2011 Season, Game Post

Game 2011.115: Tigers at Indians

74 Comments

The manager has been extended, the GM has been extended,  and with a 3-game series against Cleveland beginning tonight,  there is an opportunity for the division lead to be extended.

The Tigers took advantage of their last off-day of the month to announce that the contract of manager Jim Leyland has been extended through 2012, and President/CEO/GM Dave Dombrowski through 2015.  Dombrowski said that more than a 1-year deal for Leyland was never discussed, and was never requested by Leyland.

Dombrowski also stressed that the rest of the front office was extended–Al Avila (asst GM), Scott Reid (top scout), John Westhoff (attorney, contract negotiations), and David Chadd (amateur scout), and said getting the deal done now was important because this is the time of year other teams start asking around about personnel, and you risk someone jumping to another organization.

Reaction to the extensions in the media has been mixed–Drew Sharp likes the idea, Terry Foster doesn’t–as I’m sure it will be here.

As if on cue, the newly-extended Tigers front office followed up today by announcing they have signed their first 2011 draft pick, catcher James McCann from Arkansas.

In tonight’s first of three (and first of 12 remaining this season) against the Indians, Detroit’s trade-deadline catch Doug Fister takes the mound for the 2nd time as a Tiger. His first outing was a solid 3-runs in 7 innings against the tough Texas offense, which means he’s already done more for the team than the 2009 deadline darling, Jarrod Washburn.  Fister draws a tough match-up in Justin Masterson (9-7, 2.63), who faced Fister in Seattle April 9 and came out on top 2-1.

Player of the Pre-game: Carlos Guillen and Alex Avila (tie).

Right now the hottest bat on the team belongs to Alex Avila, who has on On-Base Percentage of .441 over the last 2 weeks.  The coldest bat belongs to Carlos Guillen (.154 OBP).  Guillen bats in front of Avila.  Whether or not Guillen manages to get on base could have a big effect on the outcome of the game.

Today’s Return-of-V-Mart Lineup:

  1. Austin Jackson CF
  2. Brennan Boesch LF
  3. Andy Dirks RF
  4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
  5. Victor Martinez DH
  6. Jhonny Peralta SS
  7. Carlos Guillen 2B
  8. Alex Avila C
  9. Don Kelly 3B

74 thoughts on “Game 2011.115: Tigers at Indians”

      1. He has made mistakes, some of them large ones. But the only way to avoid mistakes is not to try anything, and we all remember the Tigers back in those days.

  4. Really poor job of hitting by BB there. I don’t mind him swinging on 3-0, but he carried that 3-0 enthusiasm with him to 3-1 and 3-2.

  5. i’m not watching the game – did Boesch just swing at a 3-0 pitch that was out of the strike zone?

  8. Top off, emptied, put back on for next storm. This one may not happen.

    We need some rain delay contests here or something to keep us entertained while waiting. Or re-runs of This Week In Baseball…

  9. According to Jason Beck Fister went out to the bullpen so it’s possible he might stay in.

  10. Duane Below is now warming up, it looks like D-Low will be taking over.

    And we’ll doubtless be getting at least a couple of Coke innings…fasten your seatbelts.

  11. White Sox beat Baltimore 4-3. If we beat Cleveland tonight, Chicago is now tied for 2nd.

  16. I think the Tigers should just pretend that stolen bases and bunts are both illegal and never try either again.

  21. Schlereth the Sheriff. He’s been nails since his call-up. He done great in Toledo as well.

  24. I’m starting to become very annoyed with the girl behind home who has been hopping up and down all game like a cross between a cheerleader and a monkey.

  28. No matter what happens, no matter how long the game goes, the Tigers can’t bring in David Purcey or Brad Thomas, so let’s take a moment to be thankful for that.

    1. The rain delay. The Tigers have 1 run in their last 14 innings of post-rain-delay offense.

  32. Good lord, 13 innings of this crap. This team can’t manufacture strategy to save their lives. Outhitting them 10-6, but nevertheless this has just been one drag of a game to watch. Hey Jim, how about stealing 2nd base if you cant get anything other than sparse singles, at least give us some hope that we might actually convert a run here and there. Egads. This is not what baseball is supposed to be.

