All posts by Coleman

Game 2014.86: Tigers 14, Dodgers 5

Better late than never, right? As Justin Verlander said. Sometimes real life can annoy.

I can count on one hand the number of times I saw a team go into the bottom of the 1st with a 5-0 deficit, and have the question come up a few innings later: are they violating unwritten rules by stealing bases? (Anybody but Smilin’ Torii Hunter, and somebody is getting plunked).

Two quick observations: 1). The American League is just a lot better than the National League, especially the pitching. Really? Yes, really. Not just because of the inter league record (96-85 the last time I checked), but because of…je ne sais quois. As far as the pitching, well, I’m sure Moneybeane took this into account with the trade for Samardizija, but NL pitchers get one free out (often a K) every 9 batters, which has an effect greater than one ninth. I can actually quantify it, but that is expressly prohibited by my non-disclosure agreement. The second is 2). The better the team, the better the Tigers seem to play, which is frustrating, but encouraging for the postseason, right?

OK, 3rd thing: you know that thing the Tigers never do, where they bury a team when they have them down: they done did it!

This would seem to be an enjoyable game to do a post-game post on, but I have to wait. Apparently in the Pacific time zone, the Tigers are still batting.

Seriously though, it was an enjoyable game to watch considering it was a blowout, because Verlander didn’t quit pitching once the Tigers got down 5-0, and and the Tigers didn’t stop scoring runs once they got ahead (which was probably wise: see 1st inning). And we even got to see what I really really hope is Cabrera’s last triple of the season. He slid like a mountain bike that lost a tire. Playing hard and having fun though, that’s the way to go.

 

 

Game 2014.78: Astros 6, Tigers 4

The Tigers, thanks to 9th inning heroics by Ian Kinsler, now have a chance to take the Astros series today, despite the Cabrera-Martinez heart of the order still being 0-for-Houston (0-for-18).

The game did not start promisingly, with Max being dinged for 2 runs in the first, but Max, along with Jeff Jones and Bryan Holaday, figured out they were sitting on his off-speed stuff and changed the game plan (Good camera work catching the confab, by the way). 6-innings later Scherzer had 13 strikeouts in his pocket and had the Tigers still in the game.

In a “that’s baseball” moment, I admit I was grumbling about Kinsler swinging for the fences, when a simple single would tie the game or give them the lead. Oh. Sometimes when you swing for the fences, they actually go over (413 ft.). And we needed the extra run, since Joe Nathan was a good sport and gave Houston a home run too.

Where would the Tigers be this season with an injured (or even uninjured) Prince Fielder instead of Ian Kinsler? If you are a believer in the WAR rating, Kinsler is the most valuable player on the Tigers this season. Of course, if you want to watch him this afternoon you are going to have to peek in the dugout (see below).

Lost in all of the excitement last night was the interesting move Bo Porter made in the 8th. With Cabrera-Martinez-Martinez due up, the Astros sent out their Closer, Chad Qualls, using the logic that he wanted his best guy pitching to Detroit’s best hitters. It didn’t work: while Qualls got through the 8th, Williams got beat in the 9th, but I like the move.  I wouldn’t have used it yesterday, since Cabrera and Martinez were struggling and all the action was coming from the bottom of the order, but under normal circumstances it might be a good move. They could have always left Qualls in for the 9th too, but two innings for a Closer is apparently still illegal.

Today’s Go Deep, Take a Seat Lineup:

  1. Jackson, CF
  2. Hunter, RF
  3. Cabrera, 1B
  4. V Martinez, DH
  5. JD Martinez LF
  6. Castellanos, 3B
  7. Avila, C
  8. Suarez, SS
  9. Romine, 2B

Austin Jackson gets a shot at the leadoff spot…ah, the good ol’ days. Ian Kinsler gets to watch from the bench and contemplate last night’s game-winner, as a bag of lettuce roams his spot out at 2nd.

Drew Smyly takes the mound with a 1.44 ERA over his last 4 starts. Scott Feldman will try hard not to poke the sleeping Cabrera bear.

Postgame:

Well Feldman apparently did let sleeping bears lie, as Miguel Cabrera finished hibernating his way to a perfect 0-for-Houston. The rest of his cohorts at the top of the lineup didn’t do much better. For the series, the 1-4 spots in the lineup went a combined 7-for-49 (.143). And 5 of those 7 hits belonged to Ian Kinsler, who sat out today’s game (that adds up to 2-for-39, .051 with Kinsler’s numbers removed).  Ausmus tried Austin Jackson in the leadoff spot to “get him going” (yes, he really said that), and Jackson promptly ran off to the golden sombrero table at the local flea market.

