Tigers go for their first 2 game win streak since July 21st and 22nd…
All posts by Kevin in Dallas
Game 2010.111: Angels at Tigers
Tigers have been playing .200 ball for the the better part of the last month, and have been even worse since I took over posting duties…
So I’m going to pull them out of their rut today. Going full Tigers gear with full faith in the boys.
Trevor Bell is very beatable, with a career 2.05 WHIP and .929 OPS against. The Tigers have only been scoring 3.1 runs per game over their last 25, so something has to give.
Jackson gets the day off today:
Rhymes 2B
Damon DH
Boesch RF
Cabrera 1B
Peralta SS
Raburn LF
Inge 3B
Avila C
Kelly CF
Game 2010.110: Angels at Tigers
(Out for the weekend, sorry I did not get to update the Angels’ pitcher)
Game 2010.109: Angels at Tigers
Tigers are 2 games under at the 2/3 mark of the season.
This is a rematch of the May 2 matchup where JV arguably had his best outing of the year, allowing only 1 R on 3 hits over 8 1/3. Did you know that JV has had only one scoreless outing all year?
Weaver has been phenomenal all year with 162 Ks in 148 IPs and a 1.09 WHIP. Yeah, 1.09.
Game 2010.108: White Sox at Tigers
Detroit is under .500 again for only the second time this season (the other being the short stint between Tuesday’s DH). Scherzer took two tough losses last week, when he lost a no hitter in the 6th on Matt Joyce’s HR and ultimately took the loss opposite Garza’s no-no, and then he had a 6 1/3, 9 hit, 1 ER effort versus Boston that the Red Sox ultimately won in the 9th on Big Papi’s bases clearing double. Still, Scherzer has been very encouraging as of late with, with 7 quality starts in his last 10.
A win for Garcia would time him for the team lead at 11. In his career, he is 18-6 with a 3.74 ERA vs. the Tigers, with an 8-3 mark at Comerica. Are we ever going to find a pitcher whose splits against the Tigers are worse than his career averages?
Game time is 1:05p Eastern.
Game 2010.107: White Sox at Tigers
Tigers need a W against Edwin Jackson if they want an opportunity to take the series tomorrow.
Game 2010.106: White Sox at Tigers
Yeah, there’s another game tonight…
Game 2010.105: White Sox at Tigers
Full day of baseball today with a 1:05 ET opener, and then the second game at 7:05 tonight. Buehrle goes for the White Sox in the afternoon game, their starter is TBD for the evening game.
Tigers desperately need to win the series. Anything else simply won’t do. Beck puts a positive spin on things on MLB.com today.
About last week
(my apologies for the basic image, still learning that tool)
Friends – one of my favorite things about this site is the level of analysis that we get from billfer and the other members. No doubt in my mind that it is the best place for analysis and synthesis of Tigers data.
In that vein, I’d like to post a few observations about last week. I know that we recently went through pro-longed losing streak, but I would argue that last week’s 1-6 mark was worse because a) of the way that it happened, b) we were no-hit and c) it may have been the proverbial nail in the coffin.
I took a quick look at the box scores from last week and would like to post a few basic totals to encourage further discussion on what ails this team, and how we can fix it (if that’s even possible). Sorry that there is not more detail here, though I’m working on an a way to crowdsource the data collection so that we can work together to gather better info in less time in the future.
As a team, we batted a collective .234 with .315 OBP. The worst offenders were Boesch (2-27, .074/.107, the second # is OBP), Jackson (6-32, .188/.188) and Kelly (0-8, 0 BBs). Avila (2-9, .222/.364) and Laird (3-14, .214/.214) managed to raise their season batting averages, and Avila’s ability to draw a walk probably mandates more playing time (Avila walks 10% of the time, Laird does so 6.5% of the time). Cabrera was a monster (he hit .364/.517 with 7 of his 8 hits being of the extra base variety, not to mention four IBBs if I’m remembering correctly) and Peralta jumped off to a nice start at 5-11 (.455/.538).
Where we really were hurt was RISP. Tigers were 9-53, for a .170 BA (there was the Frazier bases loaded walk too). Conversely, opponents went 16-62 with RISP, for a .258 BA. Boesch was a huge culprit here, getting outs on Tues, Wed and Thurs with the bases full to end the 7th each night. Had the Tigers simply been as good as their opponents with RISP, that would have led to 4-5 more hits over the course of the week. Not including the no hitter we lost 5 games by a combined total of 8 runs. Those 4-5 hits and resulting RBIs could have turned the week. Tigers left 47 on base over the games, which is not a ton for 7 games, but more a function of failing to get on base than anything else. The Red Sox and Rays stranded a combined 52 runners.
