The Tigers got their Central Division road trip off to a great start with a 10-6 win in last night’s opener. The Tigers pounded out 15 hits, including multiple hit games by Rajai Davis, Torii Hunter, Nick Castellanos, and Miguel Cabrera.

Detroit will try to keep the bats hot against Minnesota starter Phil Hughes (1-1, 6.43), who has had his problems with the aforementioned Miguel Cabrera, to put it mildly. Cabrera is a career 14-for-25 (yes, that’s .560) with 5 home runs against Hughes. I’m going with Miggy as my Player of the Pregame pick, and maybe we can put to rest the conversation about his slump.

The Tigers hand the ball to Anibal, who is still looking for his first W of 2014.

Alex Avila is day-to-day after bruising his shin sliding into an out at home in the 2nd inning last night, and will be replaced in the lineup by Bryan Holaday. Holaday had a couple of bad throws last time out, one of which he was interfered with on. That was the last time since 2006 that a game ended on a strikeout/interference double play (and by the way, interference calls are not challengeable).

What Holaday did do well, according to Max Scherzer, was calling a good game. Max raved about Holaday’s “great plate-sequencing.”

“He’s a young catcher who does his homework,” Scherzer said. “He’s really prepared. I really can trust him.

Today’s Plate-Sequencing Lineup:

1. Kinsler 2B
2. Hunter RF
3. Cabrera 1B
4. V. Martinez DH
5. Jackson CF
6. Castellanos 3B
7. Romine SS
8. Holaday C
9. Davis LF

Postgame

In the first inning Miguel Cabrera continued his dominance of Phil Hughes by doubling in Torii Hunter. When he hustled to take third and was sacrificed in by Victor Martinez, this game had the look of one of those good ones. It was not to be. Hughes mowed through the Tiger lineup for the next 5 innings: in inning 2-6 he gave up one hit and no walks, with 5 strikeouts.  When the hapless Jose Ortega couldn’t find the strike zone, the game became another chapter in the blowpen saga, but the reality is that the bats couldn’t get going either. There were last hurrah attempts in the 8th and 9th, but the Twins held on.

Anibal Sanchez’ 3rd inning injury, originally called a blister, is now being called a laceration, and has landed him on the 15-day DL. Justin Miller boomerangs back from Toledo to replace him on the roster. I am assuming that this also means that Drew “Back in the Starting Rotation” Smyly will take Sanchez’ next start.

Thumbs Down:

• Sanchez/Ortega/Coke. The Tiger pitchers were playing coy with the strike zone, and ended up walking 8 batters in 7 innings.
• Bryan Holaday. I won’t blame his “sequencing” for the pitching woes, but his arm went wacky again, this time leading to a run on a bunt attempt.
• Brad Ausmus. It’s not the obvious issue, which is why go to Ortega instead of Smyly. I assume as soon as Sanchez went down, Smyly became a Starter again. But why pinch hit Alex Avila for Holaday to lead off the 8th inning? I’m sure Jim “never pinch hit for the catcher” Leyland will do some advising on this. But pulling the catcher to put in a slowster .220 pinch-hitter to lead off just didn’t make sense, and of course that left Avila to end the game with a hapless at bat against the lefty closer.

Thumbs Up

• Torii Hunter. In the 8th with 2 on Hunter caught replacement 3rd baseman Florimon napping at 3rd and put down a perfect bunt single, loading the bases for Miguel Cabrera (who should probably get a thumbs down for the resulting at bat). It was a brilliant play and well-executed.
• Al Alburquerque. Really? He did give up a bomb that could have cost the game if Cabrera had managed to get a run home. But his slider was devastating (4 strikeouts in 6 batters), and he didn’t walk anyone (and the Twins lead the AL in drawing walks). There is a glimmer of hope for Al-Al.

Tonight the Tigers begin a 10 day, 8 game road trip through the Central time zone contingent of the Central Division. Below are the dates, times (in EST) and projected starters for the series. We see Jose Quintana again (already?) but otherwise we don’t face a lefty in the series until we close out the trip with the surprising successful  Jason Vargas (2-0, 1.54).

