SOUP DU JOUR

Coleman April 13, 2014 at 6:48 pm [edit]

Chase Headley was wearing his stone glove again, and that lent a wee bit of excitement to the top of the 9th, but otherwise, if you saw the 4th, you saw the game. Tigers had momentum, Max Scherzer gave it right back.

Scherzer had a better day at the plate than on the mound, and showed that you can strike out 10 and still beat yourself. 105 pitches in 5 innings. A great catch by Rajai Davis in LF spared him from getting rocked completely. Tyson “Tyler” Wood was good, with a lot of help from his defense, and through 10 games, good is all you have to be to handcuff this Tigers lineup, top to bottom.

Good news in a boring game: Davis is getting on base and looking good in LF. Joba Chamberlain continues to pitch well, better than the ugly cumulative numbers show right now. Alex Avila didn’t strike out. (The team is 6-1 when he starts, 0-3 when he doesn’t.)

It’s the first rubber game of 2014, and hopefully it will satisfy our rubber soul, as the Tigers (6-3) make another day trip to San Diego (4-7) and then get their ticket to ride back home for a day off and then the Cleveland Indians. Max Scherzer will face Tyson Wood.

The Incredible 2014 Detroit Tigers are on pace for 108 wins, and I’ll have you know that the 7-3 we’re hoping for is only two games off 9-1. Alex Avila only needs 32 HR and 93 RBI to catch up with Lance Parrish’s 1984*, and I expect him to get there by the end of 2016 or 2017, easily. No, seriously, this year’s team has a ways to go (a funny expression I grew up with that people who didn’t may legitimately question – a ways??) to show that they have “team magic” (and the team stats) to compare with the 1984 Tigers. My main point in the comparison, however, remains that 1984 was very much a team thing, no future HOFers or HOF seasons, and that the 2014 Tigers might have a bit more of that team thing going for them than they did in 2012 or 2013. Along with a couple (at least) future HOFers.

*I think it’s only fair to include Alex’s spring numbers: 1 HR, 4 RBI, plus 1 RBI that he would have had if a runner had been on 3B with a really big lead.

This first West Coast swing has not been without difficulty, but it looks like it might end better than last season’s first (9-game) trip. Remember? Prince Fielder, fresh off AL Player of the Week, struck out 4 or 5 (or 6 or 7) times in a game v. Seattle, and he was never really the same after that. Then there was the Angels debacle, Part 1. It was rough.

A win today spreads optimism across the land. A loss will bring soul-searching, presumably about either the offense or the bullpen. I would bet on the win, not that we’re done with the soul-searching for a long time yet.

مشاهدة المباراة، الاستماع إلى اللعبة، اتبع اللعبة. دعونا نرى بعض ردود الفعل هنا. جوائز قيمة في انتظارك لحساء اليوم.

SOUP DU JOUR

Vince in MN April 12, 2014 at 9:41 pm [edit]

Time for the postgame. You saw it and reacted. Now you’ve had a chance to reflect and hopefully have more to say. Have at it. But I’ll go first.

RANDOM NOTES:

Not a good idea, the pickoff throw from C to 1B that allowed the steal of 3B. I can see a bluff in that situation, not an actual throw, unless you’re Salvador Perez and can actually get the out. I also thought a throw down to 2B recently (v. Dodgers maybe) – yeah, it was VMart, and a run scored – was dumb. Another good time for a bluff and see if the lead runner takes the bait. Wouldn’t that be smart baseball?

Wow, we got see JV get not only his first but first two MLB hits. Solid, too.

Austin Jackson was very much in the news today. Kept a double to a double, a double to a single, and tracked down a liner that could have gone over and past him. Fleet of foot and sure of glove, except for one instance where he was looking throw before looking ball into glove. That could have been costly, but wasn’t. I like him batting behind Miggy, and the insurance runs in the 9th showed why.

Looks like Kinsler should have gone to Gonzalez rather than try to tag the runner, but at least he had the smarts to be decisive and get the one out.

Defensive plays of the game: Miggy on the catch and tag at 1B (on Gonzalez’s errant throw), LF Seth Smith taking a double away from smiling in disbelief AJax, 1B Yonder Alonso’s circus catch of the foul pop (AJax victimized again), and Castellanos’s barehand play. Miggy has been Gold Glove at 1B.