Starting pitching was pretty good, the bullpen was pretty bad. The starters, though posting an 0-4 record, had a combined ERA of 4.25, but if you remove Bonine from the equation, our starters had a 3.46 ERA over 6 starts. Verlander gave up 3 runs in each start (8 IPs, 7 IPs), Scherzer looked good, and Porcello’s 4 ERs in his 7 1/3 could have been 2 without a few misplays from Cabrera. Starting pitching is not the problem in Motown.
The bullpen went 1-2, and we all remember how Weinhardt’s W barely stook up after Valverde’s 60 pitch marathon on Fri night. As a whole the pen had a 6.01 ERA in 14 2/3 innings. Besides Valverde’s implosion Perry gave up 3 ER in 2 2/3, and Coke gave up 2 in 2 2/3.
So, with that in mind, what are your observations, and what can we do moving forward to try and get back in the race?
Game 2010.104: Tigers at Red Sox
Tigers in Fenway today at 1:35 EST, with an opportunity to take a series on the road. Coming into this weekend, we could not have asked for anything more. Who is your Tiger today?
Game 2010.103: Tigers at Red Sox (and trade deadline talk)
The Tigers buzz in the media centers on Valverde. John Lowe over at the Freep wonders if Vaverde is out of sync with irregular work and Jason Beck weighs in on his blog (thanks Vince in MN for posting this morning). There are also trade rumors (more like wishful thinking) swirling around with at least a few Tiger mentions. Please post something if it breaks, I’ll do the same.
This afternoon’s game is the Fox National game, which usually means that the people who really want to see it get blacked out, but best I can tell, it’s showing in Detroit and in Dallas.
Matsuzaka goes for the Red Sox. He’s 7-3 on the season with a 4.09 ERA and a respectable 1.34 WHIP. He’s been pretty good as of late with three straight quality starts, but the key is to get to him early. He walks over 4.5 batters per 9 and gives up a lot of fly balls (31.3% GB rate), though his HR rate for the year is roughly half of his career rate. That said, I’m not sure when was the last time that he faced Jhonny Peralta.
Scherzer has been tremendous as of late, with a 2.48 ERA for the month and better than a strikeout per inning. Scherzer has a tendency to run up his pitch counts, though he has thrown into the 7th in 5 of his past 9 outings. He might want to be careful v. Big Papi, who is 2-2 with 2 Peralta’s in his career versus Scherzer.
We’ll get the lineup posted as soon as it is avail.
Game 2010.102: Tigers at Red Sox
(try to stay relaxed like Battlestar is here)
The boys of summer kick off a three game set at Fenway vs. Jon Lester and the Red Sox.
Jon Lester is good at pitching. He had a perfect game blown up in the 6th inning during his last outing, where an error and HR ended up leading to 4 ER over 7.2 IPs. Of his 20 starts this year, he’s allowed 1 run or less in 9 of them, and 10 of his last 12 starts have been of the quality variety.
Galarraga toes the slab for your Tigers. His road efforts have not done much to compensate for the team’s road problems in general, as he is 1-2 with a 7.78 ERA away from Comerica. On the bright side, Galarraga is good enough to throw a complete game, and he’s never faced the Red Sox. We’ve seen him range from brilliant to average, but on a good night, we all know he can beat anyone.
There may be some fresh faces in the Tigers lineup tonight. Jeff Frazier was called up from Triple-A. He hasn’t had much mention around here, but he was leading the International League in doubles, total bases and XBH, and second in HRs. I’m also expecting Peralta to be in the lineup today, batting 6th since that is where he batted in Cle, who was happy to see him go. Actually, I’d love to see him 5th to give the pitchers a different look when they IBB Cabrera, but who knows with Ol’ Smokey. I am anxious to see this lineup and will post it ASAP if someone doesn’t beat me to it.
A few questionable moves in the AL Central today, as Edwin Jackson was dealt to the White Sox today (I guess they still see his 2009 numbers, and not his 2010 5.16 NL ERA) and Minnesota added Matt Capps for Wilson Ramos. From what little I saw of him, I’m happy to see Ramos dealt out of the division. Unfortunately, the only rumor involving the Tigers concerns Mike Lowell. (Are the Yankees really gonna get Berkman?)
The guys at BP argue that CWS may be using Jackson as a piece for Adam Dunn, so stay tuned. (Link – subscription required.)
(edit)
Lineup posted:
Jackson cf
Rhymes 2b
Damon lf
Cabrera 1B
Raburn rf
Peralta 3b
Frazier dh
Laird c
Worth ss