All posts by Coleman

2012 Season, Playoffs

Game 2012 Playoffs.13: Giants at Tigers

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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, 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, Playoffs

Waiting In The World Series On-Deck Circle

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Just a few thoughts while we wait patiently to see if Detroit will have a World Series rematch with St. Louis, or if the Tigers will take on the Giants.

Regardless of who the other half of the World Series matchup is, Detroit will begin the series Wednesday on the road. The blame for that falls on none other than Justin Verlander (although one could make a case for blaming Bud Selig), who laid an egg in his All-Star start and gave home field advantage to the NL team.  I imagine he is in for some good-natured ribbing.

If St. Louis beats SF on Sunday, the 2012 World Series will be the first ever in which two teams with under 90 regular season wins face each other.

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And because Wednesday’s game is in the NL park, our ALCS MVP DH will have to find a new gig; Leyland confirms the plan is to play Young in LF in Game 1.  This may cut down on Quintin Berry appearances.  It is worth noting that Q-Berry hit .314 (11-for-35) with a HR and 5 RBI in Interleague play.

Young will get a chance to practice his fielding, um, skills on Sunday and Monday: Jim Leyland, having experienced the 2006 World Series where the Tigers came out flat after having 6 days off, decided to try something different this time around, and is bringing players from the instruction league in for some scrimmage time.  My advice to the scrimmagers:  bunting, lots of bunting (those who remember 2006 will understand).

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Speaking of Leyland, Dave Dombrowski has publicly proclaimed:  Jim Leyland is welcome back.

Here is Leyland talking about the Yankee sweep.

Gene Lamont got less love:  Boston seemed uninterested in Lamont this time around in their managerial search (Farrell appears to have the job, although Toronto will have to be compensated).  Lamont says the Red Sox would have been better off if they had gone with him last time around.

And just for fun, let’s review some of the numbers from the Yankee series:

  • The Tigers swept the ALCS without ever trailing, joining the 1984 Tigers as the only teams to do so.
  • The Tigers became the first team to win 5 straight postseason games against the Yankees
  • The Tigers are the only team in the AL to be undefeated in posteason series vs the Yankees (3-for-3), and their 10-3 record gives them the best winning percentage of any franchise.
  • Delmon Young became the first player to have the game-winning RBI in all 4 wins of a postseason series.
  • The starting staff finished with a series ERA of 0.66, the 2nd best ever in a best-of-seven series (the 1966 Orioles had 0.61 against the Dodgers).
2012 Season, Game Post, Playoffs

Game 2012 Playoffs.9: Yankees at Tigers

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ALCS, Tigers 3, Yankees 0.

One more ho hum brilliant Justin Verlander performance, and the Tigers have the champagne on ice ready to celebrate their 2nd world series appearance in the Leyland/Dombrowski era, and at home again.

Not that there aren’t plans to keep the bubbly for another day if necessary: with CC Sabathia on the mound, the Tigers aren’t thinking the  ALCS is over.  Sabathia is coming off of a Verlander-like 4-hit complete game win in his last outing against the Orioles, the Tigers have struggled against lefties (especially Fielder with his wan .739 OPS against lefty starters), and it’s hard to sweep any series against anyone, much less a playoff series against the Yankees.

And Nature is furrowing her brows upon the party; rain may end up postponing the event.

Still, broom sales in the Motor City have been brisk.

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Verlander wasn’t the only hero last night.  Delmon Young continues to be a pain in the Bronx, hitting hitting his 5th career home run in 8 career playoff games against the Yankees.  And he even added a dig at Yankee stadium after the game: “I knew I hit it hard enough, but we weren’t in Yankee Stadium, so I had to wait an extra 30 feet for it to land.” (Jason Beck twitter).

And Phil “Not the Closer” Coke recorded his 2nd consecutive postseason save (who is the last Tiger pitcher to do that?). Not that he didn’t have a bit of trouble, but his strikeout of Ibanez made up for it.

In the words of Mr. Coke himself, “I kind of felt like I might have gone a little unconscious as soon as I posted it up and let it go.”

More fun with Coke, the Disgruntled Former Employee of the Yankees here.

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So, we here at DTW don’t have to be as careful as the Tiger players, and can indulge in such things as figuring out who we would want to face in the World Series.  I haven’t spent the time (yet) to work out what the best matchup is, and am split on the non-rational aspects of the question:  I lived in Giants territory for a long time, and have many Giants-fan friends, and yet a rematch of 2006 seems awfully appealing.

