2009 Season, Game Post

Game 2009.150: Tigers at Indians

92 Comments

PREGAME: The last time the Tigers went into Cleveland it looked like a sure sweep for the good guys. The Indians had just traded Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez and they were done. The Tigers were starting Edwin Jackson in the first game and there was reason for much confidence after the Tigers scored early. Turns out they lost 2 of 3 and needed extras to win that 3rd game. So while the match-ups look good I’m not taking anything for granted.

Jackson has been struggling but the Tigers thing it may be attributable to the fact he was tipping his slider. Jason Beck looked at Gameday data and noted that opposing hitters have been attacking his fastball. I really do believe these things happen quite frequently, but I’m always suspect when team’s make this kind of announcement prior to a game and view these things as attempts at either gamesmanship or changing a pitcher’s psyche.

Aaron Laffey takes the ball for the Indians. Laffey’s numbers aren’t particularly inspiring and the Tigers have gotten to him for 9 runs over the 2 starts he’s made against them this year.

Now for some bonus good news. Tim Bryant at Fox Sports Detroit passed a long a note that the series will be broadcast in HD. Indians games typically have been in standard def because the Indians don’t use a regional Fox Sports network and the HD broadcast capability isn’t usually available. Because this was a very late addition it is unknown if Dish Network will have the HD feed as we go to press.

Detroit vs. Cleveland – September 22, 2009 | MLB.com: Gameday

POSTGAME:

[audio:http://www.detroittigersweblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/onemoretime1.mp3]

So on a night with a microscopically small strike zone who would figure Fernando Rodney of all people to record a 3 out save with only 10 pitches? Yeah, I’m not raising my hand either.

Rodney’s effort capped a very satisfying win. I’m still skeptical about the Tigers fixing Jackson’s pitch tipping, but he didn’t allow a run thanks to 3 double plays. He only had 6 first pitch strikes and there were a number of hard hit balls. But if anyone had some good luck coming his way it was Jackson.

The Tigers also had a number of hard hit balls, the first 4 hitters had nice swings, but…they were also at people. Miguel Cabrera hit the ball hard 4 times, and had 1 hit and a double play to show for it. And with Ordonez on base 4 times, there were numerous unfortunate RBI circumstances.

But if there was a star of the game it had to be Ryan Raburn. He gunned down a runner in the first. He hit the homer that was the difference in the game for much of the tilt, and he singled and walked. Little Jimmy Jackson had himself a game.

The Tigers took care of business tonight. One more time.

92 thoughts on “Game 2009.150: Tigers at Indians”

  1. The ususal “Mighty Righty” lineup:

    1.Raburn, LF
    2.Polanco, 2B
    3.Ordonez, RF
    4.Cabrera, 1B
    5.Thames, DH
    6.Inge, 3B
    7.Granderson, CF
    8.Laird, C
    9.Everett, SS

  2. Today’s random statingetic:

    Tigers with Inge batting 6th: 38 – 26 (.594)
    Inge batting 6th OPS: .749

    Ordonez at 6th OPS: .886
    Tigers with Ordonez batting 6th: 11 – 14 (.444)

  3. Hmm interesting comparison with Maggs and Inge there could it be due to the production fall off from the #3 spot without Ordonez since a lot less is expected of the #6 slot.

    If Jackson has been tipping his slider I sure hope he can change his cadence because his fastballs have been doubling as comets streaking into the stands lately. I also wonder how many pa’s grandy is losing to left handers batting further down the line up and how above/below average he is from the Tigers average #7 slot production.

  4. I’m usually the first to beat up Maggs for half-hearted plays, so let me be the first to give him props for that double

  5. It probably mostly means the Tigers do better against lefties, which has been when Inge bats 6th lately…also means I was looking for an excuse to use “statingetic”

    1. Control isn’t there, and stuff is getting hammered. Then again the Tigers have been hitting the ball well off of Laffey also.

  8. Who knows how the voting shakes out for stuff like this, but Gerald Laird deserves the gold glove at catcher this season, regardless of how little national ‘rep’ he has.