It came out after the game that Drew Smyly was seriously ill yesterday, but said he was good to go today. He wasn’t. The illness explains the uncharacteristically quick hook by Ausmus.

Houston’s “8th Inning Guy” did so well against Ian Kinsler that Bo Porter let him pitch the 9th too, giving him a save of over 1 inning. Brad Ausmus filed an official protest for illegal use of relief pitchers.

The Tigers head back to Detroit to take on the Oakland A’s, otherwise known as the Best Team in Baseball.  With Oakland’s league-leading team ERA of 3.18, the Tigers could be in for a very long week if the top half of the order continues to struggle.

austinjacksongoldensombrero2

(Photo from The Golden Sombrero, who sadly stopped tracking golden sombreros in 2012).

Game 2014.77: Tigers 4, Astros 3

Perhaps Jason Castro did the Tigers a favor last night with his walk off home run.  Four of the bullpen arms had been there and gone, and eventually someone was going to have to go multiple innings, and that fell to Blaine Hardy, who wasn’t quite up to the task.

Not that it mattered: the Tigers looked like they could have played another 9 without scoring, so maybe Castro saved the rest of the pen from being used up too. After Castellanos homered in the 4th, the Tigers managed only 1 hit in the next 7 innings; that’s 1-for-24 (.042) for those keeping score at home. Of course they could have hoped for another error-walk-error combo, but that could have taken a while.

And how about that Altuve guy? He either knocked in or scored the first 3 runs of the game, went 4-for-5, and stole 2 bases–including home when Alex Avila made an ill-advised pickoff attempt at first. Now there is some legitimate cap-tipping material (Altuve, not Avila).

We won’t discuss the Detroit base running. At least not today.

The Tigers get a break today, and face Brett Oberholtzer instead of the originally scheduled Dallas Keuchel. Oberholtzer is also a lefty, but not a Cy (2-6 4.76).

Today’s Yay, No Keuchel Lineup:

  1. Davis, CF
  2. Kinsler, 2B
  3. Cabrera, DH
  4. V Martinez, 1B
  5. JD Martinez LF
  6. Hunter, RF
  7. Castellanos, 3B
  8. Holaday, C
  9. Suarez, SS

Holaday gets a start against the lefty after the long night for Avila behind the plate, Miggy gets a “rest”at DH, which usually doesn’t work so well, and maybe Davis can raise a little havoc on the bases. Tigers have been short on havoc lately.

Game 2014.76: Astros 4, Tigers 3 (11 innings)

The Tigers ride into Houston on the back of a 7-game winning streak, without a scrap of Zubaz on, according to Torii Hunter (via Only Tiger Fan in Mississippi). Because you can’t be streaking, if you’re wearing Zubazzes.

Anyway, here are the scheduled times/starters for the series:

Detroit Tigers (43-32) at Houston Astros (34-46)

  • Fri 6/27   8:10 Justin Verlander (6-7 4.82) vs. Brad Peacock (2-4 4.50)
  • Sat 6/28  4:10 Max Scherzer (9-3 3.71) vs. Dallas Keuchel (L) (8-5 2.78)
  • Sun 6/29 2:10 Drew Smyly (4-6 3.19) vs. Scott Feldman (3-5 4.00)

Every game at a different time, so there’s something here for every time zone.

The Tigers have gone from a team struggling to stay out of last place to a team with an easy 4 1/2 game lead and the 2nd best record in the league, all in the time since my last turn in the Game Post rotation–primarily because of the Tiger rotation.

The last time the Tigers played Houston they took 3 of 4, all but the start of the dreaded Cy Keuchel, who turned out to be just starting a brilliant run which will likely land him in the All-Star game. 24-yr old Jose Altuve continues to develop into a legitimate star (.334, 30 stolen bases), and 24-yr old George Springer adds power (15 HR, 40 RBI). The Astros are giving the fans reason for optimism, despite their 34-46 record.

Today’s Streaking Lineup:

  1. Kinsler, 2B
  2. Hunter, RF
  3. Cabrera, 1B
  4. V Martinez, DH
  5. JD Martinez LF
  6. Castellanos, 3B
  7. Jackson, CF
  8. Avila, C
  9. Suarez, SS

Game 2014.69 Postgame: Tigers 2, Royals 1

I have to admit it felt pretty good to win that one, especially since the game started for me with a creeping feeling that Danny Duffy was going to no-hit the Tigers.

