Game 2013. Playoffs 2: Tigers at A’s

This new season is off to a great start. For the “bad guys,” 27 outs and 16 of them strikeouts. 2 runs, and you can practically write off one of them. 3 hits, 6 baserunners. This, for the good guys, against an Oakland team that has pretty much demolished everything in its path since they fired up the steamroller in their last meeting with the Tigers. Outstanding.

Let’s compare notes on last night’s game. Here are mine:

ALDS Game 1: Detroit 3, Oakland 2. Tigers score 3 in the first, highlighted by the rarely seen (from anyone) Rally Reignited, a two-out, bases-empty double from Victor Martinez followed by a “single” from Alex Avila that’s booted by 1B Barton and 2B Sogard and scores Victor all the way from 2B for run #3 (see final score). Max Scherzer is good. Bartolo Colon is also good, as is SS Lowrie in making a play that nips Jose Iglesias. Andy Dirks misplays and then gets a bad bounce on the Cespedes triple, but Max doesn’t let it bother him. Miguel Cabrera hits the ball very hard but is out, and Victor goes down swinging on back-to-back change-ups from Colon (a double rarity). Max walks Crisp on four pitches and wild pitches him to 2B, but it comes to naught. Andy swings on the first pitch and is roundly and probably justifiably criticized by the radio guys for wasting an at bat, while 3B Donaldson draws praise for foiling a Jose Iglesias bunt for a hit attempt. Max strikes out the side, the heart of the order; he’s been dealing all along, and now it’s starting to get ridiculous. Great bunt by Torii Hunter gets him aboard. He tries to catch the A’s sleeping with a SB attempt between pitches. Doesn’t work (some say he was safe), but no complaints. 1-2-3 and strikeouts #8 and #9 for Max in the 5th. Three straight hits, but the rally is deflated by sending Victor home from 2B on Omar Infante’s single to RF-with-arm Reddick. Outcome and criticism equally predictable and equally just. Max walks Crisp again but otherwise has a great “don’t let the tide turn” inning. Colon out, Otero in, and the Tigers 9-1-2 go down meekly. Jose Iglesias makes a highlight play without the highlight throw, and Moss is at 1B. This shouldn’t count for much, but it does when Cespedes makes Max’s 2-2 fastball go far away quickly and convincingly. Max comes back strong to keep it a 3-2 game and finish with 7 superb innings peppered with 11 K. LF Cespedes loses Victor’s drive for a two-base error, but Alex strikes out to end the insurance run threat. Nonetheless, this Martinez-Avila thing is becoming quite the rally combo. Miguel out, Ramon Santiago in at 3B. Drew Smyly pitches well around yet another walk to Crisp, and Joaquin Benoit comes in to get the sigh of relief third out. Still nothing happening for the Tigers against Doolittle in the top of the 9th, despite a cameo from Jhonny Peralta at the plate (Don Kelly will be in LF for the bottom half). Joaquin puts it away in impressive fashion against the A’s 4-5-6, at least two of them major threats to tie the game with one swing.

* Spotlight on Max Scherzer. His pitching performance in Game 1 has to rank high in Detroit Tigers postseason annals. I’m anxious to see how his BR Game Score compares with some of the 1968 WS starts, in particular.

* Rather surprisingly, since 2000, the ALDS teams that have won Game 1 have only gone on to win the series 15 of 26 times. But since 2007, it’s been 10 out of 12. Also since 2007, winners of Game 1 away from home have gone 5-0 in series wins.

* Anyone remember Detroit vs. Oakland in the 1972 ALCS? I don’t have clear memories besides bitter disappointment. I don’t know how much of it I watched or listened to; I may have followed most of it by newspaper. I remember plenty of the names on both sides, of course; the Athletics were so star-studded that I probably remember more of those names. I wonder how many of the 1972 Tigers I can name without looking it up. Let’s see… Lolich, Coleman, Brinkman, Rodriguez… after that I start to get confused about how many of the 1968 guys were still on the team. Horton, Stanley, Cash, Northrup, Brown, McAuliffe, Freehan – were they still around? I’ll take a couple more stabs in the dark with Hiller and Timmerman, and then give up and check the record.

Ha! I must have really taken Mr. Tiger Al Kaline for granted back then. Couldn’t recall now how far into the 70s he’d played. Anyway, what a series. Look it up (if you need to). Heartbreaker. Starting lineups for the decisive game:

1972

2006 was sweet, of course. Saw a clip of the Magglio HR recently and had the thought that this is what the Tigers see in Castellanos. Last year was a close call, but I think the better team won, for sure. I’ve got a good feeling about the current series. Is it just the way it’s started, or are the stars and the planets really aligning in Detroit’s favor? It’s hard to be pessimistic, up 1-0 and JV coming up. Bats, schmats. I don’t think the unknown rookie jinx is valid for the postseason. No. I really think that has expired. Call it a guy feeling.