What do the rest of you think?

Stat of the Day: Delmon Young vs NY in 2011 playoffs: .316, 1.170 OPS, 3 HR.  Delmon Young vs NY in 2012 playoffs: .308, 1.203 OPS, 2 HR. Should the Tigers sign Young for next season in case they play the Yankees again?

His lifetime postseason numbers: 2.39, .817 OPS. He’s hardly Mr. October…it’s just the Yankees.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Gerald Laird. Gerald Laird? Yes, Gerald Laird. In 28 PAs against CC Sabathia, Laird has hit .417, been on base at a .500 rate, and has hit a HR and 2 doubles, for a tidy 1.125 OPS.  Picking up Laird was one of the better minor moves of the offseason, and it would be nice to see him get back-to-back World Series rings.

Today’s CC Riding Lineup

  1. Austin Jackson CF
  2. Omar Infante 2B
  3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
  4. Prince Fielder 1B
  5. Delmon Young DH
  6. Jhonny Peralta SS
  7. Andy Dirks LF
  8. Avisail Garcia RF
  9. Gerald Laird C
2012 Season, Game Post, Playoffs

Game 2012 Playoffs.7: Tigers at Yankees

60 Comments

ALCS, Tigers 1, Yankees 0.

Well, that was certainly exhausting, and it seems so soon to pick it up and do it all over again.  And I’m just speaking of the fans; imagine how draining that was for the participants.

Well, the big topic of last night’s game among many, is the potato in the room, which can no longer be ignored. Despite all of the “who could have predicted this” commentary last night on the TV broadcast, those of us who have been following the Tigers could have, and did predict that Valverde in the 9th was trouble.

In the past, Leyland has always supported his closer, closed ranks, and said, hey this is our guy.  When an exhausted and bleary-eyed Leyland said in the post-game interview that he needs to talk to his staff before he would comment on the closer situation, you knew this time was different.

Apparently the Tigers are going to go with a bullpen by committee approach for now. Although he still refers to Valverde as his closer. Although he won’t be closing today. In other words, we’ll have to watch and see. Valverde isn’t going away just yet (“Jose Valverde is sitll a huge part of this team”), but it is unclear what his role will be from here on out.

The Valverde implosion was so dramatic that is easy to forget that once again Joaquin Benoit was hit and hit hard (Austin Jackson with the save!), and it would not be hard to imagine Leyland going to Benoit in the 9th inning, so don’t put away the antacids just yet (although I am predicting Alburquerque for today).

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And don’t let the 9th inning meltdown distract from what was one more brilliant starting performance by Detroit, and a good showing by most of the bullpen. In fact Tiger pitching held the Yankees scoreless for 11 total innings yesterday.  Doug Fister fought through a string of bases-loaded situations, fought off a line on his pitching wrist, and came up with just enough strikeouts to blank the Yankees over 6 1/3 hard-fought, gutsy innings. (In fact when Fister escaped three bases-loaded jams he became the first to do that to the Yankees in their 375-game postseason history, in case you’re keeping track).

Benoit was scary, but Phil Coke may have had his best outing of the season, Octavio Dotel was solid after the Valverde meltdown (and may be the closer-in-waiting), and young Drew Smyly showed that he was up to the big stage, calmly putting down the Yankee lefties.  So all-in-all, the Tiger pitching, as predicted, has been the key to Tiger success in this series.

Today they hand the ball to Anibal, who has a short and inglorious history facing the Yankees: 7 runs over 7-plus innings in a 12-8 loss on Aug. 8.

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From the Yankee perspective of course, the Tiger bullpen implosion pales in comparison with losing Derek Jeter, whose season is finished after fracturing his ankle fielding a Peralta gounder. Jeter will be replaced by Jayson Nix, who hit .243 with 4 HRs and a .690 OPS.  What may be irreplacable is Jeter’s leadership, and expect even more attention to focus on Alex Rodriguez in the wake of Jeter’s loss.

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Stat of the Day: The Tigers are 1-0 this postseason when billfer comments on DTW.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera has faced Yankee starter Hiroki Kuroda 9 times, with 2 HRs and an OPS of 1.667.

