2012 Season, Game Post

Game 2012.42: Tigers at Indians

26 Comments

20-21, 3rd place, 3 games behind Cle.

The Tigers roll into Cleveland to take on the division leading Indians tonight. Sounds odd but let’s not forget that the Indians were 7 games up on the Tigers one year ago, and then mostly held that spot until late July. I think it was Vince in MN who correctly predicted that the Indians would fade and the Tigers would surge in June based on matchups.

Well, we all thought that May would be a good time for the boys, but in a month where the best team the Tigers have faced is Oakland (who is 1 game above .500 right now), the Tigers are 9-10.  The next 10 to finish out the month won’t be easy, with 3 against first place Cleveland, 3 against a better playing Minny who swept the Tigers in a short series last week, and then 4 against the red hot Red Sox.

Rick Porcello climbs the hill tonight. After a great first two starts he had a rocky back half of April, but has been better over his last three starts, posting a 3.86 ERA and 1.33 WHIP in May. Porcello has been pretty good against the Tribe over his career, limiting them to 2 runs or less in 8 of his 12 career starts against Cle for a 3.86 ERA.

Raburn was placed on the bereavement list today, Danny Worth up for at least a few days.

Austin Jackson will…not…be batting lead-off tonight. He was originally in the lineup, only to be scratched a short while ago.

1. Ramon Santiago, 2B
2. Andy Dirks, LF
3. Miguel Cabrera, 3B
4. Prince Fielder, 1B
5. Delmon Young, DH
6. Brennan Boesch, RF
7. Jhonny Peralta, SS
8. Alex Avila, C
9. Don Kelly, CF

26 thoughts on “Game 2012.42: Tigers at Indians”

  2. seems the same ole’ story: Indians get their guys to 3rd and score ’em…….we get our guys to 3rd and don’t…….

  3. Fielder has GIDP 2x in less than 6 innings to a pitcher that is not known to be big ground ball guy. Hopefully, I will eat these words but so far Fielder has shown himself to be an overweight, un-athletic and lacidasical waste of 20 + million/year. For the money this guy pulls down, we should all expect more than what he has delivered. He is getting paid over $130k/game for goodness sake!! Mr. Ilich cannot be happy.

    1. He is definitely no V-Mart,but, imagine this lineup w/out him and an injured V-mart…I am not paying the guy, so, his salary is irrelevant, but, he needs to play better. That goes for a bunch of guys…My question to DD is, how is Don Kelly our backup CF? He sucks.

    2. Tom

      Fielder acting lacidasical?….. Correct Humongo!

      Besides getting closeups of Fielder thru binoculars. once every 3-4 games, the TV cameras show Prince approaching the plate to bat. They keep the camera on him / his face for longer spells … sometimes 4-7 seconds The definition of his facial expressions says he’s thinking of anything BUT WHAT’S going-on in the game.

      Sometimes his eyes look blank – sometimes elsewhere – sometimes attending to folks in the crowd – sometimes saying to TV on-lookers … “I don’t want to be here”

      I have never seen a MLB Top-5 salaried player look so disinterested – so unmotivated – so uncaring of his job.

  4. When is Ajaxx coming back? Jackson would have easily caught Choo’s double and the guy has walked 6 guys and he is swinging at the first pitch and hitting a weak fly ball out.

    1. Kelly does not know how to play center. He could have caught that ball if he was positioned a little better.

      1. Kelly can’t play any positional well. He’s a cut above Raburn and that’s not saying much.

  5. Cleveland has the ability to manufacture runs where the Tigers don’t/can’t.

    1. As I keep saying ….. bad teams find ways to lose games ….. good teams find ways to win games ….. even though I would not consider Cleveland a good team.

  7. How long before we’re convinced that this is a team that cannot play sound, fundamental baseball? They are very weak defensively, cannot manufacture a run at anytime, and has yet to show it is consistently capable of scoring more than 3 runs a game. They are, and will be, about a .500 team this year.

  8. Fire Llyod McClendon. I do not think it is Llyod’s fault, that this team has such mediocre hitters beyond a couple guys…But, when you have the expectations, that this team does and can’t win 2 in a row for more than a month. They need something to shake this offense up…They are a one inning offense nearly every night. Just pathetic, night after night. You can’t change all the players..so, make a statement and see if it helps.

    1. Is it just me ….. or do we have a tough time keeping and/or building on a lead this year.

  11. Tigers’ top o’ the 8th was PP. Predictable and pathetic. What a difference a year makes. Sad. Here’s to hoping it changes and soon. V-Mart, get well soon!

  12. WTF ….. should have been an easy out at second ….. butter glove Ramone!

  13. Defensive mistakes: Boesch dropped fly, Santiago dropped throw, Below covering first, Avila bouncing throw to second, Porcello error on throw. We all see it; how do you fix it?

  16. at some point in the season they are going to have to win 2 in arow to finish 81-81….

    also this means there is no possible way they can win tomorrow because JV goes thurs and will most likely win..and that would be 2 in arow…

    Fielder who made $ 130,000 today stranded 6..0-5..says “I’m not worried”….he needs to go see the Wizard cause he is missing..heart…brains ..and courage!!!!

    1. Jud

      Verlander usually doesn’t throw well in Cleveland. Hopefully we score some runs for him Thursday.

      On a positive note, Justin seems to throw better in day games and the game is a early one — 12:05 first pitch.

      1. As long as it doesn’t turn into a Kelly/Santiago/Berry Leadoff Conundrum.

        Can’t say I’ll miss Balester much, since I never understood the signing to begin with. And is Marte waiting in the wings to replace Putkonen?

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