In today’s random note, the Tigers games are among the longest in the league. Brad says that’s because they have to spend so much time keeping teams from stealing their signs.
Another way to deal with this would be to stop having so many runners on 2nd.
Maybe being on ESPN Sunday Night baseball will wake up the team; that hasn’t usually worked too well in the past though, has it?
As it is the Tigers are making a strong push to take their place at the top of the Seller’s List. But what do they have to sell, other than JD Martinez?
Leon was shipped back to Toledo for Chad Bell. I was hoping Chad would get another shot soon.
Today’s Lineup:
Ian Kinsler, 2B
Nick Castellanos, 3B
Miguel Cabrera, 1B
Victor Martinez, DH
JD Martinez, RF
Justin Upton, LF
Mikie Mahtook, CF
James McCann, C
Jose Iglesias, SS
Pitching: Daniel Norris vs Drew Pomeranz
The same lineup for the 3rd day in a row. Maybe Brad’s printer is jammed and he can’t print out a new one. He appears to have forgotten that Alex Avila is on the team, and sitting there smiling in the second spot on the Faces of WAR lineup.
Yesterday’s rubber game looked promising, but then Mike Fulmer switched to batting practice mode. Fulmer gave up 5 runs in back to back starts, which is the first time he has done that, in the majors or minors. Cause for concern?
It was inevitable, but I admit I was a little sad to swap out Hicks for McCann today.
Verlander seems OK, and is starting Saturday.
Today’s Lineup:
Ian Kinsler, 2B
Nick Castellanos, 3B
Miguel Cabrera, 1B
Victor Martinez, DH
JD Martinez, RF
Justin Upton, LF
Mikie Mahtook, CF
James McCann, C
Jose Iglesias, SS
Pitching: Jordan Zimmermann vs Brian Johnson
In today’s centerfielder roulette the ball drops on Mikie Mahtook. Tyler Collins still leads the team with 21 games at CF, which is still only 36% of the games.
Buck Farmer is going to be difficult to get out of the rotation at this rate: that’s two starts for Farmer now, and he has yet to give up a run, and the Tigers finally got that elusive shutout.
The only real lowlight of the game came when Nick Castellanos added to his impressive season blooper reel by smacking Miggy in the face with his batting helmet.
Michael Fulmer, uncharacteristically, gave up plenty of runs last time out. Today he gets a chance to make up for that and give the Tigers a series win before they head off to Boston.
Today’s Rubber Game Lineup:
Ian Kinsler, 2B
Alex Avila, C
Miguel Cabrera, 1B
Victor Martinez, DH
JD Martinez, RF
Justin Upton, LF
Nick Castellanos, 3B
Andrew Romine, CF
Dixon Machado, SS
Pitching: Michael Fulmer vs JC Ramirez
It’s The Lettuce riding the centerfield carousel today.
Pretty much everyone contributed to that White Sox sweep…except Victor. Yes, Victor, we’ve noticed. Don’t think I’ve seen your face once this season on the Face of WAR lineup. Of course your buddy All-Star Miggy has dropped off too, replace by Buck Farmer. Hmm.
Today’s Let’s Win Another Lineup:
Ian Kinsler, 2B
Alex Avila, C
Miguel Cabrera, 1B
Victor Martinez, DH
JD Martinez, RF
Justin Upton, LF
Nick Castellanos, 3B
Alex Presley, CF
Jose Iglesias, SS
Pitching: Daniel Norris vs Jesse Chavez
Ian is back in the lineup, and the Parsley takes his turn in the centerfield rotation.
Jordan Zimmermann looked like Jordan Zimmermann for the first time all season, and the Tigers continued to hit like Brad Ausmus said they would, and now here we are with an actual winning streak.
It was great to see contributions from all over the lineup: Romine had a good day, Avila broke his slump in a big way, Upton and Castellanos went long, and the bottom of the order went wild, with Presley getting his first big league home run. Even Leon threw up a blank in his first major league appearance. Now we get Justin and a possible sweep. A good weekend of baseball in Detroit.
Well, when Brad said the team would hit eventually, we knew he’d be right, eventually. Let’s hope there is some left.
As Jud mentioned, Matthew Boyd has been relegated to Toledo. The Tigers haven’t said who gets his spot in the rotation; Buck Farmer seems likely. In the meantime they have brought up Daniel Stumpf, who is a lefty reliever and spell-check villain.
As for Boyd, he says that they want him to regain his “killer instinct.” Others say it’s his fastball that he needs to regain. He’ll be back.
Today’s There Really Is No Place Like Home Lineup:
Andrew Romine, 2B
Alex Avila, C
Miguel Cabrera, 1B
Victor Martinez, DH
JD Martinez, RF
Justin Upton, LF
Nick Castellanos, 3B
Alex Presley, CF
Jose Iglesias, SS
Pitching: Jordan Zimmermann vs Miguel Gonzalez
They may need a lot of runs again today with JZ on the mound. The Romaine/Parsley combo returns. Ausmus pretends not to notice Avila has been looking like his old self at the place, and puts him in the second spot.
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