Category Archives: 2012 Season

2012 Season, Hot Stove

Game 2013.63: Tigers at Royals

26 Comments

35-27, first place 5.5 GA, losing streak at 1.

Evan Reed is up, Jose Alvarez is down, and I think Jose Ortega is still down, though I’m not sure, and I’m not even sure if he was down to begin with. Losing track, too tired to count. (That’s funny, considering what follows….)

MORE ON THE BULLPEN REPORT CARD THRU 60 GAMES

I really didn’t offer much explanation, did I? Some is warranted.

Innings pitched in is the basis for all of that. It’s not the same as innings pitched. Drew Smyly had pitched in 40 different innings. That’s 40 opportunities for results, the basis for all the percentages.

I went in thinking that there were four basic Bullpen Appearance Outcomes: 1. Nothing but outs. 2. Reaches/advances allowed but no runs. 3. Runs allowed (who they are charged to is not a consideration; allowing them is the sin). 4. Reaches/advances allowed that later scored off someone else. I now realize that this last creates two appearances where there was in fact only one; it’s redundant and irrelevant, and should be corrected for (not a major adjustment). My figures here and when I sum this all up tomorrow will reflect that correction.

Anyway, looking at Mr. Smyly, we see that his results from 40 innings pitched in are: 18 times nothing but outs, 16 times reaches/advances but no runs allowed (by him), and 6 times runs allowed by him (not necessarily 6 runs in total). So runs score on him 15% of the time, and don’t 85% of the time. Additionally, he’s lights out a full 45% of the time, though this does not speak to whether he got one out or three. In all, his comparative report card score will indicate some things that were obvious and some that were not, and it’s the clues provided by the latter I find interesting.

I mentioned that it was difficult to measure how the Tigers bullpen as a whole stacks up against others without a standard. The next step to that end is to look at how other bullpens have performed against the Tigers. We will assume that after 60 games, the Tigers have now, overall, seen the opposing “average MLB (mostly AL) bullpen.” We’ll leave aside the fact that the Tigers are an above-average hitting team that is far below average in the later innings and consider them average as well.

TIGERS BULLPEN

205 pitched-in-inning appearances
24.4% RUNS ALLOWED
33.7% REACHES/ADVANCES BUT NO RUNS ALLOWED
41.9% NOTHING BUT OUTS
75.6% NO DAMAGE

OPPOSING BULLPENS FACING THE TIGERS

279 pitched-in-inning appearances
24.7% RUNS ALLOWED
40.9% REACHES/ADVANCES BUT NO RUNS ALLOWED
34.4% NOTHING BUT OUTS
75.3% NO DAMAGE

Superficially, it would appear that the Tigers bullpen might actually be average or, in some ways, better than average. Huh. Then again, they don’t have to face the Tigers hitters, either. Note the difference in pitched-in-inning appearances. Some clues there.

The next step will be to compare the Tigers bullpen with a good one, one the Tigers bullpen might aspire to emulate, perhaps. Let’s see what that comparison looks like, and what it does to our provisional understanding of “average.” A good place to start might be with…

The Kansas City Royals.

