2013 Season, Game Post

Game 2013.14: Tigers at Mariners

67 Comments

8-5, 1st place, 1 game up.

Last night’s win had a little bit of everything. To begin, a second consecutive tremendous start by Fister. 4 hits, 1 walk and 2 earned over 7, which was just enough time to give the Tigers an opportunity to make the game un-blowpen-able. The top of the lineup again showed why they are the best in baseball, with #s 1-3 going 7-13 with 6 RBI and 4 runs scored. Add in Fielder and VMart, and 1-5 went 10-22. Fielder had an off game including 4 Ks, but he’s not going to collect multiple hits every night, and this lineup is deep enough that on a night when your cleanup guy goes 0-5 and strands 3, the Tigers still win comfortably.

I was impressed with the major league debut of Yoervis Medina, who was baptized into the league in a very JL manner -bases loaded pressure situation. To which he responded by walking Hunter, and then striking out Cabrera on a nice outside fastball (I thought he got squeezed on the first pitch of the AB as well. He then K’d Fielder to lead off the 9th with a fastball in the same location. Fielder was walking out of the box before the umpire could raise his hand.

In case you didn’t notice this from last night – the Tigers struck out 16 (SIXTEEN) times. 10 out of the last 12 outs were Ks. They were also 2-10 with RISP. 12 base hits and 4 walks will mask a lot of things.

So on to tonight.

The Tigers face the great King Felix, otherwise known as the 2nd biggest contract in the AL AKA the 2nd best pitcher in baseball. That aside, Felix has dominated the Tigers over his career, to the tune of 9-2, and has been unbeatable as of late (if you consider 6 years “as of late”), going 9-0 with a 2.86 ERA covering 10 starts dating back to July of 2007. At Safeco he’s even better – 4-0 with a 2.42 ERA. Despite that, Miggy (.429 in 21 ABs) still hits Felix well. Look for Hunter (.324 career v. Felix covering 68 ABs) to get us going. The Tigers roster only has 2 career HRs off of King Felix – Peralta and VMart each have 1.

Tonight’s Is Something Wrong with Avila? Lineup:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Hunter, RF
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Martinez, DH
6. Dirks, LF
7. Peralta, SS
8. Pena, C (remember, he’s a switch hitter, so my guess is that Jimmuh wants to give AA a night off)
9. Infante, 2B

67 thoughts on “Game 2013.14: Tigers at Mariners”

  1. There’s something very wrong with Alex Avila at the plate. I’m not sure if we can agree what is, but it is certainly apparent to the eye even without looking at the following miserable stats:

    48 PA, 2 XBH, 15 strikeouts and 2 walks, .174/.208/.304/.513. 10 PA vs. LHP, zeroes with 5 strikeouts. RISP: 18 PA, .059 with 0 RBI. 2 strikes: 27 PA, .080. 2 outs: 9 PA, .000.

    I could be wrong, but it seems that a very frequent occurrence is Avila taking strike two, then subsequently swinging and missing at the very same pitch (or location), and missing badly.

    I was hoping before the season began that Leyland would be resting Avila at C once a series or close to it, and I’m hoping he’ll lean a little more heavily on Pena for at least the next several weeks.

    1. Maybe some bunting practice is in order. Remember how much it helped Berry last year? I’m all for Avila being a strict platoon at catcher, at least as far as starts go unless he is doing such a bang up job calling pitches that we can’t do without him when they do face a lefty. The fact that the rest of the offense is going so well right now maybe his deficiencies aren’t that big of a deal. For now.

  2. Encouraging outing by the bullpen last night, Al-Al and Benoit. The save I awarded Rick Porcello could be in jeopardy.

    Miggy turned in a true MVP performance, carrying the team on his shoulders long enough for the win.

    Tigers defense has been outstanding, but I’d say the team has committed 3 errors vs, the official 1. The Derek Norris liner off the heel of Cabrera’s glove that went for a double the other day was playable, in my opinion. That’s 2 errors on Miggy, and I’m not sure I wouldn’t give him a share of the Scherzer error as well. Even so, he’s been good at 3B overall.

  4. Hey Prince that’s 6 in a row…now were looking up Inge records to see if there has been more

  6. I understand how tough Felix is…but when you take the first pitch every batter for a strike pretty much in the middle of the plate…then swing at the third bouncing third strike…he just ain’t that good!

  7. 2 on and only 1 out, and you have to face the fierce…oh wait, it’s Dustin Ackley! Nevermind.

  9. Another K for Prince. We have a shot at seeing the rare back-to-back Golden Sombreros tonight.

  11. 27 K’S and counting is something to worry about….at least 8 of Felixs were balls for strike 3

  22. Bullpen comes through. Piece of coke. We’ve got ’em right where we want ’em now.

  23. Hey McClendon what do you think of your teams two night 1000000 strikeouts……” thats baseball”

  31. I hope Kelly is available to pitch. At this rate, we’ll need him in the 13th if the game goes that long.

  32. Well, no matter how this one turns out, there are at least two positive things to come out of it. 1. Prince broke his K- streak. 2. Villarreal faced 4 batters and only walked half of them (that’s a 50% success rate for those who keep track of such data).

  38. Two Golden Sombreros in one game. I don’t think that has ever happened before. We’re seeing history in the making gents. Although because it is an extra inning affair, perhaps it (AJAKKKKs) should get an asterisk.

  40. 45 Tiger strikeouts in past 3 games…nice approach to hitting….to which Mumbles will say…..that’s just baseball

  42. Leyland turns to Lloyd and says “Gee that’s a lot of strikeouts” to which Lloyd answers “Huh”!

  44. Alright how about if this thing doesn’t end by 15 innings then we go to a sudden death bunt-off?

  45. Then Lloyd turns to Leyland and says “Gee thats alot of strikeouts”, to which Mumbles answers “Huh!”

    1. I am shocked if the Tigers don’t create a DVD set with the audio of the conversations between Leyland and Lamont. I would pay some good money for the season audio to that. Can you imagine hearing all of Leyland’s dialogue in the dugout. Wow what an experience that would be.

  50. So could Smyly be left in here? Of course not, now that we have the lead, we have to bring in A Closer.

  53. Yay! Gotta get some sleep, 4 hour drive to Safeco, gates open at 10:40 am PDT, will be stunned to see BP going on. Definitely do not need K practice, record breaking effort there.

  55. Wow we won the bunt off. And then the guy that scored the winning run with his small ball hit scores the real game winner with a real hit! Wow what an amazing finish!

    1. On both sides. What an enjoyable game all the way around. First sweep tomorrow.

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