is very perplexing. he still has velocity which is the first sign of an arm issue, if that starts to go on him then its time to worry. I think its something mental which can be even more problematic because the only one that can fix that is JV. there have been plenty of pitchers over the years that became a head case and were basically done after that. I dont think its that extreme with JV but its something that we should keep a close eye on. when he had trouble early on I thought well he'll come around he usually starts slow anyways but were getting to the point that if he doesnt turn the corner here soon this may become a real problem. getting your head right against the Mets and A's in the dog days of August is one thing but playing the Rangers in October is much different Im no JV by any stretch but I can recall one time when I faced a lineup with a few lefties. I never faced much of them in HS but college they were sprinkled through the lineups. all my pitchers broke in on lefties(cutter and slider) except one. the 2 seam fb which breaks down and right - or away from lefties. I wasnt confident at throwing the cutter and slider in so I went to a steady dose of 2 seamers. I went through the lineup once and the 2nd time around they knew it was coming. I thought I threw hard enough to get it by them( I was in the mid 90's). well that didnt happen and I got lit up. Think I gave up 7 in like 3 innings. I lost my confidence and abandoned my game plan and thats a huge no no when pitching. I think what were seeing now is the same with Verlander this is the first and only time my name will ever be in the same sentence for any reason Verlander
I know Leyland and the boys are very concerned. Jim said he wanted Verlander to be arrogant and just keep it simple. I just hope they dont find out he's been playing with some sort of injury. If its between the ears, Im confident he will figure it out. My best guess would be its something changed slightly in his machanics and they just havnt tweeked it yet. I read about a month ago, maybe a couple, he changed something in his delivery. The velocity has been fine but the ball isnt biting like it used too. One thing for certain, this Tigers team NEEDS him to get back to his previous form.
