Raburn the Magnificent
Chris Sale of the Chicago White Sox is one of the Major League’s most dominant pitchers; a freakish 6-foot-6, 180-pound left handed fireballer that goes by the nickname “Condor.” It made sense that entering play on Labor Day, Sale had never been taken deep by the same player twice in one game.
Ryan Raburn
After all, it’s hard enough to jack one out against the Condor. Good luck doing it a second time in the same nine-inning span.
The feat seemed impossible. That is, until a man named Ryan Raburn came along. The former Tiger turned Indian socked the game-tying homer in the fourth, then connected for the game winner two innings later.
For a guy seemingly on the fast track to retirement following a sad-sack .171 effort for Detroit in 2012, Raburn has enjoyed a bit of a career resurrection in Cleveland. His average is up around .300, and he’s hitting for good power in part-time duty.
One more statistical oddity -- Raburn has 81 career home runs, and a whopping 20 of them have come against the White Sox. A quarter of a guy’s career long-ball output against just one of 30 teams in the league; nobody ever said Ryan Raburn was normal.
Instant Replay an Instant Snooze-Fest
If you’re one of those people that’s enjoyed instant replay challenges making increased appearances in our national pastime, well I guess you’re entitled to that opinion. Just know that we probably can’t be friends.
The 11th inning of Tuesday night’s Rays-Tigers game turned into a full-fledged circus. There were telephone calls, headsets worn, managers posturing; and in between, there was real, live, actual baseball played. How dare they interrupt such stimulating replays with actual game play?? The nerve!
The boredom commenced when Rajai Davis hit a slow grounder to first. The pitcher covered, the throw was made, and Davis dove head first into the bag to try and beat the play. The umpire went up with the fist. Out.
As an aside, why even bother making a call at all nowadays? Any reasonably close play is going to be reviewed in the coming minutes. We might as well just make it official and let these umpires stand idly by as the play completes, then when the action stops, proceed immediately over to the audio/visual area for the anticlimactic out-safe determination.
Who needs spontaneous, dramatic theater when we can instead watch the replay 57 times over the next four minutes to ensure not a single human error is committed over 162 games for 30 teams in the span of like seven months??? That sounds so much more thrilling, right?? Not so much.
Rajai Davis
Anyway, Davis was ultimately ruled safe. The tip of his hand was found to have made contact with first base an instant before the pitcher’s foot touched down. Crisis averted!! For every person that tries mentioning “Armando Galarraga” as a valid reason why instant replay is needed, just know there are 1,000 of these far less important plays for every one tallied under the “meaningful” variety.
Finally, play resumed and the Tampa Bay pitcher attempted a pickoff. Looked close, but it appeared Rajai got back in time. But just to be sure, let’s take another intermission to be 150% sure!! Yes, the game was halted again, for a second time in less than five minutes, while the umpires lumbered over to slap on the headsets again. The original call stood, Davis remained on the bases, and about an hour later, ended the proceedings for good with a walk-off sacrifice fly in the 13th.
If you were one of the unfortunate souls to not only attend this game, but labor through the full five hours and three minutes of action (or inaction), you have my deepest sympathy.
Just a Biiiiit Outside
Maybe Bruce Rondon has a place on this team next year and into the future, but for the love of Kevin Saucier, stop trying to force feed this guy into a 9th-inning role. He has demonstrated poor command in many of his outings, including four free passes issued in his last two innings of work.
The big fella can dial it up into the triple digits, which is a genuine weapon coming out of the bullpen, but if the opposing hitters know they can stand in the box and just wait on four bad ones before three good ones, what’s the point of possessing such high-powered velocity?
If these September baseball games mean anything at all in terms of auditioning for specific roles in 2016, it would appear Rondon has failed his “future closer” test with aplomb. He’s still just 24 and has plenty of time to make himself into a productive big league reliever, but let’s hope and pray that the Tigers’ brass realizes that Rondon’s time as a lockdown closer is at least 2-3 years away.
Then again, this is the same organization that watched Joe Nathan set the entire 2014 season on fire, only to bring him back in the exact same role the following year. So I guess all bets are off.
Powerhouse Cubs Add Some Tigers Flavor
In case you haven’t noticed, the lovable losers of baseball, the Chicago Cubs, are cruising to a postseason berth with the fourth-best record in the majors. And in an under-the-radar move before the September 1 waiver trade deadline, the Cubbies snagged longtime Tiger Austin Jackson from the Mariners.
Austin Jackson
AJ is not a guy that’s going to take the Cubs from contending status to World Series favorite, but with a couple of the team’s outfielders nursing injuries, you could do far worse than acquiring this cagey vet with an above-average glove -- even if he does strike out with the frequency of a Rob Deer or Babe Ruth, minus the prodigious power.
Joe Maddon has been using Jackson mostly in right, but he cycles to his natural home in center when Dexter Fowler needs a breather. A-Jax collected a pair of hits to go with two runs scored in last night’s victory over the division-leading Cardinals.
Since coming over from Seattle, Jackson has appeared in all seven Cubs games, with the team rattling off a sizzling 6-1 stretch in the process.
The Tigers will most definitely not be making an appearance in this year’s post season festivities, but that doesn’t mean you won’t have some former Detroiters to root for. The NLCS could feature a game with Curtis Granderson leading off for the Mets and Austin Jackson doing so for the Cubbies.
Then when Maddon summons Fernando Rodney from the Chicago bullpen to stifle (or incite) a late rally, you’ll know that the Tigers did indeed make the playoffs. They just did it in different uniforms.