    How many other catchers make that tag out at home on LaPorta?

    1. If he had a better offensive game he would probably get more recognition as far as Gold Glove. Isn’t that dumb? It’s a defensive award . . .

  14. Just purchased two standing room only tickets to the home game one of the ALDS! My cheap, broke-ass is pumped about this. Now my only worry is whether this series is a possible future construct or if it is going to be an actual event.

    1. Well, the Cleveland Indians are the type of team where you can really struggle on the mound and go out and pitch 4 shutout innings on.

  19. One of these times Cabrera won’t smoke a ball right at someone. Of course that will likely be the time he comes up with the bases empty.

  20. CHW-MIN is definitely a weird game–MIN gets 3 in the top of the 1st without Mauer getting on base; CHW comes back with 1 in the bottom without a hit.

      1. Guillen will be managing those games like its the 7th game of the World Series.

        They will play the this is our playoffs roll, because we are first.

  21. Well I was arguing earlier that it didn’t matter that much how Cabrera did with guys on base since there weren’t many guys on base anyway…but now that Raburn, Polanco and Maggs are getting hot this could be an issue…

  23. No matter who we face in the playoffs they’ll have at least 6 guys with a higher OPS than whoever our 5 hitter is…

  24. That was the most stressful seven shutout innings I’ve ever seen Jackson pitch.

    If he gets the win it will make up for some of those tough-luck losses earlier in the year.

  25. Pitchers duel !!!

    Is this a sign of what I am going to see in the playoffs? (if we make it, of course)

  28. So I’ve been adding a few more images/graphics and such lately. I also tweaked the recent comments in the sidebar. Yay or Nay?

    Also, does anybody every look at the recent post and related post boxes?

    1. I’m liking the additional images & recent comments. Dig the related posts, too.

      Now, could you tweak the Tigers offense & get them some more runs? 😉

    2. Some tit for tat. Perez was the guy that blew the game for the Indians last week against the Twins when the Trbe was up 3-0 in the 7th and Twinkies scored 6 runs to win 6-3.

  42. I don’t know how Rodney will be able to throw a strike in the 9th with this guy’s wandering strike zone.

    1. He was singing:
      “Would you one time,
      Let Me Be Myself
      So i can shine,
      with my own light
      Let Me Be Myself…”

        1. If we got a Rabbit and a Seay-Lyon, what’s Rodney?

          He might have to be The Caveman…I guess we need something for Ni also…

          Ever notice they haven’t mustered up the nerve to throw in any Cavewomen yet?

  45. I wasn’t worried there, nope not a bit, just enjoying the game, Mr. Unworried Guy, if someone would have walked by they would have said, “see there’s a guy who’s not worried, not even a bit…”

  46. There was a blatant blown call coupled with a very tight zone. That doesn’t bode well for Rodney.

    (That last pitch to Laird was right down the middle and called a ball). Wow. Just wow.

    1. I say to Hell–a small city near Pinckney, MI–with the White Sox (here they will be without the creature comforts they are used to and see people walking about with Tiger hats all over. Serves them right).

      Let the Twins sweep them…fine. We’ll sweep the Racially Insensitive Mascots, win 3 of 4 vs MINN, and beat up on the Sox just for fun. So there.

    1. Not that the Hosers were playing that great before Gullien called them out for quitting on the season, but since then they have been playing like, well, they have quit on the season. And that includes their manager. Danks clearly didn’t have it tonight, but Ozzie left him in to give up all 7 runs.

  56. Speaking of Hosers, Greinke pitched 6 shutout innings against Boston tonight. His ERA is at 2.08 now. I think we can call him Cy Young this year.

    1. I hereby decree that a condition for eligibility for the Cy Young award is that one must pitch against each team in one’s division.

  57. The Tigers have to keep on winning. The Twins are playing with such intensity, I can easily see them sweeping the panty hose. You’d think it was the 7th game of the world series the way the Twins dugout hangs on every single pitch/play.