Game 2013. Playoffs 1: Tigers at A’s

After 162 games and 162 game posts and after how many countless ups and downs, here are the Tigers right where we expected them to be from the first “Play Ball!” on the chilly April Fool’s Day that began the season: right where they were last season, beginning play in the ALDS against Oakland, representing the Central Division.

The Tigers didn’t exactly finish the season with a roar:  they lost 5 of their last 7, and only scored 14 runs in the process, a meager output for what is supposed to be one of the best offenses in the league. But this is a new season right now: all bets are off, we start over from scratch, and there is no such thing as momentum (just ask Cleveland, after they roared into the Wild Card game off of a 4-game win streak.

This is the 2nd season in a row that the Tigers have kicked off the postseason against the A’s; the two teams are establishing a serious friendly rivalry (and it is friendly: unlike most rivalries it is difficult to think of any real contentious moments between the teams, unless you want to go back to 1972 when Bert Campaneris launched his bat at Lerrin Lagrow).

*****

ALDS Schedule:

  • Game 1: Tigers at A’s, Friday 10/4, 9:37 PM EST (TBS) Max Scherzer vs. Bartolo Colon
  • Game 2: Tigers at A’s, Saturday 10/5, 9:07 PM EST (TBS) Justin Verlander vs Sonny Gray
  • Game 3: A’s at Tigers, Monday 10/7, 1:07 PM EST (MLB) Anibal Sanchez vs Jarrod Parker
  • Game 4*: A’s at Tigers Tuesday 10/8, TBD (TBS) Doug Fister vs. Dan Straily
  • Game 5*: Tigers at A’s Thursday 10/10 TBD (TBS) Max Scherzer vs Bartolo Colon

*If necessary

(Game 4 will be at 5:07 if the Rays and Red Sox are still going, or 7:07 if they are over).

(Game 5 will be at 9:07 if the Rays and Red Sox are still going, or 8:07 if they are over).

Series umpires: Gary Darling (crew chief), Tom Hallion, CB Bucknor, Mike DiMuro, Jim Reynolds, Mark Wegner. I don’t believe any of these umpires have ejected Jim Leyland or Miguel Cabrera this season.

TBS TV crew: Don Orsillo (voice of the Red Sox), Buck Martinez, and Dennis Eckersley. The Eck is a treat to listen to.

Detroit ALDS roster:

Pitchers:

  • Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Anibal Sanchez, Doug Fister
  • Joaquin Benoit, Jose Veras, Drew Smyly, Al Alburquerque, Jose Alvarez, Luke Putkonen, Rick Porcello.

Position Players:

  • Prince Fielder, Omar Infante, Jose Iglesias, Miguel Cabrera, Ramon Santiago, Hernan Perez
  • Austin Jackson, Torii Hunter, Andy Dirks, Jhonny Peralta, Don Kelly
  • Alex Avila, Brayan Pena
  • Victor Martinez

Notable omissions: Bruce Rondon (elbow soreness), Phil Coke (Phil Cokeness), Matt Tuiasosopo.

Jim Leyland said he will be making out his lineup using “some statistical analysis, some guy feeling, a combination of those things.” We’ll leave it to our clever readers to figure out which move is which.

During the Tampa Bay-Texas Game 163 event, there was much clucking of tongues by the broadcast crew about Texas having Nelson Cruz back from his 50-game suspension. The home audience had no such qualms, and gave him a standing ovation. I expect there will be a bit of chatter when Jhonny Peralta first enters the series, and I think for the fans it will be a non-event. It would probably be fitting if he is brought in to face Big Bart Colon, who quietly sat out 50 games last season for a testosterone violation.

*****

While the Tigers ended the season with a lull, the A’s went out with guns blazing. They won 7 of their last 10, but it’s the manner in which they did it that catches the eye. Not known as an offensive power, they put up 72 runs over their last 10 games, including a four-game sweep of Minnesota in which they scored 8, 11, 9, and 11. Yes, it’s Minnesota–who went on to play Detroit and held them to 3, 4, and 1. Luckily, there is no momentum when it comes to the postseason.

