00:00this tiger game was wild and chaotic and as as things stand with you and and watching this team
00:07you know i i i feel like the buy possibility it gets more in play with each win do you
00:16find
00:16yourself watching these games with playoff intensity because of the different directions
00:21i mean i think we're going to be talking about this trade deadline for years years
00:28because i mean you know why so much is riding on it i said it yesterday there's four possible
00:32outcomes keep scoble and win the world series keep scoble and don't win the world series trade
00:38scoble for great prospects trade scoble for crappy prospects and there's there's nuance in between
00:44all that but it it's you when we still reference john smoltz for doyle alexander yeah 1987 and it
00:55was 87 i can remember it was 87 or 89 yesterday anyway we still reference that right and there's
01:01a lot more it feels like there's a lot more riding on this decision even though i mean that was
01:05a big
01:05decision in that moment in time yeah even though smoltz wasn't the number one prospect in the
01:09organization but clearly atlanta saw something they liked and it benefited both teams obviously
01:15benefited atlanta greatly uh for the longevity of smoltz's career but the small time would
01:21would alexander go 11 and 0 or something like that as a tiger down the stretch the second half
01:25of the season and something crazy got them into the playoffs unfortunately they ran to the buzzsaw
01:29which was the twins um back when there were only two teams in each league that made the playoffs but
01:35i i i am yeah absolutely i'm watching every game with a heightened intensity right now
01:42for two reasons one because you know if i put them out there a little bit last week and said
01:47i think
01:47that they they'll go 12 and 4 in this stretch of 16 games leading up to the to the trade
01:53deadline
01:53and so far they're 3 and 1 they're in that time i like the way the schedule favors the tigers
01:58but the
01:59other part of that it's not just because i want them to get back into a race here so that
02:03we have
02:03something to look forward to for the rest of august and september that this team is going to be
02:07competing hopefully more than just a while but but try to get the the automatic bit by taking care of
02:13your own division and you'll have games where you can have these compounded wins where you're taking
02:17on uh chicago or cleveland uh in minnesota for that matter you're still trailing the twins by a game
02:23and a half at this point so yeah there's a lot to to look at that that i get very
02:28uh intense about and
02:29of course that watching with the other eye looking at uh and that's not a lazy eye joke it's just
02:34you know my eyes are going to different directions here uh looking at who who's possibly going to be
02:41selling because right now so many teams are in it for the wild card race or at least that think
02:47that they're in it and a lot of those teams are going to make that that determination internally
02:51they may find themselves at the trade deadline or a couple days before the trade deadline hey we're
02:55only three games out of it but you know what we know better we know we're not good enough to
03:00compete with the dodgers or whatever we have some pieces they're gonna be free agents at the end of
03:04the year we could probably get um a couple of prospects we like we're gonna we're gonna trade even
03:09though we we look like we're only three games out i think what the tigers is different you know
03:14they're what four and a half games out right now as long as they're playing good baseball and they
03:20feel like this is who they are like that the month of may is truly is truly not representative what
03:26this
03:26team is they may find themselves getting closer to the central division lead than they are to the
03:32wild card spot if that's at all possible i just think that that's really the one that they
03:36they're going to need to chase is chase the division you got tons of games left against
03:40chicago or cleveland whichever team is feels like they're going to be the leader in the division
03:44but really the team that could be the leader in division is the tigers because they're built well
03:50enough to win this division and if they make a move or two here they could really solidify that
03:56position of being the best team in the central and being one of the best teams in the american league
04:02so i'm not so sure that i completely agree with you about the month of may
04:07that that's not truly who this team is because that was kind of who they were last like august and
04:11september too and i think they are truly schizophrenic in that their good is really good and their bad is
04:19really bad and it it's made this a very very tricky decision for scott harris um then a you know
04:29i mean that win last night right i don't know if last night i was trying to put into words
04:35it was
04:36last night a microcosm of the season well i'm not so sure that's the case was last night did they
04:41win in spite of themselves i don't even know if that's the case last night they just went out and
04:46they played it what turned into a absolute nail-biting baseball game like what happened in the ninth
04:54inning and for people who didn't see it the tigers had had a four nothing lead in the top of
05:01the first
05:02four batters in and then didn't score again till the eighth inning and i wouldn't say chicago chipped
05:10away right they hit a three-run homer off flarity yeah back back home runs yeah that's what it was
05:14um
05:16but but they made it four three and it stayed at four three thanks in large part to the middle
05:21bullpen guys right they did a nice job handing it over a lot handing it over to to finnegan and
05:28jansen but unfortunately finnegan gave up a two-run home run and that's something that's got to get
05:34sorted out they need kyle finnegan they need him bad yeah the kyle finnegan they traded for last year
05:39at the trade deadline is the guy they need and if he's not going to be that they better find
05:44the
05:44next kyle finnegan because that guy was very effective for them from that trade point on the rest of
05:50the season it wasn't perfect but he's pretty good and and last night you know he gave up that two
05:56-run
05:56homer but in the pantheon of like unlikely events kenley jansen who had close to no command
06:05no command in a tie game 5-5 bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded he's facing the free
06:14agent who
06:15wouldn't sign with detroit alex bragman he's the free agent who would sign with detroit
06:20and it's 3-0 bases loaded 5-5 bottom of the ninth this is the win probability for the tigers
