Detroit Tigers: 83-62, 1st Place (6.0 ahead of Cleveland).
Well, if the Tigers are going to insist on playing the feast-or-famine game on offense, we might as well enjoy the feast, right? Great games by Fielder, Martinez, Avila, and Iglesias. Cabrera concerns me: he did hit 3 fairly deep, but he just doesn’t seem to have the power to get it out of the ballpark right now (you know what they say about your power coming from your hips and legs). Hopefully he will hit one about 450 ft. tonight and make me look silly.
Not that we needed all of the runs. Rick Porcello pitched a fine game, so fine in fact that Jim Leyland let him finish the thing off himself, for his first career complete game. Congratulations, Mr. Porcello.
A surprising statistic that came out of an exchange last night with Vince in MN: Current WHIP (Walks and Hits per Inning Pitched):
- 0.962 Max Scherzer
- 1.143 Anibal Sanchez
- 1.296 Doug Fister
- 1.309 Rick Porcello
- 1.339 Justin Verlander
So yes, Rick Porcello has a lower WHIP than Verlander, who is dead last in the starting rotation (Fister, Porcello, and Verlander are really close enough that they are more or less even statistically). More of Porcello’s runners end up scoring for some reason (4.56 ERA vs. 3.64 ERA for Verlander and 3.77 for Fister), perhaps because more of his WHIP is hit and less of it is walks, although his OPS against (.722) is comparable to Fister (.707) and Verlander (.705).
One thing Porcello would seem to be better at than tonight’s pitcher, Anibal Sanchez, is holding runners on base. 10 bases have been stolen while Porcello has been on the mound, out of 15 attempts. While Sanchez is pitching opponents have been successful on 20 out of 21 tries.
*****
As we discussed in the comments section yesterday, Jhonny Peralta has begun working out with the Tigers, although no decision has been made about his eligibility (the earliest he is eligible to return is the season-ending 3-game series at Miami).
A bit of a surprise today: Jason Beck has reported that he worked out taking fly balls in left field. Peralta has never played the outfield at any level of professional baseball. Shades of Mickey Stanley in 1968? Hmm.
Peralta has also changed agents, switching to SFX from ACES, who was involved with many of the players caught up in the Biogenesis scandal. Sounds like a good move.
*****
Today’s Player of the Pre-game: I’ve been doing pretty well with these, but nobody is really jumping out for me today. I think I will go with Victor Martinez.
Tonight’s Let’s-Put-Cleveland-In-The-Rear-View-Mirror Lineup:
- Jackson, CF
- Hunter, RF
- Cabrera, 3B
- Fielder, 1B
- Martinez, DH
- Castellanos, LF
- Infante, 2B
- Avila, C
- Iglesias, SS
What’s the chance that Cleveland or KC catch us? None, because Slim just got hit in the ass by a closing door ….. start printing our playoff tickets!
if that isn’t the Tiger hitters what is…walks everyone and Victor and Castellano leave the strike zone hacking away at balls for outs…
Porcello’s ERA being higher due to giving up more hits is self-evident; there are so many scenarios where a hit brings in a run and a walk doesn’t. Despite Frederick’s great control, all those hits allowed are the reason he is a marginal pitcher. Maybe there is too much control. Could he be a better pitcher if he was a little wilder? Verlander’s higher walk count is more indicative of his difficulty in putting batters away, therefore running up his pitch counts and inevitably more walks. The bases on balls certainly contribute to more scoring opportunities for the opposition, but unless you in Dontrelle Willis territory they won’t be as damaging as giving up an excess of hits. My guess is that if JV gets his sharpness and movement back, the walks will go down and he will be getting the results we have gotten used to these last several years.
Peralta to left field? Sure, why not. Miami here we come.
As far as the poor throw out rate on stolen base attempts goes, how much of the problem lies with then pitchers. Sanchez might shine some light on this question. What percentage of steal tries were successful against him before he became a Tiger?
appears CWS continue to try their best to get DET into the playoffs
Hunter needs more than one day off…Hey MacClendon if Hunter pulled his head off the ball any more than he is now it would fall off…so in case your reading this ..help him!!!
