I was thrilled last night when Ausmus came out to get Joba “8th Inning” Chamberlain to go situational for the next batter, and then Soria for a 4 pitch out. If you’re gonna lose, it’s okay to lose that way. Ausmus was managing.
Soria subsequently gave up a 2 out HR, and then a combo of Cabrera poor fielding (which doesn’t happen very often) and Alex Wilson poor pitching (which hasn’t happened very often) did the Tigers in. I did not see the Cabrera miscue, but it seems to me like there was a lapse in concentration.
Another sucker punch (that’s what it is at this point in time), and another loss as the season continues to slip away.
There’s been a lot of talk about the Tigers getting healthy soon, and what sort of impact that will have on things. Let’s make sure we all understand who or what is coming back.
Justin Verlander – arguably the worst full season starter in the AL last year. He’s not gonna replace Sanchez in the rotation. Lobstein/Ryan, whom he will replace, have been pretty serviceable. I think we are all praying that he returns to close to dominant #1 JV, but it is far from a given that anything close to that will happen.
Victor Martinez – who I do expect to be better than the worst DH in the AL when he gets back; but can he be MVP caliber VMart again?
Alex Avila – who would be a downgrade over the production we’re currently getting at C.
Point is, the Tigers should be winning, regularly, with the team they have on the field right now. I don’t expect these three guys to make a huge impact. Which leads me to a question for you, if Ausmus were to lose 20 in a row, he’d be fired, right? So what about 15? I think so.
What about 14? 13?…10? There’s got to be a maximum tolerance. I’m kind of curious to find out.
According to Fangraphs, the Tigers are pretty darn good offensively compared to the rest of the AL (metric explanations in parentheses if you’re not familiar with them):
AVG: 2nd
OBP: 1st
SLG: 7th
wOBA: 2nd (http://www.fangraphs.com/library/offense/woba/)
wRC+: 3rd (http://www.fangraphs.com/library/offense/wrc/)
Their defense is pretty darn good too:
Def: 3rd (http://www.fangraphs.com/library/defense/def/)
But their isolated power has been mediocre at best:
ISO: 12th (http://www.fangraphs.com/library/offense/iso/)
And they’re downright atrocious when it comes to baserunning and grounding into double plays:
BsR: 14th (http://www.fangraphs.com/library/offense/bsr/)
wGDP: 15th (http://www.fangraphs.com/library/offense/wgdp/)
What does all of this mean? I don’t know—maybe someone else can chime in. But here’s my take: We know the pitching has been up and down, but the offense is pretty good and that should be translating to more runs and therefore wins. But it hasn’t been. Would fewer double plays and better baserunning change that? Maybe it’d give us a couple more wins, which doesn’t seem like much when you look at how much better the team should be offensively, but I guess that’d feel pretty huge right now.
Oh, and by the way, Nick Castellanos is tied for dead last as the worst baserunner in the AL. Anyone surprised? Kid has absolutely no clue what he’s doing when he’s on base.
Tigers are 5-12 with RISP the last two games.
If the Tigers fall to last place in the Central, heads will roll including some coaching staff like Lamont.
I agree, and if this downward spiral continues past the tolerance limit (and I don’t know if I really want to find out what that is), and heads do start rolling, it would be good to see Lamont bundled with Ausmus in a coaching expulsion.
But listening to DD, and if you take him at face value —-but who does? —–it sounds like the streak could go for 60 more, with no managerial changes.
As far as what Kevin wrote today, I’m pretty sure what we can expect from a returning Alex, that is —-not much. Looks like his avg will never touch above .220 again, but it would be nice to see him back in the “catcher mix”. As for JV and VMart, if we got either one of those 2 back in their hi-caliber form, it would be a significant boost for this team.
Avila and Martinez do bring some left hand bats to the line up. Plus Avila is more experienced behind the plate. Baseball in America just posted a stat saying the Tigers were 5-12 with V-mart out of the line up. Dombrowski knows V-mart moves the Tigers when he re-signed him last winter..
Love watching my man Iggy at short; he is brilliant!
Ditto! Is Jordan Danks still playing in the MLB?
KW said: Nick Castellanos is tied for dead last as the worst baserunner in the AL. Anyone surprised? Kid has absolutely no clue what he’s doing when he’s on base.
Unfortunately, neither does veteran Kinsler these days.
Verlander is having a good outing in Toeldo. 5 2/3′ no runs, 3 hits, 9Ks. Meanwhile not so good for Rondon.
Praying for JV’s successful rehab & quality return to rotation.
Finally — a real hit!!
Is this the start of the Tigers’ “un-funking”?
Do these runs count!!!!.. whats the chance of a rain out????
Ha, ha, —–good one, jud!
Best I can tell from my scorebook, the Tigers haven’t batted around since Game 5 against the Indians.
Roll on Price! Funk off!
7 straight punch-outs for our ace!
What’s the record? Didn’t Sanchez have something like 10 once?
I believe Fister has that record. I can’t recall the number.
Yeah, that’s right —Fister; I’m thinking 9.
OK, they flashed a graphic on the game —-record was 10, by Tom Seaver in ’70. I thought some Tiger had 9 or something…….
Fister owns the AL record with 9.
Price has really settled down after the 3rd.
David’s at 86 pitches thru 7. He could get another CG here.
GO!! Price!!!
Tigers attack on D-Day!
I would let Price take the hill in 9th, I think Brad will too.
Whew! Breathing time again. Let’s see —–inhale, exhale, inhale……
Sooo. M’s and Tigers win, but for my money ( which I have more of now) the big deal was American Pharoah cruising home for the 1st TC in 37 years! Been around race horses since my teen ager days, and am very pleased all around about the sports news of the day. Must mention Tyler Johnson, native son, who is helping Tampa Bay even up the Cup.