Because of the spacing of the off days, the Tigers will probably go through the road trip without a start by Drew “Back in the Bullpen” Smyly.

Tigers at Twins

Friday            Apr 25 8:10   Rick Porcello vs. Kevin Correia

Saturday        Apr 26 2:10   Anibal Sanchez vs. Phil Hughes

Sunday          Apr 27 2:10   Justin Verlander vs. Kyle Gibson

Monday         Apr 28   *off day*

Tigers at White Sox

Tuesday        Apr 29 8:10  Max Scherzer vs. Jose Quintana (L)

Wednesday    Apr 30 2:10  Rick Porcello vs. Erik Johnson

Thursday       Mar 1   *off day*

Tigers at Royals

Friday            Mar 2 8:10    Anibal Sanchez vs. Jeremy Guthrie

Saturday        Mar 3 7:10    Justin Verlander vs. James Shields

Sunday          Mar 4 2:10    Max Scherzer vs. Jason Vargas (L)

Friday’s game against Kansas City starts a string of 13 consecutive games with no time off.

The Twins have been a mild surprise so far this season: after beginning the season with preseason predictions of 100 losses and an 0-2 start, they have gone 11-8 including taking 2-of-3 from Tampa Bay in their previous series, the last two games of which saw them put up 15 runs on 24 hits.

Postgame – Tigers 10, Twins 6

In a season that has so far been full of games that could have gone either way, the Tigers came out on the winning end of a game that could have been a blowout and could have been blown.  Detroit got to starter Kevin Correia early, starting the 2nd with a 2-base error, a Castellanos home run, and a single. When Romine doubled to deep center (Romine?) the 2nd had the loos of a classic big inning. But Avila was sent home from first, was thrown out (and injured) and the Twins got out of the inning only down 2-0.

No matter, the Tigers came back in the 3rd and put up a big inning in earnest going through the whole lineup and scoring 7 (Cabrera actually was responsible for all 3 outs in the inning). Then all that was left was a little nail-biting as five bullpen pitchers tried to finish up the job for the endurance-challenged Rick Porcello.

Thumbs Up

• Rajai Davis. Davis had his 3rd consecutive multi-hit game. He hits at the top of the lineup, he hits at the bottom of the lineup, he hits for what is now a .354 average.
• Nick Castellanos. He continues to show power; his shot in the 2nd set the tone for the game.
• Rick Porcello. Another solid start against, a hot Twins lineup.

Thumbs Down

• Rick Porcello. Kid Rick seems to run out of gas about the 6th inning every game. Even with a very good 5 innings, that leaves a whole lot of bullpen time.
• Dave Clark. Maybe Gene Lamont called that one from the bench. It sure did conjure up visions of Lamont and Tom Brookens when Clark sent slowster Alex Avila home from 1st on Romine’s double. There is an old rule of thumb about never making the first out of the inning at home. I generally like the aggressiveness on the bases of this year’s Tigers, but I think this was the wrong person and wrong situation for it.

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.

YOU SAID IT

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.’

Happy Easter everyone. Hopefully you’re spending the day relaxing with family (or without – which may be the shorter route to relax).

Porcello takes on Hector Santiago in the actual rubber match of the series. This is a rematch of a late July game last summer when Santiago was in a White Sox uniform. The Tigers took advantage of 5 BBs in 6 innings to score 6 runs (3 earned) on their way to a 6-2 run.

Porcello has had one great start and one awful one, as he continues to earnestly spin the this could be his year hamster wheel (TIL that “hamster” doesn’t have a ‘p’).

In other news:

– Alex Gonzalez’s Tigers’ career is over. Worth up.

– Valverde out as the Mets closer already.

– I love the NFL Wild Card and Division round weekends b/c of the two games per day, but this may be my favorite sports time of the year. NBA/NHL playoffs and spring baseball. It’s hard to beat. I’ll be settling in for a nice afternoon here in a few hours.

1. Davis, LF
2. Kinsler, 2B
3. Cabrera, DH
4. Martinez, 1B
5. Hunter, RF
6. Jackson, CF
7. Castellanos, 3B
8. Avila, C
9. Romine, SS

Game 13 Postgame: Well, that sucked.