Castellanos was asleep at 2B. Not the first such lapse we’ve seen.

Some crucial turning points were the Hunter 2-run single (Verlander obviously well aware that he had Davis running behind him), and Verlander’s strikeout of Chase Headley with men on 1st and 3rd. The best moment was the Jackson ground rule double after the IBB to Miggy. It gave you that “game in hand” feeling, a good one to have in the 9th inning.

Howdy, friends and neighbors. The Tigers (5-3) try to get back on the righteous path tonight against the Padres (4-6), with our hero Justin Verlander carrying the bulk of our hopes for putting up a W to counter the L. He’ll be facing Ian Kennedy, who has the possible misfortune of facing a lineup thoroughly outdone the day before. Or the good fortune of extra motivation due to Detroit’s reputedly fearsome offense. It certainly does seem as if almost all of the starters the Tigers have faced so far have kicked it up a notch. It remains true that good pitching beats good hitting, so while being shut out on one hit is no fun, it’s too early to be worried about the hitting. It’s too early to be too worried about anything, really, including the bullpen. The season is young.

The last time (before last night) Detroit lost to San Diego, it was a good year for DTW and a bad one for the Tigers. P Eddie Bonine made his second career start/appearance, and the only current Tiger in the lineup was Miguel Cabrera (0 for 4). Bonine was much better through 7 than he’d been in his debut win v. the Dodgers, though he gave up two long balls (one to Chase Headley). Fernando Rodney, Casey Fossum, and Joel Zumaya teamed up to blow the game in the 8th, with a bit of help from erroneous RF Magglio Ordonez – right after Placido Polanco had tied it at 2 with a solo HR. Curtis Granderson led off the game for the visiting Tigers with a home run off none other than Greg Maddux.

In other (good) news, Miggy describes his ailing swing in an apt and funny way, which tells me it’s going to get better soon.  Maybe real soon. In what might not seem like good news, the Padres have demonstrated that they are (or can be) a better and smarter hitting team than, say, the Dodgers, and perhaps JV and Max had better watch their step – but the good part is that this might bring out the best in them. The bats are due. Not sure if this evening’s epilogue will be “they came out swinging and it paid off” or “they were too anxious and aggressive,” but there’s nowhere to go but up from zero. I don’t think consecutive shutouts are allowed. I’d definitely throw a challenge flag to that.

Sehen Sie das Spiel an, hören Sie das Spiel, folgen Sie das Spiel zu. Sehen Sie hier einige Reaktionen. Wertvolle Preise warten auf Sie für die “Suppe des Tages.”

SOUP DU JOUR

jud April 11, 2014 at 10:29 pm [edit]

Things go well for Porcello until he starts leaving pitches up. RF Kelly raced back and had 2B Jedd Gyorko’s flyball in his glove momentarily as he neared the wall, but it popped out, hit the ground, and Kelly hit the wall. RBI triple. Kelly was down for a bit, trainer out, but he stayed in the game. Every out in the inning (and even Headley’s RBI double that Jackson flagged down) involved a fine defensive play (Romine, Kinsler, a charging-in Jackson), but the Padres are up 2-0.

2nd INNING: Headley is having trouble as Romine is nearly safe on another bad throw, but Cashner’s having no trouble at all.

Porcello gives up a hit on a hanger, but the pitcher’s bunt strikeout and a line shot straight at Cabrera bail him out.

3RD INNING: Cashner strikes out the side, all on called thirds. The Tiger appear to be waiting for something to hit. Maybe it’s all they can do today.

The Padres are not letting Porcello get away with any mistakes. A big threat is ended on an alert play by Avila, who jumped on Headley’s somewhat uncertainly fair tapper in front of the plate to initiate a sharp 2-6-3 DP. Don’t see those every day.

4TH INNING: The Tigers are hitless and clueless through four. Heart of the order up, three weak grounders, two to the pitcher.

Porcello gets a break when the R3L2O situation ends on C Rene Rivera’s hard liner straight at Miggy for an unassisted DP.

5TH INNING: Kelly’s deep flyball to LF is the best contact the the Tigers have made. (Or will make.)

Rick has a nice 1-2-3, good pitch inside to nail SS Everth Cabrera.

