2012 Season, Game Post, Playoffs

Game 2012 Playoffs.10: Tigers at Giants

62 Comments

4 games to go.

What a tremendous season:

AL Central Division Champs.

AL Division Series Champs.

AL Pennant.

Triple Crown Winner.

Perhaps another Cy Young winner.

But you know what? It’s not enough. The D deserves more.  And we’re gonna get it.

*************************

Now, as I’m sure you have all see, there is an abundance of Tigers media out there right now. It’s starting to consume my life, to be honest. But we only get a max of 9 days of this, so I’m just gonna fight through it. I do, however, want to point out a touching ESPN.com story on Jim Leyland, and one on CNN SI about winning the title for Mr. I. If you can spare some time in-between the hundreds of other articles out there, check ’em out.

The Tigers advance to the World Series for the 11th time in franchise history – with 4 wins in ’35, ’45, ’68 and ’84. I’ve only been around for the ’84 series, but all I remember from ’84 is the kick-ass place-mats from Elias Brothers. Yes, I just bid on those. If the Tigers win again, I’ll buy whatever place-mats Big Boy puts out for 2012.

So on to tonight’s game.

Barry Zito, who still has another year left on his massive 7 year contract that pays him roughly $18M per year, climbs the mound for the Giants. Since signing that tremendous contract, which at the time was the largest contract ever given to a pitcher, Zito has been a tremendous disappointment. Until this year he had not posted a winning record with the Giants, and has still yet to post a sub-4 ERA. Over the years Zito has morphed from a hard throwing lefty with two great out pitches (curve & change) to a finesse pitcher who rarely tops 87 and looks to work the corners and fool the hitters. Today, he throws a few different fastballs and his curve and change in roughly equal proportions.

In 2012, Zito went 15-8 with a 4.15 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, walked 3.42/9, and only struck out only 5.57/9. Bochy’s decision to go with Zito for Game 5 of the NLCS looked to be more of a long-shot than anything, though his masterful 7.2 IP, 6 H, 0 ER effort may have sparked the Giants to the NL pennant. But all in all, he’s a mediocre pitcher who will try to out think the Tigers (remember that Kenny Rogers had quite a bit of success doing this for the Tigers in the ’06 playoffs).

The Tigers haven’t hit that well in the postseason, though they are hitting better than everyone else. DY and Peralta look to be locked in, and Fielder and Cabrera could each carry a game on their own. Not much history v. Zito, but Cabby is 2-8, Fielder is 3-18, and DY is 2-3.

Verlander takes the ball perched as the best pitcher in baseball (if you believe the pundits, stats, fans, other players, etc.). This will be JV’s 12th  career postseason start, and 3rd in the World Series.

The Tigers lineup is as expected, other than Avila in against the lefty Zito. But Laird is 3-15 off of Zito, and Avila has caught all 3 of JVs postseason starts this year.

A few notes:

– Buster Posey was the best hitter in baseball against lefties this year –  .433/.470/.793.

– The vast majority of the predictions out there pick Detroit.

– DY plated all four game winning RBIs in the Yankee series – making him the 1st player in MLB history to do that. Heck, 4 game winning RBI in any single post-season series is an MLB record.

Your Game 1 Lineup:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Infante, 2B
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Young, LF
6. Peralta, SS
7. Garcia, RF
8. Avila, C
9. Verlander, P
Let’s…go…Tigers!

62 thoughts on “Game 2012 Playoffs.10: Tigers at Giants”

  1. Well said Kevin! It’s been a long road (not only this year but since 2006) and all the Tiger fans deserve this so much. This year my Swedish cousin’s 15-year old kid became interested in baseball so I was able to make him a Tiger fan. What a year to start following the Tigers. I have told him to enjoy and try to remember and keep the fun and magic of the World Series as not all seasons are like this (does anybody have a suggested www link for international folks to watch the series?)! A great lineup has been posted that the world will soon see! Good luck to all and glad to ride the wave with all my friends via this site! Always a Tiger, OTFiM.

