2012 Season, Playoffs

Game 2012 Playoffs.11: Tigers at Giants

92 Comments

Well, there are two ways to look at Game 1 of the World Series. One is that SF beat Detroit in every aspect of the game: pitching, relief pitching, fielding, hitting, lucky bounces (there wasn’t much significant base running). The other side of this is that it is only one game, regardless of how badly Detroit was beaten.

Well, there is actually a 3rd aspect.  This World Series opened up in eerily similar fashion to the 2006 World Series:  the Tigers with a long layoff (5 days this year, 6 in 2006), Justin Verlander gets shelled, the Tigers are beaten handily, and…well let’s hope it isn’t the same “and.” (One difference is that so far there has been no infield Clown Show, although Delmon Young is always an adventure in LF).

(By the way it is becoming clear that Justin Verlander is just NOT the same pitcher with extra rest).

Speaking of Delmon, he apparently has gone viral as they say (and figures it would be DY), throwing the pitching staff (i.e. Verlander) under the bus (the proverbial one, even Delmon hasn’t gone there yet): “Offense? We were down 4-0 quick, so you can’t blame the offense,” said Young. Except that the offense, as was the case many times this season, disappeared, and, as was the case many many times this season, disappeared against the ol’ Crafty Lefty.

Even Cabrera jumped on the under-bus chucking.  When asked what made Zito so effective he answered “The run support.”

C’mon guys! I just posted this big thing yesterday about how one of the remarkable things about this team (and Leyland’s leadership) was the lack of in-fighting, the real camaraderie where everyone had each other’s back. So just cut that out.

A longer-term issue to watch in the series: the Tiger bullpen.  Starting a pitcher short (in order to keep WS Mascot Ramon Santiago on the roster), the bullpen now has a certain Large Potato one doesn’t not dare to use.  Prediction: if the series goes beyond 5 games, Max Scherzer will appear in later innings.

On a random ex-Tiger note, a very nice piece about ex-Tiger Aubrey Huff is here.

Random Prediction:  Doug Fister will get a hit.

Random Prediction 2: Pablo Sandoval, as difficult to walk as Delmon Young, will nonetheless draw a walk tonight.

Your Series-Evening Lineup:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Infante, 2B
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Young, LF
6. Peralta, SS
7. Garcia, RF
8. Laird, C
9. Fister, P

92 thoughts on “Game 2012 Playoffs.11: Tigers at Giants”

  1. I was so incensed about Delmon’s comments I almost wrote a post about it, but he’s not worth the effort. He’ll be gone in a week one way or another.

    1. After 5 days of no baseball, Delmon is just rusty on his post-game commenteering. A win will remove all of that!

      1. He said some weird things after Game 1 of the ALCS that I thought would draw more reaction here. Unhelpful, fire-up-the-other-team stuff, I thought.

        Did anyone ask him about “The Throw?”

    1. Well, the point was made that extra rest is no good for him. And he does have another 30-40 pitches left over from yesterday…

    2. That was hard to edit by phone, but if I’d left it it would’ve just inspired the Giants.

  3. That cerimonial first pitch should fire anyone up. Brought tears to my eyes.

  8. That was asinine by Gene. A man on second and third with no outs sounds good to me. No lets send our slowest runner on a prayer because the ball jettisoned of the wall slightly.

    1. But he’s the best 3B coach in baseball. And he knew he had to send Fielder because the next three guys were going to go out.

      1. You know how we are with a man on third and less than 2 out ……. maybe Gene was thinking the same way.

  12. I don’t like the way that line drive off Fister’s noggin looked at all. That’s gotta affect him.

    The Tigers need to get to Bumgarner now.

  14. For a while there, starting off with 3 scoreless innings from a Tigers starter was like a routine, expected thing. One off game, and it feels like a treat again.

    1. Another short inning. Where have I seen this before? At least they haven’t made any defensive faux pas yet.

  20. Thought I caught a glimpse of some grease paint and one floppy shoe on Infante there.

    Nah.

  23. Fister has pitched great, even took one to the goard…its time the offense started holding up their end.

        1. Plus lack of plate discipline (not a problem for SF), which contribute to the 36 pitch difference between starters.

  26. On the other hand, it is convenient knowing you can take a break while the Tigers are up and not miss anything.

    Don’t blame the offense, Fister has yet to drive in a Tiger run from the mound.

  28. i suspect that was Fister’s last pitch…let’s hope they’ll get a chance to pinch hit for him in the 7th

      2. If that is the case, it will present Valverde a great opportunity to work on his leg kick, to say nothing of the butt waggle.

  29. GiDP. I just had a feeling, since the “offense” seems determined to play short innings tonight.

  35. The clown show raises its ugly head….why give them a run in inning 7 ..infield in easy DP starting at home

  37. It was a great job by Fister. He picked up Verlander and the team, and now he’ll get a loss to go along with his two no-decisions. Lovely. I thought Smyly was Mr. Cool.

  38. Play the rookie mistake 1, let ball roll in fair territory mistake 2 and play infield back mistake 3.
    Typical tiger baseball.

    1. I’m inclined to agree. That could be swept under the table with a wee bit of offense, but it appears the Tigers don’t have it in them.

      2. Yeah no kidding, the apology letter to Leyland got my attention and sent a chill up my spine. And managing was the difference in this game, hopefully Jim doesn’t need this one to still win or he can add his failures in the WS to his list of failures in the regular season when he writes his resignation/apology letter to the fans.

