2006 Season, Game Post

Game 92: Royals at Tigers

23 Comments

PREGAME: Coming into this series, I didn’t expect the Tigers to sweep. First of all, it’s tough to sweep in 4 game series. Second, the Tigers will lose to the Royals at some point this season. But now that another sweep is one win away, I’m greedy and I want it.

Zach Miner is making his 8th start and has yet to give up more than 3 runs in any game. Really, the only knock against Miner is that he hasn’t been particularly efficient. He hasn’t made it out of the sixth inning since his complete game against the Brewers as his pitch count has climbed into the 100’s early.

The Royals send out Scott Elarton who hasn’t been good this year, but has a pretty good history against many of the Tigers. Placido Polanco and Pudge Rodriguez are a combined 7 for 43, which is probably part of the reason they’ll get the day off.

Game Time 1:05. Game Time Temperature: eleventy billion degrees.

POSTGAME In only saw 2 innings of this game, the 2nd and the 9th, so I can’t comment too much. The offense didn’t show – literally – as many guys had the day off. Marcus Thames continues to mash. Zach Miner got knocked around, as did Wil Ledezma. For both it was really the first time this year. The Tigers get an off day to enjoy some air conditioning before the recently swept and angry White Sox come to town.

23 thoughts on “Game 92: Royals at Tigers”

  1. lol, eleventy billion degrees?

    I haven’t been able to see a tigers game in a week and a half.. stupid work schedule.

    Lets go Tigers!

  2. Seems like Leyland is trying to figure out how crappy a lineup he has to make to lose to the Royals. My goal for this series was three out of four, so I won’t be too broken up if we drop this one (although there is really no excuse for losing to Scott Elarton under any circumstances). It’s probably a good idea to rest some of the regulars today. It’s been a long (but very good) series with the Royals, and we’ve got a big series with the White Sox coming up this week.

  3. i’m so glad i have thames on my fantasy team. really, i am. i mean, i’m sure he’s not going to keep this pace up all year, but it’s been a nice little shot in the arm for my team.

  4. Man, Rod Allen is so great. “Sleeves rolled all up like he has 60 inch guns.” That had me rolling today.

  5. yeah i didn’t know anybody who isn’t on a jr. high girls volleyball team rolled their sleeves like that.

  8. i’m not sure i’d call that exciting news. well i guess it’s exciting if he comes in to DH, but I’m pretty sure Abreu is even a worse fielder than Thames.

  9. IMO, adding a guy with a career OBP over .400 and a career slugging pct. over .500 would be fairly exciting. It would be a major upgrade over Monroe (who I assume would be part of the deal).

    And he may be overrated as a fielder, but he did win a Gold Glove last year. I have a hard time believing he’s worse in the field than Thames.

    http://www.baseball-reference.com/a/abreubo01.shtml

  10. Would it be tooo much to hope for Abreu and Soriano? Probably, but I have been pretty spoiled by the Tigers this year.

  11. hmmm, here’s some stats on Abreu: He has 8 HRs so far, with 60 RBIs in 297 ABs. His BA is .286; slugging is . 455. He’s stolen 19 of 23 attempts; his fielding avg. is .994 (1 error so far)…so he’s a much better fielder than Thames. But, he’s only got 8 HRs ( 1 HR / 37 ABs); not really the POWER hitter we need. Don’t forget, Comerica is not really conducive to the HR. If he has power troubles in Philly, he’ll certainly have them in Detroit. He knocks in plenty of runs, and obviously has some speed on the base paths. If we could trade him 1 for 1 with Monroe, I’d do it, but if they want somebody else…..hmmm, I don’t know. In my book, we don’t need (and I don’t want) Soriano….he’s a righty, and worse, a crybaby. He whined like a child in spring training when they wanted to move him to OF. I don’t need that kind of attitude. These guys are getting paid obscene amounts of $; to whine and pout is unforgivable. No, the Nats can keep him….

  12. Monroe certainly suspects he’s going – his last postgame interview on FSN was a plea not to “break up the team” as long as they kept winning.

  13. Two other current stats for Abreu: .442 OBP, 22 doubles. If we’re looking for a player without any flaw, we’re not going to find him (and over his career, I’d say Abreu has come pretty close to being a player without a major flaw). The power numbers are bound to pick up. If DD can get him for Monroe and a minor league pitcher, I don’t see how you don’t make the deal. The Tigers’ future is fairly bright, but you can’t expect a season like this every year.

  14. but you can’t expect a season like this every year.

    Of course not every year… just the next 10 🙂

  15. The way I look at the Soriano and Abreu rumors is this:

    Soriano is the same type of hitter the lineup is littered with. He’s right-handed, free-swinging with good power. He might do it better than the guys the Tigers have currently, but what he would cost probably isn’t worth the difference.

    Abreu is a completely different animal from anything we have in Detroit. He already has more walks than any Tiger save perhaps Granderson will have at season’s end, and while he may not have great power any more, the Tigers don’t NEED great power right now. They have the fourth best slugging percentage in the league, and they need people on base to make that fact hurt more. When I think of Abreu batting second or third in the lineup, I start involuntarily drooling.

  17. article on espn.com says abreu is gonna want extra guaranteed $$$$$$$$$ for any trade, as in his option year picked up or his contract extended…

  18. the Free Press says Soriano would cost: Sanchez, Jurrjens, and Clevlen.

    Not a single major leaguer? Who would we send down to make room?

  19. I’m really kind of confused as to how a guy like Abreu with a .455 slugging perctentage and isolated power of .169 can be viewed as lacking power. That’s not devastating power, but it’s certainly solid.

    Throw in that .442 OBA and I’m thinking Abreu would add a lot to the lineup. That’s almost a .900 OPS, which is even with Guillen and behind only Thames as far as current regulars.

  20. What do you guys think of Baseball Reference’s “similar batters” list at the bottom of each player’s page? For Abreu through age 31:

    1. Bernie Williams (938)
    2. Reggie Smith (898)
    3. Will Clark (895)
    4. Fred Lynn (894)
    5. Larry Walker (889)
    6. Raul Mondesi (887)
    7. Mike Sweeney (885)
    8. Wally Berger (885)
    9. Chick Hafey (883) *
    10. Magglio Ordonez (882)

    Hey! We have one of those! An All-Star who bats right…Hint: #10.

  21. Not saying we couldn’t use another one, though. Just want to be absolutely clear of what I’m talking about or somebody might think I’m saying we have Wally Berger…

  22. “Not a single major leaguer? Who would we send down to make room?”

    Maybe Santiago, since Soriano could play 2B?

  23. We have a ton of dingers on this team, what I think everyone likes most about Abreu is hit ability to get on base. That and he’s driven 28.6% of runners in scoring positions. I think right now that’s more important to this club than a bunch more homers. He has higher OBP/SLG/OPS than Soriano against both right and left handers, too.

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