2013 Season, Game Post

Game 2013.145: Tigers at White Sox

66 Comments

Detroit Tigers: 82-62, 1st Place (4.5 ahead of Cleveland). 

It’s never a good sign when one of the top highlights of the game is an ejection. But in the first inning Miguel Cabrera was tossed for the second time this season in the middle of an at bat, and like last time was just talking to the umpire, not visibly arguing with him. I had assumed that he must have said something bad, but apparently not. At issue was that he kept talking about it after the umpire told him to zip it. Leyland, while he agreed with the call in question, thought the umpire was too quick to toss Miggy, and I agree with him.  Here is Jason Beck’s summary of the ejection and who said what about it.

The real highlight of the game was Victor Martinez going long, and even though it didn’t do much to make the game interesting, it was a good sign–Victor was one of the players in the September doldrums, and we will need Victor hitting when the postseason rolls around. Mr. Doldrum himself, Torii Hunter, gets a rest tonight.

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Thinking about next season yet? The 2014 schedule has been released. The Interleague match ups next year are with the NL West, so there will be more time spent out west next year than there was this year.

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The Tigers have announced a (late) September addition: lefty Darin Downs will be joining the bullpen.

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Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Jose Iglesias. Being Rookie Guy himself, Iggy is not baffled by Chicago Rookie Guy pitcher, and contributes a nice play or two on the field.

Tonight’s Too-Early-To-Panic Lineup:

  1. Jackson, CF
  2. Dirks, LF
  3. Cabrera, 3B
  4. Fielder, 1B
  5. Martinez, DH
  6. Kelly, RF
  7. Infante, 2B
  8. Avila, C
  9. Iglesias, SS

I’m working on a way to present this lineup in a slideshow format where you have to click through 9 different pages to see all 9 guys, and your pages stall while the streaming ads are loading, like the cool web sites do. Also, I have a hilarious link to Hollywood’s 25 Funniest Sword Fight Fails.

66 thoughts on “Game 2013.145: Tigers at White Sox”

  1. Coleman, that’s spot-on regarding the frustrating way websites present lists nowadays (one per page)…

    …and why stop at 25, why not show all 47 Funniest Sword Fight Fails?

    A sense of humor will be important for Tiger fans for the next 30-45 days.

    1. Just practicing. No decision implied about adding him to roster. If he is added he may end up playing 3rd.

      1. No decision has been stated or perhaps even made, but I’m taking it as a done deal. Not expecting him for SS, of course, and yes, 3B would have to be in mind given his history.

  4. Hunter off…good

    need a Game out of Rick tonight and hope the Pussycat offense breaks back out of what ever they are in!

  5. I am happy with the schedule for us West Coast guys.. this years April trip came thru LA once against the Angels and we all know what happens when the Tigers meet up with the Angels…I am going to book a room in San Diego if you guys want to come out…

  10. On the Cabrera ejection: the rule states that players may not argue, discuss, or engage in a prolonged debate with the umpire on ball and strike calls. This is not a new rule. It has always been that way. There are NO exceptions. That’s baseball.

    1. Cabrera’s first ejection was for arguing balls and strikes. This one was not, even according to the umpire. This one was for “continuing the argument.” In other words he was arguing about something that was not balls and strikes–what he kept saying was that he wasn’t swinging, that his bat moved while he was trying to get out of the way–but the problem was that he KEPT arguing about it after the umpire told him to shut up.

      1. BTW, Cabby says that he wasn’t really arguing, he was just trying to explain what he meant. I believe him. I would be OK with the ejection were it not for this weird thing where the umpires are now saying it is grounds for ejection when you say something after they proclaim “Silence!”

        1. If there is even the appearance of an argument, then player is going to get tossed. And by the rules it was irrelevant what Miggy meant. Umpires are not “now saying this”, It has been like this for over 100 years. Cabrera has been around long enough to know this. The professional thing to do was for him shut up and get back in the batters box.

          1. Agree about what Miggy should have done, but there used to be an unwritten rule that you were tossed as soon as you “show up” the umpire (gesturing, etc), and guys were given slack for muttering to the ump, as long as it wasn’t personal (and as long as it wasn’t “public”). Ask any old-timer; there was a huge line drawn where you couldn’t “show up” an ump. They have clamped down a bit now.

            1. And rightfully so, if for no other reason than that the games could go on forever. Remember sand lot days?

              1. Nothing takes longer than all the 3-pitcher 7th innings. If only those could be eliminated somehow. Maybe I am just bitter because we don’t have 3 guys worth running out there in the 7th.

      2. If the umpire called it a swinging strike and Cabrera claimed he wasn’t swinging, then it seems to me that Cabrera was arguing the strike call. So, the “continuing argument” was also about a strike call. This isn’t rocket science.

  12. Prince’s divorce proceedings must be going well. In his last 30 games he is .316/.367/.479/.846. A little low on the slugging perhaps, but he is getting the job done. And a good thing too. With Miggy’s various issues we need somebody to pick up some of the slack.

    1. The Tigers would love to cut ties with Peralta, but are not. So far, it’s just giving the nod to workouts. I will be bold here and suggest that Peralta is being looked at as a plan B, not for Iglesias, but for Cabrera. Cabrera probably won’t be Cabrera again this season.