POST-GAME: Tigers 3, Royals 2. Make no mistake. This one was a gift from home plate ump Jordan Baker. Almost makes up for the 8-6 loss to Toronto where Dana DeMuth was calling bottom of the 9th balls strikes in the driving rain just to get the game in, costing the Tigers their last slim chance. Baker’s strike zone was inconsistent all game, though not biased. Scherzer started out pitching the 1st inning like a drowning man, but recovered. Wade Davis pitched well enough to let the Tigers beat themselves, I suppose. Suddenly hot CF Kelly started the scoring with an RBI single in the 2nd, but a bigger rally was snuffed by an egregiously bad send the runner home call by Brookens (and he’d been so good lately). Infante was a dead duck at home plate. In the 5th, a hustling Dirks just beat the DP relay throw from Alcides Escobar to IB to score Infante and make it 2-0 Tigers. Max had a little blip in the 5th, allowing a leadoff HR (first MLB) to David Lough and then an RBI single to Escobar to even the score at 2-2, but Dirks saved further damage with a monster throw to nail Escobar at 2B with help from Infante (close play). Things got interesting in the 7th, with pinch-hit appearances from Garcia and Tuiasosopo setting up a remarkable load the bases after two outs rally. Against a vaunted bullpen. Ending in a Hunter swinging strikeout. Remarkably, the Tigers didn’t nod off after this. The 8th started with a Cabrera HBP, and he scored the go-ahead run on a Martinez sac fly. (The Tigers even threatened more in the 9th. Go figure.) Benoit pitched a good ol’ Benoit 8th – one baserunner, three outs. 3-2 Tigers, Royals up in the bottom of the 9th against closer Valverde. Who was having a hard time throwing strikes. Tanking. To the point where Coke was warming up. Oh, it was only a single, a PR, a stolen base, no outs, Tiger Killer Billy Butler up, and Valverde not throwing strikes. The count went to 3-2 on Butler. There was a foul ball or two. Then Valverde threw ball four inside. Clearly inside. Time to reach for the Coke. Wait. Baker called it strike three. Butler argues, gets ejected. Understandishable.  A couple uneventful outs, Valverde gets the save, the Tigers get the win. Ha ha. Oh man, we’d be screaming bloody murder about this.

THE ALL-STAR TEAM

C Perez
1B Hosmer
2B Infante
SS Escobar
3B Cabrera
LF Dirks
CF Kelly
RF Lough
DH Martinez
P Scherzer

RULE 5 DRAFT PICK: Matt Tuiasosopo

DFA: Alex Avila, Jose Valverde, Jordan Baker

2012 Season, 2013 Season, Free Agents

Hot Stove Talk – December Edition

29 Comments

Hello DTW Friends –

Considering the hottest story of the past week has been regarding Tom Brookens resurrecting his career at coaching 3B, I think it’s safe to say that we are in a quiet period. Which is the opposite of how Tom Brookens is handling the promotion(?).

That said, I thought I’d put up a new thread to reset the comments, and to pass along a cool offer from AnyDate.com.

And now a word from our sponsor:

AnyDate.com specializes in providing you with unique sports gifts- especially those related to the famed Detroit Tigers. The Detroit Tigers History Newspaper consists of 63-pages of commemorative New York Times headlines, articles & photographs about the Tigers. Celebrate all of the Tigers best plays, games, and series with this Detroit Tigers History Newspaper, which includes a special color section!

The Detroit Tigers History Newspaper is THE birthday or holiday gift for any true Tigers fan!

**************

And by sponsor, I mean that AnyDate.com is going to give away a free Detroit Tigers History Newspaper to DTW in return for the promotion. Thus, here’s how I’d like to select the winner – tell your best Tom Brookens memory – maybe you saw him at a game, maybe there’s a crazy George Brett/Wade Boggs -like story out there about him, or maybe he evokes a great Tigers memory. As everyone posts, chime in and vote for whose you like best, and then we’ll award the winner next week sometime.

By the way, if my wife is reading this, I’d love one of these. I’ll go ahead and give the Pistons a better chance of winning the NBA Championship this year.

Happy Holidays all – I doubt I’ll post again before the New Year unless something substantial happens. But I’ll definitely be reading along and posting when I have something to add (or need to remind TSE to stay on track).

2012 Season, 2013 Season, Trade Rumors, Winter Meetings

2012 Winter Meetings

161 Comments

Open thread for the Winter Meeting activities…don’t have much time this morning, but I’m sure our community will keep us up to date…check back often.

– Apparently Asdrubal Cabrera has a block on the Tigers, along with the Yankees, Red Sox, Nationals, Giants and Mets. Interesting company.

– I don’t think the Indians want Peralta, but perhaps the Marlins have something that the Indians want.

– If the Tigers are shopping for a closer, here are some candidates.