Game 14 Pregame:

You know, you gotta win series at home, so today is the linoleum game of the series if they are gonna have a chance at winning the series.

Rationally, if you’re going to lose a game, it may as well be their 1 v. your 5. Smyly was in trouble early, as he got out of a runner on 3rd 1 out situation in the first before the floodgates opened in the 2nd and 3rd. The Tigers gave the fans something to cheer about with rallies in the 7th and 9th, but the game was never really in question. Cabrera, uh, needs a few hits.

In case you are wondering, the Tigers have only given up the 2nd most stolen bases this season in the American League. The .810 success rate against is 4th worst in the AL. It’s early, but this could be a problem. The throwing arms aren’t going to get any better, so the pitchers will have to a) give up less hits and b) pay even more attention to runners. Even those on 2nd.

I had to look this up – the Tigers threw the 4th most pitches in the Majors last year. Once we catch up on games I’ll be curious to see where we stand as a staff. I watch a lot of Rangers games and a number of other games, and I don’t see many other teams wasting as many pitches as we do. I wonder if going for Ks or painting corners is a club philosophy; or if this is simply the innocent byproduct of having two tremendous power pitches on the staff. I’m leaning towards the latter, but man am I tired of starters not ever reaching the 7th.

Davis into the lead-off spot. I’m not crazy about Martinez/Hunter/Jackson. They just don’t seem to fit. I really want Jackson to learn to take a walk and steal a base and bat lead-off. Is that possible?

1. Davis, LF
2. Kinsler, 2B
3. Cabrera, 1B
4. Martinez, DH
5. Hunter, RF
6. Jackson, CF
7 .Castellanos, 3B
8. Holaday, C
9. Romine, SS

Game 14 Postgame: 

That’s pretty much what I expect every game to be like. Scherzer was tremendous. He was really only ever in trouble in the 4th when he walked two and a steal of 2B was overturned in the Angels favor. 3 H, 2 BB, 9 Ks in 7 innings. Salty.

Joba Chamberlain has become the defacto 8th inning guy. This isn’t necessarily good news, but just news. Good job tonight Joba, keep it up. Nathan can give up all the 4 run lead HRs he wants. Better than bad walks.

Castellanos’ bat is quick.

BOOBs – 6-14 with 3 RBIs and 3 runs.

Gotta win the series tomorrow.

Tigers made a move today to replenish a worn out bullpen, by bringing up righty Justin Miller from Toledo and sending down Tyler Collins. Since they have 10 games left on this home stand, and Collins has to stay down for 10 days, Miller should get a nice audition before the Tigers have to think about making another move.

1. Kinsler, 2B
2. Hunter, RF
3. Cabrera, 1B
4. Martinez, DH
5. Jackson, CF
6. Kelly, 3B
7. Avila, C
8. Romine, SS
9. Davis, LF

Castellanos gets the day off against the tough righty Weaver.

Game 11 Postgame: Indians 3, Tigers 2

Wednesday night’s game started off badly, then looked better, then looked even better, then ended in a somewhat disappointing fashion.

Anibal Sanchez averted a near-disaster after starting the game with back-to-back-to-back walks (the Research Department tells us he has only given up 10 leadoff walks his entire career; it is holding out on whether he has ever started a game with 3 consecutive before; but in fact he is averaging only 11 first inning walks per season). But he got the dangerous Carlos Santana to change his evil ways and ground into a DP.

The second inning started just as badly: Cabrera booted a play at first, and Sanchez followed it up with yet another walk. Gomes cleared the bases with a triple and Detroit was down quickly 3-1. Sanchez found his groove though, retiring the next 9 in a row, and striking out 5 of the last 7 batters he faced. The bullpen (Reed/Krol/Alburquerque/Chamberlain) was strong and shut them out over the last innings. Aside from the shaky start, the pitching was solid.

And the hitting wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t timely. There were 4 Tigers with 2 hits, but they just couldn’t combine them in a way that turned into runs. The game-tying run was left on 3rd with 1 out, and that was that.

