Down a game in the series, Detroit (27-16, 1st place Central, 2nd place AL) is back at it against Texas (23-24, 3rd place West, 10th place AL), with Anibal Sanchez (who has fared poorly v. the Rangers) facing Scott Baker.

Reliever Corey Knebel is called up from Toledo – talk about a fast track to the majors – while starter Robbie Ray returns there to work on his curveball. Luke Putkonen (on the DL) will not require surgery, but the rehab path looks to be slow and uncertain for him. Meanwhile, injury-riddled Texas has been dealt a couple more blows with the loss of Prince Fielder for the season and the same possibility facing them regarding Jurickson Profar, not to mention OF David Robertson’s injury Thursday.

The silver lining in Thursday’s 9-2 drubbing by the Rangers would seem to be the revelation of Danny Worth’s knuckleball. A clean inning from any Tigers pitcher is something of a novelty these days, so welcome to the pen, Danny. Four straight losses and four straight collapses of the team’s greatest strength leave you wondering how long this can go on. Rough stretch, but 6-4 on a rollercoaster still beats a 5-5 of one step forward, one step back, doesn’t it? That six-game ride was fun. Let’s get back there.

The Texas Rangers (22-24, 4th in the West, 11th in AL) visit the Detroit Tigers (27-15, 1st in the Central, 2nd in AL) for four games (1 PM, 7 PM, 4 PM, 1 PM), Yu Darvish against Robbie Ray in the first one Thursday.

SS Eugenio Suarez has been promoted to AAA Toledo. Rick Porcello (left side soreness that bothered him last two starts and delayed this one) should be ready to face the Rangers on Saturday. Prince Fielder will miss the beginning of the Tigers series and may not play at all.

Early day game, Verlander vs. Gausman, highly recommended. Don’t bring brooms; 9 bats will do.  Enjoy it while it lasts… all season.

We seem to be coming to life here lately. A little more chatter, a few more voices. I like it. You know, if you guys ever look at the, um, “stuff” I write and think to yourselves, “I could do that,” well, you’re right. I’m not sayin’. I’m just sayin’. For instance:

Only Tiger Fan in Mississippi May 13, 2014 at 3:45 pm

A good stint in the show for Ray that will motivate him even more while he is in Toledo fine tuning his game to become genuine and tested starter. Small but important steps first.

BTW, I am getting excited about this coming weekend series with the Red Sox. Looks like Little Ricky gets the start for the Sunday ESPN game. Another chance for him to make a statement to the national audience. I also look forward to seeing V-Mart bounce a couple off the left center field wall and Davis running on A.J.

Vince in MN May 13, 2014 at 4:00 pm [edit]

Duane Below pitched a nice game yesterday as Toledo swept 4 from Rochester (the starting pitching was good in all 4 games). It looks like his control has come back, and if all continues to go well maybe he makes the most sense as LH relief help when Coke is replaced. Unfortunately, he isn’t on the 40-man, so a promotion would likely ONLY come in the event of a DFA for Coke, although there are a couple of position players they could consider removing. In fact, none of our minor league relievers who are on the 40-man are doing particularly well, so it looks like whatever fixes are in the works (other than waiting for Hanrahan and Putkonen to heal) for the Tigers current bullpen woes, some kind of roster jiggling is will be needed.

StorminNorman$ May 13, 2014 at 1:21 pm [edit]

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/47186/tigers-show-why-theyre-the-best-team

some interesting stats cited on Porcello, Cabrera & VMart

Drew Smyly and the Tigers (22-12, 1st place) aim to clinch the series against Ubaldo Jimenez and the Orioles (20-16, 1st place). 

