PREGAME: So here it is, win or go home or whatever other cliches you choose to use. I’m in a much better state of mind thanks to the counseling session that took place in the Game 4 Aftermath comments.

This preview is pretty thin. First, I’ve covered the Tigers starter Justin Verlander as well as Cards starter Jeff Weaver. Second, everyone understands the consequences. Third, I’m pressed for time at the moment. I do plan on giving the live-blog thing a shot tonight (just check in this spot). I’ve never done it for fear of jinxing the team. But really, I think we’re beyond that now.

The good news is it looks like the rain has stopped.

Detroit Lineup

CF – Granderson
LF – Monroe
SS – Guillen
RF – Ordonez
1B – Casey
C – Rodriguez
2B – Polanco
3B – Inge
P – Verlander

Cardinals Lineup

SS – Eckstein
RF – Duncan
1B – Pujols
CF – Edmonds
3B – Rolen
2B – Belliard
C – Molina
LF – Taguchi
P – Weaver

So pick your Tiger, and let’s enjoy this one tonight…whatever happens.

The Liveblog

Continue reading World Series Game 5: Tigers at Cardinals →

PREGAME: Yeah. I’m not writing a new preview. You can reference the old one here. And if you’re looking for the St. Louis perspective, check out the previews from these fine blog-establishments: Viva El Birdos (very active in game discussion also) and Cardnilly,

Meanwhile, Deadspin wonders if this series will ever end – or more appropriately if it will ever get started again.

UPDATE: It’s a washout. They’ll try and do this again tomorrow night around 8:30. Don’t know if this will hold or not, but as I write this, MLB.com lists Justin Verlander as the starter and TBA for the Cardinals. I hope it’s a goof. Skipping Bonderman would be, ummm, there’s not even words.

PREGAME: I’m far from worried about the series going into this game. Of course another loss tonight and that all changes. Tonight fans of both teams are confident in their starters.

For the Cardinals it will be Jeff Suppan. Suppan has been very good over his last 2 starts allowing only 1 run over 15 innings. In his last start against the Mets he only allowed 2 hits, but did issue 5 walks. The way the Tigers have been swinging the bats, they’ll have a hard time benefitting from any control issues that Suppan might have.

Magglio Ordonez has had considerable success against Suppan posting a 395/469/581 line over 43 at-bats with as many homers as strike outs (2). Brandon Inge has hit for the cycle (plus a double) over 14 at-bats. Placido Polanco has had no success posting a 1 for 13 with 3 walks.

Suppan has been better at home this year, posting a 3.18 ERA and 248 batting average against in Busch Stadium (5.36 ERA, .313 BAA on the road). Lefties hit him better with a +100 margin in OPS (836 vs 736), although they are slightly more likely to strike out (look out Curtis).

The Tigers will feature Jeremy Bonderman who sports the best peripherals on the staff. He’s basically had one rough inning in his last 2 starts. That inning being the first in game 4 of the ALCS when he surrenedered 2 runs.

Caridnals hitters have pretty limited to exposure to Bonderman with only Scott Spiezio and Ronnie Belliard gathering more than 15 at-bats. Belliard is 3 for 21 and Spiezio is 4 for 15 including a homer.

Bonderman’s road ERA of 3.63 is almost a full run lower than his ERA at Comerica Park.

Tigers Lineup

CF – Granderson
LF – Monroe
SS – Guillen
RF- Ordonez
1B – Casey
C – Rodriguez
2B- Polanco
3B – Inge
P – Bonderman

I’m totally down with this lineup. Pudge didn’t move, but if he turns in another 0-fer hopefully it won’t be as damaging. Let’s just hope that 2-3-4-5 can put something together. For that matter anybody putting something together would be nice.

Cardinals Lineup

SS- Eckstein
LF – Duncan
1B- Pujols
3B – Rolen
CF – Edmonds
RF – Wilson
C- Molina
2B- Miles
P – Suppan

The weather figures to be awful, so this might be a moot point. If they play, it is expected to start at 8:30ish.

PREGAME: The series shifts to St. Louis and the new Busch stadium. Busch has played as slightly more of a pitchers park than Comerica Park has. The pitching match-up will be Nate Robertson against Chris Carpenter.

The Tigers faced Carpenter once this year and jumped on him for 9 hits, 6 for extra bases, and scored 7 runs over 7 innings. It was an interesting line for Carpenter in that he also fanned 9 Tigers hitters and walked none.

In terms of individual match-ups, most of the Tigers have decent career numbers against Carpenter. Pudge Rodriguez has a 970 OPS over 26 at-bats against Carpenter. Given that Pudge is 0-fer a long time, this help get him on track.