    1. In Latinamerica , ESPN and Fox have the World Series. Local TV too in the traditional baseball places like Venezuela (caribbean countries usually receive the spilled venezuelan TV signal).
      MLB.com as long as I know is only for USA and Canada during postseason

  2. Ironically, during the ’84 series I found myself not at Elias Brothers, but in the SF Bay area, and found myself hunting for a bar in which to watch what would turn out to be the final game (in case you’re doing the math, you should know I was only 5 at the time. But very precocious). Every bar had every TV (which weren’t too many in those days) on the 49ers-Steelers game…by the time I finally found a place to watch the game it was the top of the 4th–and it was worth the effort. Incidentally, for you Karma fans out there, the 49ers lost to the Steelers 20-17…it was their only loss in a 15-1 season.

    1. I remember it well..Sunday afternoon game. I think Game 4 was an afternoon game as well.

      we are dating ourselves when we talk about WS games being played in the day! not sure when they stopped it, but it couldn’t have been too long after that.

  3. “I’ve only been around for the ’84 series, but all I remember from ’84 is the kick-ass place-mats from Elias Brothers.”

    I’m 31, so just barely old enough to remember the 84 WS as well. Actually, these are the only two things I remember: My uncle talking about a guy dancing with a broom in the streets of downtown Detroit after the Tigers won the World Series, and the Elias Brothers place-mats. My parents had two of them, and they got so ragged after they started putting them in the dishwasher. I might have to bid on some of those myself.

  4. I saw some of the ’68 World Series on a black and white TV (not that I have any clear memory of this). I quit my job (Little Caesar’s, ironically enough) in order to be able to see every game of the ’84 WS – on a color TV. (Or maybe that was just a good excuse). I endured the pain and agony of ’06 through the magic of radio. Now in ’12, I’ll be “watching” online at home (the scoreboard and/or game tracker at cbssports.com).

    I’ll have to find some other media or method for the Tigers’ repeat in 2013 just to keep from repeating myself. iPhone, watch it all in a bar, maybe even attend some of the games (ha, fat chance there).

    1. I was 13 and in the 8th grade for the ’68 Series. I remember it on as black and white on TV but my Dad and brother attended Game 5; their tickets cost $8 each! I do recall the fun I had delivering the Detroit Free Press the morning after the won the Series. BTW, the ’68 Series started on a Wednesday in St. Louis. Good omen?

    2. I landed in Alaska coming home from Viet Nam first day of the 68 series….and in the Military airport there we watched Gibson set the then K record in the ’68 series

  5. Good to see AJ on Fox. I never cared for him much until his stint on last year’s ALCS. He’s a good guy!

  6. I’m thinking Tigers in 5. Everyone cool with that?

    Oh, BTW – it appears that the site had it’s 100,000 comment a couple weeks ago. That’s kind of cool. Not sure who did it.

  8. Verlander is undefeated in the post season this year when allowing a solo homer…just sayin’

  10. Well, this isn’t good. Down 4 in this ballpark, hmmm. When was the last time the Tigers came back from 4 down anywhere?

  11. Two freak plays, Kung Fu Panda, Verlander suddenly human again. The charmed life of the Giants continues.

  13. Ouch. This is almost 2006 awful. Almost.

    Too late, but how about someone else in LF now.

  14. Nice scouting report on Sandoval…why don’t we throw him.10 more fastballs and see if he can hit 13 in a row

  17. I thought all the nail-biters were tough to take. I’m forced to admit that this is worse.

  25. Well, at least that takes care of the whole Valverde thing. Now let’s see what Long Ball can do.

    1. A couple more tweaks to his motion and he’ll be OK in a couple of days and be ready for an important 3-run save situation.