Some of us are old enough to actually remember a time before divisions. Leagues was leagues. I was around, but by the time I was a more fully aware young baseball fanatic, there was East and West. I would see the final standings of the recent past in the sports sections of these big “year in the news” almanac-like volumes (more about words and pictures than the old World Almanacs) and find coolness in the novelty of how it appeared to the eye. Of course, there were divisions back then in the sense that the expressions “first division” and “second division”  had arisen to describe the obvious. But consider how much more first place – the pennant! – meant then. (And the cellar was really, truly the cellar back then.) Finishing first was finishing on top of 9 other teams (and being rightfully rewarded for it). Right now, the Tigers are on top of 14 other teams. If this keeps up, I think I’m going to start posting “old style” AL standings. I really wouldn’t mind if baseball dispensed with divisions for purposes of standings. There are other ways to use divisions in the background for purposes of scheduling. I’m partial to the idea of “scheduling divisions” that actually change every year based on the results of the previous season. But that’s a story for another day, if ever. For now, we have East, West, and Central, along with closers and their precious saves, interleague play, the DH, and a few dozen other things you might look forward to dispensing with yourself. 

Today’s guess at the lineup is that it will be mostly the A team but not entirely. Worth at SS, Kelly in there somewhere, Holaday spelling Avila? Surprise us, Brad. Go Tigers. 

Detroit (21-12, 1st place) is in Baltimore (20-15, 1st place) for three as the Tigers begin a season long 9-game trip that will even up the home/road games. Coming off of a disappointing conclusion in the series loss to Minnesota and with the 8-game winning streak a distant memory after dropping 3 of 4, and with much tougher teams to face than the Astros and Twins, you might fairly conclude that this road trip… is just another 9 games where we expect Detroit to win at least 6. 

These East Coast game times are going to make it impossible for me to sneak in the lineups in time for the games. I don’t anticipate any surprises for Monday night. The current “A team,” I suppose, with Castellanos back at 3B. 

Rick Porcello vs. Bud Norris. Orioles C Matt Wieters is on the DL. Porcello’s fine season began in fine fashion against the Orioles and Norris back in April. Be warned that this W, well in hand by the 9th inning, nearly fell to a bullpen disaster.

1st place Detroit (16-9) wraps up the series (and the road trip) against still 2nd place Kansas City (14-15). Mention of anything related to brooms is strictly prohibited until the game is concluded. A Royals fan would bristle at the suggestion.

We have intercepted the encrypted message, and our code-breakers have deciphered it as follows:

THE LINEUP

LF Rajai Davis
2B Ian Kinsler
1B Miguel Cabrera
DH Victor Martinez
RF Torii Hunter
CF Austin Jackson
3B Nick Castellanos
C Alex Avila
SS Andrew Romine

P Justin Verlander

POSTGAME: Didn’t seem like either side played well at all today. I don’t know what’s so hard about hitting a guy holding a stick from 60 feet away, especially when he’s standing still, but time after time after time, the ball-throwers kept missing badly, except for once. Fortunately, the judges awarded more points to our side. But seriously… or even more seriously…

YOU SAID IT

Vince in MN May 4, 2014 at 3:20 pm

I wasn’t going to tell you, but since you asked:

THE LINEUP

LF Rajai Davis
2B Ian Kinsler
1B Miguel Cabrera
DH Victor Martinez
RF Torii Hunter
CF Austin Jackson
3B Nick Castellanos
C Bryan Holaday
SS Danny Worth

P Drew Smyly

Just when things were getting to be a muddle of too many days off, despair over the bullpen, and grumblings about the hitting, Detroit (15-9) has gone and snapped off three wins in a row, all of them games with plenty to like. Good times.

POSTGAME: In the time it took to throw 17 pitches, only 17 pitches had been thrown, and as a result, the game went on for what seemed like hours. But seriously… or even more seriously…

YOU SAID IT

Jim EggersUSMC May 4, 2014 at 12:35 am

Kevin in Dallas May 3, 2014 at 11:10 pm

And now, another DTW Exclusive:

THE LINEUP

2B Ian Kinsler
RF Torii Hunter
1B Miguel Cabrera
DH Victor Martinez
CF Austin Jackson
3B Don Kelly
LF J.D. Martinez
C Alex Avila
SS Andrew Romine

P Rick Porcello

POSTGAME: At Kauffman Stadium this evening, the Detroit Tigers American League baseball club scored 8 runs, and the Kansas City Royals American League baseball club scored 2 runs. After some deliberation, it was determined that the Detroit Tigers had won the contest.