Carpenter has been much better at home this year with a 1.82 ERA and only 7 homers allowed over 124 innings. He is brutal on right handers with a 571 OPS against. Left handers do substantially better, but still not good, with a 727 OPS but that’s kind of what makes Carpenter the staff ace.

Nate Robertson has limited experience against the Cardinals lineup. Ronnie Belliard has a pretty good track record and is 8 for 25. Preston Wilson though has 5 at-bats, and 5 hits off of Robertson. And with Wilson slotted right in front of Albert Pujols, there’s not pitching around him.

Detroit Lineup

CF- Granderson
LF – Monroe
2B – Polanco
RF – Ordonez
SS – Guillen
C – Rodriguez
1B- Casey
3B – Inge
P- Robertson

Carlos Guillen’s efforts are largely going to waste with Rodriguez failing to generate any offense. If he doesn’t do something this game, against a pitcher he’s had success against, he’s got to be moved down in the order.

St. Louis Lineup

SS- Eckstein
LF – Wilson
1B- Pujols
3B- Rolen
2B- Belliard
CF- Edmonds
C- Molina
RF – Taguchi
P – Carpenter

I give credit to La Russa for sandwiching Pujols with the 2 hitters who have had a solid track record against Robertson.

Game Time 8:30ish, or about 10 minutes after you think you can’t possibly take any more Zelasko.

PREGAME: The Tigers played poorly for the first time this postseason last night and they find themselves in a 1-0 hole. They also find themselves in what is probably the biggest pressure game of the postseason. When they were down 1-0 to the Yankees, they were supposed to lose. This time they are the favorites looking to even the series. Whether or not it is the team that is feeling the pressure, or just the fan base, remains to be seen.

The Tigers will turn to Kenny Rogers who has been absolutely dominating in 2 post season starts not allowing a run. He faced the Cardinals once this year and the results weren’t that impressive with 10 baserunners and 6 runs in 5 1/3 innings. Scott Spezio is the Cardinal with the most success against Rogers posting a 395/439/605 line over 38 at-bats which helps explain why he was added to the Cardinals lineup DH’ing from the 2 hole.

The Cardinals will trot out former Tiger Jeff Weaver. Weaver made 1 start in Comerica this year and took a loss despite allowing only 2 runs over 7 1/3 innings. Lefties posted a 1.004 OPS against him as opposed to a .743 OPS for right handers. Here’s hoping that Sean Casey looks better than he did last night.

Pudge Rodriguez, Placido Polanco, and Craig Monroe are a combined 2 for 19 off of Weaver while Magglio Ordonez and Carlos Guillen have had moderate success.

In the postseason Weaver has posted a 2.16 ERA over 3 starts and 16 innings. The small run total is a little surprising considering the 7 walks and only 5 strikeouts over that span.

St. Louis Lineup

SS – Eckstein
DH – Spezio
1B – Pujols
3B – Rolen
RF – Encarnacion
CF – Edmonds
LF – Wilson
C – Molina
2B – Miles

Scott Rolen has been moved up as right hander to try and keep Albert Pujols from being pitched around. Also, Ronnie Belliard and his 2 for 22 lifetime record against Rogers has been swapped out for Aaron Miles.

Detroit Lineup

CF – Granderson
LF – Monroe
2B – Polanco
RF – Ordonez
1B – Guillen
C – Rodriguez
DH – Casey
3B – Inge
SS – Santiago

Same lineup as last night. I’m not a big fan of Sean Casey DH’ing, but it is a lot more palatable tonight given Weaver’s left/right splits.

Game Time 8:00ish

PREGAME: In case you hadn’t heard, there are 2 rookies hooking up today. It will be Justin Verlander for Detroit and Anthony Reyes for the Cardinals.

First, we look at Reyes. This will be the first time the Tigers have seen Reyes, and anectdotally they seem to struggle with pitchers they face for the first time. In this case they’ve had plenty of time to prepare, but will it help?

Reyes is a predominantly fastball/change-up pitcher. He’s a flyball pitcher, with only 35% of balls in play on the ground. Because of this he’s prone to the long ball with 17 homers in 85 1/3 innings.

Righthanders hit for a lower average (249 vs 278), but post the same OBP(338) and a higher slugging percentage(525 vs 493) than their left hand counterparts. This would seem to be a favorable match-up for Marcus Thames, but Sean Casey looks to get the nod at DH.

Reyes is typically hit hardest early in the game (944 OPS in innings 1-3) so it will be important for the Tigers to shake off the rust of a week long layoff early.

