Category: Tigers
Posted by Tom Gage (The Detroit News) on Sat, Aug 23, 2008 at 11:10 PMTough Times
From KC -Royals' manager Trey Hillman isn't happy with his team. How can he be? The Royals have lost seven in a row, 14 of 16, and are making a huge number of mistakes at the plate and on the mound.
So he was more upset with the Royals than impressed by the Tigers.
For instance, of Zach Miner's seven shutout innings on Saturday night in the Tigers' 4-0 victory, Hillman said, "when we're unloading at borderline pitches, it doesn't make it hard on him.
"I don't want to take a lot away from Zach, but I don't necessarily think it was such a dominating pitching performance on his part as much as it was a combination of us being over-anxious and not picking quality pitches to swing at.
"I think we should have performed better."
And about Miguel Cabrera being a dangerous hitter, Hillman said, "he is when we leave pitches where we've left them for him.
"It wasn't any secret coming into the season (about) the kind of pop he's got. We've left pitches in very hittable spots. It's not like he's hitting tough pitches.
"I know we've got a big ballpark, but he's hitting them way out of this big ballpark. The reason is because we're leaving pitches out and over the plate."
