2011 Season, Game Post, Playoffs

Game 2011 Playoffs.7: Tigers at Rangers

130 Comments

Note:  The Sunday game has been postponed, and will now be played (presumably) Monday at 4:19 EST, because 4:15 is just too early and 4:30 is just too darn late.

**Breaking News**  Magglio is out for the rest of the postseason.  He refractured the ankle he broke last season, when or how is unclear (he walked and was replaced by a pinch-runner his last appearance).  It turns out the ankle had been bothering him all season, and in fact he almost retired because of it midseason.

Update: It turns out that Ordonez injured the ankle in batting practice before the game, but tried to tough it out and play anyway.  Which makes me view the 1st inning of Saturday’s game differently…bases loaded, Wilson on the ropes, and up to the plate comes Maggs–with a broken ankle…GIDP.  Credit Maggs for his toughness, but there is something of the Inge-with-2-bad-knees bit in this scenario.

What is clear is that the Tigers have a major problem now.  They already went into the postseason without Boesch, and now have lost the only 2 guys in the middle of the order who have been hitting.  It is unclear who the Tigers will call up to replace him:  it certainly won’t be Timo Perez.The only other OF on the 40-man roster is Clete Thomas.

Update:  The player added to the roster to replace Magglio Ordonez is, as ouchudied has reported…Delmon Young, who less than 2 days ago was determined to be out for the series.  Call me skeptical.  (Also, a “first” to Andrew in Toronto on the Magglio news).  Young is penciled in the 3 spot in today’s lineup, but according to a Jason Beck tweet Leyland has also prepared a 2nd lineup card with Andy Dirks, just in case Young is more injured than thought or as injured as originally thought, or whatever.

***

One thing Tiger fans could count on in the regular season, was no prolonged losing streaks.  Anytime Justin Verlander pitched after a Tiger loss, the losing usually stopped right there (Verlander was 14-3 following a Tiger loss), which is one reason the Tigers haven’t lost 2 games in a row since Aug 27-28.

Verlander once again was rain-bedeviled, and once again began the game without his best stuff, having problems with the strike zone, throwing 49 pitches in 2 innings (although to be fair, if Foxtrax and my own eyes are to be believed, he threw several “balls” in the “strike zone”).

The pitching actually came through Saturday on the whole (even our 2nd-tier bullpen guys):  anytime you hold the Rangers to 3 runs in their home park you’ve done your job.

(Check out The Newberg Report for a good, detailed review of the game from a Rangers perspective).

The big question now becomes, was Verlander’s outing short enough that he will come back now for game 4 instead of 5?  Leyland’s play-it-by-the-book track record says no, but stay tuned.

At any rate this afternoon, for the 2nd consecutive postseason series, Max Scherzer will be asked to be the guy to take the mound after a Verlander start ended with a loss.  Scherzer was brilliant against the Yankees,  allowing no runs and only 6 baserunners in 6 innings.  A similar performance will be needed today to quiet the murmurings of “short series.”

The Rangers send Derek Holland to the mound, a follicle-challenged lefty (he has failed quite noticeably to produce anything in the playoff beard way).  Holland sometimes has control problems and can end up pitching behind in the count…so look for the Tigers to confuse him with first-pitch swinging.

If the Tigers are to win, chances are they will do it by scoring early and often–the Rangers bullpen is not to be messed with.

And Austin Jackson still has not put a ball in play to start off a postseason game.  His strikeout last night leaves him with 4 strikeouts and 2 walks to start the 6 playoff games.  Here’s hoping for a walk tonight.  And he did have a big double yesterday, but continues to strike out, his strikeout rate now up to 44%.  And he has begun to channel Raburn in CF.

And where have the big bats gone?

The top 5 Tigers in postseason OPS:

1.170 Young* (*out**) **(back)

.928 Ordonez* (*out)

.917 Kelly

.899 Inge

.875 Raburn

The big bats:

.806 Cabrera

.625 Martinez

.610 Peralta

.186 Avila

It makes for a great story when a Kelly or a Santiago comes up big, but that can’t be maintained over an entire series.

Player of the Pre-Game: Delmon Young*.

*OK, this was originally Ordonez, but was changed for obvious reasons.  And then, briefly, Don Kelly. Can Young really play with an oblique strain (think Gary Sheffield)? Or will he go the way of Ordonez playing on a sore ankle?

Today’s  Who’ll-Stop-The-Rain? Lineup:

  1. Austin Jackson, CF
  2. Ramon Santiago 2B
  3. Delmon Young, LF
  4. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
  5. Victor Martinez, DH
  6. Ryan Raburn, RF
  7. Jhonny Peralta, SS
  8. Alex Avila, C
  9. Brandon Inge, 3B

130 thoughts on “Game 2011 Playoffs.7: Tigers at Rangers”

  1. Looks like Magglio is out for the rest of the postseason with an ankle injury. In fact, he has broken the ankle he hurt last year. He may even have played his last game ever, or at least as a Tiger. Sad!

    As for the playoffs, we don’t have great options left for replacing him against lefty pitching, either.

  3. Oblique injuries never really have any kind of timeline. He’s not gonna be 100% healthy but I think the issues will be more with his throwing than with his hitting. He’s gonna have to play through some pain but I think Delmon at 80% is better than Dirks at 100%, at least vs LH pitching.

  5. AJ and I are I synch; score early and often. Let’s hit that RF porch for Stormin Norman!

  9. As lost as the Tigers are at the plate right now, 2-0 might as well be 12-0. Lookin’ like they’re heading back to Motown down 2 games to 0.

  10. This series is over. Our bats are dead and our pitching isn’t able to shutout the rangers. This is pretty disappointing.