2012 Season, Free Agents

Hot Stove Talk Part Tres

90 Comments

(see what I did there? Tres? You can call me the blog post title Expert, if you’d like)

It’s been a while, so let’s get caught up on Free Agent news around the club. There hasn’t been much movement around Detroit, but some interesting things nonetheless.

I am fascinated by the Josh Hamilton situation. Living in Dallas, I can tell you that the club’s attitude towards him at the end of the season through now was definitely resentful, and bordered on disgust. His lack of effort, his massive August slump and his unappreciative comments angered many around here. It looks like that attitude leaked out to MLB in general and he’s not seeing the money he hoped he would. Jon Daniels makes smart decisions, so if they make Hamilton an offer, it will be at a level that the club feels he is worth, regardless of what the market says.

On to our Tigers…

This Rafael Soriano stuff is heating up. I know that we have Rondon waiting in the wings, but why not Soriano? Money is not an object here. Illitch is in a spend now to win now mindset, of which we should be very appreciative. I would love to see Soriano nailing down the 9th for us. Rondon will have his time. Tony Paul of Detroit News disagrees. By the way, where would Boras be without Illitch? About 1% less rich?

I think that many feel that Porcello is expendable if we sign Sanchez, but Dave Cameron argues that Porcello is poised for a breakout season (you’ll need insider). Cameron writes “He set career highs in both strikeout rate and ground ball rate in 2012, but even more encouragingly, his velocity jumped nearly 2 mph, and he was regularly topping out at 95 for the first time as a big leaguer. The improvement was masked by mediocre results, but those were primarily caused by a .344 batting average on balls in play, and considering how dreadful the Tigers’ defense was, that’s a number that is unlikely to be repeated with any other set of teammates. While his 4.59 ERA won’t blow you away, his 3.91 FIP suggests he was much better than his raw stats suggest.” (note – I find the insider subscription to be well worth it) Porcello will benefit more than anyone from a better middle infield…

So let’s talk about the middle infield for a bit. There have been rumors that the Arizona Diamonbacks whant Peralta. Not sure why (likely at 3B), but let’s assume that they are true and that the Tigers make a deal for Justin Upton. Then what do we do at SS? Some think that the Tigers may covet Stephen Drew. But Drew would likely be a downgrade defensively (especially after ankle surgery) and would definitely be worse offensively than Peralta. Some have suggested putting in Danny Worth and just sacrificing his spot in the lineup in return for the increased defense. This is not a bad idea. Runs shouldn’t be a problem in 2013, defense will. As we all know, the Tigers were one of the worst teams in the league at turning ground balls into outs, and Worth’s range at SS would be of significant value. There was a long insider article on ESPN yesterday which addressed the tigers middle infield problems, here are a few of the highlights:

  • Infante and Peralta will both be 31 next season, they are likely to decline all the way around.
  • “Infante’s .257/.283/.385 line in his two months in Detroit in 2012 didn’t even match that career-outside-of-Atlanta average. At the very least, Detroit can at least be confident in his fielding. As he has received more steady playing time at one position, his fielding performance has improved — he has been 18 runs above average over the past two years according to UZR — but even with two months of Infante’s good defense, the only team to get worse production out of its second basemen last season was the Orioles.”
  • “If they are serious about winning whileMiguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder and Justin Verlander are in their primes, it might make sense to use top prospect Nick Castellanos as trade bait to get an elite shortstop or second baseman. Castellanos’ natural position is third base, where he is blocked by Cabrera, so he could be expendable. While they can’t move Peralta to another position, Infante could easily go back to his super-sub role and have plenty of value there if they acquire a better second basemen.”
And some AJax love in the article – “Last season, Jackson posted one of the best seasons in the game, and it was curious that he didn’t receive even one vote for the Most Valuable Player award. (He had 5.5 WAR, per FanGraphs, which ranked eighth in the AL.) At 5.5 WAR, only 21 players in baseball were more valuable than Jackson.”

