2013 Season, Game Post, Playoffs

Game 2013. Playoffs 4: A’s at Tigers

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Well, here we are facing elimination, which is never a pleasant thing. The series so far has been a bit dispiriting, which is why I am muttering to myself and throwing the F-bomb around to keep myself pumped up while I type this. And what the $%*! are you looking at?

This isn’t supposed to be how it goes: the Tigers were built on starting pitching and heavy lumber, sacrificing things like base running, defense, and the bullpen to get there. And it was a winning formula, mostly: the Tigers were 2nd in the league to Boston in runs per game at 4.91, and 2nd in team OPS at .780, with a healthy .434 slugging %. But that has all but disappeared. Since September 1, the Tigers have hit only 16 home runs, good for 14th in the AL (ahead of just Houston). Their slugging % has dropped to .387.  Could Cabrera really mean that much to the offense? He could.

That leaves a team built on starting pitching, and, well, crossing your fingers. And until yesterday, the starting pitching did its part, holding Oakland to 2 runs over the first 2 games, good enough for a split, even with the lack of offense. The pitching finally cracked last night, and Leyland was slow to react, and the game spun out of control. It is easy to understand Leyland’s hesitance to make a change. For the whole season and the first two games of the postseason, Leyland counted on his starters, and they came through.

*****

Perhaps tonight will be different. The Tigers, when they do lose, seem to go rather quietly. It was not so last night. Thanks to Crazy Closer the Tigers lost angry last night. Perhaps that will wake up the bats.

Even though the benches emptied last night, other than the head-to-head between Victor and Balfour it was all rather civil (no pushing or shoving, everyone seemed rather calm about it). But it is worth keeping in mind who is pitching tonight: Doug “16 HBP” Fister. What are the odds that if Fister plunks someone tonight that the A’s will not assume it is a “retaliation?” Stay tuned.

Just in case there is some, um, extracurricular activity…is it too late to sign and activate Kyle Farnsworth?

*****

Back to Mr. Cabrera. Tiger fans have been privileged to watch possibly the best hitter in baseball going all season long. Well, almost all season long. That guy is gone, and hopefully will return for next season. What we have now is a bit of 2006 Sean Casey: a dependable singles hitter who runs at a fast walk.

In a slightly cruel irony, two very nieces pieces about just how special Miguel Cabrera is came out recently, and are worth reading.  Check out is Miguel Cabrera the Hero of the Post-Steroid Era in the New York Times Magazine, which, among other things, looks at his encyclopedic memory, his vicious grin, and the possibility that he intentionally looks bad on certain pitches.

The Wall Street Journal gets into the mechanics of his swing in Miguel Cabrera: The Art of Hitting, which is full of fascinating information not just about Cabrera, but the science of hitting in general.

*****

I have been a bit hard on Austin Jackson in my comments this week, but that is because he is so important to the team–well, he in his role as leadoff hitter is. With a power-hampered Cabrera hitting 3rd, it is important to get some guys in scoring position ahead of him (when they did, he came through with an RBI single). Jackson has been striking out a rate that would impress Brandon Inge (6 in the last 2 games). As I have said, I think people make too much of strikeouts. But there are strikeouts and there are strikeouts: the A’s seem to strike out because they are waiting for their pitch (I’ve seen a few take 2 consecutive curve ball strikes while waiting for a fastball), and from swinging for the fences. Austin just looks like he is blindly hacking sometimes.

At any rate, Jackson might benefit from being moved out of the leadoff role, which doesn’t seem to really suit him. (A lot is made of his speed, but it doesn’t translate to either getting on base or stealing bases. The Tigers are last in all of baseball in stolen bases from the leadoff hitter). I think a worthwhile offseason project will be to find a real leadoff hitter. The Tigers could do worse than work with Jose Iglesias in this capacity (he will have to be more selective in what he swings at–laying off the high fastball would do him wonders).

*****

Leyland pooh-poohed the idea of Kershawing Scherzer ahead in the rotation for a start tonight, which should be no surprise, knowing Leyland. Surprise! Leyland would consider using Max in relief tonight! (In which case Verlander would start in Oakland).

*****

OK, let’s end on a positive note. With our 3-man Game Post rotation, we’ve got our Game 1 starter (and winner of the regular season Game Post League) back on the mound here, and I managed to eke out a 3-2 win in my first start. I’ve got this one.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Everyone. Detroit needs a full team contribution today.

Today’s Who You Looking At? Lineup:

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

Whatever happened to Brayan Pena? Just wondering. Don’t look up the A’s numbers against Doug Fister, you really don’t want to know. No, really, you don’t. Don’t make me do this. OK, you asked for it:

  • Coco Crisp (7-for-19)
  • Josh Donaldson (3-for-4)
  • Brandon Moss (3-for-5)
  • Yoenis Cespedes (3-for-6)

Are we sure we don’t want to reconsider that bumping Scherzer up idea?