    1. Yeah, I couldn’t believe it. I was starting to think – before all that – that the Tigers had a shot.

  46. Did I just watch the San Francisco Giants beat the Detroit Yankees?

    This was the weakest link in the Giant’s rotation folks. Ouch.

    1. It’s the same kind of baseball this team played most of the season. They’re 7-4 in the playoffs right now. If they get swept they’ll be 7-6, which isn’t exactly surprising for a 13-game stretch for this team.

      1. Truly spoken. But of course we hope that they can continue to beat the averages and defy the gravity of their fatal flaws just long enough to clear the abyss.

        May the better team win, as long as it’s the Tigers.

  49. Aside from Fister, weak. Very weak.

    I was thinking earlier today that you can just run into a team at the wrong time (based on yesterday’s game and SF’s recent run). But after this game, it’s more like you can just BE the wrong team sometimes.

    It’s worse than “Detroit Yankees,” because I don’t think that in terms of starting pitching they’re facing the “San Francisco Tigers.”

  51. All season long there have been comments on Lamont’s 3rd base coaching. I am not sure how many of you (if any) have ever done it, but having done it for some 15 years, I can safely say that I do not know what he is thinking over there. I was taught (by that Lasorda fellow) that if you don’t have a few guys thrown out at the plate you are not doing it right. Gene is way over that variable, and it really hurt us tonite. You can never know how that inning would have turned out, but I feel we lost the game right then and there.

    1. i have no problem with Lamont waiving Fielder home on that play; the ball kicked out off the wall and Blanco had to take a few extra steps to retrieve it…and Blanco actually overthrew his 3B cutoff man…fortunately for SF Scutaro was backing him up (important/smart/hustle play) and the overthrow came right to him, who wheeled and made a perfect throw. Because of Posey’s position, Fielder should have slid more to the batter’s box side and swiped the plate with his hand, but those are bang-bang plays…and hindsight is always 20-20

      that being said, my main problem w/Lamont is that many times it seems that he doesn’t consider a couple key factors (when deciding to send a runner home or not): 1) who his runner is (had it been Berry, Lamont would have probably held him), and 2) the OF’s arm.

      who knows what would have happened if he held Fielder…2nd & 3rd nobody out…but DET did manage only one hit off Bumgarner and SF pitching, so maybe DET wouldn’t have scored that inning – and we would have been asking, ‘why didn’t Lamont send him?’

      Bottom line: if DET doesn’t start hitting, this series will end in DET

      1. Totally agree, SN, and that is the KEY to coaching 3rd, you have to take all that data into consideration, and still sometimes it works, and sometimes it don’t, . Absolutely, must have the bats wake up too, SF had a lot of lucky bounces, too, and the good thing is we play better at home Let’s play 6!

  52. Just saw prediction for game time in Detroit: temp of 39 degrees…if the “bats will heat up when it gets warmer” crowd is right, we are up the proverbial creek. (on the other hand, Gene Lamont’s arms may freeze, so there’s that…and on the other other hand, check out Anibal’s career numbers against SF).

    1. Yeah, look at his numbers at AT&T Park in particular. He should have started Game 1.

      And Game 2.

        1. Seriously, before the WS I was thinking (to myself) (how else would I be thinking?) that Detroit should keep the rotation just as it was for the ALCS. Fister-Sanchez-Verlander-Scherzer. Aside from the longer layoff for JV (maybe not good in retrospect), I still like it, moot as it is now. Slotting Verlander for games 3 and 7 would have been a smart move even without the benefit of hindsight, I think.

  53. Went outside this morning (Chicago area) to weather I imagine will be much like the game tonight. Personally, I wouldn’t mind playing baseball in this weather – except for the part about standing around (or crouching) as a defensive player. Tough time to be a catcher, I would think. If there’s any kind of a breeze, the cold could be most unpleasant. I’d expect to see guys on the field moving around restlessly and a faster pace to these games in Detroit.

    I think the World Series should take place during the second week of October at the latest, whatever MLB has to do to make that happen.

  54. Prince Fielder vs. RHP in the postseason: 1 for 18, .372 OPS. Can this possibly be correct?

    1. Fielder and Avila stand out as the black holes in the lineup through 11 games of the postseason. Miguel Cabrera has 11 hits… and 4 runs. It’s not as though all the Tigers’ bats have gone to sleep. But two is enough to make it appear that way.

        1. Against RHP, yes, and considerably off 2012 regular season there. Include 4 LHP AB and it’s worse. Also 11 K in 25 AB (all against RHP) and 1 RBI. 0-5 with RISP, 2-9 with runners on (the latter probably average for the team in postseason). Glad for his defense, but he’s definitely off his game at the plate.

          1. I don’t how to interpret this, exactly, but Fielder and Avila are a combined 3 for 23 (plus 4 BB) when AHEAD in the count. At the bottom along with Laird.

  55. Prince Fielder’s only real slump during the regular season (as far as I can tell) was September 8-19, during which he posted a .154 BA, .660 OPS, and a .143 BAbip. The Tigers went 6-5 during this stretch, which included 9 road games.

    For the remainder of the season, Fielder put up a .426 BA, 1.171 OPS, and a .459 BAbip. The Tigers went 9-5, 8 games at home and 6 away.

    None of the above really necessary to establish that Fielder hitting like he oughta would improve Tigers chances, but interesting nonetheless.

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