 

Boesch may be on the block, according to Jon Paul Morosi. I definitely think that Boesch is expendable, I just don’t see us getting much in return.

I think the real lynch pin is Garcia. If he’s the right fielder of the future, then there’s no spot for Justin Upton – whom I’m guessing the Tigers would go after in a Peralta to the DBacks deal. Though I would love to see the Tigers deal Boesch and Peralta for minor leaguers, and then run with Worth at SS. Here’s a potential lineup:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Hunter, LF
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. VMart, DH
6. Garcia, RF
7. Avila, C
8. Infante, 2B
9. Worth, SS

Nice.

A few other notes:

– Remember how we acquired QBert and Darin Downs? Offseason minor league contracts. Just signed 19 more – including 2005 first round pick Trevor Bell.

– In case you missed it – the Tigers released some info on their World Series shares.

– Remember when the Tigers were in the World Series? Seems like forever ago.

2012 Season, Awards, Players

Kept the MVP in the D

87 Comments

Miguel Cabrera is your 2012 AL MVP.

What was billed to be a neck and neck battle between Old School and New School turned out to be Cabrera in a laugher, as he took 22 of 28 first place votes, and handily beat Trout with 362 points to 281 points.

I sat in on the Cabrera conf call (thank you billfer for forwarding me the info) – a few highlights:

1) Albom asked about “old stats” vs. “new stats” and what Cabrera’s thoughts on them were; specifically what Cabrera thought about Trout dominating the new stats. Albom seemed to want to bait Cabrera into proclaiming a preference for traditional metrics. Cabrera responded that he grew up following those stats, and that it was very special for him to lead in the 3 major categories, but that he understands the importance of the new stats and thinks that there is a place for both of them. Keep an eye out for Albom’s column in the morning.

2) A reporter from Reuters asked Cabrera if winning the Triple Crown won him the MVP and pointed out that 4 less hits, or 2 less HRs, and Cabrera doesn’t win the Triple Crown. Cabrera basically said no Triple Crown – no MVP.

3) A reporter asked in Spanish whether Cabrera was nervous leading up to today. Cabrera said no, he thought that he was deserving, but thought that Trout had a tremendous season and expected Trout to win. I thought this was a great, candid response. I’m guessing that the major papers have translators on the line, but it will be interesting to see if anyone runs with this in the morning.

4) Cabrera was humble, respectful of everyone, and extremely appreciative of his teammates and fans.

Congrats, Cabrera.

2012 Season, Free Agents

Hot Stove Talk Part 2

138 Comments

Carrying over the previous thread (and this is over a few days, so some of the news is from Monday).

– Open letter to TSE, dude, you gotta start making some specific recommendations. You’re turning away readers. I implore you, suggest a few actual deals. Everyone who reads knows that I let just about anything go here, other than cursing, but I don’t want to lose readers. On the other hand, if you are one of my nemesis (or is that nemesi?) and this is an incredibly long and brilliant prank, bravo!

– Danny Knobler of CBS Sports tweeted on Friday that the Tigers aren’t looking at Rafael Soriano, and that Rondon will have a crack at it come spring training. Early reports from the Venezuelan Winter League are strong.

– Sanchez’s price may be going up – apparently his first ask was $90M over 6, and his latest was $100M over 7, according to Jon Heyman.

– Torii Hunter is in Detroit right now and is saying all the right things. Looks like it’s between Detroit and Texas – and Hunter lives in Prosper, which is 20 miles north of Arlington. With all of his son’s troubles, I would think that he wants to be closer to home, but hopefully we’ll see him roaming left in Comerica next year. Hunter’s presence in the clubhouse could really help with all of the young OFers we have (I think that Berry is the oldest who will make the roster next year, no?).

– Lynn Henning thinks that the Tigers might flip Peralta to AZ (where he could play 3B) and that Worth should get the shot at SS. Replacing Rayburn/Boesch/Young in the lineup will definitely allow us to sacrifice some O for D next year.