Today’s Stealing-Home-Field-Advantage Lineup:

  1. Austin Jackson CF
  2. Quintin Berry LF
  3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
  4. Prince Fielder 1B
  5. Delmon Young DH
  6. Andy Dirks LF
  7. Jhonny Peralta SS
  8. Alex Avila C
  9. Omar Infante 2B
2012 Season, Game Post, Playoffs

Game 2012 Playoffs.5: Tigers at A’s

95 Comments

Well, relaxing didn’t seem to help.

Sure, Max Scherzer seemed relaxed and efficient, keeping the A’s to 4 base runners and no earned runs through 5 1/3, while striking out 8.

Unfortunately the bats were a bit relaxed as well, as the Tigers only managed to score 3 runs despite 10 hits, and although Fielder had a big fly, his relaxed glove at first led to Oakland’s 6th inning unearned run,

But all that relaxing was nothing compared to the 9th inning tension spawned by Jose Valverde, who gave up runs until the A’s didn’t need any more. If that seems like the same old 2012 Valverde to some, it did come in a new flavor:  he was sporting a new pre-delivery back waggle (his actual delivery appeared to be the same).

Everyone seemed to notice it except Valverde and Avila, who both said, nope, nothing different.

Now both ends of the backend bullpen tandem have blown leads already this series.  And if Tiger fans aren’t tense enough going into tonight’s deciding game, be aware that both Benoit and Valverde are ready to go tonight, and it would be very unlike Jim Leyland to not go back to his 8th inning and 9th inning guys again tonight.

In the heat of the moment last night, I found myself hoping that that was the last time I would see Valverde closing a game in a Tiger uniform.  Since the only way that will happen is if they lose tonight, I take it back.

Speaking of Leyland, in case you missed it, he says he is not going to go away, and intends to continue managing beyond this season. (Whether or not the Tigers make that decision for him has probably been affected by knowing that Francona is now unavailable as a replacement).

At any rate, one thing that has worked out is that it is Justin Verlander’s turn to take the mound.  For all of those of who answer Verlander to the question which pitcher would you want in one must-win game, here you go.  Hopefully he keeps the pitch count low and limits bullpen opportunities; if I were JV they might need to call security to keep me from taking the mound in the 9th.

Stat of the Day: Fielder and Cabrera combined for an 0-for-5 against tonight’s starter Jarrod Parker in Game 1.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Miguel Cabrera. Time for Mr. Triple Crown to stop hugging it out with Inge and the A’s, and unleash an MVP-worthy performance.

Today’s Rubbery Lineup:

  1. Austin Jackson CF
  2. Quintin Berry LF
  3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
  4. Prince Fielder 1B
  5. Delmon Young DH
  6. Andy Dirks LF
  7. Jhonny Peralta SS
  8. Alex Avila C
  9. Omar Infante 2B
2012 Season, Game Post, Playoffs

Game 2012 Playoffs.4: Tigers at A’s

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Relax, don’t worry.  That’s the message Jim Leyland has for the Tigers and Tiger faithful after the A’s shut out Detroit 2-0 on Tuesday night to stay alive in the ALDS.

Anibal Sanchez and the Tiger bullpen were up to the task, but the Tigers are still waiting for their offense to be unleashed, a common refrain that’s bound to bring a sigh from those of us who have been paying attention all season.

But what would postgame comments be without a bit of “that’s baseball:” “We’re going to have to hit better. But it’s baseball, and you never know how it’s going to play out.” There, that’s better.

Probably a tip of the cap is in order too, because the missing Tiger offense was due in large part to some fielding gems by the A’s outfielders (both on balls hit by the snakebit Fielder), and by some great pitching by Brett Anderson, making his first appearance in almost a month.

Oakland seemed to draw on the energy of its vocal fans, who are likely to be even more inspired now that the A’s have one in the win column.

Still, no reason to worry.

Actually, maybe you should.

In which camp are you?

The Tigers will turn to Max Scherzer tonight, who will attempt to show that he has recovered from shoulder and ankle injuries, and exploit the Oakland penchant for striking out.

The A’s will counter with another rookie (naturally), A.J Griffin, whose last playoff experience was in last season’s Class-A California League playoffs. He faced the Tigers on Sept 18 and gave up 5 runs in 4 2/3 innings, including a home run to Prince Fielder, who is certainly due.

Stat of the Day: The Tigers offense has struggled frequently this season, but not to the point of being shutout often–the Tigers were shut out only twice in the regular season, the fewest of any team in the Majors.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Max Scherzer. Mad Max needs to dial up the K’s.

