13-12, 2nd place, 1.5 games behind Cle
Jhonny Peralta may have hit the walk-off, but Alex Avila won that game.
On another night when the Tigers bats struggled against a front line pitcher, Avila reached base 4 times, banged out 2 XBHs, and started the 9th inning rally. Not to mention that Avila also called a tremendous game.
I don’t think it’s any coincidence that Avila has caught every one of Smyly’s start’s this year. Last night, Drew Smyly had another strong outing, striking out 7 and allowing only 2 runs in 6 IP. That makes 4 straight quality starts, and his debut only didn’t qualify because of a pitch count limit.
Raburn lucked into his 2nd RBI of the season (he’s on pace for 14) when a fly ball he hit happened to be with a runner on 3rd and less than two outs. I’ve been a big Raburn supporter in the past, but this is too much. It’s only a matter of time before someone else on the farm gets a shot.
Mad Max against Gavin Floyd this afternoon. Last time out Floyd carried a no hitter into the 7th and ended up allowing 3 runs in 6 2/3 against Boston. He’s held the opposing team to 3 hits or less in 3 out of his last 4 starts, though he’s been roughed up in his other 2 starts this season.
Mad Max has been flat out awful this season. He’s posting a 2.04 WHIP through 5 starts, and while the Ks are there, he’s sporting a 7.77 ERA thus far. Part of that is bad luck, as his BABIP against him is a ridiculous .442, even though his LD% is near his career average. The BABIP and BAA (.346) will regress, but they won’t account for that much of an ERA swing. There is still plenty of time to work things out, but Jones & Smokey have got to be concerned.
Delmon Young is sorry, not a racist, and back in the lineup. He’s at least trying.
In player news – Leyland thinks that Schlereth’s shoulder injury may have had something to do with his poor performance before he was sent down to Toledo a few weeks ago.
Today’s Series Clinching Lineup Is:
1. Jackson, CF
2. Boesch, RF (I don’t like it)
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Young, DH
6. Avila, C
7. Peralta, SS
8. Dirks, LF (I like it)
9. RABurn, 2B (gonna help him get started today)
Today’s Game is the Fox Game of the Week.
Is this years Tiger team good enough to once again overcome Smokey’s unorthodox managing style and finish first in the Central?
How bad does Raburn have to be to get benched?
Did Schlereth have a shoulder injury all last year too?
Going by his BB rate we must assume he has had one his entire career – 61 in 93 IP.
Ha, go figure, Max pitches out of his mind today, and I have him benched on my fantasy team. Oh well, just glad we got Mad Max today, and not Bad Max.
I reluctantly started him on mine, lucky break. Great game, got a few breaks need to finish.
Have a great day out there in Tigerville.
Kevin, Any plans for a get together. I’m in the D over the 4th for as many games as my wife will let me go to.
Steve
This is the most efficient start of any Tigers pitcher this year.
Can anyone check what the opponent SB success rate is on Valverde?
Way to blow it Valverde….
Wooo… Looks like we have real bullpen problems this year.
I don’t really care anymore.
Keep the faith Kevin. Getcha a brew and watch AJAX’s magic!
VALVERDE SHOULD NOT BE THE CLOSER ANYMORE. HE IS TERRIBLE!!!!!
The Tigers offense was pathetic again,but, today the issue is on one player Jose Valverde. He is a big concern, unlike Benoit…who has struggled because he can’t throw strikes…Benoit has shown that his stuff is excellent (which is evident by his strikeout totals and swing and miss numbers) Valverde is a major concern because his stuff is awful, he reminds me of Todd Jones at the end. Even more troubling is how clueless, he is..you are up by 1 run, you can’t just giveaway 2nd base..He has done that a lot this year. The Tigers will not win the division, if he is the closer the whole season…They waste a great start by Scherzer, mainly because their offense just stinks game after game. Boesch hitting 2nd is laughable and quite frankly this teams needs Cabrera at MVP level, not at .293…Fielder has been a great singles hitter, but, almost no extra base hits. I don’t see anything in this team that tells you they will win the divison. The offense just wastes at-bat after at-bat…considering, how well Jeff Jones has done at fixing pitchers’ problems…why not fire Llyod McClendon and see if it helps. Jeff Jones can not help Valverde because his stuff is gone.
