2012 Season, Game Post

Game 2012.76: Tigers at Rays

27 Comments

Detroit Tigers, 36-39, 4 games behind Chicago.

The Tigers may not have been able to keep up with the Ranger scoring onslaught last night, but the offense did finally have a big game.  Maybe there will be more of the same now that Detroit has another hitting coach, ex-Ranger Toby Harrah, Detroit’s minor league hitting coordinator.  Harrah will probably “come and go,” and will be working alongside Lloyd McClendon.

More help for the offense may–or may not–come later in the season from Victor Martinez, who is undergoing an MRI today, which should give some clues as to his progress.

Hopefully the hot Tiger bats don’t cool in air-conditioned Tropicana Field, where the Tigers take on Tampa Bay in a 4-game series. The Rays are fresh off of a sweeping at the hands of the Royals, who have snuck up to within one game of Detroit in the Central.

Stat of the Day: Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer are #1 and #2 in the AL in strike outs with 113 and 107.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Ramon Santiago.  Santiago has quietly been heating up (hitting .310 over the last 2 weeks).  Look for a Santiago-Jackson-Berry rally, and a respite from clown antics.

Today’s Indoor Lineup:

  1. Austin Jackson CF
  2. Quintin Berry 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

27 thoughts on “Game 2012.76: Tigers at Rays”

  1. Expect clown show antics with Berry backing up Boesch in LF and nobody in RF tonight.

    Or is it just some sort of weird shift Leyland is trying out to get the defense going?

    1. It’s likely a legitimate representation of the lineup card that Smokey filled out.

      Can someone tell me how Kinsler got a double on the pop-up to Raburn yesterday? (I laughed as I typed that)

      1. I didn’t see it live, but I am imagining something like Raburn deflectling it with his glove, but not quite being able to get it over the wall from the 2B position. And Failed Attempted Assisted Home Run is too wordy for Gameday.

      3. Raburn ‘circled’ the pop up……and was out of position when it came down; he never touched it. kinsler kept running while it was in the air and ended up on 2nd…..

  2. OK, well at least it generated a couple of comments. (Maybe I should have left it).

  6. Talk about a team that has to depend on their pitching, the Rays offense is more in the doldrums than ours. With Longoria and Joyce on the DL they are hurting.

          1. Same guy called an error on Fielder’s infield hit. But there was still that guy who charged 2 ER to JV when Delmon lost the ball in the air.

  12. Great win tonight. Hard to fathom that we only scored 5 runs, but it was a good all around game. A few thoughts:

    1) Phil Coke has terrible home/road ERA splits (something like 1.20 to 6+).

    2) Does Jhonny Peralta look in the mirror every morning and tell himself that the Buckingham Palace Guard chinstrap is a good look? I don’t think it slims his face any.

    3) Scherzer’s stuff is filthy. He’s gonna figure it out.

    1. I disagree on Peralta. Opposing players become distracted trying to make him crack a smile.

      And Mario had the term of the day about Tiger-Killer (possibly literally) Luke Scott: he is sporting “jaw burns.”

    2. Max is 27 or 28, right? i just wonder if he will ever reach a consistent level of top-flight pitching.

      I hope he does figure it out, because he would be a great #2 if he does. Right now, we have a big time #1, two #3’s and a couple of #5’s.

      1. Pitchers’ aging curves are much different than hitters’ aging curves. Typically, with hitters, 28 is about their peak age of performance, and prior to this age they steadily increase their skills as they learn how to hit.

        Pitching is more of a crapshoot and much harder to predict. There are many more examples of the ‘light turning on’ for pitchers at an older age relative to hitters. I really hope that Max Scherzer turns out to be Brandon Morrow. Morrow always had solid peripherals with an ERA that did not reflect these numbers until this year (prior to his injury). I think (hope!) that Scherzer can be Brandon Morrow 2.0. We all know that he has the stuff

        This is a good article on aging curves:
        http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/pitcher-aging-curves-introduction/

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