Just in time for opening pitch.
Baseball-Reference game preview here.
1. Ian Kinsler, 2B
2. Cameron Maybin, CF
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
4. Victor Martinez, DH
5. Nick Castellanos, 3B
6. J.D. Martinez, RF
7. Justin Upton, LF
8. James McCann, C
9. Jose Iglesias, SS
More good pitching last night, and some Kinsler heroics, and now Zimmerman takes the mound with a wacky lineup behind him looking to get the Tigers back to back sweeps.
Today’s Hey Why Not Lineup
Kinsler, 2B
Aviles, LF
Cabrera, DH
Castellanos, 3B
JD Martinez, RF
Upton, CF
McCann, C
Romine, 1B
Iglesias, SS
For those wondering, Maybin is day to day with wrist soreness.
Everybody is raving about Michael Fulmer, and with good cause: Fulmer has now had three consecutive scoreless outings of 6 or more innings, and would have had three of 7 or more innings if he wasn’t wisely pulled early in a lopsided game. One more scoreless inning would have put him in the company of Clayton Kershaw and Pedro Martinez as the only rookies to pull that off. A few more outings like this, and ROY whispers will be heard.
The Fulmer/Cespedes trade is now looking like one of Dave Dombrowski’s better ones, and a fine parting gift. Tonight the fruit of another midseason trade, Matt Boyd, goes against his former Blue Jays.
Today’s Boyd in the Hand Lineup:
Romine will try to stay crisp in the 2nd spot of the lineup as he gives Maybin a day off.
The Tigers are fresh off a sweep, and Mike the Unhittable Fulmer, also known as the bane of autocorrect, is on the mound. with the formidable task of beating the Blue Jays on his plate.
The last series was a good one in many way, and to quote a famous commenter on these pages, the “Tigers, for the most part , looked like a real baseball team, with a real manager that did baseball things.” This just a good weekend, or is this a turnaround? Stay tuned.
Tonight’s On A Roll Lineup:
Yesterday’s game had a little bit of everything – strong start by Pelfrey, clutch hits, good offensive output, and a joke of an outing by a reliever. But the Tigers managed to win the game and have a chance to sweep the White Sox this afternoon. Quintana has been lights out for the White Sox so far this year, this should be a great match-up.
I estimate that JV’s ERA would be half a run better if we had an average bullpen.
Baseball-reference game preview here.
1. Kinsler, 2B
2. Maybin, CF
3. Cabrera, 1B
4. Martinez, V DH
5. Martinez, J.D. RF
6. Castellanos, 3B
7. Upton, LF
8. McCann, C
9. Iglesias, SS
Cabrera is in the lineup. Phew.
Baseball-reference game preview here.
Today’s lineup (numbers off of Chris Sale). I’d swap Kinsler and Maybin, and put Upton 7th when he’s back.
Zimmermann back. We need him.
Interesting lineup.
1. Ian Kinsler, 2B
2. Cameron Maybin, CF
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
4. Victor Martinez, DH
5. J.D. Martinez, RF
6. Justin Upton, LF
7. Mike Aviles, 3B
8. James McCann, C
9. Jose Iglesias, SS
Tonight the Yankees come into town for the rubber game of a one-game series, weather permitting (light rain is forecast). Actually it is a make-up game that was rained out April 10, but it really is the rubber game of the series; the Tigers won the first game of the series behind Jordan Zimmerman, then Pelfrey got bombed in the 2nd to even it out. But that was so long ago that it seemed like a good idea to have Justin Upton bat 2nd.
Matt Boyd makes his 2nd start of the season, after making a decent showing in Oakland (6 hits, 3 runs, 0 walks, 7 strikeouts), before the bullpen spoiled the day. No such bad luck last night, as Michael Fulmer was just brilliant drawing a Roy Oswald comparison from his manager. His last 3 starts Fulmer is 3-0 with a 0.40 ERA, and has a 16-inning scoreless streak going. He may turn out to be a good one, and all for the price of 1/2 a season of Yoenis Cespedes.
The last time the Tigers won in Anaheim? Max Scherzer got the win, and Joe Nathan picked up the save.
Tonight’s Yankee starter, Michael Pineda, has been having a rough time of it, with an 8.85 ERA over his last 4 starts, giving up 30 hits over his last 20 innings.
