2014 Season, Game Post

Game 2014.71: Tigers at Indians

64 Comments

Justin Verlander’s name comes up again in the rotation, and this will be his 8th shot at getting back into form. In the last 8 Tiger starts, we have 6 QS, and 2 non QS – Verlander and Scherzer. Those guys are allowed to have off-games, but we pay them in part to prevent slides like this. Neither JV nor Scherzer is doing his job this year.

Matthew Leach of MLB.com posted a tremendous article about Verlander’s decline yesterday. Leach makes a compelling argument that Verlander’s location is really the problem; which makes me thing that this can be fixed. It’s an arm angle, or a landing spot, or something in the mechanics. The velocity is there, and I think the movement is there on the secondary pitches. But he has got to want to get better.

LHP Pat McCoy has been called up from Toledo, and he’s not on the 40 man. Move coming shortly.

7:15 PM start tonight against the kid Bauer. Bauer has been decent enough this year – 4.20 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP, and he held Detroit to 2 ER over 6 a month ago.

1. Kinsler, 2B
2. Jackson, CF
3. Cabrera, 1B
4. Martinez, DH
5. Martinez, RF
6. Castellanos, 3B
7. Avila, C
8. Suarez, SS
9. Davis, LF

 

64 thoughts on “Game 2014.71: Tigers at Indians”

  1. Jason Beck recently tweeted that Ausmus said Krol may benefit from extended rest…

    1. The way Ausmus manages the bullpen, they could all need extended rest pretty soon. I guess that is why they just called up another Hen today.

  2. Who is this J.D. Martinez and where has he been hiding? Glad he surfaced on our team!

  5. Meanwhile, Ian Kinsler on pace for 473 pop ups this season. What happened to this offense? Suddenly it’s Martinez, Martinez & slugs.

    1. To be fair, he only had 47 PA before today’s game, so I don’t know if you could rightly say he was ever hot. Anyway, still better than what we had before he came up.

  10. Davis…CAN…hit that hanging breaking ball….dinger!!!

    As I am typing…back to frickin back!!!!

    1. As long as AJ is going to be uncomfortable in any slot in the batting order, you may as well just limit his ABs. However, since we have two other guys that shouldn’t (or won’t) bat higher than 8-9, what do you do? The options are limited. But I agree about Davis. If you are going to throw 7 RHB against a RHP, he might as well hit 1st.

  18. When Verlander is getting hammered, Ausmus leaves him in for 125 Pitches. Today, he is dealing very efficiently and he removes him after 100. Because 8th inning I guess. Not that I don’t have faith in AlAl, but unless he asked JV if he wanted to come out, it doesn’t make any sense to me.

    1. Know when to fold ’em. I was happy to see JV get his 7 and exit, and I’m even happier now.

  19. And so now we’ll get the LOOGY, ROOGY, WHOSY let’s burn up the bullpen routine.

  20. Iif Jobo is the 8th inning guy….where the heck is he …again today….i don’t get it!!!!!!

  28. It can’t be good when your closer throws more than 30 pitches in the 9th ….. there went a win for JV. Can you count the ways we can throw this game away ……

  38. The Tigers are notl paying Coke 2 mil per save….nice gig

    How about Phil Coke!!!! Wow!!!

  39. With that effort, we’ll promote him from Tab to caffeine free Diet Coke. Nicely done CFDC

  40. Gamecast showed Coke was dealing 97 mph heat – apparently he had a flashback and thought it was the ’12 playoffs

    I apologize for everything bad I said/posted about Coke this year… well not ‘everything’ 😉

  42. Am I missing something? why does Ausmus bring in DKelly to play 3rd base in the 9th instead of Castellanos – is Castellanos that much of a liability at 3B that you bring in a utility guy?

    …Kelly wasn’t able to field any of those bullets hit by him at 3B in the 9th – and he seemed to be playing a shallow 3B on Borne’s game tying hit – saw the replay on MLB

    1. I’m with you. I also think he was playing too close to the bag on the first hit that should’ve been out #3. Kelly -1 and Mis-Manager -1.

      1. I understand shading the line a bit with nobody on or with a guy on first (to prevent a double down the line), but putting a jack-of-trades utility player into a tight game into the ‘hot corner’ – is questionable unless of course you don’t have any confidence in your 3B (unless of course Castellanos sustained some type of injury).

        if he wasn’t hurt, pulling him for a defensive replacement can’t do much for Castellanos’ confidence level

        1. Not the first time Kelly has come in for Castellanos this season by any means. Kelly is good at 3B. This opinion is from observation. He is quite strong everywhere he plays defensively. This is a major reason he is on the team.

    2. Smokey Jr. can’t make proper managerial decisions ….. have you not learned that yet?

    3. Kelly as a late-inning replacement for Castellanos is smart. Castellanos *is* a liability at 3B in all sorts of subtle ways. His arm cost ’em a 5-4-3 tonight. Recently he was in a dumb position on a sure OF kill from CF Kelly. Believe me, though Castellanos also makes outstanding plays, you want Kelly there late and tight. Maybe even Miggy or Romine. Not Nick.

      No one could have fielded the first Indians hit of the 9th positioned on the line, which is where Castelannos would have been as well with Gomes up. Kelly was positioned against Bourn as he was – as anyone would have been – for obvious reasons. Hits went where the fielders weren’t. Not exactly by design.

      1. Next game tbran and TIGERS RULE will inform us in advance where to position the infielders for each Indians batter. After the fact isn’t much of a challenge.

      2. I appreciate the clarification – in the 15 or so games I’ve watched this year Castellanos (other than range issues and getting in his SS’ way trying to get to ground balls), seemed to make the routine plays and a few very good plays – adequate, not great.

        1. Kelly makes a good late defensive replacement at at least 4 positions. Considering the Tigers’ OF, maybe 3B isn’t the highest priority one.

          In defense of Castellanos (and undermining my own theory), his defense was an important pat of Hardy’s perfect 8th. Maybe the real reason Kelly came on in the 9th was to protect Nick from getting thrown under the bus by Nathan again.

  43. Very nice. Thumbs up for JV, Hardy, Coke, and big hits from the big bats. Thumbs up for taking JV out after 7 and getting not-have-it Al out quick. Nathan got nicked, not bombed.

    Hardy in the 8th and how the team played behind him – wow. Coke in the 10th was old school. But player of the game has to be Miggy.

  44. In my book all wins are good wins, but I don’t understand pushing your luck by bringing Joe Blow out for the 3rd day in a row. The dude is getting up there in years. Seems they were being cautious with JV after his first good game in a while. Why not take the same attitude with JB? Was Joba not available tonight? Also, was this the 3rd or 4th blown save that was turned into a win for JB?

  45. if you’d have told me this spring that VMart is going to hit 19 HR’s, I’d have said that sounds like a good year for VMart… now if you’d have told me he would have 19 before the end of June, I’d have said ‘no way’.

    The most HR’s he’s ever hit in a year is 25 (in CLE). This year has been an exceptional year for VMart – hope it continues.

  46. Krol moved to the 15-day DL (shoulder inflammation) – as Kevin pointed out, DET promotes lefty Pat McCoy. McCoy will have to be added to their 40-man roster. McCoy, 25, has posted a 2.94 ERA with 7.0 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 in 33 2/3 innings this season divided between Double-A Erie and Triple-A Toledo. The Tigers signed McCoy, a product of the Nationals system, to a minor league deal last fall.

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