YOU SAID IT

Vince in MN May 2, 2014 at 10:36 pm

YOU SAID IT

StorminNorman$ April 24, 2014 at 2:45 pm

A White Sox offense that just won’t leave us alone deserves a dose of Max Scherzer. Detroit gets to face a lefty in Jose Quintana, and I think that’s good news. The main thing is that they get to bat again and might score some runs, and it might not take so many this time, especially if Max can go (9? Please? Please?), oh, let’s say 8 innings.

How demoralizing would not salvaging this series be? Well, 10-9 sounds a bit ugly, but some good things have happened last three games, more than you’d think in dropping two of them.

Dan and Jim brought up the interesting statistic of how the Tigers have been badly outscored in 1st and 9th innings but own the rest. So I’ll throw a few team stats out there today.

Tigers starters are sporting a seriously impressive 2.96 ERA and 1.20 WHIP, nearly the best in the AL. And we know that they are the best. The opposition is batting .240 against them, good for a fairly high rank there. Few teams are getting 6+ IP on average from starters. It might surprise you to know that the Tigers are.

Things are a bit different for the bullpen. Worst ERA at 5.60 (!), WHIP ugly at 1.36 but middle of the pack as far as the AL goes. Batting average against is a clearly unacceptable .271 –  a starter can get away with that, but not an entire pen. And they are more prone to the long ball than even the Orioles or Astros, their miserable companions at the league bottom.

Interesting is how the staff as a whole is handling LHB (.223) vs. RHB (.285).

Detroit is climbing the ladder in Defensive Efficiency (10th), and they are 4th in double plays! We’re only at 18 games, but still, I think you would have to go back a number of years to find the Tigers high in the DP rankings. Maybe even at 18 games.

You might also have go back some to find the Tigers above average in the team Power/Speed Number (see bbref team stats), but that’s what they are right now. For a team not scoring a lot of runs per game, the Tigers are (mostly) quite the above-average offense. They strike out only 17% of the time and put the ball in play 71% of the time, and in case you were wondering, those are very good numbers.

But let’s try to find some awful stats, because those are our favorites. Well…

* Tigers have a .700 OPS against RHP (.842 against lefties)

* Detroit’s Sunday OPS (3 games) is .499 (1 HR in 93 AB)

* Tigers are batting .172 in the 1st inning

* Hey, how’s that 1st inning pitching? 7.00 ERA, 1.94 WHIP

* Hey, how’s that 9th inning pitching? 8.35 ERA, 1.80 WHIP

* Friday is not a good day to be a Detroit pitcher – 21 ER in 3 games,  7.27 / 1.58 / .306

I’ll leave it to you to find some unusually positive stats, because there are plenty of those out there, too. Probably more of them. Remember, 10-8 = 90-72. The way the AL Central is shaking out, that could be a winner.

POSTGAME: I got to see this Sox-Tigers game. What did I see? A Tigers victory that survived the worst bullpen in MLB and the two worst defensive plays all season, Torii Hunter’s three-base error (scored as a triple for the unstoppable Dayan Viciedo) and Bryan Holaday’s physically and mentally misguided throw into (eventually) CF that made it 5-4 (and his 9th inning crap throw to 2B wasn’t better). The only thing dumber was clumsy Jose Abreu interfering with Holaday for Nathan’s gift third out. Maybe the White Sox weren’t at their best, either. Four straight days in Detroit might be the equivalent of not eating your Wheaties, I don’t know. For Chicago White Sox-type people, I mean, of course. Nice area.

Max Scherzer went a good 6 and could have gone 8, pitch count be damned. But no. The Tigers did as much as they had to against a pretty good Jose Quintana, and more still against the Sox bullpen. All drama should have ended at 5-2, when Miguel Cabrera’s deceptively hard-hit grounder past Alexei Ramirez (quite a show at SS today, tip of the cap) drove in what turned out to be the winning runs. But then Ausmus had to go and take out Max, who was just fine.