The game will be starting fashionably late, at 7:40.
Today’s Hit Pineda Like a Piñata Lineup:
This was originally scheduled to be an off day after the long flight back from California, so it’s not surprising a regular or two would have the day off. Still, this lineup misses a lot without Kinsler.
Let’s get out of this place, the sooner the better!
Anibal Sanchez checked out early enough last night, he was done after 3. Brad Ausmus said afterwards, “I don’t think he’s real confident on the mound right now, so we’re going to have to make an adjustment with Sanchy.” I was pondering what sort of adjustment that Brad would come up with, when I saw that he went for a big one: Sanchy has been demoted to the bullpen. Well, now that’s an actual adjustment! Interesting. I was looking for the ol’ 15-day DL forearm strain discovery thing, which they have done with Sanchez a couple of times. Not that he hasn’t actually been injured, but it is pretty easy to park a struggling pitcher on the DL. But nope, this time, the full demotion.
At any rate, the move earned Brad the “get thee to the bullpen” game day post picture (but I will entertain suggestions that the move didn’t come from him).
That demotion means the “temporary” stater Michael Fulmer is probably going to be around for a while. Fulmer had a brilliant 7 2/3 innings last outing with only 3 hits and 1 walk. But then again, we are in Anaheim.
The Tigers head back home after tonight’s game for a one-game fatigue series with the Yankees.
Today’s Escape From LA Lineup:
Justin Verlander had another strong start last night, but then in the 8th inning it unraveled for him, and the bullpen and his defense didn’t help matters, and then of course, it’s Anaheim, where the rallies only blow in one direction.
You would think they way the Tigers fare in Los Anaheim that the Angels must be a great home team, but they are actually only 11-16 at home. Must be us.
Tonight the Tigers face lefty Hector Santiago, who didn’t even make it through 3 innings in his last start, giving up 5 runs in 2 1/3 (hey wait, when a pitcher does that, aren’t you supposed to leave him any anyway?). Maybe Santiago’s leftiness will wake up JD Martinez and Miguel Cabrera, who have been struggling a bit of late, with Martinez hitting only .192 over the last 7 games
Today’s Stop Monkeying Around Lineup:
Well, as Jud and others have pointed out, Anaheim has been a house of horrors for the Tigers. Last season the Tigers went 1-6 against the Angels; 2014 was a respectable 3-4, but that followed up a 0-6 2013. The good news is that the Angels are struggling this year at 22-28, with a thin .704 team OPS (Detroit is at .755), and with a fat 4.27 team ERA (Detroit is even fatter, 4.47).
The good news is that fat ERA has lately been in spite of, not because of, tonight’s starting pitcher Justin Verlander, whose last 4 starts have been vintage Verlander: 1.19 ERA with a stingy 0.82 WHIP. That, combined with the Angels offensive woes, should add up to a strong performance. OK, actually, Verlander will get bombed, because: rally monkeys.
Today’s Lettuce Win This Game Lineup:
Holy cow was the bullpen awful yesterday.
Not surprisingly, the Tigers have one of the worst bullpens in the American League. 14th in ERA (4.61), 13th in WHIP (1.39), 13th in BAA (.280), and 13th in OPS (.786). We’re roughly where we were last year…with half of the pen having turned over. One of two things is going to happen:
1) It’s not going to get better, and we’re going to have a revolving door of free agents and AAA pitchers who put up similar numbers.
2) Wilson/Wilson/Lowe will progress to the mean, and we’ll be a little better. Based on history and simple statistical theory, I fully expect this to happen.
Note that the Rangers’ bullpen is worse than the Tigers in every regard, and they are 7 games over .500. And Prince Fielder is below the Mendoza line with an OPS of .560. Every fan always has something to complain about.
Anyway, Pelfrey puts on his pinata costume once again as the Tigers look to take the series.
Curious to see what they do with Greene. I think he’s a better option than Pelfrey, but we may want to give Greene another run in the pen.
Baseball-reference game preview here.
1. Ian Kinsler, 2B
2. J.D. Martinez, RF
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
4. Victor Martinez, DH
5. Nick Castellanos, 3B
6. Justin Upton, LF
7. Cameron Maybin, CF
8. James McCann, C
9. Jose Iglesias, SS
