2012 Season, Game Post

Game 2012.98: Indians at Tigers

33 Comments

Detroit Tigers, 52-45, 1st place, tied.

For whatever reason, the Tigers have just matched up badly with Cleveland so far this season, especially against Ubaldo Jimenez (2-0, 2.84 vs Detroit), who is beginning to look like this season’s Carl Pavano. They didn’t seem to be overly-aggressive (Jimenez and the strike zone are not best friends), they got plenty of base runners, but, other than Cabrera’s 2-run shot (could he be hitting any better right now?) just couldn’t put anything together.

Perhaps they will fare better tonight against Dearborn native Derek Lowe.  Lowe got bombed by the Orioles last out, giving up 9 runs in only 3 innings. On the other hand, Lowe has been tough on the two Tigers he has significant appearances against:  Cabrera is a mere .192 in 28 PA, Fielder .240 in 30 PAs, without a single extra base hit.  Perhaps the big hits will come from the 2nd half of the order (Young, 4-for-8, Peralta 3-for-6, Boesch 2-for-3).

The Tigers look for another strong performance from Max “Too Many Strikeouts” Scherzer.  Scherzer was brilliant last out against the Angels (1 run, 9 Ks), but doesn’t have the best history against Cleveland, especially at Progressive (0-3, 7.48).  Guy to look out for:  Shin-Soo Choo, who has scorched Scherzer (10-for-17, 1.608 OPS).

Stat of the Day: Fister’s error last night was the 14th by Tiger pitchers, which leads the major leagues. (Cleveland pitchers have only 3).

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Brennan Boesch.  Just a hunch.

Today’s Let’s-Try-This-Again Lineup:

  1. Austin Jackson CF
  2. Quintin Berry 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. Omar Infante 2B

33 thoughts on “Game 2012.98: Indians at Tigers”

  2. Coleman predicted Boesch as POG…what a coincidence, Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports just reported today that Boesch is now represented by Agent, Scott Boras …great time for Brennan to start putting up some good offensive numbers

    (FYI – Boesch is ‘arbitration eligible’ in ’13, but not FA eligible until ’16) – his salary this yr – $503K

  3. Poor base running by Miggy and a poor AB by DY cost us the possibility of a big first inning!

    1. Delmon being Delmon. You should expect no more than a.270/.300/.425/.725 from him. Currently, despite his “getting going” streak of late he has a ways to go to get there this season. And in actuality looking better on paper than in cumulative real game situations. Please come back soon, Victor.

    2. Who was the guy that posted here recently about Cabrera being the smartest/best baserunner for the Tigers? Tonight was another example of how this is simply not true. I love Cabby but he is not a smart baserunner. I can recall three separate occasions this season where Miggy has been thrown out at second base trying to advance on pitches that only rolled 8-10 feet away form the opposing catcher.

      1. Cabrera is an awful baserunner. Just as Asdrubal Cabrera is an awful defensive shortstop. Just don’t ask Rod Allen this.

  5. c’mon Lamont!! Damon’s got one of the worst arms in the majors; should’ve plated 2 runs on Berry’s hit………stupid!

    1. You aren’t taking into account who was on 3rd (Jackson)…Lamont sends if it’s Boesch, Young, Avila, etc, holds Jackson and Berry. It’s the Reverse Psychology School of 3rd base coaching.

    2. …great point; and yes, that’s the same Damon who hasn’t been able to throw for the past 7 years, including when he was on the Lamont-coached Tigers…but Gene has slept since then.

  6. Is somebody warming in the bullpen? It’s beginning to look a lot like one of those Bad Max days. Hey you, Below!

  7. on another point, I see they sent Worth down……since we have Infante, to me that makes someone else expendable……gee, who could it be?…….let me think………oh I remember now, The Bastard Child is protected……. 🙁

    1. Raburn stays because he is a power RH bat 😉
      Kelly stays because he reminds Leyland of himself.

      1. Remember that extra inning game when Guillen hit the game-winning HR after 2 am? In the 9th inning Leyland ran out of smokes, and was unsuccessful in bumming an OP smoke, until he came to Raburn on the bench, who said “sure coach, keep the pack,” and tossed him an unopened Marlboro red…Leyland is grateful to this day…

  11. The #Indians entered tonight’s game with the 3rd-highest team fielding % in the majors at .987 (48 E/3678 TC) – pretty impressive in the field

    1. that’s gotta be some kind of apocalyptic sign… its tough to throw 4 balls by Mr Young (in a game, let alone one AB)

      1. And it was a 10-pitch AB. Perhaps a personal record; his average must be between 3 and 4.

  13. Boesch seems to swing at a lot of pitches out of the strike zone. There are statistics available on this, yes? Anybody know if he is above average in this regard, or is it just me?

    1. Boesch swings at 39.3% of pitches outside the strike zone; league average is 30.4%. Delmon swings at 44.6% of pitches outside the strike zone; only player who swings at more is Josh Hamilton

      1. Thanks a lot. It seems like Boesch has a weakness for the chin-high fastball and pitches low and away. He’d be a lot better hitter if he learned to lay off that stuff. And he would probably coax more walks. There is no hope for Young. I am surprised at Hamilton.

        1. There was a very good comparison between Hamilton and Joey Votto, which favored Votto as the better hitter and said Hamilton would be more subject to slumps because he swings so much out of the zone, whereas Votto is way down around 20%, and swings almost NOTHING outside the strike zone. (It did not predict Votto’s knee injury). I will try to find the link, interesting comparison.

            1. I remember Votto’s reluctance to swing at pitches out of the zone was a topic when we played them back in June. The note about RBIs being rarer when the guys hitting in front of you have OBPs south of .300 rang a bell and is all too well known to us Tigers fans of course.

  14. 7 out of his last 8 starts have been quality starts for Scherzer. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, but maybe we have a return of the 2010 Max.

  15. Vince in MN – did you try Fangraphs?-

    Really impressed by Scherzer tonight. This is the type of game where he would have folded earlier in the season after that 3 inning. Still can’t believe he gave is 7.

    Great win on a night when the big boys were quiet, thank you Asdrubal Cabrera.

    Another empty save for Valverde. He’s gonna cost us dearly one day.

  16. they asked McClendon about the Tigers showing more patience against pitchers like Jimenez and Lowe who throw a lot of balls out of the strike zone….McClendon responded “Huh!”

    1. I can see a great future for Delmon Young as a hitting instructor after McClendon retires (Leyland will still be here.)

  17. Fielder currently on a 12-game homer-less streak, his second longest such streak as a Tiger. Prince went 19 straight games in April without a HR following his two-homer game versus Boston in Game 2 of the season. Prince is hitting for average since the All-Star break (15 for 42…..a .357 clip), but only two of those 15 hits have been doubles with the other 13 being singles. I’m getting a little concerned about Prince’s lack of thump lately because we all know he is not going to hit .357 the entire second half. I would gladly trade the .357 with no power for .285 with four home runs and 10 RBI over that same stretch of games. Just something that has been given me a little bit of consternation the last two weeks.

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