Game 2017.36: Tigers at Angels

After a Jud-inspired JD Martinez performance, the Tigers now have a chance to close out a West Coast trip with a winning record, which doesn’t happen every day.  The only thing better than watching JD go long twice was seeing Justin Wilson blow through the 9th in 1-2-3 fashion. That feels good.

In other news Jordan Zimmermann just isn’t that good. But we knew that.

We are getting near that 40-game mark that Sparky always said was the time to start evaluating your team, and the above realization is starting to stand out.

Today’s Win One For Mom Lineup:

  1. Ian Kinsler, 2B
  2. Nick Castellanos, 3B
  3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
  4. Victor Martinez, DH
  5. Justin Upton, LF
  6. JD Martinez RF
  7. James McCann, C
  8. Andrew Romine, CF
  9. Dixon Machado, SS

Pitching: Justin Verlander vs Alex Meyer

Not bad for a Sunday Lineup.

19 thoughts on “Game 2017.36: Tigers at Angels”

  1. Yes, nothing good about Zimmermann since an amazing Detroit debut lasting all of April 2016. Another albatross contract. Signing Zimmermann at all was pretty brilliant – it’s hard to argue that it was not a darn good-looking acquisition. It would have been better to throw a ton of money at him right away for two years rather than back loading five, but that is apparently not an effective strategy for getting pitchers of his caliber to sign.

    The Anibal Sanchez deal was arguably worse. Both at the time and as it has turned out. Counting on Sanchez influenced other decisions about the pitching staff, and not for the better. Scherzer and Porcello might still be with the Tigers, for instance.

    Currently, Sanchez is just a complete waste of a 25-man roster spot. Can’t Detroit just ask him to accept an assignment to Toledo or let him go? He’s no good as a long reliever, or as a mop-up reliever, and there is no way he can be a rotation option any longer. They have several options at Toledo for that already. They have to pay him no matter what, but how does paying him to allow 10 per 9, paying him to allow runs and home runs every time out, sweeten the deal?

    1. Detroit has hit for crap in 2017, but so has the whole American League, apparently. Every time I check I expect to see the Tigers dead last. Nope. Not by a long shot.

      Does Cabrera look as hung over as Jud claims he is?

  2. I think Detroit may yet pull this one out, but still…

    If the Tigers are not going to do something interesting like winning, I humbly request that they do something interesting like bringing JaCoby Jones back up again and swapping out Sanchez for anyone. Arcenio Leon. Daniel Stumpf. Kyle Ryan. Whoever.

  3. Not a lot of confidence in the bullpen, I see, letting Verlander stay in to pitch to Simmons.

  4. This one appears to have gotten away. More of an indictment of the offense, really. Kind of a shame when a 3-run deficit looks big to this lineup.

  5. I didn’t bother with today I thought this exact thing would happen.. Miggy 3/23..1 rbi.on this trip. Last night he walked everywhere. Jogged if he actually hit the ball.. He does this every trip out here by the Sunday game he can barely move let alone have solid at bats. Never even comes out of the dugout until the game actually starts.. There is a pattern here. At his age shouldn’t you at least come out and stretch.?

  6. I was going to post the Tiger May averages, but why bother. almost the entire team is hitting between .150-.220 for the month…

    1. To be fair, the Tigers are having to play with the unexpected loss of Ty Adduci.

      1. Jud: Victor Martinez is the lone exception. .957 OPS in May but without a lot of run production thanks to the guys batting ahead of him.

    1. Yeah, facing all those pitchers named Cy calls for a guy named Ty. Or John Hicks. Who is also a catcher. Just sayin’. Never gonna happen. So why isn’t Alex “Buster Salvador” Avila playing maybe just a bit more often?

      1. Breaking news: John Hicks has inexplicably replaced JaCoby Jones in the Faces of WAR.

  7. I know this won’t impact tonight’s game but the Baltimore starter Miley has walked 15 in his last 3 starts.

  8. BAL – DET series predictions based on pitching matchups: (Boyd) L – (Fulmer) W – (Zimmerman) L

    hope Zimmerman surprises us, and DET puts up a bunch of runs for Boyd

  9. cabrera, prior to that single, he was 3 for his last 24

    top of the order needs to start producing

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