As predicted, JD was the man of the hour again, hitting his 3rd home run of the series and providing the winning run. As Suarez’ flame has quietly dimmed, JD’s continues to burn, and he is the Another Guy of the hour. As in, there’s Cabrera and V-Mart, but we need Another Guy to hit.

Anibal Sanchez continúes to be the Ace of the staff, and Joba Chamberlain pitched a quick and efficient 8th, and Joe Nathan had a flashback 3-strikeout 9th inning. Billy Butler was impressed:

“That looked like the Joe Nathan I’ve faced for years,” Butler said. “All those times with the Twins and then with Texas — the one with a few hundred saves and all those All-Star games. He’s had some tough moments in his career, but that looked like the same guy today.

If just for an afternoon the Tigers looked like a team that was dominant from the mound.

*****

Maybe Miguel is breaking out of his slump. He hit a deep double to left-center that knocked in the first Tiger run. Unfortunately, he took the opportunity to stand and admire his not-a-home-run. Nevermind, there was no harm. Not until the next play when he got picked off from right field as he was walking back to 2nd with his head down. If you watched the replay, Victor stopped running about halfway to first and looked like he was trying to get Miggy’s attention. Hopefully Victor had a word or two with Miguel after the game; he’s probably the only one who could. Cabrera doesn’t look like his head is always in the game lately. And yes, I am holding him to a higher standard than other players.

*****

I was right in the pre-game: Bryan Holaday really doesn’t get no respect. Holaday was rung up on two consecutive ball four pitches, the second of which provided a Great Moment in Lip Reading. His last time up he bunted for a single, and ended up on 2nd when an attempt was unwisely made to get him at 1st. I’ll throw this one out there to the audience: who was the last Tiger who bunted as well as Holaday does?

 

 

Game 2014.69: Royals at Tigers

So the Royals come into Comerica today with brooms in hand, as the Tigers try to get back that winning feeling. The Royals have actually already swept the series proper: today’s game is a makeup of an April rainout. Don’t you wish they’d played it then?

After today’s game the Tigers fly to Cleveland for a 3-game series. Brad Ausmus says “boy will our arms be tired!”

One guy who actually showed up for the Kansas City series is Julio Daniel Martinez, who has been banging it in the 5-spot. Here’s his cumulative line for the series:

11 AB 6 H 5 RBI .545 BA 1.564 OPS

With a lefty on the mound for KC, I don’t expect the JD Train to stop today.

*****

There is talk, as StorminNorman posted, that Alex Avila has been tipping pitches, namely by smacking his glove once before a fastball, twice before a breaking ball.  I’m going to go back and watch all the games and pitches to sees if that checks out (no, I’m not). In addition, Ray Fosse (A’s broadcaster and former catcher) says that Avila puts his right hand behind his back before a fastball, but not before a curve.  Either way, we won’t get to look for that today, since Bryan “Don’t Get No Respect” Holaday gets a start.

Today’s Win One for the Quipper Lineup:

  1. Kinsler, 2B
  2. Jackson, CF
  3. Cabrera, 1B
  4. V Martinez, DH
  5. JD Martinez RF
  6. Castellanos, 3B
  7. Holaday, C
  8. Suarez, SS
  9. Davis, LF

Game 2014.68 Postgame: Royals 2, Tigers 1

“Ball keeps bouncing Royals’ way as Tigers fall. Unlucky ricochets, former Tiger Infante spoil Smyly’s solid seven-plus.”

Yeah, that’s the Tigers.com headline, more of the same. Just stop it. The Tigers are NOT on an extended unlucky streak right now, they just are not playing well. Their pitching has been failing hard and often, and when it isn’t, they can’t buy a hit.

Smyly’s outing was, actually, more than solid: 2 runs (and I don’t get how they were both earned) over 7 innings. More good news: JD Martinez had another good game, going 2 for 4. He now has an 8-game hitting streak, and has raised his average to .299. All for naught though: the rest of the Tiger lineup could do nothing against the Mighty Guthrie, fanning 9 times as Miguel Cabrera continued to look uninspiring and Victor Martinez (et tu, Victor?) joined the party with 2 strikeouts (there’s one for the Research Department: last time V-Mart struck out twice in a game).  I’m going to go all Lloyd McClendon here and say sometimes you have to stop tipping your cap and accept the fact that you were beaten by some pretty average stuff.