    Meanwhile, the WhiteSox look like they’re playing with the sole purpose to instigate an Ozzie tirade.

  58. OK I made a crack earlier about our #5 hitters (it used to be the #3 hitters, but Maggs is improving that).

    There seems to be this widespread impression that our anemic 7-9 hitters are the cause of our offensive woes. Nevermind that they are all good at bunting, baserunning (well, Inge USED to be), and some special situations; the reality is most teams have guys like this in their lineups.

    Compared to other teams, especially other playoff contenders, where we’re really weak offensively is the middle of the lineup, specifically the 3 and 5 spots. Compare these OPS numbers:

    Batting 5th:
    .964 LAA (1) +156
    .870 BOS (2) +62
    .866 MIN (3) +58
    *808 AL Avg*
    .787 NYY (10) -13
    .765 DET (11) -43

    Batting 3rd:
    .952 MIN (1) +151
    .942 NYY (2) +141
    .820 BOS (5) +19
    *801 AL Avg*
    .776 LAA (8) -25
    .763 DET (11) -37

    Combined (compared to AL avg):
    MIN +209
    LAA +131
    NYY +128
    BOS +81
    DET -80

    Sure, it’s stacking the deck a bit to leave out the cleanup spot, where we happen to excel. But guess what–so does everyone:

    Batting 4th:
    .914 DET (1) +102
    .907 BOS (2) +95
    .896 NYY (3) +84
    .859 MIN (5) +55
    .843 LAA (7) +31
    .812 AL Avg

    So even with the best 4th hitter in the league, we don’t come close to matching up in the middle of the lineup:

    Combined 3-5 (compared to AL avg):
    MIN +264
    NYY +212
    BOS +176
    LAA +162
    DET +40

    Luckily there is an old saying about Pitching and Defense…

    1. Coleman, most teams have one offensively challenged guy in the 7-9 slot. We have three. You seem very adept at the stats, if you can do a comparison of our 7-9 guys against the Angels, Red Sox, and Yankees and we’re pretty close stat-wise, I’ll not utter Brandon Inge’s .216 post May 1 batting average or Everett’s .290ish on base % or Laird’s .220 hitting for the rest of the season. To me, it’s not the point that they are not great defensively, they all are, the question has always been can you win a pennant, not just a division title, with those guys batting 7-9 against the likes of Sabathia, Beckett, etc.. I’d say in the playoffs we need to hold the Yankees to 3 runs a game to have a real chance.

      1. I’m not arguing we’re as good in the 7-8 slots–just that we’re not worse by as much there as we are in the 3 and 5 slots (we can all agree I’m sure that 9 is hopeless).

        Here is how we compare at 7 and 8:

        .872 NYY +139
        .787 BOS +54
        .734 MIN +1
        *733 AL avg*
        .704 DET -29
        .683 LAA -50

        .782 BOS +65
        .765 NYY +48
        .756 LAA +39
        .720 DET +3
        *717 AL avg*
        .691 MIN -26

        combined 7-8 (compared to avg)
        NYY +187
        BOS +119
        LAA -11
        MIN -25
        DET -26

        We’re almost average at 7, and above average at 8–the only lineup spot other than 4 where we come out above AL avg. The 8 spot includes good numbers by Avila and Santiago by the way. Again, we come out on the bottom of the playoff contenders. But it’s closer.

        And even though we’re last by a lot in the 9 spot, only Boston is much above average there:

        .699 BOS +52
        .656 LAA +9
        .647 AL avg
        .647 NYY 0
        .634 MIN -10
        .570 DET -77

        So I’m still of the opinion that the 5 hitter matchup is where we are weakest; and even if it weren’t I think it hurts us more to have a hole in the lineup behind Cabrera than it does to have slightly below average 7-8 hitters or the worst-by-far 9 hitter.

  60. As the Tigers were winning, Matt Joyce was muddling about in the AAA championship game and Cameron Maybin was looking lost at the plate for the Marlins. Those trades worked out pretty ok.

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