Not much you can say about a 17-2 loss, except that at least we didn't give up 19 runs in a game for the second time this year. The Tigers showed us exactly how far we still have to go yesterday. They hit, they pitch, they make plays, they put balls in play, they execute on the bases... They're a model franchise, especially for a team like Houston considering that a decade ago (2003), Detroit lost 119 games. The Astros also have a special connection with that team in that Carlos Pena played for them. And look at Detroit now. A couple trips to the World Series, a perennial contender... That's what we want to get to. And unfortunately, it's not going to happen over night. Things don't get any easier today either with the Tigers throwing their ace Justin Verlander against Philip Humber, who has lost all six of his starts this season. We've just to keep grinding it out though and keep moving forward. As my college coach, Pete Barry, used to say: Every day, in every way, we get a little better. Some final thoughts on yesterday's blowout:
1) Lucas Harrell is not very good when his sinker isn't working. When he's on, he's a groundball machine (see Yankee Stadium earlier this week). When he's off... every ball gets hit hard.
2) Carlos Corporan was one of the few bright spots offensively picking up two hits and slugging his second home run of the week. The 29 year old Puerto Rican born catcher needs just 2 home runs to tie his career high of 4 set last season.
3) Robbie Grossman reached base 2 more times last night, leading off the game with single, and then later drawing a walk. Grossman's on base percentage is still low at .327, but it's been steadily rising. He's in the midst of a 6-game hitting streak that has seen his average rise from .091 to .205 and he's also drawn 5 walks during that stretch. Unfortunately, his baserunning still leaves a lot to be desired as he's been caught stealing twice in the Tigers series.
4) At some point the schedule has to start getting a little bit easier, right?
5) Brandon Laird was 0 for 2 last night with a pair of strikeouts lowering his average to .226 (7/31) and giving him 12 strikeouts on the year. With Marc Krauss hammering the ball in AAA, it makes me wonder how much longer Laird has in his audition.
6) Hey, at least we didn't get shutout, right?
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