You're listening to The Litterbox, a Detroit
Tigers podcast with your hosts, Chet West and
Bill Patterson. Litterbox listeners, welcome
back to your favorite Detroit Tigers podcast.
I'm your host, Billy P with my co -host Chet
West. And we've had some highs basically the
last two weeks up until the last three games,
which we're now experiencing lows. And of course,
of all places, it had to come in the middle of
the summer, end of the summer, I guess, but heat
in a minor league park in Sacramento as the Tigers
lost three straight to the Athletics, who Shelvern
made nameless. Chet, I've, this is as frustrated
as I've been all year. I think you share that.
So why don't you give me some of your thoughts
on this? Because this was just an ugly series.
Everything looked like it was on cruise control.
until the sixth inning of game one, and the wheels
completely came off and just turned into a circus
from there on out. First and foremost, we alluded
to the fact that going out west at this time
of year was going to be troublesome, and boy
was it ever. We got swept by a team that's about
10 games under 500. They have talent all over
this roster. They got some young guys, Jake Wilson,
Nick Kurtz, Lawrence Butler. Brett Rooker, all
guys. Shane Langley has been absolutely on fire.
All guys that are great with the bat. The pitching
has always been kind of the question mark, and
we sort of mocked that we were going up against
some guy named JT Ginn. Well, JT held us to three
runs and caved us eight times. We hit him pretty
hard, but couldn't get more than that across
the plate. And Tarrick looked like your normal
garden variety Tarrick until the sixth inning.
Gave up a run, came back out for the seventh,
got lit up for five more. We had a 3 -0 lead
going into the bottom of the sixth, and that,
you have Tarek Scubal on the mound. That's usually
a W. Bill, I don't like these series. Way out
on the other side of the country, on the other
coast, late in the season, in the dog days of
summer, but also the dog days of the baseball
season. Your thoughts? It was a rough eight to
three loss. Scoobal was good for six innings
and then for two -thirds of an inning he was
uncharacteristically awful. The Tigers also started
a trend in this game where they committed two
errors and we're talking very, I mean errors
are routine mistakes, but these were really,
really, really silly self -inflicted wounds.
And essentially one of, you know, the really
good A's players, Shane Langley has hit his second
career grand slam. And the Athletics won 8 -3
and both teams had 10 hits. One just did a much
better job with runners and scoring position.
It's a game if the Tigers don't get a spot in
terms of getting a first round by in the American
League and do have to play a three game set against
somebody. This is going to be one of the games
that will really come back to bite them and will
stand out to me. Game two was even more frustrating,
Chet. It went 10 innings and the Tigers lost
7 -6. It was there for the taking. And again,
the Tigers seemed to be, I don't want to say
sleepwalking, but I can't think of a better term.
It just seemed like they were jet -lagged. It
seemed like their body clocks weren't in the
right position. They committed two errors again.
They allowed 10 hits again. Only had nine themselves.
It just wasn't good. Uncle Charlie Morton wasn't
really himself. Is this the game where Charlie
Morton comes back to bite us? I mean, he gives
up five runs in the first three. You can't do
this. If you're a good team with good pitching,
you cannot do this as often as we do. It seems
like every series we spot a team five or six
runs in the first two or three innings. Yeah,
except for the previous two weeks when we didn't.
When we didn't and we won. And they looked really
good. I mean, if we have to give any kudos to
game two, it's got to be Troy Melton was awesome
for three innings. Struck out one only allowed
a hit. His ERA is down to 2 .60. Kyle Finnegan
struck out three in one inning of work. He's
still been a revelation. Concerning outside of
Uncle Charlie was that Will Vest only made it
a third of an inning and was terrible. One hit,
one run, and he walked three was the problem,
Chet. It'll be very unfortunate if Will Vest
chooses September to be his, like, bad month
of the year. Yeah, that would be awful. That
would just be awful. Charlie Morton got hit pretty
darn hard in this game. He did. Shane Langleyers
had three hard hit balls off and went three for
five, did a ton of damage to us in this series.
Don't forget guys like Tyler Soderstrom, you
know... Darryl Hernandez are not bad hitters
by any stretch. Like these guys can do damage
too. So their lineup is accomplished. You can't
just roll Charlie Morton out there and expect
results because they're a below 500 team. But
Osvaldo Bito was there for the taking and we
got three hits, four runs off him, but we struggled.
