It's amazing to me how much better you guys are in managing the Tigers!! 20/20 vision after the fact is a major advantage!! Shoulda this and shoulda that. I think that is called second-guessing.
I am great at it....my lineups, pinch hitting and pitching changes have the Tigers with a 6 game lead over the Twins.....11 over the sox....but JL ignores my text messages just as Joe does
Figaro has only pitched in a couple of major league games in his 2 years with the Tigers. He is 26 years old. "People whose opinions I value think he should be a bullpen guy at the major league level," Leyland said of Figaro.
For the first time in 20 days, here is post about the Tigers even though they still have about 18 games left. Of course since they are 16 games back, there will be no comebacks by the Tigers like the Twins did against them last year. With that being said, I am wondering if the Tigers should throw Joe Torre a bone at managing the Tigers since he is stepping down from the Dodgers at the end of the season. I mean I know Leyland is 5 years younger than Torre, but it seems like the game has passed JL by....kick him upstairs....and replace Dombroski with him.... Torre may still have something left in the tank as it relates to games smarts, even the Dodgers have faded this season just like the Tigers, he still has a better record in September and October than Leyland has....the question is does Joe still want to coach.
Over in LA where Torre is leaving and Mattingly is taking over they had a fan poll to see what the fans thought... Tim Wallach, their current AAA manager got 63% of the vote... Mattingly, who made some embarrassing blunders while filling in for Torre, got 16% of the vote... The third candidate named "somebody else" got 21% of the vote... not what I would call a resounding vote of confidence.
That was to satisfy the folks that want to keep JL around....or we can always make him the first base coach??
The Tigers have taken five out their last six games from the ChiSux, to further eliminate Chicago from division crown. Not that I want to see the Twins win it either, but it was those pesky Royals and Sox down the stretch last season that forced the one game playoff last year with the Twins that ultimately eliminated the Tigers from the divisional post season. Remember the Sox taking Cabrera out to get him drunk that last weekend.... JV pitched only his 3rd complete game of season ,,,to match last season and struck out 8 batters. With a 17-8 record and only 14 games left, you would assume he would get at least the three starts....but can he win them all and record his first 20 win season of his career?
Rayburns got his batting avg. up to .274 I'd like to see Sherz and Porc and Gally win all their last starts.
In addition to the injury to Maggs, you can blame the Tiger bullpen for the second half season collapse. Valverde was never any good after his brilliant all star appearance and after Zumaya went down it was all down hill from there. Boesch also disappeared after the break and may as well been on the injured list with Ordonez and Guillen. The Tigers do sweep the series vs the Sox, but I swear 65 year old Jim Leyland who already looks older than 70 year old Joe Torre, aged 10 years tonight in the last three innings.
It was just good to see Bondo pitch well. Still he couldn't get the win. But he didn't get the loss either. Valverde is still damn good.
