2017 Season, Game Post

Game 2017.103: Astros at Tigers

62 Comments

That was a good win last night: good pitching, clutch hitting (Victor woke up from a long slumber), and all against the best team in the league.

For those who think Justin Verlander is going to be traded (I don’t), this will be his farewell to the fans at Comerica.

Today’s Lineup:

  1. Dixon Machado, 2B
  2. Mikie Mahtook, CF
  3. Justin Upton, LF
  4. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
  5. Nick Castellanos, 3B
  6. Victor Martinez, DH
  7. James McCann, C
  8. Andrew Romine, RF
  9. Jose Iglesias, SS

Pitching: Justin Verlander vs Lance McCullers

62 thoughts on “Game 2017.103: Astros at Tigers”

  1. Doesn’t seem like there should be any particular pressure to trade Justin Wilson before the deadline, does there? The teams expressing interest do not seem inclined to offer as much as the Tigers would have to ask for. I admit that I will be relieved if the deadline passes with no more trades.

    1. The Dodgers really want him for the same reason the Tigers want a lot for him–a good player without a big salary, and both teams are way over the salary tax limit.

      1. Yes, but the Dodgers have a 13 game lead in their division and the best pitching staff in the NL if not all of baseball. Los Angeles would seem to be the worst potential trading partner for anyone for anything in all of baseball right now.

  2. I still find it remarkable that you have to go back to 2003 – 2003! – to find a worse Detroit record at 102 games. The 2017 Tigers are that bad? Really? Well, I guess they have been. Sad, in a bigly kind of way.

    Justin Verlander will begin the turnaround with a no-hitter that becomes legendary. Or maybe just pitch a good game and get the win. I’m up for either.

  3. We’d like to welcome Daniel Stumpf to the Faces of WAR. Probably not for long, though. The #12 spot is hotly contested and the bar seems to be getting lower. Boyd, Saupold, Adduci, and Mahtook plot your overthrow, Mr. Stumpf.

  4. Miggy finally bombs one.. Stands in the batters box for an extra 2-3 seconds.. Gets thrown out but 1 sec. Miggy we are trying to win.. Then Casty rips one and gets unlucky.. That’s our Tigers in 2017

  5. C-Mo finally pointed out, in the middle of all the hand wringing over a possible JV trade that JV doe not have to go anywhere unless he approves the trade. While I want him to get a shot at a ring, I have always said that trading him, Miggy, and Victor was highly unlikely. Meanwhile, his final audition is a bit off.

    1. It’s too bad that the shot at the ring is largely being blown by the guys who should be most interested.

  6. No matter who actually gets traded the biggest of all the problems will absolutely remain… Old… Slow… Brad…

    1. Yes, the way Ausmus is pitching, hitting, and fielding leaves a lot to be desired. A lot of the time he’s not even on the field. What a bum.

      1. This game is slowly getting into the.. Well let’s not blow this game too! Catagory ….

  7. Miggy actually swinging a good bat.. We could use Miggy and VMart doing that for a month or two..

  8. V-Mart in rare form today. It’s hard to hope for too much from him or Cabrera any more this season. Need some pitching, pitching, pitching.

  9. Brad is good for the rest of the year. Lest we forget we passed on Francona when he was available.

    1. The more runs Det scores, the more I can see bringing JV back. Maybe he’s gassed, though.

    1. I would like to see Machado get more time at 2nd base. Resting Ian not a bad idea at his age and I don’t think he can replace Iggy at short but at 2nd he could be Ian’s replacement by the end of next year.

  16. Why don’t we play like this series more often… I guess we just enjoy it when it happens..

  17. I love it! Now who pitches the next inning doesn’t matter as much. J-Up is really beginning to impress me. Running out ground balls, stealing bases and going to right field with power.

  18. Is Stump working his way into the Tiger future.. Pretty good for the most part and very good in Tiger pen standards….

    1. I hope it works out, but he scuffled for quite some time while they stuck with him. Still haven’t seen a lot of WOW from him. Let’s see him put an inning like this one together when the stakes are high. Blowing Aoki away on three pitches was pretty cool.

    2. I agree. I wasn’t up on him earlier in the year, but he has put together a decent year.

  19. Stumpf gets Altuve to GIDP. I think we are dreaming this game. I’ll check on the real score tomorrow.

      1. Funny that the Tigers don’t have the bench for any blowout replacements, really. Aside from maybe Adduci, who comes in at this point?

          1. Jim Adduci, the magic is gone. Pack up and leave. Let’s see some Jones, or Krizan, or Moya. Hey, Tyler Collins! I still like him, even if no one else does.

  21. Wow, to right field again. Now I’m worried that he may opt out at the end of the year. Hey here’s a chance for Bruce to pitch the 9th.