The bullpen held us in check. And they didn't
allow that much damage, whereas we got Will Vest
giving up two runs late. That's troublesome.
Troy Melton, would you like to see him start?
Yes, I absolutely would. Is this a guy you'd
like to see get slotted into the rotation? I
mean, I think he's had one suspect outing so
far, and his first start was a little rocky,
which is to be expected, his first career start.
Outside of that, he has been lights out. Yes,
because I do think he has a high ceiling and
has shown us a lot. Part two of that is we know
who else is out there. And it's not looking too
good. I mean, if every if I had a dime for every
text message that my co -host sent me complaining
about up here goes Chris Paddock again, or here
goes Uncle Charlie again. I wouldn't be a wealthy
man, but I would have a few dimes. The Tigers
looked lifeless. Yesterday, a seven, nothing
loss, and it just. Felt like to me this team
couldn't wait to get out of Sacramento quickly
enough Any thoughts on that before I do a food
review of of of the ballpark. They're calling
it the ballpark Game three Casey Mize came on
and we'd gotten so used to Casey Mize giving
us five and a third five and two -thirds and
three runs and This time he got lit up and spotted
the other team four runs in the first two innings.
Ended up giving up seven hits, five runs, four
Ks. They hit him pretty hard. Same guys doing
all the damage. As a matter of fact, Zach Gelof
got in on this one. He's not even a good hitter.
He's batting in the nine spot and he still went
two for four. So I don't think Casey had his
stuff. Even if he did, we couldn't scratch a
run across against Luis Morales, who just absolutely
threw us. Seven innings, two hits. two walks,
seven Ks. So we couldn't solve Luis from Morales.
We hit him hard. We hit him plenty hard. Just
we couldn't get anything done. So again, a lot
of guys that maybe we aren't familiar with all
the way out on the West Coast, some of these
pitchers, maybe they're a little better. We could
look and dig into the stats. I don't care. We're
done with the Sacramento A's or whatever we're
calling them at this point. Playing in a minor
league ballpark. Weird series late in the season.
I'm chalking it up to the time changes. I'm chalking
it up to the travel. I'm chalking it up to the
dog days. I'm expecting them to come out a little
hotter this this coming weekend. And we'll see
if we can get get a couple scratch, a couple
of W's across against Casey. Yeah, I'm expecting
an uptick and the Tigers to play much better
against the Royals who they're very comfortable
with the final three games against the Royals
in Kauffman Stadium. And let's hope for retribution.
because this series was ugly. And it's just,
it reminded me earlier in the season when the
Tigers had to head to Tampa Bay. And you and
I both said, boy, the bullpen's overutilized.
The injuries are mounting. This is a series that
isn't going to go well. And you and I echoed
that same thought process for this series. And
unfortunately, it came to fruition. Was that
the series where Scoobal was pitching in the
rain? And he kinda threw a little bit of a, not
a tantrum about it, but he got a little emotional
about it and was kinda like, this is a downpour,
I'm out here throwing, it's tough to get the
ball. I seem to remember some of this. And that
series was, that seems like an eternity ago,
Bill. It does. We've done many an episode since
then. Yeah. Here's the parallel, though, between
those two series. It's the two times that the
Tigers had to play in a minor league park. And
shame on Major League Baseball. For the Rays,
that was a God -given disaster. You know, weather
that tore the roof off a Tropicana field. I'm
not excusing the Rays for playing in a terrible
ballpark, but you cannot blame Mother Nature
for it. Good for the Yankees for lending Steinbrenner
Field, and everybody did the best they could.
What the Athletics are doing is just inexcusable.
And as I... Segway into food. I'm on the A's
website and the top masthead and banner says
Vegas is pitch -perfect Visit Vegas in the Oakland
Athletics or Vegas Athletics green You know how
they have that really yeah classic green color
and it just it just rubs me the wrong way like
Oakland they supported that team through thick
and thin and a weird one in 1991 the Oakland
A's had the largest payroll in baseball. And
since then, it's just been a steady dive off
a cliff. Different ownership then? I can't remember.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Much different ownership.
That's an interesting factoid though. That's
two owners ago. It's not even Fisher or Steve
Schott. It was the previous ownership group on
that. And they had some big names then. Mark
Maguire and... Jose consent go Ricky Henderson
was probably doing one of his mini tours through
Oakland I try to do these you know I try to go
around and I'm not trying to steal your thunder
on the food But I try to go around and figure
out what people are talking about at the ballpark
and what they can eat and I stumbled across a
I think it was a Reddit thread from about a year
ago. So it was their last season in the Coliseum,
right? And this guy was like, hey, I'm a Mariners
fan. I'm going down to watch the AAs and Mariners
play this weekend. What do you guys reckon? What
are the can't miss foods at the Coliseum? First
response, 80 % of the concession stands are closed.
