caulfield12

I wonder what the winning probability of teams that have the bases loaded with no outs and don't score in any given game? They did score on the HBP, but I mean...but it can't be very high. Maybe 15%

We deserve to lose this game. The Tigers wanted to give it to us and we choked big time. Please please don't bring Peavy back next year. He's not going to be worth the money, and he's never been a big game pitcher. Peavy now showing up, either. They can't even give us a game if they try. At least not in Detroit.

Dadgummit, had the best chance in the world to put the Tigers back on their heels and couldn't come up with the big hit against a struggling pitcher.

Very good play by Beckham there.

Infante thought there were 2 outs, lol.

Great Tigers defense so far tonight. That's two plays that should have been made already.

QUOTE (RZZZA @ Aug 31, 2012 -> 05:48 PM) Jake is being very average, which is usually what he's been recently. inb4 Jordan4Life tells me I'm wrong, but I don't care because I see a guy who is struggling 3.10 ERA over his last 15 starts, 8 losses, mostly due to our bullpen and crappy run support.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 31, 2012 -> 05:47 PM) What's our record since DeAza has been out? I assume not good. I just tuned in. I assume Jake is sucking. Nice game, Jakester. It's definitely not bad...a week ago, we were at a season-high 16 games over .500 and riding a 6 game winning streak. We've gained 4 1/2 games on the Tigers since we left at the end of the sweep.

.462 average for Cabrera with 2 outs and RISP.

Dirks has just about been a hitting machine this season. Where do they get these kids? Wise was playing WAY WAY TOO shallow in CF and got burned there.

More two out hitting against the White Sox. Need to strand him there, Jake. That's Jackson's league-leading 9th triple. 30 on his career already.

That was the definition of lackadaisical there by Dunn...

Avisail Garcia is drawing lots of comparisons to Miguel Cabrera. Supposedly, a true 5 tool player. Really big kid. Seems to have a little Ordonez in him, too...but with more speed and a better throwing arm. Will start tmrw versus Liriano.

AJ 0 for his last 17...took early BP with Konerko. Manto made a correction, he was pulling his front shoulder out too quickly. First homer since August 12th.

Well, that was huge...still in it.

Perfect, might as well give up a 3 run homer here so that we can find something less predictable in our lives for the rest of tonight. Sorry, just a single scorched to Alex Rios. Sigh.

White Sox following their usual recent pattern of giving up early leads and being forced to rally from behind.

Sigh. Of course, right after the walk.

Fister got rocked his last time out...tweaked his groin, so they skipped a start to try to get him healthy. Konerko should have had a better pass at that 3-1 pitch or waited for a better one to hit in zone.

Is Youkilis going to play tonight? AJ will get the nod over Flowers, obviously. When is DeAza back from his Charlotte rehab assignment?

Dennis Rodman's father, with something like 22 different kids from 18 mothers. Albeit, he was never in the NBA...still hilarious.

Chen is decent. Hochevar is, at best, erratic. Mendoza, not so good. They would be better off with Crow back in the rotation, IMO. They do have a ton of talent in the bullpen with Holland, Herrera, Collins, Crow, etc.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- In a game in Cleveland in 1969, the Angels produced one hit. But they somehow scored three runs and won. Angels reliever Eddie Fisher offered this analysis: "We bunched our hit." The Tigers suffered the reverse fate on Thursday night. They had 12 hits but couldn't bunch enough of them into a decisive rally. They lost to the Royals, 2-1, to remain three games behind the White Sox going into this weekend's series between the teams. According to Baseball-Reference.com, the Tigers haven't had a loss like this since 1958: a one-run defeat in which they had at least 12 hits but didn't score more than one run. In this low-scoring loss and in Wednesday night's 1-0 defeat, the Tigers -- instead of hitting the ball in the gap -- hit it where the Royals centerfielder could make a diving catch in the ninth. After Alex Avila drew a leadoff walk in the ninth Thursday, Austin Jackson smoked a liner to center. Lorenzo Cain dove for it. If it had gone by him, it probably would have gone to the wall. "It would have been an inside-the-park homer," Avila said. A go-ahead inside-the-park homer. But Cain made a sliding, diving catch, just as Jarrod Dyson did in center in the ninth the night before on Miguel Cabrera. Rookie right-hander Kelvin Herrera (pitching the ninth as closer Greg Holland got a night of rest) then allowed a single to Andy Dirks that sent Avila to second. Cabrera ended the game by hitting into a first-pitch double play even though pivot man Alcides Escobar had to leap over the sliding Dirks before he threw to first to nip Cabrera. (Recall that Cabrera has been slowed lately by a sore right ankle.) "I knew if I threw the ball when I jumped, I might make a bad throw," Escobar told the Kansas City Star. "I knew Miguel Cabrera was running, so I wanted to make sure to make a good throw. But that was no easy play." He amazed his teammates. Third baseman Mike Moustakas said when he saw Escobar leap, he figured the Royals would have to get out Prince Fielder, the on-deck hitter. And first baseman Eric Hosmer said, "There's a name for that play, but I don't know what to call it."