6TH INNING: Davis breaks up Cashner’s no-hitter and steals his way to 3B. The speed and the good jumps are obvious, but his sliding technique is now catching my eye. Kinsler can’t touch Cashner, but at least he draws a walk. Now there’s a real threat brewing. Ended by Miggy grounding into an inning-ending 5-4-3 DP. Not even hard hit. Here the game ends, essentially.

Porcello continues to pay the maximum XBH premium for the occasional BP pitches (he’s been throwing strikes and more often good ones), as Headley leaves no doubt on contact with the 2-run HR out to RF that overshadows a nice snag by Cabrera at 3B and a charge on a soft pop by Romine that I’m thinking Gonzalez could have muffed. 4-0 Padres. Bleak.

7TH INNING: Jackson almost recovers from a terrible gift swing – must have been a total guess, wasn’t even close – but then gets absolutely frozen on the 3-2 strike from Cashner. OK, maybe I’ll go with Chet Lemon instead.

Luke Putkonen’s alien abduction ended well, and he was here in relief after Porcello allowed the single to Cashner, which might have rolled all the way to the wall in the gap but for the speed of Davis. The rest of the inning was a pretty ridiculous way for the Padres to extend the lead to 6-0. Nothing but infield, and 2 runs score! Kinsler can’t quite glove one that goes through. Romine makes a nice play with the glove but can’t get the throw home in time, all safe. A potential 3-6-3 evaporates, V-Mart’s tentative throw leading to Romine’s hurried and high one. Not a clown show, really, but frustrating.

8TH INNING: Cashner v. Avila, Romine, and Holaday. Some real high drama there, eh?

Reed comes on in relief. Indicative of the whole evening, Romine makes a sliding play to glove a ball in the hole, but there’s nowhere to go with it, now men on 1st and 2nd, and then Avila’s PB puts men on 2nd and 3rd. By the grace of 2 outs having happened somehow, the batter being Cashner, and Martinez’s nice running catch of a foul pop, it ends without further insult.

9TH INNING: Nothing happening, Cashner puts the finishing touch on a masterpiece by striking out Cabrera with ease. Miguel Cabrera, I might add. You know, the Triple Crown, MVP guy.

The Tigers (5-2) are in San Diego, where it’s always baseball weather, for three against the Padres (3-6). Rick Porcello makes the start for Detroit, facing Andrew Cashner.

Obviously, not much history between these two clubs, but there was one famous series (famous if you’re a Detroit or San Diego fan, anyway) back in 1984. I followed the Tigers’ magical season game in and game out that year by way of the newspaper (remember those?). Watched the World Series on TV. I was in for some surprises 30 years later when I had a look at the bbref franchise encyclopedia for that season (for instance, how many team SB there were with only one guy any good at it, and how miserable the success rate was – different game then, maybe). I recommend it. Could lead to some interesting discussion and recollections.

At any rate, my recollections were a bit off, to say the least. I had come to believe that the 1984 Tigers were The Little Team That Could. Not so, even though they were without any true superstars and none of the players had what could be called statistically amazing seasons. They were the class of MLB in 1984 in all sorts of ways. They had no one even close to Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander, and Tigers teams of recent vintage have it all over them in terms of talent (and yet… Rusty Kuntz, .805 OPS!), but they put up 111 wins. I think the 2011-2013 Tigers lose a theoretical best-of-seven with the 1984 Tigers, 4 games to 2. The 2014 Tigers stand a better chance.

Yes, I think the season is off to a good start. This team is putting on a much, much better show through 7 games than last year’s. Hear me now and believe me later.

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4-2, 1st place, .5 games up. Magic number is 155 (I think).

I managed to catch the Crawford double right as I went to bed last night. Needless to say I didn’t sleep well.

Sanchez v. TBD tonight. Someone please post the lineups. I’m traveling, so the post-game may be a little late.

Interesting stat of the day: A Sanchez W today would be the first of the season for any of Verlander, Scherzer, or Sanchez.

I’d like to start with a few thoughts on the first week.

First of all, we got shorted by two games. Opening week off days are kryptonite to my baseball superman.The rain made things worse.

Secondly, day games are awesome. Props to the Tigers’ scheduling powers that be. I love following as much as I can during the work day, knowing that I can re-watch at night.