That bullpen. Nothing to like. Ol’ One-Pitch Al came in for the 7th, no confidence but no runs. Joba Chamberlain, then, and between him getting slapped around and the defense getting indefensible, it looked lost. Late inning offense that included smartness on the bases saved the day. (I like 3B coach Dave Clark’s style. I don’t think I’d like to miss or run through any of his signs. He looks kinda big and mean. Closer Joe Nathan just looks kinda big and lost.)

In between Miggy’s big single and the sky falling, there was a clutch 8th inning that saw Holaday redeem himself with a solidly hit RBI single, and when Rajai Davis’s second line shot to deep LF on the day (the first had left the park) was good for a double and a 7-4 lead, our comfort level going into the 9th improved to one of mere agonizing doubts and heart palpitations.

The White Sox struck out 15 times today, 10 of those belonging to Max. Nary an authentic double play was turned by either side, which seems odd in a game with 26 baserunners and 12 groundball outs. Hmmm.

I went without audio, but I take it that Danny Worth was awarded the IF hit by virtue of the transfer rule, whereby the ball coming out of  1B Abreu’s glove 10 minutes after Worth was called out made him safe. That silliness is going to go against us one of these times. Oh, I guess it already did. Romine. Remember?

Tigers are hitting again (forget the bullpen), Tigers are 11-8 (forget the bullpen), Tigers hit the road with a win at their backs (forget the bullpen). There’s really no reason to dwell on the bullpen. Exhale.

YOU SAID IT

Only Tiger Fan in Mississippi April 23, 2014 at 6:46 pm

I think he meant “Julio.”

Andre Rienzo vs. Drew Smyly in the penultimate game of the series. May the real Drew Smyly please stand up. No more talk about “rust,” now.  May the sweet swings of Miguel Cabrera and Alex Avila continue, so that we can move to worrying about/picking on someone else for a change. May the bullpen not be plagued with sudden and retroactive elbow inflammations like they were last night.

Interesting times, interesting opportunities for new additions J.D. Martinez, Danny Worth, and – it now appears – Justin Miller. Andrew Romine is suddenly getting on base and making a difference when he does, and his defense at SS, well… do you suppose it could get to the point where the Tigers have to make a decision down the road? You know what I’m taking about. That’s optimistic at this point, but Worth mentioning. (Although it’s not Worth I’m alluding to.) I might have to get over my dislike of Rajai Davis’s approach at the plate. He’s getting on base somehow, and when he does, watch out, cause it’s a whole new ballgame that we Tigers fans must still have a hard time quite believing. And Nick Castellanos, man, is that guy gonna be good. He’s already good.

These White Sox series are killers, especially weekday ones. I’m blacked out of (live) Sox games on mlb.tv, can’t watch live (but love listening), and there’s just no time to watch the game after the game and also write on a deadline. Be my eyes. Tell me what you’ve seen this series, and what you’re seeing.

POSTGAME: You could say that Drew Smyly and Andre Rienzo pitched to a draw. The Tigers got a lot of bang for very little buck against Rienzo, as they continue to struggle against right-handed starters. They haven’t really put the hurt on one yet, have they? Smyly had another long 1st inning and overall couldn’t be called unhittable, was indeed often hit hard, but he settled down and started to rack up the Ks. Say what you will about pitch count – I say it was a mistake to lift him after 6. You can’t trust this bullpen with a 2-run lead for 3 full innings. You just can’t.

Nascent Tiger killer Jose Abreu hit another one out to CF, but the real question is how you can let negative-BA Paul Konerko go 3 for 4. The Tigers offense only had two lively innings, but we can take heart in how fast they can go from 0 to 60. It seemed to take about 10 seconds for 4 runs and the lead in the 4th, with a nicely set up 2-run single from J.D. Martinez (first RsBI as a Tiger) and a first-pitch two-run HR for Austin Jackson. However, the White Sox also have an offense capable of quick explosion, and explode they would.

The game turned on Evan Reed’s walk to Tyler Flowers to load the bases in the 7th. Missing with four straight fastballs – to Flowers – sorry, folks, that puts Phil Coke last night to shame. Ian Krol would have been better served risking the walk to Marcus Semien. Instead, he served up the grand slam. I was deflated, but didn’t feel like it was over. Justin Miller ended the parade of bullpen failure over the last two games with quiet effectiveness (and maybe a bit of help from the Sox and the home plate ump), and now the bottom of the 9th could mean something.

