Miami, Florida. The Indiana Pacers work extremely hard, led by a fellow named employee number 55, Roy Hibbert. Remember that name, Pacer Nation. There’s no reason why Roy can’t bring two more series of excellent basketball to the court, and deliver the city of Indianapolis and the place where basketball was born, Indiana, a championship. They say the bigger they are, the harder they fall. Get ready, NBA, you will hear a big thud out of South Beach. And it won’t be the Pacers, it will be your defending champions, who will have their dreams in shambles. Miami’s a great basketball team, but what Hibbert has shown me in these playoffs is something we already knew. He has the ability to carry a team on his back. The Pacers are going to need to be all in. Something you have heard me talk about on this very website is going to be key for the Pacers, team unity. It has guided us through two rounds of the playoffs so far. I don’t expect the Pacers to sweep Miami and blow them out of the building, but I do expect the Pacers to ratchet up about two more levels and go at the Heat. Oh yeah, number 6 for the Heat is a big key for Miami. LeBron is going to get his baskets. Give the guy credit, he is the league MVP for a reason. He can carry the Heat singlehandedly if he has to. But we expect the same thing out of the Pacers. Win one out of two in Miami, and bring it on home to the heartland, and play your best brand of basketball yet. Do you realize, in the 2012-13 playoffs that the Indiana Pacers are 6-0 on their home floor? Yes, you heard me right Pacers fans, 6-0 at Bankers Life. I, Jeremiah Kravitz, see the series going seven, with Indiana being physical, and wearing LeBron and Wade out and the Pacers being the fresher team.
Archive for Baseball
The Tigers are coming off a recent home stand where they have had relatively good results except for the last game in the Astros series. One would have thought that Verlander would be the ace of the Tigers’ pitching staff, but for some reason he is really struggling this year. Leaving the baseball where opposing hitters can tattoo the ball, that is not like Verlander. I don’t know if there is something messed up with his mechanics, but 10 runs is totally inexcusable. The Tigers will not be stuck on 22 wins forever. Sometimes you’ve just got to work on your mechanics and get the feel for the art of pitching. The Tigers still have a chance to take three out of four from Texas, but they need to find the art of pitching starting tonight! Another thing about Verlander that is so confusing is that this is a guy that won a ton of games and went 24-5. If I was the Tigers, I would send him to Toledo and work on his pitching at Toledo before you call him up! Some of you might be saying jeez Jeremiah you are being critical of a guy who in the past has been Mr. Reliable! But this is the major leagues, folks and this is a guy who is definitely better than that. 24-5 is in the past, what have you done lately? You have left this reporter wondering if we ever going to see the real Justin this year. Jim LeyLand doesn’t wear the uniform, you do Justin. Let’s get it together son. We are the American League Champions, and we don’t need to be looking up at the Tribe. The last time I checked it was Cleveland in first place.
Yesterday is ancient history, but there are a couple of thoughts that went through my mind yesterday, while listening to the voice of the Tigers Dan Dickerson, and the priceless one. Lets start with Miguel Cabrera. He hit the ball really hard, but it was not meant to be. I thought the ball was gone because Dan Dickerson made it sound really good, but then the Astros caught the ball. My second thought is about Al Albuquerque, which is, why would you give up two runs when you have been sitting in the bullpen all day long? Now it’s time for my preview on the Rangers vs Tigers. Yesterday is over, and I view it as the game that got away. Tonight in Arlington you’ve got 35 Justin Verlander going for the Tigers. If we get the reliable Verlander, we could have an outstanding pitching matchup with Texas’ flame throwing Yu Darvish. You also need to add in the hitting and the pitching and you should have a game that will be entertaining. You’ve got the big man Miguel Cabrera on your side, and you add in Prince Fielder, and with all of that you can look for baseball to go two stepping. There is no reason why the Tigers should not be four more games better than what they are going in. This is a four game series, so if you can get off on the right foot with Verlander keeping the baseball down, then there should be no reason why the Tigers couldn’t sweep the Rangers. However, if the Tigers elevate the ball, then Texas will tattoo you. So the key for Verlander is to have your head on right and trust Alex or whoever is starting for the Tigers behind the plate. One would assume it would be Alex Thomas Avila. You never know, it might be Bryan Pena. Overall, it should be a very interesting series. For your information, Sunday’s battle will be your game of the week on ESPN, and the game should start at 7pm central time. Another note, if you are expecting the priceless one along with Dickerson, if some of you guys have regular XM broadcast, then you won’t be able to hear Dan Dickerson or the Priceless one. You will be stuck listening to Eric.
Detroit, MI. After giving up an early home run to Minnesota’s Josh Willingham number 16, and before Fielder stepped to the plate on Monday night, it looked like the Tigers’ winning streak was in jeopardy. But then Prince Fielder entered into the batters box. With one swing of the bat, the Tigers would have a field day with the Minnesota Twins. Fielder’s home run gave the Tigers a four game winning streak and proved once again even though the Tigers were down 3-1, never give up Tiger fans! Especially when you have Cabrera and Fielder. The young man from St. Louis MO gave the Tigers his Maximum effort on the mound. Now tonight we have number 35 going for the Tigers. Even though his record is 2-2, don’t worry Tiger fans I believe he will return to his usual self. There is no reason why this team won’t be 17-10 by the end of this series. Look for the momentum that they gained from sweeping Atlanta to carry over for awhile. The Tigers might not lose another game for awhile, but only time will tell with Justin. If he has one good performance, you might be looking at your American League Cy Young award winner.
Detroit, Michigan. Who would have seen this coming? The Tigers offense came to life over the weekend! How about the performance from number 19, Anibal Sanchez? He set a new Tigers record for strikeouts, and the Braves had nothing for him. Who would have thought that the Tigers would have been able to pull off a three game sweep against one of the better teams in baseball? This is a far cry from the 10-10 team I wrote about last time. So now with the Atlanta series behind us, here is my take on the Twins and Tigers respectively. First, I’m going to go with the Tigers. The Tigers have pulled away from the 10-10 that they were one week ago. With the Tigers sweeping Atlanta I wouldn’t want to face the Detroit Tigers right now, because their offense and pitching are finally starting to come around. The Twins will have to stop number 24, Miguel Cabrera, and number 48, Torii Hunter. I wonder what Torii is thinking about playing his former team the Minnesota Twins? If we can just get consistency from the rotation, I think the Tigers may still be a threat to win the Central Division. Keep in mind that the Minnesota Twins are the same team that took two out of three from the American League champs in the opening series. Now for the Twins, I believe that this is a team that can come in to any ball park and win, on any given day. I like what I have seen out of number 30, Kevin Correia. The Twins can catch fire at any time. I also wouldn’t underestimate their offense, especially number 16, Josh Willingham, the way he has been bombing the balls out of the park. That’s why the Twins got him from the Oakland A’s. Of course, you have Joe Mauer, number 7. I’m kind of surprised that he didn’t do anything in the Texas series. I expect Joe Mauer to be hitting better against Detroit. So the key for the Tiger pitchers is to go ahead and pound inside and DON’T leave baseballs over home plate. Just because Joe had a really bad series against the Rangers, doesn’t mean he can’t hit the baseball.
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