A few other notes:

– The Freep is putting out a book on the 2012 season – could be a nice stocking stuffer for the Tigers fan with average expectations on your list.

– Cabrera and Fielder won Silver Slugger awards last week.

– FanGraphs takes a look at Avila and wonders if 2011, or 2012, was the aberration.

 

2012 Season, 2013 Season, Hot Stove

Your Early 2013 Off-Season Thread

92 Comments

I’d love to write a long piece to recap all the fun we’ve had over these past several weeks, and to celebrate the historic season by Cabrera and what could be another Cy Young entry for Verlander. But I don’t think any of us have forgotten that, and this picture is more reflective of how we feel (at least about baseball for now).

To be honest, I moved my MLB.com and Freep apps off of my home screen on my cell phone today; signifying the unmistakable end of the 2012 baseball season. Dragging an MLB logo into a little digital trash can seemed like a proper ending.

It may be a few weeks before Coleman or I throw up another post, so I thought I’d leave you with a some DTW housekeeping notes, and then a few thoughts to carry us for a bit

1) I’d like to add another regular game poster (or two) for next season. I really liked it when billfer filled the blog with though-provoking commentary on issues outside of the game posts, and I’d like to give that a go if we can get some help on the game posts. Post on here if you’re interested and I’ll reach out to you.

2) I think that the site earns a few bucks from advertising, but I’m certain that billfer still pays for a portion of this out of pocket. There’s a good chance that I’ll ask for some donations in the coming months. Keep an eye out.

3) Thank you everyone for your input, feedback and patronage. DTW is the most acute Tigers’ community around.

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On to the Roster…

Free agency courting started when Cabby stood there like a house by the side of the road Sunday night (taking his cue from the entire lineup), and signings can start after midnight ET on Friday. A quick look at the Tigers’ Free Agents:

Free agents: DH/OF Young, RHP Sanchez, RHP Valverde, C Gerald Laird.

Young is gone. Valverde is gone. I think each will end up with decent offers elsewhere.

Good chance the Tigers resign Laird.

Sanchez will be very interesting. Smyly looks great, he’s under control, and it sure would be nice to have a lefty in rotation. But Sanchez was fantastic down the stretch and may have finally found it. Sanchez will get great money elsewhere, so it’s a matter of how much the Tigers are willing to spend. I expect the Tigers to make a serious play for Sanchez – you can never have too much pitching.

Club options: RHP Dotel ($3.5 million, $500,000 buyout), SS Jhonny Peralta ($6 million, $500,000 buyout).

Yes and…I don’t know. I’m not a huge Peralta fan, but there’s not a lot out there. Now, remember that VMart is back next year, that will help the offense. Since we’re not going to get better defensively at either corner, I’d be willing to sacrifice Peralta’s bat (it’s not bad for a SS) for a SS with better defensive range.

Arbitration eligible: C Alex Avila (1st time), OF Brennan Boesch (1st time), RHP Phil Coke (2nd time), RHP Doug Fister (1st time), OF Austin Jackson (1st time), OF/IF Don Kelly (2nd time), RHP Rick Porcello (2nd time), OF/2B Ryan Raburn (3rd time), RHP Max Scherzer (2nd time).

I’d expect the Tigers to make nice offers to Avila (thank goodness he’s eligible this year, and not last), Coke, Fister, Jackson and Scherzer. I bet that Ricky P gets into arbitration (such an interesting  process, Tigers staff show up with charts and graphs which advance the notion that Porcello is a terrible pitcher), and I think they let Kelly, Boesch and Raburn go. Kelly could find a spot as the 25th guy on the roster, but personally, I’d rather that be Berry. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Boesch turn into a decent player somewhere else, but I definitely think it’s time for him to move on from Detroit.

Gonna be a very interesting few days, keep an eye on the comments for updates from our community.