Today’s Rookie-Beating Lineup:

  1. Austin Jackson CF
  2. Quintin Berry LF
  3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
  4. Prince Fielder 1B
  5. Delmon Young DH
  6. Andy Dirks RF
  7. Jhonny Peralta SS
  8. Alex Avila C
  9. Omar Infante 2B
2012 Season, Game Post, Playoffs

Game 2012 Playoffs.3: Tigers at A’s

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The Tigers swept the home series with the A’s and now have 3 tries to finish the job in Oakland.

John Lowe gives 3 reasons why we shouldn’t assume a Tiger series win:

  • The Tigers haven’t really hit the A’s well yet
  • Joaquin Benoit
  • Home field advantage–the A’s just swept 3 must-win games there against Texas

I’m sure our faithful readers can add more reasons of their own.

Here are 3 reasons I think the Tigers will win it:

  • Strikeouts: The A’s led the AL in striking out; the Tiger pitchers led in strikeouts, a match made in heaven, or at least a match made to reduce the clown show opportunities.  The playoff rotation is without the one Tiger non-strikeout pitcher (Porcello).
  • Al Alburquerque: The Q-Factor has continued his clutch pitching, and Jim Leyland had said during the season the team could use a big of swagger, and Alburkissy certainly swaggered it up.
  • The Twos.  Berry and Infante are a combined 4-8 in the 2 spot. Infante seems to have recovered from his fielding funk and his bat has heated up at the right time; the speed of Berry has put pressure on the Oakland defense.

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At any rate, apparently the most important even of Sunday’s game was that Al Alburquerque kissed the baseball before throwing it to first, at least judging by media coverage.  Al for his part has apologized;  Leyland doesn’t seem to be a fan of the move either. It seemed to crack up most of the Tiger players, many of whom referred to Alburquerque’s crazy personality, which is something I think we need to hear more about.

The A’s weren’t as amused; even Brandon Inge took issue (was afraid of going through this series without an Inge item).  Drew Sharp was in favor, since he thinks baseball is a bit too boring.

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Tonight Anibal Sanchez takes the mound for the sweep. Dave Dombrowski has come out as being in favor of keeping Sanchez, which will make for some interesting decisions over the offseason, financial and otherwise, which are outlined by Jason Beck.

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Stat of the Day: Regardless of what the RH/LH match ups say, Detroit should probably just go with whoever the DH is in the late innings. The Tigers pinch-hit for their DH 8 times in 2012, with an OPS of .000.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Anibal Sanchez.  The Oakland A’s have struck out (literally) against Detroit pitching so far in this series, 23 times already in the first 2 games.  Anibal needs to get in touch with his inner K to make this a short series.

Today’s Righteous Righty Lineup:

  1. Austin Jackson CF
  2. Omar Infante 2B
  3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
  4. Prince Fielder 1B
  5. Delmon Young DH
  6. Jhonny Peralta SS
  7. Andy Dirks LF
  8. Avisail Garcia RF
  9. Gerald Laird C
2012 Season, Game Post, Playoffs

Game 2012 Playoffs.1: A’s at Tigers

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It was a long road, and never easy, but the Tigers did it, and the playoffs are here! Let baseball’s second season begin!

Because of the peculiarities of this season’s scheduling, even though Detroit is the away team, they get the first two games of the best of five series at home, beginning with Justin Verlander on the mound tonight at 6:07, and Doug Fister tomorrow afternoon at 12:07, before heading out west to Oakland on Tuesday.

The Tigers won the regular season series with the A’s 4 games to 3, but the A’s come into the postseason as the hottest team in baseball, overcoming a 5-game deficit in 9 days to steal the AL West on the last game of the season from the Texas Rangers, who are now headed home to figure out what happened to their season.

First things first:  the Tiger playoff roster is set, and in what may be a bit of a surprise, Brennan Boesch was left off, while Don Kelly and Danny Worth are in.  In addition Brayan Villarreal was left out, which means Al Alburquerque will assume a big role. Rick Porcello will move to the bullpen for long relief.

*****

So who are these Oakland A’s anyway? Nobody expected them to contend this season, not even Billy Beane, who thought he was assembling a rebuilding team who would contend in 3 years. Sports Illustrated tries to reverse-engineer the A’s to see what went so right, including an aggressive running game and an efficient mix of part-time players, who combined to give the A’s the most opposite-handed plate appearances in the AL, which makes their lineup hard to name, but also difficult to beat. (SI also predicts Oakland will take it in four).