88 thoughts on “Game 2013. Playoffs 4: A’s at Tigers”

  1. Smokey is a bloomin idiot. This is do or die. Max should be starting tonight and JV Thursday. We can’t depend on the offense. The sooner Smokey is kicked the the curb, the better!

    1. I still think it is pretty funny that Balfour–and judging by comments on the various stories, most A’s fans–think that Martinez instigated the whole thing by STARING at him. Because batters standing in the batters box generally look…where? Huh? Anyway, if we face Balfour in Game 5, I will be really disappointed if there is not a whole lot of staring going on.

  4. AJax strikes out, Hunter swings at one in the dirt, and Cabrera hits his warning track fly. Same old.

  5. My three cousins are visiting us from Sweden. We were supposed to be out on Lake Powell listening to the game….lake is closed because of shutdown. Please show them a Tiger homerun!!! Even if it is Iglesias!!!

  7. hey Hunter have you noticed Oakland does not throw you strikes cause you swing anyway!!!

    1. Cabby to DH or just out of the lineup altogether? I wouldn’t mind seeing in Game 5 a lineup that has VMart catching, Cabby @ DH, Peralta at third, and Dirks in LF. This would be our best lineup both offensively and defensively (except at catcher but you’ve got to sacrifice somewhere to gain a little bit of offense).

      1. I just meant at that point of the game (he was visibly wincing after chasing that pop fly). I like the Miggy DH/V-Mart C idea, since Avila is back to looking lost at the plate (maybe the shift is freakish him out? And where is Pena?).

        I do have to give a gold star to Alex for blocking a whole lot of balls behind the plate tonight.

  15. I remember reading an article where (Bill James or Keith Law or Orel Hershiser or someone) said “show me who is throwing first pitch strikes and I’ll tell you who is winning.”

    There’s no joy in Mudville right now.

    1. We can’t pitch to Crisp any longer. That was a mistake by Ol’ Smoky having Max pitch to Crisp in the 7th tonight with a man on second and one out. Any time he is up with men on scoring position we should give him the intentional pass and move forward from there because the guy is white-hot right now. He looks like Cabby looked in June and July right now. The only time I’d pitch to him would be with the bases empty, bases loaded, or a man on first. Man on second, man on third, men on first and second, second and third, or first and third and I’m putting him on. He’s just that unconscious right now.

  23. Tip for fans: if you really must have a baseball, go to the gift shop and buy one! Stay out of the way of a hit ball until it lands in the stands! that call could have cost us the season!

    1. Not to mention that the doofus on the left looked like a complete fool flailing and stumbling after it.

      1. I didn’t see the Martinez HR and the fan interference, but it sure sounded like there was going to be a new Bartman. I saw the game slipping away while waiting for the umps to come back from the review.

        Why would any Tigers fans do such a thing? Is it alcohol or stupidity?

        1. whether there was alcohol or stupidity involved, this was actually a ‘Bartman in reverse’-situation – and the ball appeared to be ‘in an area where both fielders and spectators are legally allowed to catch the ball’. It appears that the hometown fan (drunk or otherwise) did the right thing in this situation… Reddick insists he would have caught the ball (though that’s iffy) – fortunately we’ll never know if he would have.

          the VMart HR is on par with the Jeffrey Maier NYY situation, where this NYY kid robbed an out and created a HR (before replay) – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Maier

    1. I don’t get why if you wouldn’t start him on 3 days rest, why you would pitch him in relief on 3 days rest.

    2. If Oakland wasn’t such a left-handed dominant team I would probably go along with Ol’ Smoky’s logic to bring Max in, but with the A’s so dependent on left-handed hitters I would have gone to Smyly and tried to get two innings out of him. I can’t think of one right-handed bat on Melvin’s bench that he could have used as a pinch hitter that would have scared me or more importantly scared Smyly. We got away with it, but Melvin had to be secretly thrilled that we weren’t going to a lefty to bridge the 7th and 8th innings. Look at what a mediocre lefty like Alvarez did to them yesterday in middle relief. Melvin would’ve had to stick with virtually all of his left-handed sticks because all of his good hitters are lefties except for Cespedes.

        1. Still…..the vast majority of their offense comes from the left side of the plate. Turning Crisp around is a win for us. He is nowhere near the threat from the right side of the plate as he is from the left side of the plate.