2012 Season, Playoffs

Game 2012 Playoffs.13: Giants at Tigers

46 Comments

Delmon Young was asked what the Tigers are going to do to change their luck: “Like sacrifice a chicken or something? We’re not going to do that.”  (@beckjason).

Well that seems reasonable.  Not that anyone has suggested any better ideas.

Delmon also states the painful truth when he says that “we haven’t hit all playoffs,” not just against the Giants.

And yet in some ways, this is the team we have seen all season. They may have averaged 4.48 runs a game, but seldom did they score 4 runs; they were more likely to put together a run of 1 or 2-run games, then a run where they bombed the other team.

This is a feast-or-famine offense, nothing average about it.

The base running/base coaching issues, the sloppy play in the field, the inability to advance runner, the ill-timed GIDPs, the waste of brilliant starting pitching…these are all things so familiar to Tiger fans this year.

And yet that does not tell the story of the 2012 Tigers either; these Tigers, with all of these flaws, won their division, and played their way into the World Series.

They are a streaky team, having a bad streak at the worst time. But a new streak can start anytime.

As Justin Verlander tweeted this morning: “History is life’s greatest teacher and if it’s taught us anything it’s that nothing is impossible.”

Every season ends sometime, even for the winners. The players will pack up and head off to wherever they spend the winter; Octavio Dotel will buy some nice shoes; some players will be back, some won’t; management will be back at work on creating the 2013 version of the Detroit Tigers.

But it really is too soon–if nothing else for those 40,000 plus great Detroit Tigers fans holding tickets to One More Game. Here’s hoping the boys come through for them.  And while we’re at it…the Giants fans are great fans as well.  Let’s give them another game! What could be more fun than extending the series to Wednesday, for the team in the Halloween colors and costume beards.

Your Win One for the D Lineup: (Update: Avila scratched with right forearm soreness. Kelly is backup catcher).

 

1. Jackson, CF
2. Berry, LF
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Young, DH
6. Dirks, RF
7. Peralta, SS
8. Avila, C. Infante, 2B
9. Infante, 2B Laird, C

2012 Season, Game Post, Playoffs

Game 2012 Playoffs.12: Giants at Tigers

99 Comments

4 games to go.

I distinctly remember the off days leading up to the ’06 series. I was watching John Kruk (on ESPN) during the Cardinals/Mets series, and someone asked him who his pick would be to win the NLCS. Kruk just laughed and said something to the effect of “does it matter? Detroit’s going to win the whole thing.” What a great feeling that was. And how quickly it dissipated after game 4 in Detroit.

I think we all felt that way leading up to Wednesday’s game, even in spite of the long off days WS stats. But now the stuff has hit the fan…check this out:

Of the 52 World Series to see a team go up 2 games to zero, 41 of those teams leading have hung on to win the series. Further, only one team out of the last fifteen trailing 0-2 has triumphed over their opponent. The Tigers are 0-2 in WS when they started 0-2.

From what I’m reading, many of you want to blame Leyland, but honestly, I just don’t see it. Here are my thoughts (just my opinion, feel free to counter):

  • Game 1 is on Verlander. He gets lauded like an ace, he gets paid like an ace and he dates like an ace. He needs to pitch like one. To pin that one on anyone else is ridiculous. I don’t expect him to pitch a shutout every time out, but he needs to get through 6 or 7 and give the team a chance to win.
  • Game 2-  I actually agreed with Lamont’s decision to send Fielder based on where the ball was, and the moment in the game. At worst it’s a 50/50 call. I don’t want to release him for the blown decisions all season long, but I don’t think Lamont/or Leyland is to blame for game 2. You blame the bats or credit the Giants’ pitchers, but I don’t know what different managerial decisions Leyland could have made. If you want to question playing back for the double play, that’s fine, but the Tigers are an above average offensive team. We can’t be scared of a run.

But let’s move on.

I don’t want to talk about the rest of the series, I want to talk about one game. Let’s be honest, tonight is a must win.