Thirdly. 4-1 to start the season is fantastic. The starters were fantastic, the hitting was good enough, and the late inning wins can mean a lot for a team with some new key pieces. This is going to be a great season.

Finally…the bullpen. Oh boy, this is going to be a problem.

Bullpens are curious creatures. Often morphing on a weekly basis. What you look for from your bullpen is consistency, and we have had very little of that over the past few years. Rondon going down didn’t help, but let’s be honest, he was far from a sure thing. I know that Nathan hasn’t been sharp early, but he’s earned a long leash. Coke has used up 8 of his lives. Al Al has had an abundance of opportunities and continues to disappoint. I don’t see great things from Krol, Chamberlain, or Reed, so any setup help we’re going to get is likely going to come from outside the 25 man roster.
It’s early, but a 6.08 K/9 from the pen isn’t gonna get it done. This will be an ongoing topic.

Stat of the Pregame – the Tigers as a team have struck out 26 times this season. The Upton brothers have struck out 21 times in 47 ABs.

Puig out tonight. Interesting NL style lineup moving the speed guy from 9 to 1.

1. Rajai Davis, LF
2. Ian Kinsler, 2B
3. Torii Hunter, RF
4. Miguel Cabrera, 3B
5. Victor Martinez, 1B
6. Austin Jackson, CF
7. Alex Avila, C
8. Andrew Romine, SS
9. Max Scherzer, P

Before this season started, a lot of Tiger followers predicted that this year’s Tigers would win more one-run games than last year (20-26). I don’t think yesterday was what they had in mind.

There was a lot to like about yesterday’s game (how about that Donkey!), but almost blowing a 6-run lead conjures up the spectre of the dreaded blowpen. Evan Reed had a 2nd good outing, but Phil Coke…is Phil Coke. The real worry is Joe Nathan. The season is still in its infancy, but Nathan has now had two bad, almost disastrously bad, outings in a row, and has a very un-closer-like WHIP of 1.875. History says Nathan will be fine. Until then, fingernails will be bitten.

Rick Porcello though, that is a different kind of surprise. Some people predicted this would be a breakout year for him (while others wished Detroit would have dealt him instead of Fister), and he sure looked like it yesterday. Porcello overcame a rough start and his own history (he has typically pitched poorly early in the season and in cold weather) to toss a gem, getting 11 outs on groundouts.

Is there a broom in the house? The Tigers are MLB’s last undefeated team.

“Hopefully we go 162-0.” –Torii Hunter

Today’s Leylandesque Sunday Lineup:

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

DET P: Justin Verlander (RHP)

BAL P: Chris Tillman (RHP)

It was a dark and rainy afternoon, and the Tigers continued their winning ways, cruising to a 10-4 victory over Baltimore.

The highlight of the game of course was Miguel Cabrera’s 2-run home run in the 8th inning, which also just happened to be his 2,000th career hit.

Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Mel Ott, Joe Medwick, Jimmie Foxx, Robin Yount, and Alex Rodriguez. That’s the short list Cabrera joins of players with 2,000 hits before their 31st birthday.

While thy Tigers went to 3-0 and kept Brad Ausmus perfect in his managerial career, Ausmus did lose his perfect record in challenges when the umpires refused to overturn a call at 2nd. Ausmus is still confused as to why the umpires ruled the way they did, as was I, the Baltimore announcers, and countless other people. I would hate to think that the powers that be have decided that too many calls are being overturned, and that is effecting the decisions.

Today the Tigers go for #4 with Rick “The One They Kept” Porcello making his debut. Porcello has a history of starting slowly:

ERA

• 6.58 Mar/Apr
• 4.51 Overall

BA Against

• .322 Mar/Apr
• .286 Overall

WHIP

• 1.581 Mar/Apr
• 1.389 Overall

At one point I painstakingly looked up how Porcello did based on game temperature for a season, and when the temperature was low he did seem to do worse, no matter which time of the season it was, so it is possible the March/April numbers are really just cold weather numbers. Does his sinker not sink in the cold? Does he have trouble with his grip in the cold? It’s something to watch for.

Game time temperature should be in the low 40s.

Today’s Chillin’ Donkey Starting Lineup:

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

DET P: Rick Porcello (RHP)

BAL P: Bud Norris (RHP)