On the other side will be Justin Verlander. I think I’m the only one who doesn’t think Verlander has pitched that well in the off season. He hasn’t been bad, but he also hasn’t made it out of the 6th inning in either game and it’s taken him 106 pitches to get that far each time. That said he’s been good enough as the Tigers posted wins in both his starts.

He’s been allowing baserunners, but he did that all season. Like he did all season, he’s done a good job stranding them with a 78% LOB rate because his OPS against with runners on drops to 684.

When he faced the Cardinals earlier this year, Yadier Molina had 2 doubles and Albert Pujols reached base twice. He had Scott Spezio tied up to the tune of 3 K’s.

Game Time 7:30pm

POSTGAME: Was it rust or was it Reyes? In any case the Tigers turned in their worst performance of the playoffs despite Justin Verlander seemingly having a solid command of his curve ball.

I’ll have a full aftermath post tomorrow morning, but some quick thoughts on tonights game first:

• Reyes baffled the Tigers. Most of those non-groundballs were simply pop-ups or soft liners to Belliard. It’s not like the Tigers were hitting at-em balls. They just weren’t hitting the ball hard and the only “Oh man” moment was Pudge’s flyball to the warning track.
• The patience the Tigers displayed in the past rounds was gone. Magglio Ordonez was the only Tiger to walk, and the only Tiger to reach a 3 ball count off of Reyes. Reyes deserves some of the credit, but the Tigers didn’t make him work and enabled the Cardinal bullpen a night off.
• You can question the decision to pitch to Pujols and you can lament the error filled 6th inning, but the Tigers hitters inability to get anything off of Reyes was the difference in the game.

PREGAME: Could there really be consecutive Saturday’s of cork-popping in Detroit? The Tigers have certainly set the stage for it to happen. They even turn to Jeremy Bonderman (I really thought about calling him Jeremy Wonderman, but I didn’t want to jinx him or anything and it kind of seemed like Wonder Woman. Then again Fox will probably call him Jason Bonderman or something anyways.) who was the clinching pitcher last week.

Bonderman always seems to bring a little something extra against the A’s, the team that drafted him, threw a chair through a wall, and then traded him. He only faced Oakland once this year and allowed 3 runs over 7 innings earning a no-decision in a game the Tigers won.

Now the big difference this week is that instead of Jaret Wright, the weak link on a mediocre staff, they’ll be facing Danny Haren who is arguably the stud on a very strong staff. In other words, Jeremy Bonderman may be able to exert only so much authority on this game.

On July 4th, Haren limited the Tigers to 1 run on 4 hits, no walks, and 7 K’s over 7 innings. Three weeks later though, the Tigers tagged him for 7 runs in 6 innings.

And here are your Neifi free lineups…

Detroit

CF – Granderson
LF – Monroe
2B – Polanco
RF – Ordonez
1B – Guillen
C – Rodriguez
DH – Gomez
3B – Inge
SS – Santiago

Oakland

C- Kendall
CF – Kotsay
RF – Bradley
DH – Thomas
3B – Chavez
LF – Payton
1B – Swisher
SS – Scutaro
2B – Jimenez

Game Time 4:30

POSTGAME: While watching this game I took a ton of detailed notes about situations, and moves, and all the little things. It all kind of seems moot when the Tigers win with a walk off homer in the 9th. I mean I could question why Jason Grilli was left into pitch to Nick Swisher when he’d thrown 8 straight balls, but to what end? I could point out the at-bat that Ramon Santiago had in the 6th inning when he made Joe Kennedy throw 7 pitches, but it just resulted in an out.

But we can’t dismiss all the little things that happened along the way because they set up a moment that will rival Kirk Gibson in 1984.

• The Tigers went with a patient approach early in the game, and it hurt them. They let a ton of fastballs down the middle go by early in the count. They ended up in a ton of 2 strike counts where they were flailing at the splitter. It ended up being 2 first pitch swings in the 6th inning that chased Harden.
• Everybody will remember Magglio’s 2 homers, which they should. But how big do you think the at-bat was that came in betwen the 2 bombs? He drew a walk against Calero who had just come into the game. The walk loaded the bases which brought in Huston Street, much earlier than the A’s would have probably liked. Because of that, Ordonez was the 9th batter that Street was facing in the 9th inning.
• How about Curtis Granderson turning a routine single into a hustle double in the 5th innings. If Granderson doesn’t make it to 2nd, he probably doesn’t score on Monroe’s double.
• More evidence that things were just going the Tigers way. Twice in the late innings the A’s very nearly hit homers. Mark Kotsay very nearly hit a homer that just hooked foul off of Jamie Walker before he fanned. And Milton Bradley hit a ball to just the wrong part of the park where the wall juts deeper.

