Tigers Update with Dan Dickerson

Voice of the Tigers Dan Dickerson joins us to give an update on the Tigers as they enter a crucial last week of the season - with essentially the entire season at stake. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
One long ago, we were judging a car competition and
somebody blamed me for the Tigers slump some flip comment
I made about the time of the All Star break.
So here we go. This is West Michigan's morning news Stee,
Kelly Brett, Pikita, Lawrence Smith, and maybe it's Dan Dickerson
when he makes the switch to TV. I'm hearing isn't

(00:20):
so good. Dan is the radio voice of the Tigers.
You see him on the tube as well. Dan, thanks
for doing this today.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Absolutely absolutely. I think it's everybody. Everybody. We all do
things that we try to reverse jinks or jinks, or
we do things that try to bring them luck, and
it's just I just think we're all a little out
of sync right now with what we're trying to do.
So just get back to whatever's worked for you in
the past these last six games and make sure that
you're doing the things that worked earlier in the season

(00:50):
to bring this team some good fortune. That's it. Concentrate
on the basics well.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
And Dan, you talked about it when we went down
for Affiliate Media Day, right, and it's always been the
aj hints philosophy and for a lot of managers win
a series, and you cannot overemphasize that enough with these
two series, because, as I explained to Steve in the
audience this morning before you came on, I said, not
only do you have to worry about Cleveland if you
want to win the Central Division and they're right there,

(01:17):
square in the bulls eye, but the next series isn't
going to be easier too, because you got Boston on
the road to finish off the regular season and they're
in the playoff picture.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Oh it's wild Tigers and Boston of the same record.
One win against Boston, you'll clinch the season series cause
you got to think about tiebreakers at that point, right.
I think it's fairly simple from the positive perspective. Take
two out of three in Cleveland and you are in
very good shape. You will be two games up with
three games to go. That puts you in very good shape.

(01:47):
Lose two out of three in Cleveland or worse, then
you need some help. But also then it puts a
premium on basically two out of three or sweeping Boston.
I think the thing you really want to have if
you're the Tigers is Terrek scoobl Terry Scoopbele got moved
up a day. He was going to make one last
start tomorrow. Now with the obviously things have changed, he's

(02:08):
going to make two starts potentially today and if needed Sunday.
What you really want to avoid is having him make
that second start on Sunday to clean the playoff spot
so that you can have him obviously for game one
of whatever you're going to be and probably right now
as things stand, it would be a wildcard round, either
as a wildcard or as the third best division winner.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
All right, so let me ask you this, and you've
been talking about this every day during the broadcast, Tigers
fans want to know we didn't make any major moves
of the trade deadline. More has already been sent down
or done, and so now you have a situation. Finnegan
is out there, you've talked about, Seawald is out there.
You know what can we get from these guys?

Speaker 2 (02:50):
I think it's I mean the trade deadline. I mean
the two guys that Scott Harris did pick up at
the trade deadion for the bullpen had both been very good.
Montero's been excellent and Kyle Finnan's have been nearly unhittable.
It's just I still, you know, we said this going
into the final three weeks, you're still trying to kind
of figure out who are the guys that are going
to build around vest In Finnigan And right now will

(03:13):
Vest is struggling and that's that's not a small piece.
I don't want to put it all on him, but
you need him to be back to being Will Vest
the guy we saw earlier in the year. Has been
kind of hittable now for a month, and that's that's
a huge piece. Todder Holton is I think getting kind
of back to being that guy that you can rely
on in the late innings. I think Melton continues to
be the X factor. The Tigers are kind of using

(03:35):
him in all different ways, but that's the best arm
in that bullpen right now. And just here's in terms
of pure stuff, and he's learning how to keep everything
sharp when he doesn't get off a mound like he
used to as a starter. But it's all about the
back end of the bullpen. And you know, Cleveland's showing
and Andy Dirk's talked about this over the weekend. While
bullpens are the force and the postseason, they locked more

(03:57):
innings than starters last year. It's bill about starters getting
the game to those arms, yep, with the lead. And
that's why flirty mize schoobl or clerty and mis behind
schoobl are hugely important because that's that's your rotation, plus
a fourth game you're probably using, you know, a bullpen day.

Speaker 3 (04:19):
Well, and let's hit the ball, right, I mean, that's
the last thing for the twenty seconds here. It all
goes out the window if you don't hit.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah, twenty five runs in the last ten games after
scoring twenty three in the first two in New York,
and the bats have to come alive. And it's it's
you're facing a Cleveland team that right now has just
decided they're not going to give up runs.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
You will hear Dan Dickerson tonight would radio first pitch
six forty. Dan, thank you so much for your time today.
We really appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
Always been talking to you guys. I'm gonna talk to
you in October. Okay, all right, oh book it