The Tigers will have their work cut out for them against righty Ryan Vogelsong. Vogelsong returned to MLB in 2011 after 3 years in Japan. His 2011 campaign was good enough to land him an All-Star spot, and in 2012 he went 14-9 with a 3.37 ERA, .242 BAA and 1.23 WHIP. He throws a low to mid-90’s fastball (4 seam and 2 seam), along with a slider, curve and change-up. One of the greatest reasons for his improvement has been his K rate, which is 6.74/9 for his MLB career, but was 6.96/9 in 2011, and 7.5/9 for 2012. He’s striking out 8.52/9 this postseason.

Speaking of the postseason, he’s been phenomenal, posting a 1.42 ERA and a .89 WHIP covering 3 starts and 19 innings. His splits are pretty routine for an above average righty, and he walks about 3 per game. Oh yeah – he had a streak of 16 consecutive quality starts earlier this season.

Anibal Sanchez will need to bring his best stuff tonight. I like where his head is right now:

“We need to start over,” … “We need to forget what happened in San Francisco. I know we’ve got the talent. That’s why we’re here.”

Sanchez has the physical capabilities, and I have been impressed with his composure. Plus, he’s 3-1 in 5 career starts versus the Giants. Blanco is 4-7 off of Sanchez, and Pence is 6-18. Sandoval is 1-6 with 0 HR.

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Here’s why we win tonight:

1) The Tigers were 22-8 at Comerica to close out the season and are 4-0 at Comerica in the postseason.

2) Andy Dirks is in the lineup and covering left field.

3) We’re simply too good to lose 3 in a row.

Tonight’s Back in the Series Lineup

1. Jackson, CF
2. Berry, LF
3. Cabrera, 3B (1-for-5 off Vogelsong)
4. Fielder, 1B (0-for-3 off Vogelsong)
5. Young, DH (1-for-3 off Vogelsong)
6. Dirks, RF (0-for-3, 2 K’s off Vogelsong)
7. Peralta, SS (1-for-2, 1 walk off Vogelsong)
8. Avila, C (0-for-1, 2 walks off Vogelsong)
9. Infante, 2B (7-for-11 off Vogelsong)

2012 Season, Playoffs

Game 2012 Playoffs.11: Tigers at Giants

92 Comments

Well, there are two ways to look at Game 1 of the World Series. One is that SF beat Detroit in every aspect of the game: pitching, relief pitching, fielding, hitting, lucky bounces (there wasn’t much significant base running). The other side of this is that it is only one game, regardless of how badly Detroit was beaten.

Well, there is actually a 3rd aspect.  This World Series opened up in eerily similar fashion to the 2006 World Series:  the Tigers with a long layoff (5 days this year, 6 in 2006), Justin Verlander gets shelled, the Tigers are beaten handily, and…well let’s hope it isn’t the same “and.” (One difference is that so far there has been no infield Clown Show, although Delmon Young is always an adventure in LF).

(By the way it is becoming clear that Justin Verlander is just NOT the same pitcher with extra rest).

Speaking of Delmon, he apparently has gone viral as they say (and figures it would be DY), throwing the pitching staff (i.e. Verlander) under the bus (the proverbial one, even Delmon hasn’t gone there yet): “Offense? We were down 4-0 quick, so you can’t blame the offense,” said Young. Except that the offense, as was the case many times this season, disappeared, and, as was the case many many times this season, disappeared against the ol’ Crafty Lefty.

Even Cabrera jumped on the under-bus chucking.  When asked what made Zito so effective he answered “The run support.”

C’mon guys! I just posted this big thing yesterday about how one of the remarkable things about this team (and Leyland’s leadership) was the lack of in-fighting, the real camaraderie where everyone had each other’s back. So just cut that out.

A longer-term issue to watch in the series: the Tiger bullpen.  Starting a pitcher short (in order to keep WS Mascot Ramon Santiago on the roster), the bullpen now has a certain Large Potato one doesn’t not dare to use.  Prediction: if the series goes beyond 5 games, Max Scherzer will appear in later innings.