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The contrast between the two clubs is maybe nowhere more apparent than in the pitching match-ups. Oakland hands the ball to rookie right-hander Jarrod Parker (13-8, 3.47), who leads a team of rookies that combined to account for 54 wins (and 56 home runs). Parker’s gem is his change-up:  he has thrown over 600 of them this season, and has yet to have one leave the yard.

Parker will face reigning MVP/Cy Young Justin Verlander, who is looking to establish himself as a postseason pitcher in front of the home crowd.  Verlander’s postseason totals hardly say “ace” (3-3, 5.57), but he has been bounced around a lot by rain delays.

Stat of the Day: Quintin Berry finished the season with 21 steals without being caught, an AL record. Teams haven’t tended to run against Oakland (144 attempts, vs 176 against Detroit). If Q-Berry gets on, will he get a green light?

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Miguel “Triple Crown” Cabrera, who is also 2-3 career against Parker.

Today’s Central Division Champions Lineup:

  1. Austin Jackson CF
  2. Quintin Berry LF
  3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
  4. Prince Fielder 1B
  5. Delmon Young DH
  6. Andy Dirks RF
  7. Jhonny Peralta  SS
  8. Alex Avila C
  9. Omar Infante 2B
2012 Season, Game Post

Game 2012.159: Tigers at Twins

44 Comments

Detroit Tigers, 85-73, 1st place, 2 up, magic number 3.

Fister, then Smyly, then Verlander: the Tiger starters are on a roll, and this afternoon Anibal Sanchez takes the mound, following up one of the best Tiger starts of the season, to face the 1-9 Australian Liam Hendricks , who is the only Liam in MLB history, so he’s got that going for him.

Not that there wasn’t any drama last night, thanks to Long-Ball Benoit and Ryan D—it (again!). Doumit now has all 8 of the Twins’ RBI for the series.

And once again, P.J. Walters baffled the Tiger hitters.  Luckily the Twins had to resort to our old friend Casey Fien out of the bullpen, Cabrera re-tied for the HR lead, which has Mitch Albom all excited.

Speaking of excited, in the 5th inning yesterday, Quintin Berry stole second, an event that slipped under the radar.  Berry now has 21 stolen bases for the season, and has yet to be caught.  If he can manage the last 4 games without being caught, Mr. Berry has an American League record.

Max Scherzer is stiff iffy, but let’s wait a day or two before we start fretting about that.

Stat of the Day: Al Alburquerque has picked up on his improbably good season last year, throwing 12.1 scoreless innings, with a WHIP of 0.892.  Al now has a 84 strikeouts for his career in only 55.2 innings (1.52 per inning).

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Miguel Cabrera. The Twins’ Hendricks has given up 1.95 HRs per 9 innings, the 4th worst in baseball. You see where I’m going with this.

Today’s It-Worked-Yesterday Lineup:

  1. Austin Jackson CF
  2. Quintin Berry LF
  3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
  4. Prince Fielder 1B
  5. Delmon Young DH
  6. Andy Dirks RF
  7. Jhonny Peralta  SS
  8. Alex Avila C
  9. Omar Infante 2B
2012 Season, Game Post

Game 2012.158: Tigers at Twins

31 Comments

Detroit Tigers, 84-73, 1st place, 1 up, magic number 5.

Doumit! Things were starting to go so well, even last night–a great outing by Smyly, who may end up being a key part of the stretch run/postseason…although the offense was strangely silent (again) against Diamond.  Diamond said that the Tiger hitters had adjusted to him since the last start, so he adjusted to their adjustments.  I suppose if Detroit had adjusted to his adjustments to their adjustments, he would have just adjusted to that.

At any rate…then the 6th inning happened.  Cabrera was uncharacteristically caught admiring a home-run-that-was-not and was stuck with a long single. He then made up for it by getting thrown out by a mile at home (I couldn’t see if Lamont waved him home…if he did, then credit Crazy Geno with 2 miles of out at home in 2 days for the 2 big guys).

Then Doumit happened, and a particularly bad episode of the Rreality Show, and Detroit is back to a slim one-game lead. (Dotel is day-to-day with a sore right bicep, which is why he came out for Villarreal).