I’d hit Dirks 2nd (playing LF), drop Boesch to 5th or 6th and Young to the bottom of the order with the secondbasemen. Young doesn’t belong in the middle of the order. Last year’s 2nd-half power show was a total fluke. Brass seems to be crossing their fingers and hoping DY has finally broken out, but my take on him is that what you have seen from him this year is pretty much what he is – a mediocre hitter who GIDPs a lot and is horrendous in the field. The rest of the offense has been down too of course, but there is more upside with the rest of the regulars.
Vince, I agree w/ your post. I would move Dirks to the 2 hole. I think the Tigers’ offensive problems has to do w/ what they swing at…They have never been a very patient team,but, if you are going to swing at the pitches they consistently are this year, then you will NOT be any good. Boesch, stands out, but they are all doing it…The discouraging part, is the pitches that they are swinging at w/ a 2-0 count…They swing at pitchers pitches AHEAD IN THE COUNT. They need to just stop wasting at bats, and things will work themselves out. I believe it starts w/ Cabrera and Fielder. Cabby has been below average for him (He needs to get hot) and Fielder has been VERY DISAPPOINTING…His biggest hits have basically been “beat the shift” type hits and although, his average is not bad…He doesn’t drive the ball.
Vince, I agree w/ your post. I would move Dirks to the 2 hole. I think the Tigers’ offensive problems has to do w/ what they swing at…They have never been a very patient team,but, if you are going to swing at the pitches they consistently are this year, then you will NOT be any good. Boesch, stands out, but they are all doing it…The discouraging part, is the pitches that they are swinging at w/ a 2-0 count…They swing at pitchers pitches AHEAD IN THE COUNT. They need to just stop wasting at bats, and things will work themselves out. I believe it starts w/ Cabrera and Fielder. Cabby has been below average for him (He needs to get hot) and Fielder has been VERY DISAPPOINTING…His biggest hits have basically been “beat the shift” type hits and although, his average is not bad…He doesn’t drive the ball.
Last year Valverde put most of these kinds of games away, but he was also somewhat lucky and that inflated his save-worthiness IMO. This year it looks like it is going the other way and in fact he has been pretty bad – ERAs don’t tell much about the short men, but an 1.80 WHIP definitely isn’t what you want from your closer.
That being said, scoring 2 runs isn’t going to win you many ballgames – the league average is well over four, so the team scoring less than that is going to lose most of the time.
With the offense still in the doldrums you have to chalk this one up as a team loss today… and the bad stretch looks like it continues.
Good news with Scherzer though, provided it isn’t a fluke. He has historically been so inconsistent, it is going to take a long stretch of these kinds of games to convince me.
Some offhand notes:
the Twins DFA’d Clete Thomas the other day.
FWIW Tigers signed Jeff Frazier to a minor league contract.
Inge 2 for 15 with A’s before today’s game.
At this rate, Brandon may be DFA’ed by Memorial Day.
I’m not sure why, but Papa Grande’s late movement has left the ballpark. Could his weight loss over the winter have something to do with it?…. I dunno!
Inge was 1 for 6 last night, so 3 for 21 as an A now. I was going to give him til mid June, but at this rate you may be right.
Frasier looked terrible at the plate the other day. Killed a Mudhens rally in the 9th inning.
I am really enjoying my M.I.L.B.com/TV subscription. Best 39.95 I ever spent on the game of baseball. Besides getting to see all of the Mudhens games, every once in a while, the Seawolves and Whitecaps have a game on TV – whenever their AA-Ball or A-Ball rival is a MILB participant.