IdahoBert

Alexander needs only 8 pitches to get through the 2nd.

While Matt Manning is being interviewed with his mouth full RedRum gets caught stealing.

RedRum gets the Tigers’ first hit.

Tigers are making a guy who spent nine years in the minor leagues look like Bob Gibson tonight.

I’ve seen Garneau make some bad throws to second and then that passed ball where he simply didn’t catch it. Small sample size but I’m not sure how good a catcher he is.

Tyler Alexander begins the game giving up a home run then a walk then hits Cruz with a pitch. Passed ball moves the runners up sac fly makes it 2-0 Rays.

Why not? On the pregame they said Todd Jones would join them Friday night. That could be interesting.

It is surely not impossible. Given their ability to defy expectations I wouldn’t be any more surprised by them doing it than by not doing it. They would have to go 11-5 against the rest of the schedule and ten of those games are against AL divisional leaders with a cumulative .5945 W/PCT. The other six are against MIN and KC at .4452. Only six of these games are home games. I’m honestly more worried about the games against Minnesota and Kansas City. If all things were equal AJ could conceivably receive official kudos with a .500 finish, but all things are not equal for obvious reasons and it would still be unlikely without those obstacles. But due to a superior coaching staff the Tigers are beginning to “play the game the right way.” This is truly an exciting time to be a Tigers fan.

And yeah, getting the .500 is a real long shot. Yet, win or lose things are much more exciting than they were.

This season astounds me. The guys I thought would be “role players“ and “fill ins“ have exceeded expectations. The aggressiveness on the base paths the strategic hitting, and the fruitful instruction that is obviously taking place is a joy to behold. AJ and his crew are truly gifted. Although I have nothing to back this up, I always thought that there was a kind of old school toleration for substandard coaching at the minor-league level which now no longer seems to be the case. But like I said I have no real insight into the coaching at the minor-league level but the guys seem to be prospering in ways they didn’t used to. This team is fun to follow even when they lose because they truly never give up. I know that changes in managerial and coaching staff are generally underrated as being of substantial efficacy by a lot of people. But if management and instruction works in all sorts of other institutional settings I don’t know why it wouldn’t work in baseball. Whatever changes have happened have worked.

He just called everybody out to the mound and walked away. Joe Jimenez took over.

Willie Castro with a two-run homer makes it 6-0.

Kate clowning around with a selfie.

I’m cheating I checked the score and saw they scored four runs in the first so I watched that inning. Now I’m on live and Matthew Boyd‘s arm ripped off physically on the field and it was like Monty Python. I am bad luck.

Present.