25-29, 3rd place, 6 games back.
Well, here we sit, 1/3 of the way through the season, and in third place. The season has been a great disappointment for just about everyone so far, save maybe Quentin Berry. If you’re projecting stats over the final 2/3 of the season, Cabby would end up with 33 HR and 132 RBIs (sounds about right), Fielder with 27 HR and 105 RBIs (a little low), and no one else with more than 15 HRs or 60 RBIs. This last point really highlights the Tigers’ woes thus far, as no one else is hitting. Jackson’s 17 XBH have contributed to only 17 RBIs, and Young, Peralta and Boesch have woeful OPS’s dwarfed by the current likes of Berry and Laird.
The pitching hasn’t been much better (10th in ERA – 4.24, T9th in WHIP – 1.35), and Valverde and Scherzer have been downright awful. Valverde can’t find the strike zone posting 15 walks in 21+ innings, to go along with 2 HB for an ugly 1.59 WHIP. As I’ve mentioned before, Scherzer is getting pummeled by the BABIP gremlin, so while he’ll likely get better, Valverde’s grip on the closer’s role is hopefully loose, at best.
As far as fixing the above…the Tigers simply need to play better. The defense is what it is, though Berry will help the OF significantly. I think the pitching will be fine with Marte up and Scherzer getting better (so I hope); but the bats need to get going. Past performance indicates that they will – even if Peralta, Young and Avila can just be average players, we’ll score more runs. Maybe VMart in the dugout will spark the team a bit.
A few notes:
– Nick Castellanos was promoted to AA Erie today, though that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be up here anytime soon. Castellanos is a 3B, and if he’s going to play for the Tigers, it will likely be in LF. Let’s see if he starts to log some innings in LF.
– The Tigers have drafted two HS pitchers thus far in the amateur draft, including Jake Thompson who’s about 15 miles east of me right now (if he’s home).
– Matt Young is up, and starting in LF tonight, batting second like everyone should in their season debut.
– Don’t forget to vote for your Tigers for the All Star game.
– Very little on AJax as of late, which has me very concerned.
Tonight’s Lineup:
1. Quintin Berry, CF
2. Matt Young, LF
3. Miguel Cabrera, 3B
4. Prince Fielder, 1B
5. Delmon Young, DH
6. Alex Avila, C
7. Jhonny Peralta, SS
8. Brennan Boesch, RF
9. Ramon Santiago, 2B
Any team will struggle when their team OPS leader (Jackson) is sidelined indefinitely…add to that their #4 OPS guy (Dirks) and #5 OPS guy (Laird…what?)…
I think Dirks’ numbers were due to come down…his injury hurts, but, he is not going to be a big part of any championship team in his career. The biggest problem with this team has been the 5 and 6 spots in the lineup (Young appears to be getting better) and then if you add Prince Fielder, who has to have the most meaningless .319 batting average in baseball. Does anybody even get excited when he hits anymore? He does get a few big singles now and then, but, for the most part his stats seem to be very misleading. We need him to play a lot better, get Ajaxx back, and see how we can score runs w/ two guys with speed. Hopefully, Raburn can have a big 2nd half and hope for a low win total from the other Central teams…Miggy is doing his thing, Prince needs to be at least half as valuable as V-Mart..right now (and its a small sample) he isn’t even in the same class as Victor Martinez. Shows you what media hype can do for you, and some sports center highlights. Not to mention, the owner remembers you hitting HR’s as a 12 year old…it all equals being obscenely overpaid.
Dirks will come down to earth, but an outfield of Dirks-Jackson-Berry could be fun (time to take the glove away from Boesch)…Berry’s hitting will come to earth too, but as the old saying goes, speed never slumps.
How can we get 2-0 and 3-1 counts and have such weak at bats…That to me is the biggest reason we stink…other teams kill you, when you get in those counts. Avila watches a 3-0 meatball and then swings at a pitchers’ pitch 3-1. I have no idea what Jhonny was swing ing at 2-0 or even Boesch 1-0…That should have been a stressful inning..and it was a very easy 1-2-3 inning. This happens consistently…watch what happens to any Tiger pitcher when he falls behind like that…even guys w/ great stuff, like Max and JV..Smyly will get bombed in an inning like that. It isn;t about how many pitches you see..a totally misleading stat, that ppl like to bring up w/ these Tigers. It’s about the pitches you choose to swing at, given the situation and all of those at-bats were worse then a guy first pitch swinging and popping out (assuming he got a good pitch to hit)
Great little league defense right there..to me, that is an error…It is a play even a bad major league 3B will make 90% of the time (With Marson running)
They score a run because they have some speed and we can’t make a simple play on the infield. It has been said over and over again. This defense is so bad, that, you will need to be a GREAT offensive team to make up for it, we are not even a good offensive team.
Our defense doesn’t matter…we will score so many runs, our defense doesn’t matter…repeat…we are about to score SO many runs…
As bad as things have been, we’ve actually been lucky this season. Our best hitter goes down (Jackson), and a career minor leaguer steps in and we hardly miss anything. A guy who barely made the team (Dirks) turns into the #2 solution. Our backup catcher, a Mendoza-ish hitter, is doing so well they put him at DH. And Smyly unexpectedly becomes the 2nd or 3rd best starter on the team…we could easily be far worse off right now.
