2011 Season, Game Post

Game 2011.38: Tigers at Twins

19 Comments

Tigers look for a quick two game sweep of the MLB worst Twinkies today

Baker goes for Minnesota today as the lone bright spot in their rotation.  On the season he’s posting a 2.97 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 7.8 K/9.  After being hit hard in his first two starts, Baker has allowed only 5 earned in his last 4 starts, covering 28 1/3 IP.

Phil Soda takes the mound trying to keep up some of the AL’s best starting pitching.  Tigers starters are tied with the Rangers for the most wins this season from the rotation with 16. Moreover, our front five have 25 quality starts of six innings or more and have allowed three runs or less in 37 games.

Ordonez and Peralta with an off day today.

1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Scott Sizemore, 2B
3. Brennan Boesch, RF
4. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
5. Victor Martinez, DH
6. Ryan Raburn, LF
7. Alex Avila, C
8. Santiago, SS
9. Brandon Inge, 3B

 

19 thoughts on “Game 2011.38: Tigers at Twins”

  2. As if the Twins don’t have enough problems, they have a lineup featuring back-to-back guys named Rene. When has that ever happened?

  5. I suppose Leyland will think of himself as a genius now for pinch-hitting Peralta for Kelly, except that Peralta should have been in the lineup to begin with. I just don’t understand the logic of sitting a guy who has a hot bat.

  6. BINGE!

    Let’s bring him home too and hope that at least one member of the bullpen is ready to play today.

  7. handshakes, gg

    5 wins in 6 game road trip was quite nice. scored a lot of runs too. lets keep it rollin boys

  8. its amazing what clutch hitting can do for a team

    …i know we still have a lot of season to play, but THUS FAR DD’s signing of VMart ($12M) and Penny ($3M) look like steals

    Except for a couple spots i really like this Tiger roster – with that said, its interesting to see Matt Joyce is leading the AL in BA (.356) and Grandy is leading in HR’s (11)… and Polanco is batting .353

    1. Which is balanced out by the $17.5M to Benoit, Inge and Peralta. Though Peralta may be worth it. Benoit is useful, but not at $16M over 3 years. Inge is well, Inge.

      1. If the Tigers are going to seriously contend for the AL Central (and more), they will really need Benoit to recall some of last year’s magic (and hopefully prove that last year was not just an anomaly) – and Peralta will need to remain north of .275 and keep driving in runs… and you nailed it, Inge will remain, Inge.

        I’m almost afraid to ask, but what’s the latest on Guillen’s ETA? …and who do they send packing when/if he does take a roster spot? …i imagine Sizemore if he’s still sub-.250

      2. I thought Benoit’s broken fingernail was the main cause for his recent struggles. Other than those 3 games during that time, he’s been awesome.

  9. i just saw the replay of Inge’s “triple”… and all i can say is, a little luck never hurts. Span has been a solid OF for them… don’t know how he missed that one.

    It appears the twinkies are getting a little taste of the $100M+ payroll curse (or maybe its the post game-163 curse)? They finish their new stadium, throw a bunch of money into a few fat contracts; then Morneau ($15M) is involved in a weird play suffers a concussion, sits out the remainder of last season and this year he’s hitting just above the Mendoza line (and only 1 HR); and Mauer ($23M) gets some viral infection that leads to a unusual leg malady that lands him on the DL indefinately… and time/age may have finally caught up with Pavano (6.64 ERA)… i’m just saying, had they not been so successful over the past decade or so, i would almost feel sorry for them.

  10. Mauer’s leg was infected in a bizarre video-game-commercial filming mishap.

  11. We now lead the AL in runs scored. Crazy.

    We were middle of the pack just a few days ago, and we’re still middle of the league for other offensive stats like OPS (ranked 7th of 14).

    1. I can see why.

      Avila is the best hitting catcher in all of baseball right now.
      Cabrera is the best hitting 1B in the AL.
      Peralta is one of the top 3 hitting SS in the AL.
      VMart is the most valuable DH in all of baseball because he can also Catch.
      Boesch is as good as anyone, when he’s hot.
      AJax is a great lead-off guy, when he’s not slumping.
      Inge has some clutch hits on occasion.
      Raburn and Sizemore add a little production too.
      Ordonez is a great hitter, when healthy, which he hasn’t been this year.

      Add it all up and you have a team that has scored enough runs to win 8 out of it’s last 9 games.

    2. That’s absolutely incredible. VMart isn’t gonna hit quite this well all season, but there is no reason to believe that we won’t be one of the best hitting teams in the AL.

      1. I’ve looked again and one of the reasons we were leading the AL in runs is that we’d played more games. Even after a day off, there are only 3 other AL teams that have played 38 games. Most have 37 and four have 35 or 36.

        OPS is, I guess, a better judge of how good our offense has been so far this year, and we’re middle of the pack. I do agree we’ve got potential, though, so hopefully we keep up the recent pace.

Comments are closed.