35 thoughts on “Game 2016.156: Indians at Tigers”

  1. Awesome pre game intro Coleman! Meanwhile has Brad fallen on to something with Farmer on just waiting out his base on balls streak?

  2. The mindset of the entire Tiger organization baffles me. Mario and Gibby spent a couple of minutes questioning why the Indians sacrificed the runner to third. Well if they hadn’t the score would be tied at 3-3 instead of them leading 4-3 because the runner scored on a sac fly. Meanwhile we do have a shot so far. Farmer was not bad overall.

  3. Francona just blew the game! He used his closer in the 7th inning. What will he do in the ninth. You’ll never see Brad screw up like that.

  4. This neer ever ever changes…12 runners only 4 runs….never…that 50 runners in the past 3 games..13 runs…

  5. Guess Francona may not need his closer tonight. AW was due for a bad outing, he has been overused lately.

  6. Francona has a lot to learn as a manager. He brings his closer in in the 7th and then lets him pitch the 8th also. What will happen if he needs his closer tomorrow? Of course if the Indians win tonight they won’t need their closer for a week.

  7. Can’t pitch
    Can’t score
    Can’t get runners in(‘plenty of them)
    Can’t manage
    No leadership
    No clutch hitting
    No playoffs!!!

    1. +1

      Biggest is lack of leadership that makes me feel most of these guys are just collecting a check. That is hard for me to say as this is a very tuff game.

  8. Gave up 24 runs in last 19 innings down the stretch. Even if they made the playoffs on a fluke, they don’t belong there. Not even close on so many levels.

    1. Ole Miss the reality DET finds itself in is of its own making…just think of the games, even over the last month, they gave away or should have won…I can think of 4 off the top of my head.

      I’d love to see DET make the playoffs – even in the one-and-done WC scenario… but having said that, I will also add that although I’m not sure whether BAL or TOR ‘deserves’ to be in the playoffs or not, I have to admit DET does not…as Doug pointed out above.

      1. Thank you Norman for confirming what I have believed about the blown chances. Actually if you add these up during the year the wild card would not have been an issue, we might have been still alive for the Central Division crown. Definitely a manager and coaching staff issue.

    2. That’s all over (playoff chances) and has been all over for three weeks. Look ahead to 2017! Play the new offseason scratch-off game, where the players who get scratched off the team can make you an instant winner! My ticket reads:

      SANCHEZ
      PELFREY
      GREENE
      LOWE
      SALTALAMACCHIA

      Will I score all five and win big?

      I wonder what the first offseason “thing” will be. Hard to think of anything obvious. Maybe it is better to focus on the dwindling WC chances.

      1. Disagree a bit. I wouldn’t dump Greene yet. Hard to judge ball pen as badly mismanaged as it has been. Salty doesn’t cost us anything so as a backup only, he’s OK. Let me add one to your list: J-Up. Not so much because of his cold/hot year but because we must dump his salary (or Victor’s) if we are to have a chance at signing JD Martinez who is an absolute keeper. If we do not dump some salary we won’t be able to compete when he becomes a free agent at the end of 2017.

        1. You’re right to disagree, Tony, probably. I’m on the fence about Greene. As a starter, though.

          It’s an interesting situation, Upton/J.D.. I wasn’t aware of the Upton opt-out possibility until very recently. But… (double-checking)… yeah, that is Upton’s choice, not Detroit’s. It could be J.D. Martinez that the Tigers will have to part company with. It’s a bit like the Verlander/Scherzer thing.

  9. All Ausmus talked about all year was just wait til September…..well they are 9-12 in Srptember…nuff said!

  10. Speaking of the Tigers’ 2-14 vs. the Indians:

    The best teams don’t get beat up over the long haul (read: by division rivals). That sounds like a solid proposition. But it’s better than solid. It’s nearly bulletproof. Going back to 1995, contrary instances for WS/LCS teams are very rare. Even if you begin with the idea that the “Top 4” isn’t likely to have lost 10+ games against anyone, you might expect a few more exceptions.

    The 2014 Kansas City Royals (lost World Series) were 6-13 vs. the Detroit Tigers (playoff team).

    The 2005 Houston Astros (lost World Series) were 5-11 vs. the St. Louis Cardinals (playoff team).

    Of lesser note, and non-divisional, the 2000 Seattle Mariners (lost ALCS) went 2-7 against both the Indians (good that year) and the Tigers (not so good).