It would be pretty hard to top the story line of the Tigers’ rapid plummet down the Central standings, but Ol’ Smarty somehow managed to make himself the story today. Which is to say he really stepped in it. To recap: Ausmus was explaining how he tries to keep a positive attitude when dealing with the frustrations of the current Tiger skid. Then he was asked: “How are you when you go home?”

“I beat my wife,” Ausmus responded.

Oh my. Not funny.

Look, he obviously was joking, as he immediately pointed out, and repeated in his post-interview apology, and I can’t imagine anybody thinks otherwise. But that was just wrong in so many ways. This wasn’t a bar or locker room conversation. Ausmus is the face of the organization, in a professional setting which requires professional behavior. If this were, say, the NFL, he’d be hammered with a big fine. It’s MLB, so who knows. Either way, it’s disappointing and spoils the package we were sold of the intellectual, urbane young New School guy. The honeymoon was already over for Ausmus, this was the last thing he, or we, needed.

 

Game 2014.68: Royals at Tigers

This afternoon the Detroit Tigers have a chance to do something they have yet to attempt in 2014: pass another team in the standings.

They will be doing it without Evan “Charges Pending” Reed, who got the DFA boot in favor of reliever Chad Smith. Smith, from USC, was a bit of a gamble pick in the 2011 draft–after the draft he had Tommy John surgery, then sat out a year. The gamble seems to have paid off, with Smith progressing smartly through the Tiger system. Smith brings a good sinker ball that can reach the low 90’s, and had a 1.87 ground ball to fly ball ratio at Toledo. It’s a bit of a departure from the high heat approach of an Evan Reed, but right now departures are good.

Hopefully Drew Smyly can depart from the starter trend in this series; I’ll take 4 runs in 6 innings. Otherwise we get to listen to Mario and Rod rave about how the Royals offense is hot and clicking on all cylinders like they have the past 2 days (funny how Verlander runs into “hot” offenses every start). Another dose of that and Jeremy Guthrie–Jeremy Guthrie!–pitching like Cy Young, and there will be rending of garments.

Troubling stat of the day: over the last 7 games, Miguel Cabrera has a higher OPS (.641) than Don Kelly and Austin Jackson, and that’s it.

Note:  Jason Beck tweets that currently Verlander is throwing a side session in the bullpen, with Ausmus and others looking on. So they are working on stuff.

Today’s We Try Harder Because We’re in Second Lineup:

  1. Davis LF
  2. Kinsler 2B
  3. Cabrera DH
  4. V Martinez 1B
  5. JD Martinez RF
  6. Avila C
  7. Castellanos 3B
  8. Kelly CF
  9. Suarez SS

Torii sits again, as the hot JD Martinez tries to stake his claim on the 5 spot. Alex is bumped up in the lineup to 6th. Ausmus is playing the matchup here: Avila was 4-for-9 with 2 HRs against Guthrie in 2013. Kelly subs for Ajax to add another lefty bat.

Game 2014.67 Postgame: Royals 11, Tigers 4

Well, that hardly deserves a postgame post, does it?

Here is this week’s cumulative Ace Summary, sponsored by Hit Parade:

  • 10 Innings
  • 17 Runs
  • 22 Hits
  • 3 Walks
  • 7 Strikeouts
  • 15.30 ERA
  • 2.50 WHIP

Well, at least we’re in 2nd place.

JD Martinez went 3-for-4 in a losing cause (and was robbed of a HR by Cain), for his 2nd straight good game at the plate (not so good in right field).

Game 2014.67 Royals at Tigers

After dropping Game 1 of the crucial Tigers/Royals series, the Tigers come back with one of their A-list starters to try to even things up, and keep their tenuous hold on first place in the Parity Division.

Don’t worry about Justin Verlander though, he will get things back together, so says Verlander Nemesis Billy Butler:

He’s going to come back to the form he was. That’s just how it is. You don’t have that many trophies, that many accolades, not to.

Well, that may be a little bit of wishful thinking on Butler’s part. Butler may be one of the few batters in MLB who would be truly sad to see Verlander disappear. Butler is a very good hitter, although one having a bit of an off year. But there is no explaining how good he has been against Justin Verlander. Check out these career numbers: .434 BA 1.079 OPS (86 PA). I can’t think of any other batter/pitcher matchup like that, not with a Cy Young caliber pitcher. Definitely one to file in the “that’s baseball” file.

