2011 Season, Game Post

Game 2011.149: Tigers at White Sox

55 Comments

When you look up and see Dylan Axelrod making his major league debut, you’ve gotta feel pretty good about #12.  Sounds like he should be leading a GnR cover band, not pitching against the hottest team in baseball.

On the other hand, the old Tigers have had problems against first major league start guy, and Brad Penny is likely making his 3rd to last appearance of the season, and likely his 3rd to last appearance in a Tigers uniform.

I’ve got a feeling that we the White Sox have given up, and it will show today.

I’ve gotta run, please help out with the pitching previews and lineups again, friends.

55 thoughts on “Game 2011.149: Tigers at White Sox”

  2. Line-up today:

    Dirks cf, Santiago ss, Young lf, Cabrera 1b, Martinez dh, Guillen 2b, Betemit 3b, Kelly rf, Santos c. Penny p.

  4. All streaks have to end sometime, and with Penny pitching today, the Tigers have their best shot at ending their winning streak. Since being demoted to the No. 5 starter (why does he pitch in the 2 slot?) after the Fister pickup, he has fit right in with all our other No. 5 staters previous. Not that it matters as far as getting ito the playoffs of course, but if JL wants to sluff off a game, why doesn’t he run Turner out there instead.

    2. Dare I say that Penny is due?

      As far as working Turner in, maybe we can go with a six-man rotation once we clinch, and Leyland can start moving people around to get ready for the playoffs + giving them a bit more rest. Well, the Tigers aren’t in this situation very often, so it’s hard to know what’s optimal.

      1. The thing with going to a 6-man rotation at this point is that once we get to the playoffs we should, IMO, be going to a 4-man rotation (although I am not countng on it). If that be the case, does the drastic change in the number off off days effect the rhythm of the starters?

        Another advantage of going to a 4-man (besides the obvious one of eliminating Penny from the equation) is that we could go with an 11-man staff and carry an extra position player instead. Our bench has been pretty good lately, but are we going to have to carry Santos as the emergency backstop because of Martinez’s inability to catch? If so, that is like giving up one roster spot.

        1. I highly, highly doubt we go to a 5-man rotation in the playoffs. I’d be shocked if we didn’t go to a 4-man rotation.

  5. It is certainly an interesting lineup, but as hot as these guys are a Tigers win would not surprise me at all!

  6. Leave it to Brad to make it look like we were going to get out of that inning unscathed. What a tease.

  7. I would think that Turner will get Penny’s next two starts, maybe even one of JVs if we need to to setup the scheduling. I’d like to see if Turner can be a long guy in the playoffs.

    1. I think they will “protect” Turner and shut him down after the regular season. He was on a strict pitch/innings limit for most of the year as I recall.

        1. No, but not long after he arrived at Toledo I remember reading that he was going to be limited to 6 innings. Considering how careful the Tigers have become with young arms in the last few years (remember Porcello getting yanked with under 90 a couple of time THIS YEAR?), I just can’t imagine them making an exception of Turner, especially.

  8. It seems to me that Penny is not even the 5th best starter on this time.

    The only reason to keep giving him the ball is to rest other pitcher’s arms. Either Turner has pitched too much to join the rotation, or if he does join, just to give extra rest to JV.

    When the playoffs come, I’d actually want to think about a 3-man rotation most of the time, if possible.

    1. I agree that a 3-man rotation isn’t out of the question. Verlander would be able to handle this extra workload, and the Scherzer and Fister would only take on 1-2 extra starts, assuming that each series wouldn’t last the full amount of games. Porcello could be used as an emergency spot starter if need be to rest the arms, as well.

      However, I don’t see this happening in this day and age of baseball and pitch counts.

      1. I took a look at last year’s playoffs, and most teams seem to have used a 4-man rotation throughout, with the exception of the Braves who went back to Lowe in Game 4 when they were down 2-1 and facing elimination.