PREGAME: I just found out I’m going to this game, so I apologize for the complete lack of anything here. Tickets are still availabe from Ticketmaster and below face value from other outlets.

Game Time 4:30

POSTGAME: I’ll just take all the credit. I’ve been in attendance for 5 Kenny Rogers starts this year. In those 5 starts Rogers has a 5-0 record with a 0.51 ERA,a 0.83 WHIP and has yet to allow a homer. Everybody is looking for reasons why Kenny Rogers has been so spectacular in the postseason. They need to look no further than me.

Of course it helped that the Tigers took advantage of some early Rich Harden wildness to push across a couple runs. Even with those couple runs, I was worried that the Tigers hadn’t done enough. Harden had broke the 60 pitch mark at the end of the 3rd inning, with more balls than strikes and the Tigers only had 2 runs on the board.

Yet Rogers, Rodney, and Jones made it stand up with room to spare.

Other thoughts:

• The A’s must fear Ramon Santiago. He reached a 3 ball count 3 different times including a walk. Santiago also played very nice defense. He made a play on a ground ball up the middle look very routine. If you saw where he started from, you’d see there was nothing routine about it. He doesn’t carry a big bat but the guy can play defense.
• As good as Carlos Guillen looked in the ALDS, he’s struggled in the ALCS. He’s swinging early in the count, and without much success. It almost makes you wonder if he’s thinking too much about playing first base.
• Placido Polanco has been a machine. The way he’s hitting right now, you get the feeling he can place the ball wherever he wants. That’s why it was pretty suprising to see him bunting with runners on 1st and 2nd.
• Those back to back plays that Mark Kotsay made on both Ramon Santiago and Curtis Granderson were remarkable. I still can’t believe he caught up with Granderson’s shot.
• It actually wasn’t that cold, at least where I was sitting in the upper deck behind home plate. The wind was only a breeze instead of a gale. I was expecing much worse.

PREGAME: First of all, thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Cory Lidle and the other individuals who were killed today in a plane crash. It’s simply awful news and truly a tragedy.

On to the matter at hand, the Tigers will be playing game 2 tonight against the A’s. The Tigers will send out Justin Verlander and the A’s will counter with Esteban Loaiza.

Last night we saw the Tigers exercise a great deal of patience at the plate. I’m sure that was by design. Like Joe Sheehan, I’m wondering if the Tigers will mix things up by being particularly aggressive on fastballs early in the count. In terms of scouting a preparation the Tigers seem to have had an edge so far in their 5 playoff games. We’ll see if they can continue that trend against Loaiza.

In terms of individual match-ups, Carlos Guillen is 11 for 16 off of Loaiza while Ivan Rodriguez and Curtis Granderson have also had success. Like with Barry Zito, Inge and Monroe have had little to no success against Loaiza. Of course that kind of changed last night for Inge.

There is a huge platoon advantage for lefties against Loaiza who have an 886 OPS versus a 684 OPS for righthanders. Sean Casey would have been helpful in this regard and is probably the reason Alexis Gomez is starting at DH in place of Marcus Thames. Of course Alexis Gomez has no track record of success against Loaiza or any other pitcher for that matter.

The Tigers faced Loaiza twice scoring 3 runs in 6 innings the first time and torching him for 8 runs in 3 innings the second time.

Justin Verlander made a couple solid starts against the A’s this year. In the first he was undone by 2 Nick Swisher homers and 2 Carlos Guillen errors. In the second he allowed a single run over 6 innings.

**A note on Neifi Perez**
Neifi Perez is in the lineup. Neifi Perez is hitting second. This is a bad decision regardless of what Neifi does tonight. I can understand having Perez in the lineup, but maximizing his potential at-bats is a poor move. Leyland doesn’t have confidence in Infante’s ability to play short (I disagree with this, but it is what it is). When it comes down to Santiago or Perez, Perez has a better track record against Loaiza (3 for 10 versus 2 for 18). You can place as much value on those numbers as you choose. Perez brings playoff experience (according to Leyland’s presser). That playoff experience is all of 4 plate apperances. And he brings energy and he likes to play the game. That is the Perez reasoning.

On another note, the complete lack of playoff experience for Alexis Gomez doesn’t appear to be a concern.

The Tigers are going to have to make due without Casey so things are going to get shuffled. Perez and/or Santiago will be playing and thus weakening the lineup. That’s the way it goes. But make no mistake, this is bad lineup construction.