          1. I have to admit to some envy watching the A’s launch bombs into the right field seats of Comerica. Wish we could do that. Whatever happened to that guy we are paying $20 million to do that? Martinez did sneak one over, but still…

    1. That was tense. That was what makes baseball such a great sport to watch. You could cut the tension with a knife. Max was disappointing tonight until that 8th inning. Max went from goat to hero in the span of three batters. Great drama in that 8th inning tonight.

      1. Max getting out of that jam was spectacular. Max also got himself into that jam (after taking on a potential loss the inning before). Overall, that relief stint gets a thumbs down. Not the shutdown he was supposed to deliver.

  31. I thought this week Cabrerra was about 60%..after watching that swing he is more like 25%….

  35. well we live to fight another day boys… with JV going for us!. could be a lot worse!…

    1. If I’ve learned anything from watching the Tigers its that the things that you think would give them momentum don’t (such as walk off wins followed up by 6-1 drubbings the next day), and the things that you think will sink them (such as injuries to Sanchez and Infante) don’t either. I have learned that this team is harder to predict than tomorrow’s lottery numbers. Every time I have thought we were primed to really take off we haven’t, and every time I have felt that the wheels were coming off they would win five of seven even when things have looked bleak. Nothing that happens Thursday night will surprise me. I’m sure that there will be plenty to infuriate me, but none of it will surprise me.

  37. That may be the most draining game I’ve watched since the Game 163 against Minnesota (that one will be hard to top).

    1. Oh the bad memories, Coleman. Did you have to bring that game up? 🙂

      I was drained emotionally after that game. What a rollercoaster ride that ended up being with the car careening off the tracks to the pavement several stories below in the end. Without a doubt one of the toughest losses I’ve ever experienced as a Tiger fan. Games like those make it tough to ever root for the Twins. The only good thing to come out of the 2009 season was it was the last for MLB at that God forsaken Metrodome. Man did I HATE that place. What a house of horrors over the years for the Tigers going all the way back to 1987.

  38. if we win tommorrow we will know why!..if we lose tomorrow we will know why……nothing will be new!!!!

  39. What did you guys think of the strategy to bring in Scherzer for the 7th inning tonight? It turned out alright, but with Oakland’s lineup so heavily loaded with left-handed bats I thought it was a curious move to not use Smyly. I get what Leyland was thinking as Scherzer had just shut these guys down four days earlier, but I also thought it was risky as Scherzer is not used to coming in like that into the middle of a tie game and Smyly is used to it. It all worked out so no complaints, but I didn’t get the hesitation to bring Smyly in and try to get two innings from him versus a lefty-heavy lineup for Oakland. I can’t even think of any right-handed bats on Oakland’s bench that would scare anybody versus Smyly.

    1. imho, it was a gamble on three days rest, going against lefty-heavy lineup, and pitching Max in a pressure situation in which he is out of his element, but in my view it was an acceptable discretionary gamble on the part of Leyland. I wasn’t surprised when Max gave up a run in the seventh and got into trouble in the eight, but I also wasn’t surprised that he played the part of Houdini after getting into trouble. It also fired up the team and crowd. That has to count for something, right?

      Smyly could have easily given up the same run and got into the same trouble and people would be demanding to know why Smokey didn’t pull Max out in that situation.

      Bottom line: it was calculated risk.

      What wasn’t acceptable, on the other hand, under any metric or calculation that I can come up with, was the move to bring Al-Al back in the ninth in game Two. That was just plain dumb.

      1. I’m OK with bringing Max in. Didn’t like the way some of it went, but all’s well that ends well. There’s enough suspense with the regular bullpen.

  40. The whole game revolved around the 3-2 battle between Scherzer and Reddick. If Reddick doesn’t swing and miss at ball four, Oakland would be in the ALCS already.

    I can’t believe A) Leyland let Scherzer pitch the entire 8th inning or B) that he got away with it. Bad process, good results.

    1. Agreed. Reddick swung at ball four. He lays off that pitch we have ourselves an entirely different end result to this game.

  41. My way of handling the 8th: After Scherzer walks Moss, have Porcello pitch to Cespedes (one batter). Smyly faces the lefties Smith and Reddick (or a righty PH for Smith – I’d feel OK about that matchup). Then, if the inning is still going on with, say, 2 on/2 out, Benoit enters to retire Vogt.

    1. I don’t like Porcello entering the game with runners on. I don’t think it is or will be a good plan, regardless of the groundball thing. If your best pitcher is already on the mound and still very fresh, not having lost it and not getting hammered, not much point in taking him out. It would have been like taking Scherzer out in the second inning down 1-0, in a way.