“Nothing comes easy for us it looks like” said Gerald Laird, and we can probably all agree with that one.

Justin Verlander has the task of keeping the Tigers on top, he is ready to go, and he still hasn’t given up on the Cy Young award.  (Or, just for the hell of it, on Kate Upton, apparently).  The last time Verlander faced Minnesota he came away with a 5-1 complete game victory; his last 7 starts against the Twins he is 6-0 with a 2.12 ERA).  If there is anyone to watch out for it is the ever-annoying Denard Span, 15-38 (.395) lifetime against Verlander, .350 career vs. Detroit.

The Twins will try again with the Pajama Man, P.J. Walters, who kept Detroit to 1 run in 6 innings in Detroit Sunday.  Let’s see if Detroit makes adjustments, and if he can adjust to the adjustments.

Stat of the Day: Over the past 2 weeks Jhonny Peralta is hitting .128 (.403 OPS), with 3 GDPs, and 3 more that should have been.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Omar Infante. Maybe the good plays in the field got his bat going. Maybe it stays going.

Today’s Hopefully-Adjusting Lineup:

  1. Austin Jackson CF
  2. Quintin Berry LF
  3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
  4. Prince Fielder 1B
  5. Delmon Young DH
  6. Andy Dirks RF
  7. Jhonny Peralta  SS
  8. Alex Avila C
  9. Omar Infante 2B
2012 Season, Game Post

Game 2012.157: Tigers at Twins

25 Comments

Detroit Tigers, 84-72, 1st place, 2 up, magic number 5.

Well, that’s fun, after all this–that magic number thing.

After a disappointing “outing” by Rick Porcello on Wednesday (in which he got Not Enough Outs), Doug Fister came through in a big way, with Way Too Many Strikeouts, to the tune of an American League record 9 strikeouts in a row. Or, to look at it another way, going through the whole order in strikeout mode.

In fact, it was even better than that. In the 9 strikeouts recorded, Fister threw a sum total of 9 balls, or 1 per batter, if you will.

As much as the Tigers didn’t look like a playoff team yesterday (it’s not often you get spotted 5 errors, thank you very much Mr. Moustakas…and the failed Santiago pinch-bunt had a second-tier aroma about it), Fister looked like a playoff pitcher, and the ESPN folk agree.

Just for fun, here is a breakdown of his record-setting 9 consecutive strikeouts:

    • Salvador Perez looking on 1-2, 91-mph fastball.
    • Mike Moustakas swinging on 3-2 changeup.
    • Jeff Francoeur swinging on 1-2 slider.
    • Brayan Pena looking on 1-2, 89-mph fastball.
    • Johnny Giavotella looking on 0-2, 89-mph fastball.
    • David Lough looking on 2-2, 88-mph fastball.
    • Alcides Escobar swinging on 0-2, 89-mph fastball.
    • Alex Gordon looking on 0-2, 89-mph fastball up in the zone.
    • Billy Butler swinging on 1-2, 91-mph fastball.

The Tiger offense was sparked, surprisingly enough, by Quintin Berry, and by a hustling infield double by Prince Fielder. And let us all pause to soak that one in, because that will only happen so many times in your lifetime. Miguel Cabrera, on the other hand, was ominously silent. The Triple Crown hoopla may be getting to him.  

Meanwhile, the Rays took care of the plummeting White Sox, thanks in part to ol’ crooked hat, Fernando Rodney,  who still wears his hat askew, but has straightened out his command.

The Tigers are on the road tonight in a bit of a do-over series with the Minnesota Twins: The Tigers get another shot at Scott Diamond tonight and the Pajama Man tomorrow, after struggling against them last week.

A pumped Drew Smyly starts for the Tigers, and could turn out to be a key piece in a Tiger playoff run, with Max Scherzer still sorting out shoulder problems.

Stat of the Day: Gene Lamont leads the AL in sending plodding sluggers home from 3rd ill-advisedly by a margin of 64% over the next worse 3rd base coach.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game:  Omar Infante. It was good to see Omar excel in the field yesterday. It’s a thing called RANGE.

Today’s Avilaird Lineup:

  1. Austin Jackson CF
  2. Omar Infante 2B
  3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
  4. Prince Fielder 1B
  5. Delmon Young DH
  6. Groundout to Short  SS
  7. Andy Dirks LF
  8. Avisail Garcia RF
  9. Gerald Laird C