00:00We'll get back to your phone calls in a moment.
00:01I said we need to carve out some time
00:02to appreciate something that's happened the last two days.
00:077-1-0-0-0-10.
00:11That was pretty good.
00:13Then 6-1-2-1-0-9.
00:17Niner, you're supposed to say.
00:19Niner.
00:19That is innings pitch, hits, runs, earned runs,
00:22walks, and strikeouts
00:25for Tigers starting pitching the last two days.
00:27Casey Mize, when 7 innings, gave up 1 hit, no runs,
00:31of course, none earned, no walks, 10 strikeouts.
00:35One day later, Tarek Skubel, 6 innings pitch, 1 hit,
00:402 runs, 1 earned, no walks, 9 strikeouts.
00:44Amazing.
00:45No walks, 19 strikeouts, over 13 innings
00:50from the Tigers starters the last two games.
00:54Behold the last two days of starting pitching.
00:56Wildly impressive.
00:58And sets the tone for a potential sweep this afternoon.
01:03Troy Melton takes the hill,
01:04and he has been as good as those guys all season long, too.
01:08Although his season has been a little more truncated
01:10because of injuries,
01:11but I guess more along the lines of what Skubel has been.
01:14But he's been better.
01:15His number, his ERA is 2.3 this year.
01:19And Melton's coming off a hell of a start,
01:22where I think he only gave up a hit his last start.
01:25What's happened here with the starting pitching has been brilliant,
01:28and it's a reason that there's still a chance.
01:34It's a shred of a chance for this team, I guess, to make the playoffs.
01:38But they've got this rotation that's outstanding.
01:42They've got an overflow in the rotation right now
01:46because people are getting healthier,
01:49and now Cater Montero is the odd man out.
01:52So he'll be pitching out of the bullpen,
01:55but not a move to the bullpen necessarily,
01:58which is what A.J. Hinch said this morning,
02:00which was kind of cool to hear.
02:03But it's not just been that the Tigers' pitching has been great.
02:07The Tigers' hitters the last two games have really come alive.
02:10I mentioned yesterday that the lineup that won the first game,
02:13the Casey Mice start, that scored seven runs.
02:15I mean, that was a horrible lineup.
02:18But they all performed.
02:20Last night, the team bangs out four more home runs
02:23to tie the team record for any month in the team's history.
02:26I think it's 49 home runs.
02:28They go back and tie the team from 1937,
02:32when Rudy York hit 18 home runs in one of those months.
02:36It's been amazing what this team has done.
02:38And you're looking at it, and it's a guy like James Outman
02:44hit his third home run, and it was like a no-doubter.
02:48And James Outman now, three home runs in a matter of, what,
02:52four weeks of playing on this team?
02:54His OPS on the season is approaching 800?
02:58Huh? Who? What?
03:01And you look at this team, they've got five guys on the team,
03:05five regulars in the lineup last night.
03:08They have OPS over 800.
03:10They've got some hitters.
03:12They have some characteristics of a team that should be damn good,
03:15and they're not.
03:16This is the worst thing.
03:16Like, absolutely.
03:17They might have four All-Stars and be one of the worst teams
03:21in the American League record-wise.
03:22Yeah, I mean, going into last night's game,
03:24I think they were still, the only team they were ahead of
03:27was Kansas City in the entire American League?
03:31But this is how jumbled things are in the American League.
03:35You've got a couple of really good teams,
03:37and then there's everybody else.
03:38Well, the Tigers have just beaten one of those really good teams
03:40two games in a row and have a chance to sweep them.
03:43Albeit, Yankees are dealing with their share of injuries.
03:46So are the Tigers with 10 players on a 60-day DL.
03:51So I'm not going to squash what they've done over the last two days.
03:55It's just, it's incredible.
03:57And you look at the margins of what's happened here
03:59in some of these losses.
04:00The Tigers lead the league, or the Tigers should say,
04:04the Tigers have the worst record in games
04:06where they've lost by two runs or less.
04:09They've had more of those than any other team in baseball.
04:14It's frustrating as hell,
04:15because you see the potential of what this team can be,
04:18and it starts with this outstanding rotation,
04:22and then it just kind of falls flat.
04:24It's Jekyll or Hyde, hit or miss,
04:26when it comes to the lineup.
04:27And same thing with the bullpen.
04:28We are the best of what A.J. Hinch had to tell our morning show next hour,
04:31including his thoughts on the trade deadline.
04:34Let's go to Antonio and Mount Clemens.
04:36You're next on 97.1.
04:37Hello, Antonio.
04:38How y'all doing?
04:39What's up?
04:41So, I don't have anything, like, over the top to say,
04:44but I did want to say I do think all of the signings this summer
04:48fits with K's play style.
04:50Might open up the floor for him way more and limit turnovers.
04:53I think John Collins was a great addition
04:55because he can play like a small ball five, usually a power four,
04:59but he was a great lob threat the last time he played
05:02with an elite playmaker and guard for extensive minutes in Trae Young.
05:05And then he's added to the game to stretch the floor,
05:08which is a dynamic that Cade doesn't get to play with often.
05:11Because, like, while Stu increased his game to shooting,
05:15he wasn't, like, a knockdown shooter or a consistent third beyond arc.
05:19And while Paul Reed can't hit some shots,
05:21he didn't get enough minutes to help alleviate some of the, like,
05:25trapping pressure off a pick and roll that Cade needed.
05:27But I also didn't like the Stu trade as much,
05:33considering we hadn't known what was going to go on with Dern yet.
05:37And now with him kind of having the team in limbo
05:40between giving him the offer he wants and trading him,
05:45I'm hoping maybe we can trade him to a team that has options that we like,
05:49like a Trey Murphy if he wants to talk to a trade.
05:51Well, I'll start with this.
05:53Antonio, Gator has a saying he uses here on the air all the time.
05:57Don't be afraid to trade in the good for the great.
05:59I don't think there's any question that they could have done their best
06:02to keep the band back together and come back next year
06:05and been very competitive.
06:06But that does not look like what Trajan Langdon is planning on doing.
06:11On paper, Antonio, this feels like it's going to open up the floor
06:16even more for Cade.
06:19But until we see it work, there's no guarantees.
06:26There are no guarantees.
06:27No.
06:29They've revamped their personality is what it feels like.
06:32In the meantime, there is breaking news from the league
06:35that probably seriously impacts what happens next for Detroit.
06:40We'll get to that today at 1146-248-539-9797.
06:46It's Carson Anderson here on 97.1.
06:48And we'll get to that one.
