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Detroit Tigers: McCann calls great game, Avila awaiting second opinion, the real Ty Cobb

By Dave Holcomb |

Only the biggest of baseball fans seem to appreciate the importance of a catcher calling a great game for their pitching staff. Starter Anibal Sanchez made sure every Detroit Tigers fan knew of James McCann’s work of calling pitches on Tuesday.

The game McCann called obviously worked as Sanchez pitched the best game of the season, shutting out the Cubs for 7 2/3 innings to extend the Tigers winning streak to three games.

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Unfortunately, Tuesday wasn’t a great moment for all Tigers catchers. Avila felt soreness in his injured left knee over the weekend, and he went in for an MRI on Monday. Detroit and Avila are still waiting for the results and a second opinion from Dr. Kyle Anderson, who diagnosed Avila with a loose body in his knee back in the middle of May.

It has been nearly 54 years since Ty Cobb’s death, and besides being one of the best baseball players of all-time, Cobb is rarely remembered for anything decent. In books and films, the Georgia Peach is portrayed as a mean, self-centered racist, but Anna Clark of the Detroit Free Press explores the possibility that there was something more to the real Ty Cobb.

Sanchez credits catcher McCann: ‘He called a great game’ – Chris McCosky, The Detroit News

“Today I give all credit to McCann,” said Sanchez, who threw 7.2 scoreless innings. “He call a great game. I don’t shake (off) too much.”Sanchez, who was coming off four rough starts, had pin-point command of all of his pitches. But McCann saw early that he was locating his fastball down and on the edges against both right-handed and left-handed hitters.“I think through some of his scuffles he found too much of the middle and up,” McCann said. “Even some that were middle tonight, they were down in the zone. When you are down in the zone, it’s tough to hit.”Sanchez and McCann mixed in change-ups effectively to left-handers and his backdoor breaking ball to the right-handers.

Detroit Tigers catcher Alex Avila awaiting second opinion on left knee after complaining of soreness – James Schmehl, MLive.com

Avila underwent an MRI exam on Monday and is awaiting a second opinion from Dr. Kyle Anderson, who diagnosed Avila with a loose body in his knee in mid-May.“We kinda got into a holding pattern,” Ausmus said. “We’re still waiting on one doctor to look at it, but it doesn’t look to be anything alarming at this point.”Ausmus identified the discomfort in Avila’s troublesome knee as “low grade” soreness, and said he didn’t know how Avila re-aggravated the injury.

How Ty Cobb the truth got lost inside Ty Cobb the myth – Anna Clark, The Detroit Free Press

What did they choose to do? They watched baseball. And Detroit Tigers center fielder Ty Cobb was its first star.But more than 50 years after his death, Cobb is remembered less for his astonishing ability on the field than as a monster fans love to hate. Books, plays, radio shows and newspapers have told and retold stories about Cobb as a mean-spirited egoist who sharpened his spikes to cut infielders on a slide, made racist taunts and beat up fans who looked at him funny.

Next: MLB Power Rankings 2015: Week 10 Detroit Tigers Fall Again

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