Closer, schmoser...

I was pretty upset with the Tigers yesterday. Not particularly surprised, but upset. Two of their bigger problems last year were hitting against "junk-ball" pitchers (that would be pitchers who pitch to contact & try to induce weak ground ball outs) and their bullpen had a tendency to give games away. Both of those problems resurfaced yesterday in the loss to the Twins.

Sanchez was great, allowing 5 baserunners in 5 innings, no runs and striking out 5. Then Downs came in, pitched one good inning, but he walked a guy the next inning. Villareal came next with a man on. The man on first stole second, then scored when Villareal gave up a double to Wilkin Ramirez (yes, THAT Wilkin Ramirez). So the Tigers' lead was cut to 2-1. I should mention that during all this that the Tigers' potent offense was reduced to slapping singles and grounding out weakly.

Anyway, Benoit came in to be the bridge to Coke. He walked the only guy he faced. Coke came on, and the wheels came off. He got one out, the next guy got a single (moving the tying run to third), and then Eduardo Escobar (yes, THAT Eduardo Escobar) hit what SHOULD have been a game-tying sac fly, except Dirks lost it in the sun, 2 runs came in and somehow the official game scorer ruled it a double.

Anyway, the Tigers must have been concerned, because they went out and signed Jose Valverde to a minor league deal. I'd be concerned too. Before today Tiger starters had given up 0 runs, relievers had given up 5. Porcello has changed that, giving up 3. Not wanting to be out-done, Villareal has given up 5 more. It's not pretty.

The Pistons nearly eked out a win yesterday, despite not having Calderon in the game. They remain on pace to finish 5th worst in the league, which would be better news if this were a better draft. 

The game was highlighted by this little chestnut from Brandon Knight:

Knight has NOT had a good year. He stunk it up at PG, he was crossed over BADLY by Kyrie Irving, he was killed by DeAndre Jordan, and he's had injuries to his face and ankles that have limited him. Plus, there's this YouTube video that sort of celebrates his "unlucky-ness".

I like Brandon Knight (not as a PG though), but I'm wondering if his career is going to be some kind of embodiment of the Washington Generals. This concerns me