        Right now, having won 11 in a row, I feel pretty good about Porcello and Scherzer, so I guess I’m okay with a 4-man.

        But obviously, it will depend very much on the situation. If there are extra days of rest or if we are in a tight situation, etc., the situation might change.

        1. Just read this about Verlander…

          “Verlander has not made any starts this season with short rest. In fact, if you are counting on Verlander pitching ALDS Game 1 and then Game 4 should the Tigers face an elimination game then, keep this in mind: Verlander has made 200 major league starts, including the postseason, and never started on short rest.”

          It’s in a Sports Illustrated column saying that if he gets to 25 wins that would be very special in these days of 5-man rotations, and might help his MVP chances…

          Link

      2. Here’s are the basic choices: http://screencast.com/t/GJtnxqlYGJ2A

        I’d prefer the straight 3-man rotation, but I don’t see them being that aggressive, so I’m hoping they go with something like my 3-man+ rotation. It gives an extra start to both your #1 and your #2 at the expense of two starts from your #4, while only forcing your #1 to pitch on short rest once.

  10. This is my 1st round playoff roster:
    Pitchers (11): SP: Verlander, Fister, Scherzer, Porcello. RP: Valverde, Benoit, Coke, Schlereth, Al-Al, Below, Perry (?)
    Infield (6): Cabrera, Santiago, Peralta, Betemit, Inge, Kelly
    Outfield (5): Jackson, Young, Dirks, Ordonez, Raburn
    Catcher: Avila
    DH: Martinez

    That leaves one roster spot open. I don’t want Penny. I don’t think they will carry Turner over. That leaves Pauley (eek) or Marte (?) as the 12th pitcher possibility. I lean toward the extra position player as much by process of elimination as anything. Santos, Rhymes, Worth and Guillen are what is left.

      2. I’d give some thought to Marte over both Pauley and Perry. Let’s see how things go over the next couple weeks.

      3. I guess it boils down to which one you want to throw to the wolves in the case of a blowout. JL has seemed inclined to use Perry as a ROOGY lately, but I don’t see that as an option with a short staff. I am ambivalent about both of them.

  13. Looks like the streak ends today, they are not getting the clutch hits that they need. Oh well, it’s been fun!

  16. The defensive alignment will be interesting in the last of the ninth. Who plays 3B – Santiago or Raburn?

  18. Post-All Star Raburn before today: 107 PA : .324 /.361 /.539 /.900 with 11 XB hits. Exactly why isn’t he playing every day? I know he got knocked (deservedly) in the first half, but he is at it again this 2nd half.

  20. What a great win!

    What a great run!

    35-5 to end the season is still possible, for those of you who remember 84! 🙂

    2. They have 13 games left. Thay would have to win them all to finish 35-4. They would also have a 25 game winning streak at that point.

  24. Astonishing!!! What a run!!! …today’s amazing comeback victory should make the plane ride to OAK much more enjoyable.

  25. Ridiculous.

    I leave work at the end of the 8th and they are down 3. And then I get to see Guillen hit the game winner back through the box.

    Amazing.

  26. man, we gotta sit back and enjoy this run….when was the last time a Tiger team won 12 straight? I don’t know. And the way they did it today…….reminds me of the ’68 team that did it just like this all season long….gives me a warm’n’fuzzy inside…….. :-p

      1. yeah, just talked to my dad; still lives in Detroit….he’s 86. That’s what he told me: 1934. and I just noticed in the standings the Tigers have caught the RSox…….we’re ahead by a half-game on them right now……. 🙂

  27. “confidence” is such a key fuel in turning a ‘good’ team into a ‘great’ team; and i have to believe the Tiger’s ‘confidence tank’ is pretty close to being topped off after today.

    as long as the Tigers can stay healthy, anything is possible once the playoffs start

  29. Cleveland is getting wiped out by Texas tonight. If that holds up, then clinching tomorrow is possible. We’d just need a Tigers win and another Cleveland loss.

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