The ones that are left have nothing outside of
traditional variety. Pick up food somewhere else
and bring it in if you can. That's that's sort
of the downfall of your baseball club right there.
When somebody gives a review like that, that
the stadium experience is so bad, it's like my
grandmother taking candy into the movie theater
from the outside because she can't get what she
wants in there and it's way too expensive for
the basic garbage. At any rate, I found that
interesting and funny. We used to go to A's games
quite a bit when we lived out in the Bay Area,
and they were very competitive in that time,
you know, the Hayden Moneyball and Billy Dean,
and we would always bring our own food in. and
everybody we knew would bring we'd bring burritos
in, we'd bring deli sandwiches because the food
was possibly the worst I've ever experienced
in a ballpark. Ironically, the beer selection
was light years ahead of its time. They had pyramid
was like a craft brewery. I don't know what happened
to it. I don't think they're around anymore,
but they had. Two like flagship stations or stands
there and then they had a host of other You know,
Sierra Nevada anchor steam all sorts of good
stuff So interesting that they couldn't get the
food right, but they always got the alcohol,
right? They needed to get their fans drunk so
they didn't have to sit through the Hell that
was their lineup these days. This comes from
a friend and ex -co -worker of mine that lives
in the Sacramento area. And so I texted him and
he got back to me with what he has been eating
this season at The Ballpark. That's just what
they call it. And I think you're gonna be pretty
intrigued with this. It's new for this year and
it is a bacon -wrapped hot dog featuring roasted
jalapenos, pinto beans, crema and pico de gallo
on a martin's potato bun We got crema on a hot
dog. Oh, yeah, so it's a little bit sonoran dog
ish You know the bacon wrap part of it the pinto
beans jalapenos Being roasted not fresh is a
little different the crema and it's a little
different and so is the pico de gallo But that's
where you want to go You want to go to the bridges
grill at the ballpark and you want to order yourself?
The bacon wrapped a's dog is what they're calling
it So, thanks. Interesting. That's fabulous.
Thanks buddy Matt for sending that over. Outside
of that, he said it's pretty much like going
to a game at the Coliseum. You can bring your
own food in and skip it. Seems to be the tip.
Seems to be everybody's tip. Unfortunately, he
said the craft beer selections and cocktail selections
didn't travel westward to Sacramento and he said
it's pretty much a Bud and Bud Light facility
now. On the website, the Bridges Grill, they
have all their mining options below for the A's,
Eerie's here in the ballpark. Yeah. It says,
Bridges Grill, our specialty items include crispy
chicken tenders and fries. No wonder people are
bringing stuff in from the outside. Like, goodness
gracious. Anyhow. So let's flesh. What do you
want to bet those are boxed and just heat it
up in a microwave? Definitely. Well, they might
have a deep fryer there. Maybe. That's true.
That's true. Maybe. We should give them a little
bit of credit. Yeah. Let's flash forward the
weekend series. I know you are gonna be glued
to either your radio or television set because
we've got a Chris Paddock sighting Friday evening
and he's going up against the Royals ace Seth
Lugo. I want to be enthused. I would love to
be but I don't like that matchup whatsoever.
You know what would actually excite me a little
bit is if Paddock could string another good start
together here. If we could get two in a row and
we start seeing good paddock, I don't even know
what good paddock looks like. I don't know how
long it's been since good paddock has been around,
but he wasn't bad in his last start. He was good.
So maybe we just use that as the benchmark for
good paddock. Seth Lugo, you know, his, his underlying
metrics here are not good at all. He has some
of the worst. I mean, if you go on baseball salon
and take a look at his MLB percentile rankings,
it's all blue, which is bad. Like Poor so there
is nothing that tells me that he should be competing
he has an eight and six record with about a four
ERA, but I I got a feeling we should be able
to To hit this guy pretty well. Let's hope so
because Saturday's gonna be even I guess more
crazy in the fact that we've got Jack Flaherty
on the hill for us I'm still seeing to be determined
for the Royals who knows do you think we get
good Jack or bad Jack this time? Well, this is
just there's the question. I mean we it's been
so up and down with him I'm gonna I'm gonna go
good Jack for no reason other than to just go
the opposite direction You know he has some decent
metrics like he's got most many are bad people
are barreling him up pretty bad cuz he you know
when his breaking ball doesn't break That's when
things go south for him. But he's got a good
chase and whiff and K rate. So it's like that
breaking ball is everything. He becomes very
one dimensional. Yeah. Yeah, he becomes very
one dimensional and he becomes very hittable
at that point. And I'm assuming in that game,
we're going to get somebody like Ryan Berger
or something to go up against. Oh, that's a good
name. Yeah, it's a good name. It's a good name.