06:31probably minuscule the way jansen was pitching he was missing his spots wildly he almost hit
06:36bregman in the head with the first pitch of the at bat and he throws not one not two not
06:43three but
06:43four consecutive strikes because there was a pitch fouled off with two strikes and gets out of it
06:50that might be a tipping point for this whole season that was wild i don't know how the hell
06:57he got out of it he could not locate the strike zone to me it's a tipping point in that
07:02they need
07:03a closer they need to find a high a high-end guy at the back end of the bullpen regardless
07:08if it's for
07:09your run at the end of the season um or not for me it's that's who they need to find
07:13for long term
07:14why do you say that he hasn't given up a run in six straight appearances uh-huh right exactly he's
07:20also given up two base runners or more in five of his last nine appearances and for some reason i
07:24have
07:25just amazing chunks of hair that are missing it's crazy um the pushback i'll give you on the on the
07:31whole may thing although i think in theory it sounds great that looking back at last year in the second
07:35half we saw that i don't disagree with that the difference with this may and last year in the
07:40second half of the season is who wasn't playing you know we've already talked about the no scoble
07:44factor and the no mines and the we've gone through the rotation part but what about the hitting part
07:48glaber torres had six at bats in the month of may carrie carpenter had 19 at bats in the month
07:56of may kevin mcgonigle who we all love hit 238 in 100 at bats in the month of may he
08:03doesn't have a
08:04record to show that whether that's a typical of him or not although the other months seem to be
08:10pretty pretty telling that he he's not that player dylan dingler had an awful month of may
08:16hitting 206 well we see what dylan dingler is now and it is may just an aberration or not i
08:23think it
08:23was a confluence of awful events with injuries to your starting pitching and injuries to your everyday
08:30lineup and maybe here and there a guy like well that's not what he's going to be but that's a
08:34crazy month and it coincides with all these other injury issues they had that's why i'm kind of you
08:41know pushing off may and saying it doesn't matter as much what matters to me is what they do in
08:45april
08:45when they were relatively healthy what they do in june what have they done since june 1st and the team
08:51this is since june 1st which is now going on two months here is a pretty good baseball team well
08:56with
08:57both flaws and i think some flaws are big flaws but they can fix them if they were to trade
09:03so i'm
09:04not um i'm not saying you're wrong i'm just not as convinced you are as you are even if these
09:11guys
09:11are healthy but i mean you can't deny that gleber torres at the top of the lineup last night
09:17looked great i mean there were two flares i think both those hits were flares um but he put back
09:23the
09:23ball and and got on base walked twice and you when you have mcgonagall and torres at the top of
09:30the
09:30order that's a problem and then you got a guy who's you can make a case is the best catcher
09:36in baseball
09:36right now and the two home runs are on the on the marquee the back pick to second to finish
09:42the inning
09:43was incredible yeah i mean just an amazing moment for dylan dingler yeah and last night's game last
09:49night's game was i mean the guys were saying watching if you're watching on tv this is most
09:54entertaining game they've seen all season long and i'm not sure if it was that but it was pretty
09:58damn entertaining it had a little bit of everything and also it's to me it's a payback for what happened
10:04in may that's a game they lose in may but after june 1st it's a different team they find ways
10:10to win
10:10those games somehow kenley chance is able to get out of the bases loaded jam and facing back-to-back
10:16batters i believe with three ball counts to get them out it was crazy and then things didn't
10:21exactly go smoothly for them in the 10th inning either tyler holton able to finally hold things
10:26off there so they they got it done you know do the collective and now you got to go and
10:34and get
10:34ready for tonight's game against the left-handed pitcher who they just acquired who gave up 10 runs
10:38two starts ago in an outing who has not been very good um and it's an opportunity for the tigers
10:45to
10:45continue to get off the great starts and and put teams away early but you you talked i think it
10:50was you to touchdown or maybe it was jansen in the cross talk talking about the the bullpen being kind
10:55of spent yeah a lot of those guys ain't gonna be able to pitch tonight i think the last three
11:00pitches we saw last night probably aren't gonna be able to go because they threw in the high 20s
11:05however this is the advantage of having perhaps cater montero on your roster even i guess they may
11:09entertain having him start this week um maybe he's not available but they've got guys like
11:15that that can pitch extra innings well if if aj is saying it's like game seven of the world series
11:22cater montero's available and he has to be because they i mean they might gas themselves doing everything
11:29they can to try and dig out of this hole which could be a problem but it's all the more
11:34reason
11:34why if you're even going to try you have to make a strong effort to add you have to try
11:40hard to add
11:41well what they really need would be another appearance from framer valdez like he had his
11:46last time out against the uh athletics where he went seven innings gave up just one run on three
11:51hits if they can get something close they can get seven innings the other stuff is it's kind of
11:56ancillary to that if the guy's pitching seven innings i'm pretty sure he's pitched well if he can give
12:01him seven innings that'd be magnificent for this team whenever they get hot we always hear from the
12:05people who are unhappy that they are winning because they are their primary goals to move
12:10and we've debated that for weeks i am interested in the people today that are happy as hell that
12:17they're hot i is there is there a significant fan base do you sit quiet and let the people complain
12:23that they're winning and and i'm you know safe safe space we all are you can share your feelings
12:31here i i am interested in whether or not this team is creating an excitement in you as a fan
12:37that you're loving every second of this or is that a dwindling population based upon the erosion of
12:46faith already in the 2026 detroit tigers 248-539-9797 it's karshen anderson here on 97.1
12:53that's good
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