It’s like a broken record. That was a terrible 2-0 pitch to swing at..It’s almost as if, they say “it’s 2-0, they will give me a good pitch” and they pre-determine that they will swing at it..IDK, but, they seem to struggle, even when ahead in the count. Cabrera hits a lazy flyball on a 2-0 count. We should hit the ball hard, the majority of the time, when ahead in the count. So far, since I have been paying attention, we have hit NO balls hard out of 4 guys that were 2-0 or 3-1 in the count. Jimenez doesn’t throw the ball over the plate, which should work out fine because we are going to swing regardless.
I guess the call-up-from-Toledo-bat-2nd thing is not fool-proof…Matt Young well-positioned to make a run at the Special Debut Solar-Powered Spinning Gold-Plated Sombrero.
This team (Minus Cabrera) has to be the most boring inept offensive team, that I have ever seen. Jimenez has been terrible and he is mowing them down..NO WALKS!!!!! It isn’t him, it’s the Tigers…fire McClendon, somebody needs to be the scapegoat.
It’s not the hitting, it’s Cy Jimenez…Rod says! And last game they ran into Cy Hughes (although Rod said they would be refreshed after the day off…I guess they weeded their lawns or something instead of resting)…
I am sick and tir ed of the team pretending that it is something that it isn’t. They swing at terrible pitches and when they get their pitch in a hitters count, they are usually late. Boesch hit the ball hard, but, it was ball 4. They are facing a guy who walked 42 guys in 56 IP and has fallen behind nearly every hitter, yet, is throwing a 2 hitter and has barely been threatened. Boesch is the worst offender of having no plate discipline, yet, he is rewarded by starting everyday (as if his career is filled w/ some awesome track record to justify such faith) It is OK to be aggressive, but, how is being late on a 2-0 fastball being aggressive? Those are things you do, when you are behind in the count…They have consistently done this and then wonder, why they are so bad offensively…The first step is putting out a lineup, that will swing at good pitches and play some defense. This is why Berry, Dirks, & Jackson have been so successful…while, Boesch, D-Young, and Raburn have been awful. I would say, with the exception of Jackson…the 3 latter guys are more talented offensively then the guys who have had more success. so, the bottom line is: You will not fix the problem if you do nothing to address the problem. They are actually tentative at the plate. Did you see the swing that Brantley put on a 2-1 count and then Boesch has no idea what the situation is? Their is a man on 1st and 2 outs..do not DIVE…pull up and keep the ball in front of you…It is amazing, why such an inept player gets rewarded with a starting job. We have given them 2 runs, with poor defense. 1 being a mental error. It’s inexcusible. You want it to change, start by sending his butt down. His not successful because he is a stupid baseball player.
Smyly is leaving some pitches up, only a matter of time before they hit a HR…This game is over. The Tigers can’t score 3 runs or hold them to no more this game. What will the excuse be today? injuries, good pitching, bad breaks, etc. It’s the same listless performance game after game.
What was that flopping around in right field ….a big catfish or sucker!
MY + 3 K’s = an all expenses paid trip back to Toledo!
You want the sombrero, you know you want the sombrero…it is spinning in the lights, so golden, so nice…it would fit so well on your tired head, so soothing after that sweaty batting helmet…yes, so comfy, so pretty, such a nice sombrero…
[officially losing it]
Although…I kind of want one now.
Is there a stat for – rally killing percentage -.
It’s called the Raburn Ratio
4th place here we come!
Let the excuses begin. This is over (unofficially).
Well, I am a teacher/football coach out for summer, so, I have time and will continue to watch, but, they just give away too many innings to be successful. They should have won this game, Jimenez was not good and Smyly pitched well enough, to only give up 2 runs. Even with all the mistakes, D. Young comes up w/ runners on 1st and 3rd and swings at a first pitch at about his letters, a tough pitch considering how hard Jimenez throws..He swings at it and pops it up. He comes back in the 9th and has an excellent at bat and gets a good pitch to hit and hammers it. They were ahead in the count way too much tonight, to hit so few balls hard and draw only 1 walk, that is a fact and Boesch is completely killing them w/ his defense and offense..he swings at everything and Perry threw him a hanging curveball and he watched go by, when he was the tying run..That is a guy completely out of sync. They need some guys to come back, so, they can send him down. Why they won’t fire Llyod and promote Durham is beyond me. Scoring 4 runs is a rarity. That just shouldn’t be. This is a bad baseball team, with potential. They need to start with things they can control, like knowing the situation and playing accordingly (Boesch)… Fielder is also too good of a hitter, to have as many bad at-bats that he has…finally, I am a little sick of watching Prince joking around as they are about to lose another divisional game. I know you don’t want the guys being tight…but, laughing w/ Miggy with 2 outs in the 9th is not the image I would like to project.
Chris – which city? What class?
Would like to see an outfield of Dirksey, AJax, and Berry and see what happens.
We will, probably sooner than later. Boesch has about reached his critical mass of ABs to show that he’s not a bona fide every day player.
Matt Young is due! For at least a ground out. Was disappointed he didn’t take the field in the 9th with an actual sombrero on.
Ryan Neil Raburn went 0-3 on Tuesday bringing his average to .167.