Miggy is now at the Mendosa line for Sep….0 HR…3 RBI..someone please explain why he is playing?…there is obviously sonething very wrong with him…
He may not even win the batting title at this rate.
Hey, look! It’s Cy Quintana!
I am getting sleepy.
Cy Q…has learned the secret of pitching against the Tigers….only throw the ball in the strike zone when you absolutely have to…the rest of the time they will hack themselves out….like tonight!
Sad when the catcher steals on you.
the strikezone is pitiful…balls are strikes and strikes are balls. this guy is a joke!
this team is beyoynd slow…they are unbelievable slow!!!…add that to that a catcyer that can’t throwvout the other teams slowest guy and …this spells playoff troubles to me!!!
atta boy Omar!
Shhh, you’ll wake Vince.
Smokey is asleep at the switch or just brain dead. He should have had Ajax stealing 2ND!
Feel bad for Sanchez…pitches a 0 game only to be backed up by the all so often Pussycat offense
Seems to me Sanchez gets the worst run support of the staff.
Not so.
At the moment Cabrera is running like Victor Martinez with ankle weights.
I repeat…attaboy Omar!
How great is it to have Infante back?
Wha, huh, did something happen?
Hopefully nothing else happens and we can sneak out of town with this one.
Back to 6.5, per our agreement with the Indians.
Of course, they get 4 in US Cellular starting tonight, so that agreement may be null and void by tomorrow.
lets hang on here…a win here as ugly as this one ..is a railroad spike nailed in the AL Central Coffin
Sanchez should have never started that inning. He was well over 100 pitches. The bullpen is rested.
And now the runners on base are his so if Veras blows it Anibal gets the loss and his ERA goes up (he gets Porcello’d).
Maybe you weren’t the only one who dozed off!
Leyland probably patting himself on the back for his brilliant use of the bullpen in the eighth inning. Well, duh.
But he woke up in time to bring Smyly in for the lefty, +1
At least it wasn’t Coke.
if Mumbles had any b*lls he would have squeezed Infante in with Iggy but thats WHY he didn’t try it!
two nice “holds” against two veteran hitters there!!
I am with Coleman here…quick pack the bags and get out of town
In other news, where is Oakland finding all these runs lately? They just bombed Minnesota 18-3, and have gone 3 games up on Texas, who just got swept at home (things must be getting a little uncomfortable in Texas).
Cleveland and Kansas City would seem to have a tough road for any shot at the wild card, but at least they have been winning; Texas is currently in the WC1 spot at 2-8 in their last 10, then Tampa Bay who is 3-7 in their last 10, and both have tougher schedules than Cleveland or Kansas City, With NY and Baltimore in the mix as well. Should get interesting.
though BOS has been a run scoring machine over the past month, OAK concerns me more in a DET matchup.
BOS is not a lock on the best record in the AL, since they’ve got 6 games left w/BAL and 3 w/NYY
OAK has 3 games left @ TX, then 6 w/LAA, 3 w/MIN and 3 w/SEA
DET should push for best AL/home field – as their pitching staff is better suited for Comerica than say, Fenway
They brought up a scenario last night where JV is put in the #3 slot in postseason to get the anger level up a bit. I like it but we know that mumbles would never let it happen.
why not really piss him off and move him to the #4 slot?…it might be appropriate based on the body of work this year – and confidence level in Scherzer, Sanchez, Fister & JV.
#3 slot is no insult. Especially in a 7-game series.
Peralta again:
http://beck.mlblogs.com
I’ve got no grudge. He did the crime* and did the time. He played a big part in the Tigers’ success before the suspension, and PEDs had nothing to do with it. Good ballplayer, good bat. I do wonder why Jhonny saw fit to make an apparently false denial rather than simply abstain from comment.
*And what *was* the crime, specifically? What drugs did he take, and when and for how long? Anyone? I don’t know why he would be so contrite if his involvement with Biogenesis only went as far as an agreement to purchase or somesuch.
the 3 spot would be an embarrassment to JV and Mumbles would never ever ever do that to him…it will be Jv..Scherzer or Sherzer..JV…no other way. Remember feelings could get hurt!!