2012 Season, Game Post

Game 2012.90: Angels at Tigers

26 Comments

Detroit Tigers, 46-43, 3 1/2 games behind Chicago.

The Tigers try to continue their 2nd-half surge with a 4-game series against the redundantly named Los Angeles Angels.  The series will feature neither Justin Verlander nor Jered Weaver, much less a rematch between the two, since they both pitched yesterday.  Perhaps that will have to wait until the 1-game wild card playoff.

Instead Rick Porcello will take the stage for tonight’s ESPN Monday Night Baseball affair, and try to stop the Trout-Trumbo express, which has combined for an 8.0 WAR (a fancy way of saying they are worth as much as the rest of the team combined).

They are right handers, but the righty-righty match won’t necessarily help Kid Rick:  Porcello this season has given up a .319 BA against RHB, and .318 against LHB.  (Yes, that seems awfully high…but you see, there are all those ground balls, and there is the Tiger infield…).

The Tigers face Ervin Santana, who has the AL 3rd worst ERA at 5.75

Or you could look at the matchup as the meeting of the two highest priced free agents:  it’s Pujols vs Fielder! (Just trying to guess the ESPN angle).

In other news, the Tigers are still supposedly interested in Ryan Dempster and Marco Scutaro.

Stat of the Day: The Tigers have yet to be shutout this season.

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Jhonny Peralta.  Over the past 2 weeks he is hitting .344 (.989 OPS), and even his outs have been largely of the hard-hit sort.  Is he coming back into 2011 form?

Today’s Trying-To-Score-From-2nd-On-A-Shallow-Single Lineup:

  1. Austin Jackson CF
  2. Quintin Berry LF
  3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
  4. Prince Fielder 1B
  5. Delmon Young DH
  6. Brennan Boesch RF
  7. Jhonny Peralta SS
  8. Alex Avila C
  9. Ramon Santiago 2B

26 thoughts on “Game 2012.90: Angels at Tigers”

      1. no, unfortunately that ‘logic’ only seems to rattle around JL’s brain 😉

  2. Three early observations.

    1) I love having Berry in left with Jackson in center.

    2) Great job blocking the plate by Avila on the out at home. Nice quick throw by Porcello too.

    3) The atmosphere feels like a playoff game.

    1. Nother observation: we only have 2 guys with any speed to speak of. And both have made huge baserunning blunders since the break. Maybe Cabrera should coach them, he may be the smartest baserunner on the team (and, coincidentally or not, he doesn’t even look at Gene Lamont).

      1. You mean the same Miguel Cabrera that has been thrown out on three separate occasions trying to advance to second base on balls in the dirt that go about 8 feet from the catcher? That Miguel Cabrera? Cabrera is a great hitter, not so much in the base running department.

        1. You men the same Cabrera that was second in MLB last year going from 1rst to 3 rd on a single. Did it last two games.
          And the one who has 3 SB with his bodyweight

          1. Great stat, where did you get that from JKL?

            I agree, Cabrera is the smartest ball player on the team. And that includes his silly throwing to 1st on a bunt decisions.

  4. Sounds like we got a break on the call there, let’s take advantage of it.

    I’ll try to remember that next time I’m complaining about a call.

  5. if we could get 35 more points out of Boesch [.280] then things would be a whole lot better……but a HR is always good……. 🙂

  6. Disappointing AB for Fielder there. A little more maturity and he takes the walk.

    1. He’s an RBI guy, not a walk guy, and I get that. He’s gotta realize there though that a walk IS an RBI.

  8. i know its only mid-July, but that was a big win

    Berry has been an incredible spark plug for them since he’s arrived

  9. Does anyone have any info on when Porcello’s contract is up? I am growing very weary of his up and (mostly) down performances. If the Cubs are truly interested in Porcello (as I’ve heard in some trade rumors), I’m more than willing to part with him for either Dempster or Garza. I don’t think Porcello is ever going to blossom into the #2 starter behind JV. He’s in his fourth year now and I’m sincerely doubting whether he can ever be depended on to become a solid starter (meaning an ERA of 3.80 or better and a WHIP of 1.25 or better) in the Tigers rotation.

    I’d be willing to cut bait with him if there is some team that believes that they can work with him. I just don’t think Rick scares anybody because he doesn’t throw hard and opponents get “comfortable at bats” versus him. I am frankly tired of watching it. After tonight’s game opposing hitters are batting .320 vs. Porcello in 2012. Its no longer a small sample size as he is over 100 IP this year.

  10. Jerry: There’s no way they take Porcello straight up for Garza, even with the salary difference. Getting Garza would require giving up someone painful to lose–Castellanos, Turner, or Berry, most likely.

  12. Re: Lamont

    Russell A. Carleton, a writer for Baseball Prospectus and ESPN Insider, found in his research that most coaches actually put up the stop sign more often than necessary and cost their team runs.

    “The ideal third-base coach is a sign on a stick featuring the words, ‘If the gentleman currently holding the ball is an outfielder, please turn left and run an additional 90 feet,'” Carleton concluded.

    “It’s counter-intuitive, but the third-base coach doing the most for his team is not the one who has the highest safe-rate, but the one who has the highest go-now rate.”

    Source: The Detroit News

    1. And Cabrera and Fielder should try to steal more often because it would reduce the number of potential GiDPs.

        1. I’m willing to accept the argument that the default sign should be “send.” But surely refining that to account for the baserunner, the outfielder, the depth of the ball, and the position of the runner would be something that would be desirable, advantageous, and a measurable skill? Watching live, it was obvious Boesch was a dead duck, as it is on the replay.

          1. No, he had a significant chance of scoring. Boesch was only three steps away when Wieters caught the ball and only two steps away when Wieters was in a position to apply the tag. It looked ugly as hell because Boesch made a pathetic attempt at bowling over Wieters, but the play was still closer than it looked.

            If the throw was even 3 feet up the line (Endy Chavez is no Jeff Francoeur), Boesch would have come in with a hook slide and Wieters would have had to dive back to the plate to make the tag. It would have been a photo finish and even if Wieters got there in time, he would have had a hard time holding onto the ball.

            The math says it was the right play as long as there was a 45% chance of scoring. Maybe he was a bit too aggressive… maybe Boesch only had a 30% chance. Regardless, it’s nowhere near the atrocity everyone is making it out to be.

        2. And specifically regarding Gene Lamont, the frustrating thing is that he is just as likely to hold Berry on the same play that he sent Boesch on. He is like a randomly-generated hold/send sign.

          1. I’m not defending Lamont specifically. From the sound of that BP article, every third base coach is leaving a lot of runs on the table, but unfortunately coaching decisions don’t get much love from statisticians, so we can’t objectively measure who’s better than who.

            1. I’m with you there. Perhaps was cutesy joking, but was also semi-serious about wanting a WAR rating for Lamont.

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