Detroit Lineup

CF – Granderson
SS – Perez
2B – Polanco
RF – Ordonez
1B – Guillen
C – Rodriguez
LF – Monroe
DH – Gomez
3B – Inge

Oakland Lineup

C – Kendall
CF – Kotsay
RF – Bradley
DH – Thomas
3B – Chavez
LF – Payton
1B – Swisher
SS – Scutaro
2B – Jimenez

Game Time 8:19

POSTGAME: With an 8-5 win the Tigers are coming home up 2-0. Things look pretty good, but this is far from a done deal. As for tonight’s game, here’s what jumped out at me:

• That whole patience thing was back to normal tonight. Part of that may have been due to Loaiza. He was continually getting first pitch strikes. As a result he had a couple single digit pitch count innings. Only 6 Tiger PAs resulted in 3 balls, and one of those was an intentional walk to Polanco.
• Polanco took a first pitch strike each of his first 3 times up and singled all 3 times.
• Alexis Gomez was quite good today. Even his first out was hit hard. The platoon paid off tonight.
• Neifi Perez looked awful but got better as the game went on. First was the K, then the ground out to the pitcher, then the ground out to second, and after a sac bunt he got a flyball to the outfield.
• Todd Jones made things interesting, but to fully appreciate the situation you need to realize what transpired prior. After the Bradley homer Jason Grilli, Fernando Rodney, and Todd Jones fanned the next 6 batters. The benefit was that even after a couple singles, Bradley was coming up with 2 outs. Now Bradley got lucky with his at-bat, and Todd Jones got lucky leaving a ball up to Frank Thomas.
• I’m concerned about Joel Zumaya. He clearly wasn’t available tonight, and I didn’t even see him in the bullpen. It would be one thing if it were a rest issue, but he’s only pitched once since last Friday and there is an off day tomorrow. Something’s fishy.

I’ll have the “Day After” post up early tomorrow morning. Until then, sleep well. Your Tigers are up 2-0 in the ALCS.

PREGAME: It’s 1972 all over again as the A’s and Tigers hook up in the American League Championship Series. Tonight will feature Nate Robertson taking on Barry Zito and his curveball of doom.

Nate lasted 7 innings in each of his 2 starts against the A’s this year. In one game he surrendered 5 runs on 7 hits and 4 walks while taking the loss. In the other he surrendered 4 runs on 5 hits and no walks.

Barry Zito only faced the Tigers once this year and held them to a single run before his bullpen let him down by surrendering 3 runs in the 9th inning. Brandon Inge, Craig Monroe, and Magglio Ordonez are a combined 8 for 66 off of Zito. Fortunately Placido Polanco and Pudge Rodriguez don’t seem to be at all bothered by him.

The umpiring match-up – yes the umpiring match-up – would seem to favor the A’s. Homeplate umpire Jerry Crawford’s games have seen an ERA substantially higher than the league average and there tend to be more walks in his games. This would seem to favor the more patient team. (Hat tip Knuckle Curve)

And because this doesn’t fit anywhere else, Placido Polanco turns 31 today. (funnily enough, Ramon Martinez who was part of the trade to acquire Polanco from the Phillies has the same birthday)

Detroit Lineup

CF – Granderson
2B – Polanco
1B – Casey
RF – Ordonez
SS – Guillen
C – Rodriguez
LF – Monroe
DH – Thames
3B – Inge

Oakland Lineup

C – Kendall
CF – Kotsay
RF – Bradley
DH – Thomas
LF – Payton
3B – Chavez
1B – Swisher
SS – Scutaro
2B – Jimenez

Game Time 8:19

POSTGAME: One of baseball’s least patient teams took on one of baseball’s most patient teams. Yet it was the Tigers who found themselves regularly in hitters counts and full counts forcing Barry Zito out in the 4th inning. The Tigers made it all the way through the lineup the first time with every hitter seeing at least 4 pitches. Granted, it was a tight strike zone and Zito got a raw deal on a full count pitch to Polanco. But Nate Robertson was working with the same strike zone and didn’t reach his first 3 ball count until the third inning.

Robertson picked up where Kenny Rogers and Jeremy Bonderman left off and he attacked the strike zone. That wasn’t to say it was an easy go. Once again, started and failed to make it through a single inning without pitching from the stretch. And for what seems like the 6th or 7th time this season Nate Robertson put a man on third with nobody out and pitched out of it.

Now the Tigers did quite a bit right. They had a great approach at the plate, they played solid defense, and took advantage of their opportunities. Some of those opportunities were gift wrapped by the A’s. They didn’t field the ball particularly well and hit into 4 double plays.

The end result is the Tigers take an early 1-0 lead in the series and pick-up homefield advantage in the series. It also shows that Leyland must have known something by starting Robertson.