Thumbs down:

• They lost, so automatic thumbs down on that. Extra down on the R3L2O fail.
• Austin Jackson caught stealing. Apparently not all fast guys are base-stealers. I get the sense he doesn’t like stealing bases. Maybe he doesn’t like to slide.
• Anibal Sanchez: Anibal walked 4 of the first 6 batters he faced, and 2 of those 4 scored.

Thumbs up:

• Anibal Sanchez: Sanchez recovered from his bad start and looked very good by the time he left. He kept the Tigers in the game.
• Alex Avila: If Alex can have one game like this a series, or even a week, it will make a huge difference.
• The bullpen: 4 innings, no runs.

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

Game 12 Pregame:

This is the lucite game of the weather-shortened two-game series. Don’t worry, we will see plenty of Cleveland later.

As Detroit faces another right-handed pitcher this afternoon, there has been some concern and frustration that Detroit can’t find another left-handed bat for the lineup. And certainly there are times when it would be good to be able to go to a lefty: some pitchers are particularly tough on guys of their own persuasion. But after hearing an announcer say that Detroit has trouble with right-handed pitching this season, I looked at the numbers and it doesn’t really work out the way I expected.  Here is the general breakdown:

vs RHP  .251 BA .707 OPS

vs LHP  .267 BA .756 OPS

But when we look at who is doing what we see:

RHB vs RHP .270 BA .763 OPS

LHB vs RHP .200 BA .557 OPS

In other words, it’s the left-handed batters in the lineup who are struggling with right-handed pitching. In fact, the Tiger right-handed batters are 4th best in the league right now against right-handed pitchers–and that’s with Miguel Cabrera having the slowest start of his career. I think the Tigers will do fine against right-handers, and it would be a mistake to add just anybody to the lineup for the sole reason that he swings the other way. This applies mostly in left where platoon-bait Rajai Davis has been going against career norms and hitting .281 against RHP, and adding a real threat on the bases (and a good glove in left also).

Today’s Same-as-Yesterday Lineup:

1. Kinsler, 2B
2. Hunter, RF
3. Cabrera, 1B
4. Martinez, DH
5. Jackson, CF
6. Castellanos, 3B
7. Avila, C
8. Gonzalez, SS
9. Davis, LF

DET P: Justin Verlander (RHP)

CLE P: Danny Salazar (RHP) The Tigers will be facing some heat this afternoon with Danny Salazar on the mound. You may still remember the game last August when Salazar struck out Miguel Cabrera 3 times. Salazar faced the Tigers again in September, but Cabrera sat out. So this is the re-match, and should be one worth watching.

Despite a division lead that was as big as 8 1/2 games in September, the Tigers ended up barely edging out the Cleveland Indians by one game–this despite the fact that Detroit owned the Indians themselves, putting up a remarkable 15-4 record against their rivals.

The much anticipated rematch of last year’s Central Division contenders had to wait until today, due to snow, rain, ice, cold, and general non-baseball-friendly conditions.  Yesterday’s cancellation was in fact the 3rd already this season for the Indians (they made up one in a double-header), the 2nd for the Tigers, and the 9th overall in MLB. If the weather continues to be tricky it should make for some interesting scheduling down the line.

The Tigers decided to move Sanchez from Tuesdays start up to today and to keep Verlander starting Thursday as scheduled. This means that Drew Smyly has been bumped from the starting rotation for the 2nd time in as many attempts. Back to the bullpen for Drew.

Today’s DH-is-back Lineup:

1. Kinsler, 2B
2. Hunter, RF
3. Cabrera, 1B
4. Martinez, DH
5. Jackson, CF
6. Castellanos, 3B
7. Avila, C
8. Gonzalez, SS
9. Davis, LF

DET P: Anibal Sanchez (RHP)

Sanchez handled the Indians well last season, going 2-0 with a 2.79 ERA and WHIP of 0.879.

CLE P: Zach McAllister (RHP)

Last season McAllister was 0-2 vs. Detroit with a 9.00 ERA, lasting less than 4 innings in his last 2 starts. Hitting him particularly well were Andy Dirks and Brayan Pena. Oh. Well Martinez hit him well too: 3 doubles in 7 at bats. So we will go with V-Mart as the Player of the Pregame.