2013 Season, Game Post

Game 2013.86: Tigers at Indians

13 Comments

Detroit Tigers: 47-38, 1st Place (2.5 ahead of Cleveland). 

Yes, it’s that time of the season, that 4th of July lull where DTW game threads only draw a couple of comments and places like ESPN resort to discussing topics such as the All-Star game snubs before the teams are actually named. Snub predictions, I guess.

Anyway, despite the lulliness of the week the Tigers are in gear to put some space in between themselves and Cleveland before the break, after a 7-0 series opener.  That makes it 6 games in a row now that the Tigers have taken from the Indians, which should give Indians fans serious pause when considering their playoff contention hopes, as should the Cleveland record of 18-29 vs. teams with a winning record.

For the Tigers, aside from gaining a game in the standings, the win over the Indians was encouraging because of how well Rick Porcello pitched. Jason Beck notes that Rick Porcello has started doing something that Max Scherzer has been doing all season–increasing his use of the curve, especially against left-handed hitters. In fact, Porcello got 5 outs against lefties in the first 4 innings of last night’s game with the curveball. Can we get a +1 for the coaching staff?

Tonight’s game features the much-anticipated return of Anibal Sanchez to the starting lineup. Anibal will be on a limited pitch-count, so the bullpen should get plenty of work.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Victor Martinez. Martinez continues to hit his ex-teams well. Yesterday’s performance leaves him with a 2013 average of .382 against Cleveland (.954 OPS), and a career BA of .364 (.995). He also hits Boston well (.318, .920). Strangely, the one team Martinez never hit well was Detroit, only putting up .244/.722. I would expect that to change if he ever becomes an ex-Tiger, based on the above.

Today’s Hit the Ball for Anibal Lineup:

  1. Jackson, CF
  2. Hunter, RF
  3. Cabrera, 3B
  4. Fielder, 1B
  5. Martinez, DH
  6. Peralta, SS
  7. Dirks, LF
  8. Avila, C
  9. Santiago, 2B

13 thoughts on “Game 2013.86: Tigers at Indians”

  1. Avila you know your having a bad year when Jim Price announces what a great at bat you had on nine pitch strike out!

  2. Carrosco back to normal…there must have been 1500 feet of line drives that inning from the,Tigers …Great inning

  3. am I dreaming or,are the Tigers cracking the ball all over the place this week! 🙂

    2. Tigers seem to have the Tribe’s number…kind of like the Halos have against DET.

  4. I might be OK with Coke being the official “Blow Out Guy”, but how far can this trust and friendship thing go?

  5. I don’t get the use of Coke there. Unless, JL is saving Coke for tomorrow…

    Coke got drilled today. Hopefully the Tigers’ staff saw the same thing.

    Other than that, what a game!

    1. I know we are all sick of seeing Coke out there, but do they have anyone in Toledo that can take his place?

      I mean, I’m sure they have someone who can come up and do as poorly as Coke has, but I’d kind of like an upgrade(g).

      2. Limited to 40-man roster pitchers, it would be Reed, Marte and Ortega.
        Villarreal is still having difficulty finding the plate, so I think he is out.. Valverde will be available soon!, but then they will have to bump somebody from the current 40-man roster to make room for him. However, since they are all righthanded they are probably disqualified from immediate consideration.

  7. yup Coke is my situational lefty and thats how I am going to use him…that lasted a whole 18 hours…a new Mumble record!!!

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