          1. Peralta becomes available for the Miami series. Maybe putting him at third for those three games and letting Miggy sit wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

            1. The Tigers could use an extra backup infielder for the postseason, with Iglesias limpy and Cabrera…well, who really knows what all is wrong with him. Not to mention the World Series, if we ever get there–who would you rather have as a RH PH, Peralta, or Tui? And I could easily imagine a Cabrera 3B/Martinez DH at home with a Cabrera DH/Peralta 3B matchup option, with a Cabrera 3B/Martinez C/Peralta PH on the road. I’m not necessarily advocating this, I just think this is what the team is thinking.

              Right now the 3rd base depth chart is Cabrera/Kelly-Santiago/ Tuisosopo…would Cabrera/Peralta/Kelly-Santiago be a stronger one? And it would make the SS depth chart change from Iglesias/Santiago to Iglesias/Peralta/Santiago, which could also be appealing considering Iglesias’ bad shins.

              I don’t think there is any chance they bring back Peralta as a starter. But as a bench player he is intriguing.

  14. “Would be nice to get into the middle relief of this Tiger’s pen, Porcello is close to untouchable.” (White Sox broadcast).

    1. Well, his usual 1.50 WHIP isn’t exactly untouchable, but I guess when your team has been in last place for most of the last 5+ months, objective analysis probably isn’t very high on the list of things to do.

        1. They are pretty close, but you are right. Porcello gives up more hits (which is exasperating), but his control is much better. Verlander’s excess walks on the other hand, are even more exasperating.

          1. Fun facts about Mr. Porcello, not intended as pro or con but simply “is’:

            1. The bullpen has allowed 12 of his 84 runs.
            2. Only 2 of his 84 runs are unearned (lowest among starters).
            3. Highest HR/9 among starters.
            4. Of the 72 runs not let in by the bullpen, 29 scored via the home run (9 solo, 5 2-run, 2 3-run, 1 grand slam).
            5. He’s only picked up wins in 2 non-quality starts, and these fell short of quality only as a matter of one-third IP too little.
            6. He has taken 2 losses and 4 no-decisions in 16 quality starts.
            7. His masterpiece of a game against the Pirates (Game Score = 86) May 28 is unmatched by any from Scherzer/Verlander/Fister in 2013 and topped only by a couple from Sanchez – and Porcello got a no-decision for it.

            1. The bullpen issue is interesting: the bullpen has definitely contributed to his high ERA–and Porcello, more than any other starter, gets followed up by the Cokes of the bullpen. If he could make it further in games, he wouldn’t be subject to the ERA woes inflicted on him by the guy replacing him in the middle of the 6th.

  16. The Sox could have an entirely different look next year, both Konerko and Dunn have hinted at retirement recently.

    1. Konerko still scares me, even though he no longer does anything scary, the same way Hafner did once he stopped doing anything scary.

      If you recall, there were a lot of Tiger fans clamoring for Detroit to sign Dunn. Glad that never happened.

      1. Yep, I was pro Dunn at the time and in retrospect am glad it didn’t happen. On the other hand, I still think he would have been more valuable in LF than either DY or BB despite the low average and all those Ks. I was hot for Carl Crawford when he was leaving TB too, and look how he has performed since. To be fair, I was right about the Neifi Perez deal though.

  17. beginning of the year who would have bet Porcello would have a great chance of having more wins than Verlander….hey Vegas what are those odds???

  20. Does Porcello come out for the 9th? I don’t think he’s ever done that before. I say go for it! Time for Kid Rick to put on the big boy pants!

    1. Yup, that’s his first.

      By the way, did you know that Porcellos’s first name is Frederick and not Richard?

  23. Feeling a bit better after last night’s rant. Dropping 6 of 8 in September is a bit unsettling. Would feel a whole lot better if we take the series tomorrow. Its time to stop messing around on this road trip.

    1. Remember they mess around on every road trip. Take away the 9-1 at CLE and they are 30-34 on the road this year.

  24. I too am excited about next year’a schedule, as the bride and I are heading to Boston to visit our lawyer to be. The Tigers are in town in May, right about when I will now INSIST we should be in Boston, so I can go to the “Cathedral of Baseball”. Quick qustion: Will I become involved in a tussle if I wear any old english D paraphenalia, or is it like Seattle where half the fans come to root for the road team? And will check out that So Cal swing too… Never forget ! 12 years later, I still have the chills when I think about this day that is here (9/11)

    1. I went to a Tigers Bo/Sox series a few years ago sporting the old English D, and found the Red Sox faithful to be warm and inviting.

  25. The Royals are jumping all over Kazmir in the first inning: a home run, a triple, three singles, 2 stolen bases, and still only 2 outs.

      2. they play 3 in KC next week…Royals could be in second place by then. we may need to root for the Tribe then!

        or, we could just sweep KC this weekend and turn their lights out.

  26. If DET wins tonight and KC beats CLE today…if DET goes 8-8 in their final 16 games, in order to tie DET and force a game 163:

    CLE would have to go 15-2 (they have 17 games left after today)
    KC would have to go 15-1

    You can do the math should DET play less-than .500 ball the rest of the year (against KC – 3, SEA – 4, CWS – 3, MIN – 3 & MIA – 3). If DET can’t win 8 of 16 against these teams they probably don’t deserve to win the division or make the playoffs

  28. perennial playoff team TX Rangers have lost 8 of their last 10 games, and their next 10 games are against playoff contending teams (OAK, TAM & KC).

    NYY, BAL, CLE & KC all still have a legit shot at grabbing one (or both) of the wild cards spots (from TAM or TX) …should be interesting

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