On a random ex-Tiger note, a very nice piece about ex-Tiger Aubrey Huff is here.

Random Prediction:  Doug Fister will get a hit.

Random Prediction 2: Pablo Sandoval, as difficult to walk as Delmon Young, will nonetheless draw a walk tonight.

Your Series-Evening Lineup:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Infante, 2B
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Young, LF
6. Peralta, SS
7. Garcia, RF
8. Laird, C
9. Fister, P

2012 Season, Game Post, Playoffs

Game 2012 Playoffs.10: Tigers at Giants

62 Comments

4 games to go.

What a tremendous season:

AL Central Division Champs.

AL Division Series Champs.

AL Pennant.

Triple Crown Winner.

Perhaps another Cy Young winner.

But you know what? It’s not enough. The D deserves more.  And we’re gonna get it.

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Now, as I’m sure you have all see, there is an abundance of Tigers media out there right now. It’s starting to consume my life, to be honest. But we only get a max of 9 days of this, so I’m just gonna fight through it. I do, however, want to point out a touching ESPN.com story on Jim Leyland, and one on CNN SI about winning the title for Mr. I. If you can spare some time in-between the hundreds of other articles out there, check ’em out.

The Tigers advance to the World Series for the 11th time in franchise history – with 4 wins in ’35, ’45, ’68 and ’84. I’ve only been around for the ’84 series, but all I remember from ’84 is the kick-ass place-mats from Elias Brothers. Yes, I just bid on those. If the Tigers win again, I’ll buy whatever place-mats Big Boy puts out for 2012.

So on to tonight’s game.

Barry Zito, who still has another year left on his massive 7 year contract that pays him roughly $18M per year, climbs the mound for the Giants. Since signing that tremendous contract, which at the time was the largest contract ever given to a pitcher, Zito has been a tremendous disappointment. Until this year he had not posted a winning record with the Giants, and has still yet to post a sub-4 ERA. Over the years Zito has morphed from a hard throwing lefty with two great out pitches (curve & change) to a finesse pitcher who rarely tops 87 and looks to work the corners and fool the hitters. Today, he throws a few different fastballs and his curve and change in roughly equal proportions.

In 2012, Zito went 15-8 with a 4.15 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, walked 3.42/9, and only struck out only 5.57/9. Bochy’s decision to go with Zito for Game 5 of the NLCS looked to be more of a long-shot than anything, though his masterful 7.2 IP, 6 H, 0 ER effort may have sparked the Giants to the NL pennant. But all in all, he’s a mediocre pitcher who will try to out think the Tigers (remember that Kenny Rogers had quite a bit of success doing this for the Tigers in the ’06 playoffs).

The Tigers haven’t hit that well in the postseason, though they are hitting better than everyone else. DY and Peralta look to be locked in, and Fielder and Cabrera could each carry a game on their own. Not much history v. Zito, but Cabby is 2-8, Fielder is 3-18, and DY is 2-3.

Verlander takes the ball perched as the best pitcher in baseball (if you believe the pundits, stats, fans, other players, etc.). This will be JV’s 12th  career postseason start, and 3rd in the World Series.

The Tigers lineup is as expected, other than Avila in against the lefty Zito. But Laird is 3-15 off of Zito, and Avila has caught all 3 of JVs postseason starts this year.

A few notes:

– Buster Posey was the best hitter in baseball against lefties this year –  .433/.470/.793.

– The vast majority of the predictions out there pick Detroit.

– DY plated all four game winning RBIs in the Yankee series – making him the 1st player in MLB history to do that. Heck, 4 game winning RBI in any single post-season series is an MLB record.

Your Game 1 Lineup:

1. Jackson, CF
2. Infante, 2B
3. Cabrera, 3B
4. Fielder, 1B
5. Young, LF
6. Peralta, SS
7. Garcia, RF
8. Avila, C
9. Verlander, P
Let’s…go…Tigers!