He's got Berger in the name. So, you know, Pitcher
that has a an edible an edible last name to a
degree I don't know that those two back -to -back
Excite me a heck of a lot I mean that's a lot
of inconsistency in our starting pitching staff
going back -to -back this weekend and this goes
full circle back to why Troy Melton is a better
option we are because set that up very well You
waited and you waited and you dove in with Troy
Melton Let's see it. We're gonna get Scubal on
Sunday to hopefully shut the door. Against Michael
Wacha. Yup. Who, his record, Wacha's that is,
is 8 and 10, but his ERA is not terrible. It's
3 .39. I'm a little befuddled how this Royals
team is 69 and 65. They've won two straight.
They're eight and a half back of the Tigers.
I'm looking up and down this lineup and outside
of Bobby Witt Jr. I'm not seeing a lot of talent.
Are you? What am I missing here? I don't I don't
I mean you've got some okay pitching coupled
with some below average offense more than likely.
I mean Bobby Witt is kind of it. I'd be curious
to see Bobby Witt is kind of it. That's good.
We're rhyming. I would be curious to see what
would happen if Bobby Witt was not in the lineup.
I think they'd have a massive void there. Waka
hasn't been hittable. That's the thing about
Waka and he absolutely flamuxed us the last time
we went up against him. So I have a feeling he
may be challenging and Scubal might get another.
Another duel on Sunday here. We'll see. But yeah,
I'm looking across their lineup. It's like Vinny
Pasquettino. He's alright. He does okay. Yastrimsky
does okay. Mikel Garcia's had a pretty darn good
season for himself. And then Bobby Witt. And
after that, it's like Sal Perez, old man Perez.
Jonathan India can do a little damage, but isn't
anybody to write home about? Well, hold on. Let's
pause on Jonathan India. What does he put in
those flowing blocks of his? Is that Crisco?
Baby? Oil is that gel? I mean, you know what
one of a segment we could add to this whole thing
is picking out a guy on the posing team with
Wonderful luxurious hair. Okay going through
what we think his prep routine is every day I
think he's putting something like shaving cream
in there I think he's doing something like teen
fifties ish to get that stuff like good and greased
up Motor grease or something cuz it looks wet
the entire game I think he does like a shaving
cream treatment with like some sort of a Shine
like a sheen of soul polish Maybe a polish of
some sort that he runs through it. No, I think
it's soul glow from coming to America soul glow
I'm teasing I'm teasing but a song. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. So like let your soul glow. Yeah, let it
all shine through I thought you're gonna sing
it for a minute though. No, you are that was
gonna be artsy Yeah, all right. That's about
all I have on this tigers. We need you to win
a series for us here. Drop something in the comments
if you guys know what Jonathan India is putting
in his hair. If any of you long -haired people
understand the concept of slicking back that
much hair, I don't have enough to slick back.
I'm not 100 % sure. Do you think we have that
many male listeners with that long of hair? That's
an excellent question. I don't know. I believe
most of our listener group is between the 45
and 60 range So I don't know if they're letting
it grow out. I mean if they've got any hair at
this point Yeah, maybe but let's see what we
get back. Maybe we'll get some maybe we'll get
some commentary back Maybe somebody knows what
Jonathan India is putting in his hair But I'd
love it, you know until then everybody enjoy
the royal series and let's hope we get a couple
games here We could use two out of three. I say
two out of three two out of three. Here we go.
Go Tigers. Go Tigers All right, that's gonna
do it for this episode of the Litterbox, a Detroit
Tigers podcast. Thanks for hanging out with us.
We're Bill and Chet. We'll be back soon with
more Tigers Talk. If you're enjoying the show,
be sure to follow or subscribe on Spotify, Apple
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And hey, if you got a minute, leave us a quick
review. Until next time, go Tigers.