    Not once from 1995-2015 do I see any significant fluke like a mediocre/poor team having its way with an eventual top contender (intra-division or not). I have my doubts that there is any precedent for a playoff qualifier going (even, best case for Tigers now) 5-14 against a division rival.

  11. Will the Tigers sign up for another season of Francisco Rodriguez? Automatic? Any doubts? Sure has worked out better than the Joe Nathan debacle. But…

    1. it’ll cost DET $6M to bring back KRod next year – $6M team option or a $2M buyout…so he’ll be back

      As for Loon’s scratch-off for ’17 list:

      Sanchez will likely be back, because DET owes him $17M next year… $16M in ’18, w/a $5M buyout – so unless they want to eat $21M, he’ll be back because nobody will trade for that contract (unless DET picked up most of it, and if they did, they might as well keep him and hope he gets better…unless of course he’d garner a great prospect, which he won’t

      Pelfrey is owed $8M next year, so same as Sanchez, except $8M is easier to eat for DET

      Lowe is owed $5.5M next year – see above Pelfrey

      Greene is worth giving another shot since he’ll only cost DET $550K (not arb eligible until ’18)

      Salty will be a free agent at the end of ’16, so he likely won’t be back – unless DET has no other options for C

      1. Yes, but I’m so tired of waiting for Sanchez to get better. I’d sooner stick with Pelfrey and his consistency (5 innings, 10 hits and 4-5 walks, 4-5 runs). Eat those innings! They say this is supposed to be good. But they don’t say for whom.

        Maybe they’ll re-sign Avila for backup C.

  12. http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/17654126/joaquin-benoit-toronto-blue-jays-tears-calf-melee-vs-new-york-yankees

    a couple guy’s injured in a TOR – NYY dust-up…though not because of any blows thrown…

    most of MLB’s so called “melees” amount to just a lot of pushing and swearing (kinda like rugby), overall, pretty silly in my opinion… especially when both bullpens are in the OF and the bullpen guys run all the way in to the infield just talk smack and do some shoving – i’ve got a better idea – bullpen’s drop the gloves and meet head to head in CF… i’m kidding of course, but if ‘there has to be a fight’ in baseball, the Odor approach to Joey Bats seems a bit more pragmatic

    i still think MLB should change the rule to “two bases for HBP” – and teams should start training their well-armored players (especially the sub.250 hitters) to take a HBP pitch off the elbow or forearm pad

  13. If you examine the overpraised (opposing teams) and oft-maligned (fans) Detroit offense in the light of the always-interesting MLB Sortable Stats, it’s interesting. For the most part, if you go there trying to prove how bad or inefficient or ineffective it is, you will fail. What you do find that stands out as poor (relative to the rest of the AL) seems hard to work back from and establish cause (and remedy) for. It’s just results.

    Bases loaded: Tigers don’t do well here. They strike out *a lot* and also GIDP. Then again, the Red Sox – undoubtedly the best offense in the AL – are in the same boat.

    R3L2O: Again, they strike out a lot here, although they barely hold a candle to the Orioles and Rays.

    First inning: They sure don’t come charging out of the gate. This with the likes of Kinsler-Maybin-Cabrera? Their .724 OPS is good for 14th in the AL. By the way, the Indians and Red Sox are both off the charts in first inning stolen bases.

    Samples of the plus side:

    Pinch hitting: Tigers are phenomenal, best in the AL by far. Is Brad due some love here, or what?

    Seventh and Ninth innings: The Tigers are monsters, an offensive machine by any number of measures, including runs and home runs. Other top offenses don’t come close.

    None of it really answers why OK to excellent production yields less runs than you’d expect (or maybe just hope for). So it must be lack of speed, bad baserunning, lack of clever baserunning strategies and execution, et cetera, right? I don’t know. Hit some more home runs, already. They’re not the mashers we think they are. And how about some doubles? What happened to those? Anyway, you wouldn’t pull out any of the 3-7 regulars to add speed or bunting ability… would you?

    I won’t examine pitching in depth here, but remember the offensive machine of innings 7 and 9? Well, maybe it goes for naught, because Tigers pitching absolutely collapses in the 8th, worst in the AL. Also, the Tigers are out-homered at home, but do the opposite on the road by a wide margin (stingiest HR pitching on the road in the AL, too).

  14. that dude (CLE) pitcher just hung a curve to JUP and he did what hitters are supposed to do w/those

        1. Yeah. Jeez, save some for the next two at least. But that was fun. I won’t rain on the parade, even though this was Cleveland’s B-team and a mop-up guy who reminded me of good old days with Tigers mop-up guys.

          Preserve the shutout!

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