    So that’s 10 out of 10 hits for singles, w/ a bounty of 2 runs, and no managerial enhancements either on tactics or on getting our players to not swing at balls! How long is it going to take this equally dysfunctional Indians team to put us out of our misery? This game is never going to end, lol good thing we have an infinite pitcher supply. Good luck Cleveland, you guys only have enough pitchers for 8 more innings, and we have enough pitchers for about 8 years 🙂

    1. LOL, runner goes!!!!!!!!!!….. FINALLY!!!!! but on 2 strikes and that pitch was strike 3. FU Jim

    2. Geeez you’re stinker. This is the best game I’ve watched in a while. This game might just set the tone for the series. I just hope we win.

      1. This is garbage baseball with a crappy unqualified hitting team and a lousy manager that has no clue how to manage this game or teach it to others. It’s a shameful historic moment soon after hearing the Leyland extension news, and it’s a fitting slap in the face for what we deserve for being such losers at wasting hundreds of millions of dollars and still not being able to field a logical and halfway reasonable team for the money. This game is a monumental symbol of disgrace that we are owed for our years of neglect at doing things the right way.

      1. 3rd place in any of the other five divisions. The point of a top 5 payroll team is to actually be a world series contender not just the only team in their piss poor division that finishes above .500.

        1. Yeah and if you take the Tigers out of it, there is not ONE team in baseball that does anywhere close to a good job. NOT EVEN REMOTELY CLOSE!
          This league, every single team is run by a complete buffoon! And to think we can’t even win against these losers, just really sheds light on how mind numbingly stupid our mngmt is.

          And just because everyone of our peers is an idiot, is no excuse or relevance to us in terms of what we do. We have an obligation to manage the team properly and logically and that’s a fact regardless of the fact that no other team does it correct, that’s their sad problem but shouldn’t be ours!!!!!!!!

          OH WOW, HBP to end the game, how fitting. This team is a heaping pile of Tiger dung, and we deserve to lose in exactly this fashion.

          1. I wish somebody would ban you from the internet. It would make this world a better place.

            1. C’mon, Mr. X, no one is asking you to be banned from the internet for your rainbow and unicorn view of the Tigers. Be nice.

      2. So, what if we spent 10 billion dollars on payroll and had first place? Guess you’d be happy, but the magnitude of the embarrassment of this team would be amplified that at least others would wake up and figure out that this is a sad team not worthy of respect from its fans. It’s very lucky to have so much undeserved support. Say hi to Santa Claus for me Mr. X.

        1. I really enjoyed this thread. I like Mr. X’s optimism, because it’s a gentle reminder to enjoy the beauty of the game. I always enjoy stephen’s truth torpedos, and I enjoy TSE’s the glass is 99% empty viewpoint b/c that’s what fans have a right to do.

          And the Santa Clause comment made me laugh out loud.

  37. Jim has tried the small ball game and it hasn’t worked. This entire lineup is incapable of exicuting anything but rally killing bunt double plays

  45. Fun game to watch, bad game to be a Tigers fan. Let’s go RP, we need you tomorrow.

  46. Well, that’s different, speaking of taking one for the team. Eh. The real winner tonight: Chicago.

  47. Whoa, whoa. Nobody wants anybody to be banned here. Mr X, Stephen, TSE, you all have unique viewpoints that would be missed. It’s late, and this loss was bitter. A good night’s sleep to all, and let’s go at it again tomorrow.

  48. “It was a big win for us because it set the tone for the series,” said Indians pitcher Frank Herrmann, who pitched two scoreless innings and combined with six other relievers for 12 scoreless innings after starter Justin Masterson was lifted following the rain delay. “We shaved a full game off the lead, we stayed ahead of the White Sox, which is important because we haven’t been lower than second all season, and, at the very least, we’re still very much in the race even if we lose the last two games of the series.”

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