And it did. The Tigers didn’t even score, let alone win, but how close they came made it all worthwhile. Clutch hitting, smart baserunning, and outs that were hit hard, including J.D.’s home run bid to CF. Also worth remembering, amidst the gnashing of teeth over the bullpen, are the fine plays over the first 3 innings to erase baserunners, two involving Smyly and one a very athletic CS at third courtesy of Alex “The Bat” Avila.  Gotta call it a good game.

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Vince in MN April 22, 2014 at 10:25 pm [edit]

With the loss out of the way and no Sale to face, the stage is set for Detroit (9-7) to be Detroit (12-7).

Avila.

Cabrera.

J.D.Martinez.

Panas on Porcello.

To take our mind off the offense, let’s have a word on defense. And it will be words. I wish I had numbers, but I don’t yet have a handle on a good statistical presentation on defense. It will have to be anecdotal and observational.

Observationally, I would judge the Tigers’ defense to be average. There’s really no scathing criticism to be leveled at any one defender. The worst I could say:  Alex Gonzalez was surprisingly unreliable. Victor Martinez wasn’t ready to catch out West.  Nick Castellanos is a bit clunky over there at 3B sometimes. Austin Jackson has lost his above-average rating (admit it). The occasional flash from Rajai Davis, well… you get the impression that his defense is a lot like his hitting, if you catch my drift. On the other hand, Ian Kinsler has been brilliant, and the same can be said for our erstwhile MVP at 1B. Andrew Romine has been mostly impressive (work on tags, please). The oft-criticzed Alex Avila is underappreciated for a lot of defense that flies under the radar.  In all, I can’t think of single guy who’s played the field and hasn’t done something notably good defensively. Even forgotten man Torii Hunter, who seems to be fielding more hits in RF than putout chances, has shown that he still has the arm. No one is awful, or even often awful.

But the notion of average is countered by the team DefEff (Defensive Efficiency) score, a stat I think I can get my head around. As I understand it, you turn balls in play into outs at a goodly rate, you get a good score. You don’t, you don’t. Simple. The Detroit Tigers don’t get a good score. Worst in the AL, last I checked. Why?

Can’t think of any major clown shows through 16. All those little things add up, I guess. The double play that almost gets turned, etc. etc. etc.. Not all of it will figure into DefEff, I suppose, like the throw to the wrong base, the missed cutoff, and suchlike. After only 16 games, “luck” could still be a factor, as well. But the Tigers aren’t playing a bunch of rangeless stiffs out there, are they? I’m wondering about positioning and whether we should be expecting better, what with the new “defensive coordinator” thing going on. Too early to expect dramatic results? I also wonder about the effect of coordinating defensive positioning strategy with pitching strategy. Maybe there’s some disjoint, similar to the way the “runner control” had until recently seemed to be every man for himself? I don’t know. I’m only speculating.

I should mention that the notion of average is also countered by what I often see from Tigers opponents. We’ve seen some bad days at the office from the other side – Hank Conger and Chase Headley come to mind – but on balance, my observation has been that the opposition has been smoother, sharper, and crisper than the Tigers at all the routine business of defense. It’s a bit of a letdown that the New Tigers we were bracing ourselves for, leaner but possibly meaner on offense, same great starting rotation, don’t yet have the defensive part of that potential winning equation together (yet?). The loss of Jose Iglesias and Andy Dirks is keenly felt.  But Kinsler is certainly providing the kind of defensive energy that can raise a team, and if the Romine/Worth tandem can follow suit, it might be contagious. Let’s see how the Tigers’ DefEff looks at the end of May. Nowhere to go but up.

POSTGAME:  In a game where so much is going right, my reaction is greed. 6-1? I want 12-1 (and not 12-2). Every run counts. Those “add-ons” often turn out to be game-winners, don’t they?