  26. Hey Boys…..Tigers pitching has been bad for the entire game starting with Verlander. Let’s regroup tomorrow with Mad Baumgardner whose ERA is 11.

  30. We’ve got SF right where we want them. They’ll be overconfident now and lose the next 4 in a row.

  33. I’m gonna have a beer and turn on some Stevie Wonder. See everyone tomorrow night.

    (BTW – billfer – 100,000 comments, that’s awesome. Congrats man, we all owe you a sincere thanks for giving us this forum to connect and interact)

          1. PS for Kevin: Steveland Morris lived two blocks (on Greenlawn St) from our house (Pennington Dr.) in Detroit. In the mid-1960s, I used to be a safety patrolman on Greenlawn and Thatcher when every schoolday morning we said hello to Stevie as he got in the car for a ride to a special Detroit school for blind kids. I still remember watching Stevie perform on Swinging Time on Channel 9 hosted by Robin Seymour, aka, “The Bird!” To keep this relevant, didn’t Norm Cash has a show on CKWL Channel 9 in 1969?

  36. I know, I know, it was a bad night, but I remain positive that we can get this done…. have a few Gints “friends” on Facebook who cannot name more than 2 or 3 of the Gints players… that is sooooo wrong…. thought of the day via my 9 year old grandson” Papa, I thought Pandas are an endangered species” I love that kid!

  37. I’m still feeling a little gutted.

    Time to roll out the Rock Star, Red Bull, and Monster drinks for this Tiger dugout, drain the Gatorade, we need to get these guys amped up. It’s time TIGERS…..RIGHT NOW…..LOCK IN…..LETS TAKE ONE TONIGHT!!!!

  38. so far ‘the baseball gods’ have been very kind to SF, probably a reaction to all the pre-game hype on ‘how unhittable JV and DET pitching is’.

    Fister needs to be sharp, seeing as SF is throwing another lefty against DET. Its not a ‘must win’ situation tonight, but the series dynamic changes considerably if DET goes home 1-1 vs 0-2.

  41. I’ll start with a quote: “The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” -Mark Twain.
    After watching game one of the World Series at AT&T Park in San Francisco, it’s fun to read this blog. It also makes me feel sad for the people in Detroit. Detroit must be a really sad place to live if all you can say about a worthy opponent is to predict his demise in four straight games (correction: make that at least five, now). Your assessment of Zito and Verlander should be cause for introspection. That’s ok, take out your frustration about living in an economic wasteland on the good city by the bay that is doing very well indeed, thank you very much.

    1. i could say ‘thanks for your input’, but i won’t. For the record paul, only a few commenters to this blog live in Detroit and most live outside the state…but what difference would that make anyway?

      Suggestion: i would think stereotyping someone else’s team, fans or city based on ignorance is not something a person “from the good city by the bay” would want to engage in…but ‘you go girl!’

      Twain also said “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.”

      2. For the record I lived in the SF Bay area a long time…some of the best baseball fans anywhere, and I got nothing but respect (OK, maybe that and good-natured ribbing) for my Tiger allegiance…they all got it. Course I didn’t hang with the Doctors, so there’s that.

      3. Well said Stromin! I have been a devoted and loyal Tiger fan living in Mississippi for 31 years. The county that I live in has the highest PhDs per capita in the US including ahead of the counties that make up the Silcon Valley that is down the bay from SF. Meanwhile I am unfortunately the only devoted Tiger fan in the state so Mississippi so we must be last in per capita Tiger fans. However the baseball knowledge and humor shared on this blog is first class and allows you to enjoy the finer points of a long season. Hang around Dr. Paul as you will certainly learn lots about Tiger baseball and the good people that follows it. Always a Tiger, OTiMF.

        1. Not sure what Dr. Paul was on about. Personally, I thought the Giants were the more worthy opponent out of the NLCS and I’m glad the Tigers are playing them. I haven’t seen much – if any – disparaging commentary about the Giants here.

          But… whatever. Troll.

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