      1. Regarding Upton, I think opting out would be better, but I am fine either way.

  22. JUp playing to make some $$$$.. Basically all year so far. Really sticks out on this 2017 offense. Leads in 10 of 11 hitting stats

  26. This is insane!! I love it.

    Apparently “resting” Victor for an AB was very important. Haven’t they burned the backup C now? What if Houston comes back to tie?

    1. If Houston ties it our problems are bigger than we can imagine and if we need a catcher it could be another 1st for Lettuce.

  29. Apparently JWillie is the most sought after Tiger. I can’t think of any reason to let him go. One thing we can not expect to get in return in another closer ready for the majors. Meanwhile we can have him for 2 more full years. If he goes, does it mean we think Bruce is almost ready to be the closer? I’m not convinced he should even be on the roster.

  30. Can’t help but thinking that the Stro’s after watching their pen in this series aren’t going to their GM and saying, we need that Wilson guy….

  32. I’m sorry, this deal makes no sense at all to me. Of course Candelario has demonstrated his potential batting a hot .136 in limited MLB action this year but he has hit a sizzling .266 in AAA. Paredes is still in A ball. Other than giving his son a shot at some playoff money, I do not see what Big Al has accomplished. We have given up our best ball pen arm (certainly top 2) for nothing. This deal for the Cubs goes down with deal made for Manhattan island.

  33. Nick better than Candelario…Candy description…ave. defense…can’t run… solid bat …I think switch hitter…ave. power…Why do we need a guy like this…at 23…Why not hold on to JWill and squeeze someone next year at the deadline…Seems like we came up empty on paper with moving those three guys…

    1. JWillie isn’t a free agent until 2019. Why trade him away for what at best are average prospects. Must be because we have so many great ball pen arms that we have to thin them out. Does this mean we will give away Iggy also? If J-Up continues on his great year, I’m betting he will opt out at the end of the year. The goal appears to be to build a 100 loss ball club for 2018.

  34. Jimenez and Hicks up for the moment… 4A infusion has been good for us. NY has to be shaking in their shoes after seeing the way we dominated Houston…

    1. Hicks for Avila is OK with me. He helped when he was up earlier. Jimenez may not be ready yet and we all know how Bruce handled being “closer of the future” a couple of years ago. Hopefully Chris has a buyer ready to go or is actively shopping for a new GM.

  35. time will tell on the prospects fellas… but do not forget, the underlying goal of any DET trades is trying to bring in younger/cheaper talent while shedding dollars, and that’s contracted dollars committed in ’18 & ’19, as well as arbitration dollars DET would have to pony up for any arb-eligible (non-FA) players like JWilson.

    I’m all for it – as long as the return is quality…or perceived quality. DET has become an aging overpaid/underperforming team – its tough to transition to a younger/more talented/cheaper team AND remain competitive… could be some challenging years ahead, unless they hit the lottery w/some young prospects (via trade and in-house).

  37. I am on record to ok this Candalerio guy.. When All you have to do is better than be better than
    1. Worst 3b in baseball
    2. Worst range of any MLB 3b
    3. Worst baserunner in all of baseball
    4. Very streaky hitter
    I a willing to give Candy an plenty of chances.
    Plus the other kid in the deal can run. That ranks him ahead of 23 Tigers on the roster now.

    1. The problem is that assuming Candy is good, is he ready. On the fielding side it’s hard to imagine him being as bad as Casty. On the batting side I would think .270 would be OK. Now what do we do with Casty? Some have proposed moving him to 1st and have Miggy DH full time. With his range and ability with the glove, that gives me nightmares. Miggy plays a very acceptable 1st and can pick the balls in the dirt. Can you picture Nick picking throws from infielders or the pitcher? Anyway, it’s a done deal and I would bring him up in September (expanded rosters) and use him full time. Casty can pinch hit.

  38. Plus let’s try Jimenez out for the rest of the year. Not like this team is going anywhere.
    If younger and more Athletic is the goal.. Both trades grade… B..

    1. Jud: I’ve been hoping that they would bring Jiminez up for over a month. I do not think they should make him the designated closer. Remember how Bruce took that. For now I would think Greene can fill the 9th inning vacancy. I still contend that Brad’s use of the pen is questionable at times so nothing is going to change in that regard. The JD deal was OK with me since we were not going to be able to sign him anyway. Let’s throw all the kids in the lineup when we can and see what they have. Giving Miggy one or two days off a week won’t hurt. Meanwhile we can all pray that a decent manager becomes available soon (or even GM).

      Meanwhile, anxious to see Fulmer face “the Judge”.

  39. This will really sound crazy but with the exception of this weekend Rondon lately had been very good. After the BS from Fri Going back Saturday was Brad’s fault. He should have pitched better yes, but I for one have not given up on him. One thing I can’t prove is the pitchers do better with Avila calling pitches it seems and we are going to miss that. Be interesting to me to see how Rondon does with McCann. Look how Greene stepped big time when Frankie left. Rondon might just do the same thing. We have the rest of the year to see if He and Jiminez can get the job done.

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