Happy Easter everyone. Hopefully you’re spending the day relaxing with family (or without – which may be the shorter route to relax).
Porcello takes on Hector Santiago in the actual rubber match of the series. This is a rematch of a late July game last summer when Santiago was in a White Sox uniform. The Tigers took advantage of 5 BBs in 6 innings to score 6 runs (3 earned) on their way to a 6-2 run.
Porcello has had one great start and one awful one, as he continues to earnestly spin the this could be his year hamster wheel (TIL that “hamster” doesn’t have a ‘p’).
In other news:
– Alex Gonzalez’s Tigers’ career is over. Worth up.
– Valverde out as the Mets closer already.
– I love the NFL Wild Card and Division round weekends b/c of the two games per day, but this may be my favorite sports time of the year. NBA/NHL playoffs and spring baseball. It’s hard to beat. I’ll be settling in for a nice afternoon here in a few hours.
1. Davis, LF
2. Kinsler, 2B
3. Cabrera, DH
4. Martinez, 1B
5. Hunter, RF
6. Jackson, CF
7. Castellanos, 3B
8. Avila, C
9. Romine, SS
Well, Gonzalez is gone as I predicted in these very pages on Thursday. I like Romines glove – have to live with the bat. Danny Worth recalled with .308/ .345/.404 at Toledo. I thought Worth got screwed (sort of) when he was cut in spring 13 so that Santiago and his much larger contract could make the team. Worth deserved the roster spot but the $ always speak loudly. Leyland said, “He’s a big leaguer. He deserves to make the team”. Be cool to see him grab the opportunity.
Strange that Worth doesn’t get the start against the lefty. We all know Smokey used to start the players he brought up, he must not have “advised” Ausmus about that one yet.
This Worth up business is the way it should have been in the first place…I still believe getting Gonzo was panic on DDs part…and he overlooked the fact that Worth DESERVED the chance….
Happy Easter my friends!
Angel clown show on Easter Sunday
Was that 3 errors on 1 play?
Yes, Catcher (Conger) made a throwing error, Centerfielder (Trout) and throwing error into the infield, and the Pitcher (Santiago) made and throwing error home.
I know cool is cool but Trout and Puloso and Stewart why would you wear pants that go 3 inches past the end of your shoes and drag on the ground…I must be totally out of the loop!
Wow Cabrerra is so bad right now teams aren’t bothering to wak him when theres an open base and RISP…now tthats bad!
Avila..0 RBI..1…RUN….50% K ratio. .nit only do u stay in the team but you get to start all the time…….nice gig… you must know somebody!!!!
Avila’s ’14 numbers: 36 AB’s 21 K’s
…just saying
Maybe he needs glasses.
I thought about that last season. He might already wear contacts during the game, for all we know. I believe I saw him in the dugout yesterday reading with glasses. But… he still has a great eye for the strike zone, that much is obvious. Something’s off; reflexes, reactions, coordination. Not suddenly, either. I think it’s been progressive. Look at how he seems to getting dinged up behind the plate all the time (especially last season). It’s a dangerous job, but I think he’s lost a beat in dodging the bullets, I really do.
It’s becoming embarrassing to watch him hit. And yet he’s a really good catcher in most ways. How many WP so far this season? Next to none. Give him some credit. Kinda defeats my theory about reaction and coordination. OK. maybe he’s got some kind of mental block about hitting. Maybe he identifies so strongly with pitchers that he can’t bear to hurt them. I don’t know. It would be easier if he were a player you could imagine disliking and wishing off the team.
For all the Porcello bashers….this isn’t the first time ge has done this!!…as good a 4th rotation guy as there is in baseball Fister included…
Agree Jud, this may be a breakout year for Little Ricky. He pitched a great game and I hope the relievers can hold for his win.
Let’s let the season play out before we say he’s better than Fister. Their career numbers aren’t close.
However …I will gladly eat a large helping of crow if he continues to pitch like this.
Actually, I will probably think we should still have both of them!
A great game for Rick against the ANGELS! Cool as a cucumber.
I think Smyly will make you forget about Fister, William. Sooner or later.
Davis and Avila battling for the Golden Sombero Award
Davis sucked. Cabrera sucked. No other way to put it. I’m developing a dislike of Davis. Guys who muff two bunt attempts and then strike out get under my skin quickly.
For having the best eye in rhe game…Miggy is clueless at the plate!!
I am perfectly fine with a singles hitting, .250 BA shortstop that can field his position (it is what we will get with Iglesias, but better D). I think we can live with a Worth/Romine platoon. At the time of the Gonzo deal I thought they were just giving Lombardozzi away for nothing, which is how it turned out. I’m still mystified by that deal. Maybe our scouts aren’t that hot, since it wasn’t all on Vizquel to make the trad apparently.
Trout is 2 for 10 in this series with 2 doubles and 5 Ks.
Cabrera is 1 for 10 with one double and 4 Ks.
So the Great Matchup was….. not.
how true…
i never thought i’d see a time when Cabrera had the lowest BA of all starters*… but that’s what we have at this point of the season.
*excluding Avila of course – the outlier.
for the record, i expect to see him (Cabrera, not Avila) begin to turn it around before the end of the month…when the weather warms up Cabrera will.
as for Avila, one can only speculate what happened since his All Star year. he still has a good looking swing – but if that ‘good looking swing’ is missing more often than not…
i sure hope Avila reverses his downward trend, especially since DET doesn’t really have any viable replacement (w/all due respect to Mr. Holaday), but if the last few years are an indication w/Avila, its a concern
When you K in 50% of PAs (21 of 43 after today) it has be be more than the swing, that’s why I wonder if there is a vision issue. And he was concussed, which could cause some minor, not necessarily obvious, problem there.
Avila really isn’t a full-fledged starter, SN$, but a half-starter under the new rules. The new position, Designated Catcher, involves conceding an out. The actual strikeouts are just a formality, a playing out of the three strike ritual. Think of them as IK.
For a real change we get our Sunday 2 and win..thanks Rick….and how about that Bullpen…solid!!!!
Even HAPPIER EASTER!!
Nicely pitched and played game boys.
No batting accolades for Miggy this year ….. he looks lost …… his mind must be on counting all those dollar bills.
And the bullpen closes out a 1-run game. Happy Easter, indeed. 9-6, right where we were a season ago before the Anaheim Disaster. Uh-oh…
It’s only 15 games for Miguel. I believe he could make it a Triple Crown season in 147 games or less. But ask me again in 10 games.
I thought Stewart was out at 1B in the first inning. Nice surprise bunt, though.
So many plays at 2B I can’t keep them straight. Romine was pretty amazing in twice eluding tags when looking sure out. A play or two there should have been challenged (not being partisan – at least one and maybe both would have gone against Detroit).
What a useless challenge at 1B on the “pickoff” of Hunter in the 8th. Like Pujols himself didn’t know Hunter was in there? Some kind of game going on there.
Martinez – or someone – should have cut the throw home off in the 1st on the run scoring play, shouldn’t he have? That could have been disastrous, men ending up on 2nd and 3rd. No good.
Castellanos is money, Austin is fast, glad for the win, but realize that the Tigers didn’t score a hitting run off a starting pitcher who essentially could not find the strike zone – for 100+ pitches. Being pushed around by starters 12 of 15 games is more than a blip. Offensive anemia.
The 3-error play by the Angels and Kinsler’s daring and Miggy getting to 2B on a walk – just priceless. Rough day for Conger.
Oh yes. Nathan coming back from 3-0 to strike out Ibanez was pretty big. It’s nice to have the roller coaster condensed into one AB.