  42. Also want to say that Fister did OK tonight too. He wasn’t great or anything like that, but he grinded and got out of a jam that could have sunk us. Looking back, working out of the man on third with one out jam in the 2nd inning was huge. He lets in that run and this game could have slipped away from us, especially the way the bats were going the first 4 innings. If Fister gives up that run via a sac fly or single we’re down 2-0 after an inning and half and more life gets sucked from the crowd and the team. The two run shot in the fourth would’ve made it 4-0 instead of 3-0 and with the way our offense has been going 4-0 would’ve looked like Mt. Everest. Doug wasn’t at his best tonight, but he hung in there and gave us six innings and a chance to win, something that Anibal failed to do for us on Monday.

    1. Eckersley was right on with Fister–he said leaving everything up was something that can happen to pitchers who haven’t pitched in a while, and once he got a couple innings under his belt that got better. I think the turning point might have been the inning where he made a good fielding play and a good play covering first. I think the sprinting got his adrenaline going. An odd take maybe, but I’m sticking with it.

      1. Yeah, that is a good point. How long between starts had it been for Fister? 10 days?? That’s a long layoff. Its not surprising that he struggled early, but it was nice to see him settle down and keep us in the game until the bats got going. Maybe the fielding did get Fister more involved. The other thing that he did after we tied the score was give us a zero on the board for the Oakland sixth. I thought that was huge and the exact opposite of how the air went of balloon on Monday after Sanchez turned around and got touched for three runs in the very next half inning after we had rallied to tie Monday’s game.

  43. My thoughts:

    1) Good pregame, Coleman. No wonder you lead the GPL.

    2) Max was awesome. Sure he gave up a run and pitched himself into a jam, but his emotion and adrenaline got him out of it in a scintillating manner. Reddick swung at ball 4 way out of the zone, but he was just as amped up as Scherzer and I can understand why he was swinging on 3-2 wherever the pitch was. The K-out pitch to Vogt was nearly unhittable. Just sick.

    3) Let’s not overlook Jackson’s positioning on the 3rd out of the 8th inning. Great, great scouting there.

    4) I don’t mind using Benoit tonight with an off-day tomorrow.

    5) I love JV going in game 5. I’m well aware of his struggles this year, but I’m also certain of his stuff. If they can beat JV in a game 5, then they deserve to advance. BTW – he hasn’t allowed a run in 20 innings.

    1. Good point on the positioning. I already was feeling queasy from the ball Callaspo drove foul down the 3rd baseline, and when he smoked that one I may have Balfoured a few choice words. But Jackson was right there, and no harm done.

      1. What Kevin said.

        Yes, very nice pregame, Coleman, which I actually read postgame. Had the Tigers lost, I probably would have gotten around to reading it two weeks postgame. This one started out so bleak, 4 and a half innings of bleak. Had they lost after all the drama…

        Glad the Tigers won. Exhausted. Grateful there’s an off day tomorrow.

  44. Here’s an interesting bit: Jason Beck tweeted that Verlander told the coaches before the game that he was ready and willing to pitch in relief tonight (that would have meant Max could keep his scheduled Thursday start). Does that mean they thought Verlander was being overly optimistic about his readiness? Or that Leyland really wanted Verlander pitching Game 5 all along?

  45. Echo that point. Off the bat I thought for sure it was a gapper, and it seemed to surprise and take the TBS announcers off guard as well. Jackson was positioned exactly where he needed to be and played the ball perfectly.

    1. Yeah. The initial radio call off the bat made my heart stop. I thought it was all over.

  46. the media was raving about Scherzer’s performance last night and this morning, and yes, he came up HUGE in the bases loaded nobody out situation, but it is a fact that he surrendered the lead in the 7th, and he created the bases-loaded mess in the 8th.

    even though DET’s bullpen is suspect, I don’t like the strategy of putting starters in as relievers in stressful situations – though I’m very happy that Melvin put Anderson (another starter) in the 8th…because that 2-out rally by DET really nailed down the victory.

  47. Since the Red Sox finished off the Rays (did Maddon really need to use 53 pitchers?), the start time for Detroit’s Thursday game moves up to 8:00 EST.

  49. Colon or Gray? I suspect Melvin will go with the fashionable choice; rookie right-hander Sonny Gray – and I think that if they go this route, DET will chase him by the 4th, and we will see Colon in an early relief role.

    As for JV, he’s been pitching much better lately, but with that said, I seem to recall JV getting attacked by a rather large Panda (of the martial arts variety) in his last playoff start in the Bay Area… Guess we’ll find out tomorrow night if I get to use my ALCS tix or not.

      2. I think it’s a good move by Melvin. The Tigers–as we all know–are regularly baffled by The Unknown Pitcher. Maybe it will be different 2nd time around. At any rate, I think they would have had Bart’s number.

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