As the Tigers’ first six opponents caught a break by facing an offensively challenged Miggy, Detroit caught a break by not having to face newly-DL’d Chris Sale, and rookie call-up replacement Charles Leesman was in the wrong place at the wrong time against an awakening Tigers offense. For most of the game, all a White Sox fan had to hold onto were Jose Abreu’s blast to dead center in the 1st and fairly impressive work from a lot of bullpen, especially Zach Putnam. Justin Verlander was at normal efficiency and command, which is to say that he was fabulous in the way we’ve learned to take for granted.

That 3rd inning explosion was something. 9 batters with nothing but hits or walks or productive outs. I was ready for more when Andrew Romine struck out with runners at the corners to end it. But the 2 runs tacked on in the 5th, scored with two outs, turned out to be oh so vital. Infield single, steal and advance on throwing error, double, walk, double. Nice.

Miguel Cabrera and Alex Avila stole the show, the former with his sudden resurgence, and the latter with his “surgence.” Who is this guy with the same name as our old catcher? He sure can hit.

However. [pause] With an 8-2 lead, the bullpen nearly gave it all right back. Oh, nothing went right. Alburquerque’s 8th was a debacle. The Tragedy Of Phil Coke was briefly interrupted by two strikeouts. A commercial break, I guess. 0-2 on Adam Dunn, 8-4 Tigers now, come on and let’s get this one in the books. Oops, gone, 8-6. Joba Chamberlain comes in and walks the first batter on four pitches. There was even some doubt and drama to the final out, with J.D. Martinez having a difficult time on the shallow flyball (lights?).

It wasn’t easy like it should have been. But it was a win. We’ll take it. And MIGGY IS BACK!

YOU SAID IT

Coleman April 21, 2014 at 8:41 pm [edit]

First of four against Chicago in Detroit, last of the homestand before Lazy April is over and the Tigers transition into a road-heavy month of May.

But he’s a professional. Minus the quotes and below the Joba, this is the kind of postgame I aspire to. Well, maybe I like to cover a little more, but it’s cool to read something that makes you go both “That’s what I was thinking!” and “Why didn’t that occur to me?”

We’re all baffled.

It’s raining outfielders.

Know thy opponent.

SOME PERFORMANCE INDICATORS THROUGH APRIL 19:

You might say that the White Sox are overmatched. Concede the loss to Chris Sale and take 3, right? But notice that Detroit hasn’t been getting XBH and Chicago hasn’t really been giving them up, as lousy as their staff appears. Sox pitchers have trouble throwing strikes, but don’t forget that, just yesterday, the Tigers failed to drive in a single hitting run through 5.2 IP and 100+ pitches (119! 62 strikes!) off of a Hector Santiago-type fellow who could not throw a strike – except when he had to. Neither team has been any great shakes defensively, so maybe we can expect a number of games like the 2nd against the Indians. Watch out for a Chicago offense that just stomped the Texas Rangers 16-2.

No, I don’t think this is going to be easy. My hopes for an early statement on who owns the AL Central rest on the shoulders of the Detroit Tigers pitching staff and team defense that could be – and should be – trending upward.

POSTGAME: Anibal Sanchez is the ace on a tightrope. He’s more dazzling than Scherzer or Verlander on a merely good day, but when he slips, it’s not a stumble, but a fall. The fall came in the 7th, when Ausmus should have pulled him tout suite after the Abreu double (wow, did Ausmus waste a challenge on that one), or at least after the faux strikeout of Dunn. Rajai Davis added insult to injury with a miserable throw to the plate from LF (valiant effort from Sanchez and Avila to second-chance it) that resulted in a backbreaker run, but I’m still looking straight at Anibal. The White Sox are no joke at the plate, and they showed up in the 7th.

Ian Kinsler has built up a considerable good will buffer, so I’m only pointing out fact when I say two of the three Tigers rallies died with him at the plate.  The more frustrating one might have been loading the bases, no outs, only to see the bottom of order (which includes Davis no matter where he bats) plate only one… on an out (Avila hits it hard but into the shift). Falling considerably short against mediocre pitching has become a trend.

Avila crushed a pitch – for an XBH. 0-4 Miguel Cabrera did not, but hey, he’s pretty darn good at 1B. Reed good, Miller good, Krol, um, well, hard tellin.’