Oakland won the season series between the two teams 4-3, and took 3 out of 4 in Detroit in August. Here are the box scores for the season series for those who are interested:

OAK 4, DET 3

DET 7, OAK 3

DET 10, OAK 1

OAK 8, DET 6

OAK 6, DET 3

OAK 14, DET 4

DET 7, OAK 6

*****

About that stadium. O.co Coliseum–which has to be the worst-named stadium in baseball–is the white elephant of stadiums. It is unique in having an enormous foul territory, and, mysteriously, seems either impossible or reasonable to hit a ball out of, depending on…well, something, who knows. I’ve seen a lot of games in this stadium, under its previous, more mellifluous names. Back in the day one had a very pleasant view of sunset against the Oakland hills until Al Davis built “Mount Davis” in centerfield (an addition for extra football seating), which has all the charm of…well, of Al Davis. The A’s have gotten their revenge by playing into October on a regular basis, which means the Raiders have to play on dirt (O.co remains the only multi-use football-baseball stadium).

The best part about the stadium though is that the bullpens are on the field, down the right field and left field foul lines, and the seats behind the bullpen areas are some of the best inexpensive seats in all of baseball. It is a very different thing watching these guys from, say, 20 feet away, and you notice all sorts of things you wouldn’t otherwise (Al Alburquerque has an incredibly upright posture). Who knows when they will finally get a new stadium: currently they are in the middle of a lawsuit against MLB to get a San Jose stadium (San Jose is technically San Francisco Giants territory; depending who you listen to this lawsuit will amount to nothing, or threaten the whole MLB antitrust exemption).

*****

Just for fun, I’ll throw this in in case anyone wants to look back and see what ESPN’s predictions were before the season started. The Tigers were the AL favorites to win the World Series; the overwhelming NL favorites were the Nationals (oops).

Today’s Player of the Pre-game: Alex Avila. Let’s call it a gut feeling.

Today’s Postseason Opening Day Lineup:

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

News and Notes: Playoff Off Day (for us)

Props to the Pirates. Good luck in the playoffs.

I’m really looking forward to tonight’s Cle/Tampa game. I’m going to pull for Cle.

A few interesting tidbits from the WSJ last week:

– According to Baseball Info Solutions there have been more than 7,800 “defensive shifts” in 2013, up from 4,500 in 2012.

– The frequency of sacrifice bunts and intentional walks fell to record lows this year. Stolen-base attempts sank to their lowest since 1973. The stats guys are winning out.

I heard this during a radio broadcast (can’t remember which game)

– There were 12 guys with 100+ RBI this year, two on the Tigers. In 2000 there were over 51 (including Bobby Higginson and Dean Palmer)

********************

And a thought which I’m carrying over from a Coleman/Smoking Loon exchange last week.

– I had a Strat-0-Matic set when I was young. Actually, it was my father’s and the player cards were from ’77-’79. Not the best Tiger years, but the Yankees and A’s could kill it. I remember playing whole games and keeping score. When I was very young, the great Jon Miller did play-by-play for the Rangers and lived a few houses down from us. I didn’t have any baseball consciousness then, but my parents buddied up with the Millers. Several years later he was in Arlington for an Orioles/Rangers series and he came by the house. Strat-O-Matic came up and he told me that he use to simulate entire seasons with one team, and would call the play-by-play and do the PA as he progressed through the games.

– With that in mind, can we talk for a bit about baseball video games? When I was six, my next door neighbor, Kyle, had baseball for his Atari. He used to dominate me when we played and would turn to me and do a menacing laugh every time he hit a home run. In fact, he’d load up the bases on purpose and then hit a grand slam. Over and over and over. Finally, he turned to me to start his laugh and I punched him in the nose. The laughs stopped and my team’s performance improved.

– I would like to single-handedly claim responsibility for the incredible Matt Williams 1990 season. If you’ll remember, Baseball Stars came out in 1989. Unless you wanted to play with the Lovely Ladies or the Japan Robins, you had to name your own teams (playing with the American Dreams just wasn’t fair). My buddy and I named every MLB team, including a 3B for the Giants named Matt Williams whom we had never heard of. He hit about .660 with 54 home runs in our first Baseball Stars season, and in 1990 he became an All-Star for the first time. Coincidence?

– I played RBI Baseball when I went to my friends’ houses who weren’t as fortunate to have Baseball Stars like me, but I felt sorry for them.

– I also played a lot of Tony La Russa baseball in the early 90’s on my PC. In fact, that’s how I really came to know many of the all-time Tiger greats. This was, of course, when I wasn’t playing Leisure Suit Larry.

– Baseball games kind of got lost for me once the consoles improved, as the focus shifted to Madden and NHL.

– I did, however, pick up MLB The Show a few years ago, and that game is unbelievable. I’d play more if the games just didn’t take so long. Plus, that was 2 years ago so I’m tired of trying to win with Brad Penny. They really have done an amazing job of making sure that you buy the new edition every year.