  12. Not gonna get too many more opportunities like this. Someone has to come up with a base hit.

  14. Almost all fastballs the exact same speed with only the occassional curve ball 20 mph slower, and nobody can time it up right, frustrating.

  16. Rangers are just going to keep hitting doubles all day long. The Tiger bats are going to keep that zero on the scoreboard. 🙁

  17. Can’t believe so many people are bailing out less than two innings into game 2…

    On another note, looks like the totally erratic strike zone continues.

  18. Well said Kevin.

    Things I like about playing in Texas instead of New York:

    A. The organist doesn’t play that cute little jingle after a K.

    B. They have a real RF porch in Arlington.

    C. While the fans don’t know baseball (too busy eating Natchos), they aren’t obnoxious.

    D. John Sterling’s voice can’t be heard!

  19. Ok, maybe we’ll turn it around after that. I feel like we need something to shift the momentum.

  25. RABURN sweet! Let the slump end!

    And the curse of game 163 is reversed!

  27. He’s the boss’ son! Instead of Santos, how about DonKel behind the plate?

      1. Speaking of Inge! The heck with Betemit and his wild swinging and lead glove, Inge is feeling it at 3rd, I’m happy to go with Inge-Kelly there

  33. My Wife just came in from DFW and brought my a Tiger/Ranger ALCS 2K11 tishirt. Now I be styling!

  35. Inge, Ajax, Santiago, and a one-armed Delmon Young. If Tigers win World Series with this crew I’m going to begin believing in unicorns.

  44. Like Hokkiado Nippon Ham Fighters say “Never Give Up”, speaking of which, wouldn’t Yu Darvish look good in a Detroit uniform?

  48. I feel the offensive surge coming on! And yeah I don’t see Darvish happening, but it would be cool

    1. Couldn’t they just give Lamont one of those cool executive positions where he sits in a box with Al Avila and Dombrowski and doesn’t do anything?

  66. I know everyone wants to blame Lamont, but holding Santiago was the right call. Usually, that ball is a much tougher play, but the way it caromed to Cruz + his arm + Cabrera & VMart = hold up Santiago.

      1. Well, if it’s even the tiniest of consolation, the Rangers announcers made a pretty big deal of pointing out that usually the ball takes a different bounce, and that the Rangers got lucky on that one.

        1. When I was watching, I was certainly hoping there would be a way to score, but I was thinking “Oh no! Lamont is going to send him and he’ll be out by a mile!” So, I certainly agreed with his decision.

  68. Sweet home Alabama!

    Also Coleman thanks for the post of the night…burp!

  69. I think Gene just needs to be sent straight to the nursing home to live his retirement years out in peace.

  74. That was Peralta’s first sac bunt since 2009. Seriously, though, who sacrifices to get Avila to the plate there. Really? I guess Smokey thought he was hot because he just got his 2nd hit of the postseason…

  83. Dear Mr Dombrowski: this offseason, please look into a CF, and/or a hitting coach. Thank you for listening.

  84. Wow, the oddest thing just happened. They showed the on-deck circle and I thought, oh good, Kelly is coming up

  85. Inge in the dugout giving the death-glare to all things Ranger…(I’m glad Ryan couldn’t digest him)

  96. Are you kidding? Ryan Perry gets no outs and gives up a walk-off grand slam?

    Let’s get 3 at home.

  97. Great game, but all our fears came true in the end. Because of injuries etc.., are players 20 thru 25 on the roster woefully exposed.

    2. Don’t forget our leadoff hitter, JaKKKKKKKson, who has been woefully exposed for some time.

      Team weaknesses are being exposed now: pathetic 1,2,3 part of the batting order, AJ not a leadoff hitter, Russian Roulette with 2B, 3B, and Ryan Perry really does suck. Remember, the Tigers were only a .500 team against non-Central teams. A good core I think, but much to be done in the off season regardless of how the rest of the playoffs go.

      1. I certainly agree we have some serious holes to fill in the off-season. Lead-off batter, 2B, 3B, fifth starter and middle relief, to name a few

        Looking forward to having that off-season discussion after our World Series championship, though!

  98. With Perry coming in, there was no doubt. He should never have been put on the playoff roster to begin with.

  100. Their pen is 20x better than ours. That’s the difference that is killing the Tigers. Ron Washington doesn’t hesitate to yank the starter knowing that the Tigers have no answer for their relievers

  101. Vince nailed it. I said game over as soon as he was on the mound. Tigers have to be leading after 6 and hope they can hold the lead because they are overmatched against the Rangers’ pen.

  102. I’m really bummed. The Rangers are a really good matchup when we are healthy. But we’re not. They’re clearly the better team right now, and they have a 2-0 advantage. Bummed.

  103. Injuries had nothing to do with this loss. Ryan Perry is not of the same caliber as the rest of the team. Extremely poor choice to use him. He shouldn’t even be in the playoff roster. What the hell was Jim thinking?

    1. Perry just gave up the only walkoff grand slam in MLB postseason history. So he’s got that going for him…

  104. Tough break but there is still lot’s baseball to be played. The good guys will come around. It could be worse — we could be Yankee or Red Sox fans. GO TIGERS!

  105. I don’t fault Leyland for bringing in Perry. Our bullpen is not as deep as the Rangers’ and that’s who we were down to. Perry had pitched ok in the playoffs prior to last night.

    No, we have to blame this loss on the bats. 22 left-on-base over the first two games. We’ve been handed 12 walks, and hardly been able to capitalize.

    The Rangers bullpen has been strong, but both their starters have been miserable. We should of had 5 runs off of each of them, and our thinner bullpen would not have been an issue.

    And it is not because we are playing guys like Santiago and Kelly, either.

    Anyway, this series is far from over, so let’s get going tonight!

Comments are closed.