gehringer_2

at A ball, Dylan Smith with 5 IP 4H 1R 0ER 0BB but only 1K. Colt Keith gets a day off. AAA: Elvin Rodriguez 5 IP 2H 0R 0BB 5K; Cameron, 4/5 HR 2B. Clemens 1/5

If they have really deadened the ball, Harold's 'empty' style BA will be worth a lot more. I do like him a lot more at 3rd where lateral range is less a problem but unless Candelario falls into a well I can't see Harold displacing him there.

"There is no joy without sorrow" - LaoTze

Well, he did eventually blow his UCL - at 46 and 5300IP !?!

Harold with a triple. Get that ISO up!

39.2 IP 2.5 ERA, 1.08 WHIP.

6 shut out innings. Baltimore isn't a very good team, but you have to beat up one the teams you should.

I think the biggest problem we are going to have with Tarik is that "Happy Skuday" just doesn't cut it.

Skubal going great but he's gonna get burned if he keeps putting the lead off man on....

I suppose twice in a row probably means 6 wks now.....

Skubal walks off the field clearly PO'd that he's given up 2 hits.

he pushed his otherwise good luck today one chance too far.

Shep talking about how comfortable Willi looks in left after he breaks the wrong way on a ball. Sure Shep.

People have conventionally written Miguel off as done because he's old, but I think it's still mostly his health. The hitter is still in there when the body is working - at least for now.

Reyes with the shortest return from injury on record.

Skubal en Fuego! Miggy too.

and the only year of many with the cast of that 68 team when they won was the year the pitching all came together. Wilson with his last big season added to McLain and Lolich. There were no great hitting teams in that era. Team OPS in '68 was only 10 pts about league average. The did have some long ball hitters though - and Tiger stadium helped.

There is your call on the Grossman at bat, MC. Took two called and swung and missed at the third.

Nice play by Harold there. He doesn't have much arm to play third but he played it smart.

but that's the point, Willi is not a good SH. The whole point of being a SH is to reduce your platoon split, but Willi's BA split still runs 70-90 pts. I commented on that yesterday - Avila seems to have a soft spot for SHs who aren't very good at it.

RHP. True enough that Grossman is scuffling as well though. Robbie came into the season with the idea of trying to K less. But guys need to understand that taking 1st pitch strikes is not the route to K'ing less.

It's hard to not keep coming back to how twisted and vacuous the arguments from 'God's Christian Law' are across all these culture issues. There are 10 things prohibited in the single most foundational statement of legislation in the Christian Bible. 7 of them are completely legal in the US, an 8th is practiced as a political art form, and I don't hear a soul in US political Christianity complaining about it.

Religious extremism is toxic to, and incompatible with, any successful open and pluralistic society. Period.

Tigers have tried that and failed with it in more than one era. The Tigers teams that have gone to WS were all pitching-centric. Lolich/McLain/Wilson, Morris, Petry, Wilcox, Verlander, Rodgers/Verlander/Scherzer etc.

after it happened you could see him make fist a few times, which looked hopeful, but the way he was holding his hand splayed open as he walked off did not.