July 28, 2009

Two for Tuesday

By Mike McClary in Featured, Two for Tuesday | 2 comments

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  1. Somewhere on the vast Internet I saw a reader comment that the Tigers should fire hitting coach Lloyd McClendon. The thinking was that outside of Brandon Inge, Lloyd the Legend hasn’t developed anyone for Detroit. I’m always hesitant to fire coaches because so little is in their control. (Besides, remember how Chuck Hernandez was the Second Coming in 2006 and today he’s the Indians’ bullpen coach?)

    Anyway, how can McClendon be blamed for an offense that manages to get runners in scoring position but fail (and fail and fail) to drive them home? Take, for example, this instance in last night’s dreadful game: Miguel Cabrera up with the bases loaded and a 3-0 count…and he ends up striking out to end the inning. Is that Lloyd’s fault?

    Discuss.

  2. On this date in 1993, Travis Fryman smacks five hits on his way to the cycle in the Tigers’ 12-7 loss to the Yankees. He is the first Tiger to hit for the cycle in 43 years.

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2 Comment(s)

  1. Doug | Jul 29, 2009 | Reply

    I’m ready to open the FireLloydMcClendon.com site (it’ll be side-by-side with FireJimPrice.com).

    My beef isn’t with the team’s inability to hit with runners in scoring position, it’s more with their inability to hit as the game moves forward. They’ve had great success mounting an early rally (see last night’s tilt in Texas or last week’s early uprising against King Felix) only to not do a bloody thing the rest of the game. And this hasn’t just been a recent occurance but rather one that’s dated back several seasons now — especially when the team is facing a quality big-league pitcher.

    The reason Lloyd should be in the crosshairs is the fact the players don’t make adjustments as the game moves forward. That, in my opinion, falls on the coach who is observing what adjustments the pitchers are making.

    I believe we fans were justified in calling for Hernandez to go and as we’ve seen from this year’s staff’s performance (basically the same save E-Jack and Porcello) I don’t think Chuck worked with the pitchers on adjustments and approaches.

    If the job performance of the hitting coach is measured by how his team is producing offensively, then we should certainly be calling McClendon’s performance into question.

    In my opinion it’s a no-brainer.

  2. Jim Craddock | Jul 29, 2009 | Reply

    Let’s face it: when a team blatantly underperforms in a specific area, the coach responsible for that area is target number one. Sometimes justifiably so. In this case, as Doug says, it’s justified. This isn’t just a 2009 problem. Dating back to the second half of 2007, they’ve been horrible with men in scoring position, and go through long strtches of futility in games. Witness the 15 straight batters that went down last night. I usually hate the scapegoating of coaches, but look at what firing the hitting coach did for the Cubs.

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