Game 2016.159: Indians at Tigers

I don’t think there’s an option other than to wait out the rain. Otherwise Cle would likely have to come back here on Monday.

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. Nick Castellanos, 3B

8. James McCann, C

9. Jose Iglesias, SS

25 thoughts on “Game 2016.159: Indians at Tigers”

  1. If they do play tonight, the crowd should be about as large as that day game we had at the Twinkies.

  2. It’s been postponed, to be played Monday (if needed I assume). If it happens I would expect Francona to send 25 of September call ups to play.

  3. The games in Atlanta should be interesting. The Braves play the Phillies tonight and are 9-1 in their last 10. These are not the Twinkies, not that we do so great against them. We will be playing NL no DH rules. It means Brad may have to manage more than usual. It could be interesting. Do you guys think there will be a game Monday?

  4. Could be Monday or not at all.. If it doesn’t mean home field for Cleveland nor Wild Card for Tigers.. I bet they do not play it at all……

    1. Jud, about a month ago the local writers were saying he should be in the Manager of the Year conversation. You’re correct if the game Monday is not meaningful, it won’t happen. It won’t happen because I can’t see the Tigers sweeping Atlanta. For it to be meaningful to the Indians they have to win the 3 with KC and Texas has to lose all their games with Tampa.

  5. Fascinating article on mlb.com by Mike Petriello on “barrels” and Comerica Park. You guys have got to read it.
    I’ve long had a feeling that the Tigers are not a team well-suited to their home ballpark, is several respects.

    We’re all Red Sox and Yankees fans now.

    1. It’s a good reason for the Tigers to have strikeout/fly ball pitchers like Verlander, Scherzer, etc and not sinker guys like Porcello (although now we have a better infield)…guys like Verlander give up a lot of deep flies

      Just kidding. Verlander has somehow given up 20 home runs at Comerica, which is more than any pitcher in any park. All while pushing a sub-3.00 ERA. That’s baseball!

  6. This is like complaining about losing because of rain or cold like the team we lost to was in a different ball park during the game. Does the visiting team also get the barrels? Yes it’s a pitchers park, hello. Let’s make it look like Fenway or Yankee Stadium after all we win there all the time.

      1. The link within the article to one on the “barrel” concept itself is even more interesting.

        My feeling about how the Tigers match up with their ballpark isn’t entirely or even much about barrels. The article made me think, among other things, of how some visiting teams seem to take advantage of Comerica more than the Tigers do.

        The mention of the Red Sox and Yankees was not related to this. The Blue Jays and Orioles are playing out the regular season against Boston and New York. You know, the WC hopes thing. Hello.

        1. The Yankees have taken good advantage of their park over the years, loading up on lefties with power to take advantage of their ridiculously reachable right-field seats, and lefty pitching to help keep their opponents from doing likewise.

        2. Smoking, I just don’t get the point of the article. If it’s saying the Tigers haven’t played as well as other teams I can verify that by checking the standings. If it says we’re not taking advantage and scoring more run I (and Jud) have been painfully aware of that all season. If we had a park where all the red dots ended in the stands, what would the opponents be doing. I can only imagine what Sanchez’s HR number would be in Baltimore or Texas. I just do not see any value for stats that we realistically can not impact. We have Comerica, it is what it is. Now if we were really good at small ball, wouldn’t that be better than wondering why 400 footers do not get the job done. Sorry, I don’t get it.

          1. Oh before I forget, if Brad the Intelligent hadn’t blown (in my opinion) at least 6 games this year where would we be?

          2. Tony, the articles present interesting facts without reaching easy or premature conclusions. That’s all. Good information, but is up to us to interpret it as we speculate about why such a potent offense doesn’t score more runs (and not just at Comerica Park). The articles hint at other things not specifically covered, too, things we could look into. I find that sort of thing interesting. Clues, not conclusions.

            I though of exactly what Coleman mentions as far as Tigers pitching goes. Recently I noted the oddity of how the Tigers are out-homered at home while the opposite is true on the road. Despite Sanchez and Verlander, the Tigers staff is not especially vulnerable to the home run anywhere, overall.

            One article notes that J.D. Martinez and Nick Castellanos are top-level barrel guys (Tiger fan swells with pride!). This calls to mind what I think of as a conundrum: Yes, the Tigers offense would probably be better with one or two more… let’s see… take Cameron Maybin, Lorenzo Cain, and a Nori Aoki type, and divide by 3… that sort of hitter. You know what I’m saying. But which one of the mashers would we “uninstall”? Do we want the (good season version) Detroit Royals or the Detroit Rays? We *like* these slugging teams that the Tigers have tended to have for who knows how long now.

            The articles don’t really cover how opposing offenses do at Comerica, and that is something I want to look into. It’c clear enough that there isn’t much difference for RS/RA whether the Tigers are home or away, so there is more subtle information to look for.

  7. Huge win by Baltimore tonight!..both with 87 wins…I have been wrong plenty of times but I say both Toronto and Baltimore get in…..
    Brad and team spokesman McCann will say the Tigers just ran out of games, if they don’t make it…Neither will consider the 10-15 they just threw away..Neither will consider the ZERO sense of urgency until there were 6 games left…Neither will consider with that $188 million $$$ lineup they need everyone to do their work for them because they couldn’t do it themselves…

    1. The biggest contracts are Cabrera and Verlander, and I think they both earned their money, Verlander against all odds. I think it’s time, sadly, to part ways with Victor.

    2. The comment that the Tigers ran out of games is absurd. It implies that the other “lucky” teams that made it got more chances than the Tigers. What it fails to admit is that we have lost perhaps a dozen games because poor decisions by Brad (on pitchers, leave in or change,who to bring in, pitching to hot hitters w/1st base open, and his staff (Clark at 3rd?) poor base running and failing to score runs when the bases were loaded with less than 2 outs. We had enough games but failed to perform. When the year is over, the wins in April and May count as much as the ones in September.

  8. never thought i’d say this, but “go Yankees”…and “go Red Sox”

    since the sox have clinched, the odds are a bit better that NYY can win 2 or 3 against BAL (than BOS over TOR)… it would be great (but highly unlikely) to see both NYY & BOS sweep, just to see what chaos ensues

    1. The only chaos would be Brad trying to explain how he lost 2 of 3 to the Braves, which is much more likely than 2 sweeps.

  9. The best part of what Toronto and Baltimore have done is we only need one of them to have a bad weekend..1 out or 2 is way better than both or even one!

    Side note: I watched Jimmenez shut out the Blue Jays..he beat them the same way he beats the Tigers. He walked 8…but the Blue Jays only took 3 of them..the rest were swing batter batter swing! Balls outside and in the dirt…he reminded me of Frank Tanana who threw 85-88 and never threw a strike.

  10. Now that I’ve shown my ignorance and hit the bottom of the barrel as it were, in the series with Atlanta we all realize that a sweep should be our only goal. Like Norman, I’d love to see a tie or more for the WC but I think that both Team Canada and the O’s will each win at least one game this weekend. Let’s enjoy the weekend and remember that in reality the Tigers have had a better season than any of us could have predicted.

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