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- In mid-April in Chicago, Tigers manager Jim Leyland assailed the forecasters who said the White Sox would finish near the bottom of the American League Central. "People who made those picks, they know nothing about baseball," Leyland said. "Trust me. If they think the Chicago White Sox are not going to be in the thick of this, they're crazy. They don't know anything about baseball, people who make picks like that ... they know nothing about baseball. Nothing!" Even if Leyland ultimately takes nothing else satisfying out of this often-confounding Tigers season, at least he can know that he was right about the White Sox. For most of the summer, they have led the American League Central. With the Tigers' loss Thursday against the Royals, Chicago brings a three-game lead on the second-place Tigers into Comerica Park tonight for the opening game of a three-game series. The Tigers will have to sweep this weekend to prevent Chicago from leaving town in sole possession of first place. While some forecasters downplayed the White Sox, almost everyone picked the Tigers to win the division. They won it last year and finished 28 games above .500. This year, the Tigers' ceiling has been about 10 games above .500. But Leyland refuses to characterize his team as one that hasn't lived up to expectations of dominance. "The one thing I tell them in spring training -- and so far they've done that -- is, 'Let's get to September and be playing for something,' " Leyland said this week. "It looks like we are." As September arrives Saturday, the Tigers will be playing for the AL Central title, and, as a backup, one of the two wild-card spots. Under the playoff expansion instituted this season, the two wild-card winners will face each other in a play-in game to launch the postseason. The last time the Tigers and White Sox met, the Tigers swept a three-game series in mid-July at Comerica Park to take over first place from Chicago. A look at those three games illuminates a few of the reasons the Tigers haven't been able to catch the White Sox in recent weeks: • In the first game, Justin Verlander received run support and pitched dominantly. That combination has seldom surfaced since for Verlander. • In the second game, Brennan Boesch hit a three-run homer off left-hander Chris Sale. Boesch no longer plays against left-handers and only sometimes against right-handers. • In the finale, Boesch hit another homer. Entering Thursday, that was his most recent homer. He had gone 80 at-bats without one, and he had become a part-time starter against right-handed pitching. Jacob Turner was the winning pitcher in the finale of that sweep of the Sox -- his first win. The next day, the Tigers traded him and two minor leaguers to Miami for second baseman Omar Infante and pitcher Anibal Sanchez. While Infante and Sanchez have done respectably since they joined the Tigers, they weren't the final pieces of a steamroller. The Tigers, it turned out, didn't just need a few better players. They need to play better. Three nights after the Infante-Sanchez trade, Verlander let a late-inning lead disappear in Cleveland, and the White Sox regained first place. They have been there since. "Since 2006 when I got here, this has been one of the best teams in the league every year," Leyland said in April about the White Sox. "And they will be right there." freep.com/sports

Disappeared? Hate to make the PEDs accusation with Infante, though, anything is possible. Nagging injuries? Peaked and never continued his upward progression.