The matchup tonight looks a lot better: Max Scherzer is coming off the best start of his career (although that may make him a “bounce” candidate, to use horse racing lingo), and other than Alex Gordon (7-for-18) nobody on the Royals has ever done much of anything against him. Eric Hosmer (3-for-20) and Mike Moustakas (3-for 18) look like K-bait, as those two and Cain have already combined for 19 strikeouts against Max.

Torii Hunter gets the night off after leaving with a cramp, which is maybe some karma for Torii poking fun at Lebron. Funny stuff though.

Tonight’s JD to the Rescue Lineup:

  1. Davis, LF
  2. Kinsler, 2B
  3. Cabrera, 1B
  4. V Martinez, DH
  5. JD Martinez RF
  6. Castellanos, 3B
  7. Jackson, CF
  8. Avila, C
  9. Suarez, SS

Max has had his two best starts of the season with Holaday behind the plate. Tonight Alex tries to keep up. Austin finally got an RBI, so is bounced back to 7th in the order.

Game 2014.66 Postgame: Royals 11, Tigers 8

“Troublesome” hardly covers it Mr. Verlander, but now that I think of it, maybe you should stop working on the stuff you are working on, because it’s only getting worse.

The numbers were bad: 7 runs in 6 innings, with 12 hits and 2 walks, which adds up to a meaty WHIP of 2.33 for the game. One more of these starts should be enough to tip Verlander over the 5.00 ERA mark (he sits at 4.98 right now). But even worse was watching the clouds gather inning by inning, knowing the downpour was inevitable.

It didn’t help matters that Reed followed Verlander with a meltdown encore (which included one of the ever-popular pitcher’s errors), but there were bright spots in the game.

The 9th inning scrub rally was nice, and signs of life from JD are always welcome. Rajai made the best of getting back in the lineup, with a 3-5 day with 2 RBI, 1 SB, and an assist at home (not many of those in these parts). And Blaine Hardy had a good first outing–now somebody sequester him so he doesn’t catch Blowpenitis.

We’ve got 3 more to go with these guys, and the weak starter out of the way, so I hope to see some good baseball this week. And we’re still in first, as we always say. Thought I’d better get that one in while the getting’s still good.

Game 2014.66: Royals at Tigers

Well, the Tigers won a game and a series (at home even! which brings their home record to a disappointing 18-16). So that was a good win, but not quite in the sense of a game well played. Porcello did pitch well for more than 5 innings, but then hit that 90 pitch roadblock that Vince has mentioned. The hitting, though–especially with men in scoring position–left something to be desired, with Austin Jackson prevailing as the STBD King. Jackson now has these bizarre splits:

  • .109 BA .344 OPS – RISP (61 PA)
  • .217 BA .649 OPS – Men On (113 PA)
  • .277 BA .736 OPS – Bases empty (140 PA)

What do you do with that?

Anyway, the Tigers did manage to pull off the walk off, thanks to the second dropped fly ball by Arcia (both scored as hits), and a throw from shallow center that kicked off the side of the pitcher’s mound (and you thought our outfield was bad).

Sometimes you win games you shouldn’t; in fact, over the course of a season winning teams need to have a bunch of these.

It won’t be so easy this week, with the hottest team in Major League Baseball coming to town, yes, the 7-wins-in-a-row, 1 1/2 games out of 1st, Kansas City Royals. KC leads with lefty Jason Vargas, who has been hit hard by Ian Kinsler in two previous outings this season (4-for-6, HR). The Tigers counter with Justin Verlander, who has struggled, but is, uh, working on it: “I mean it is troublesome, yeah, but just need to continue to work on what I’ve been working on,” he said. See, nothing to worry about.

Royals vs Tigers

  • Mon 4/16 7:08  Justin Verlander (6-6, .4.61) vs Jason Vargas (L) (6-2, 3.30)
  • Tue  4/17 7:08  Max Scherzer (8-2, 3.05) vs Yordano Ventura (4-5, 3.20)
  • Wed 4/18 1:08  Drew Smyly (3-5, 3.58) vs Jeremy Guthrie (3-6, 4.04)
  • Thu  4/19 1:08  Anibal Sanchez (3-2, 2.44) vs Danny Duffy (L) (4-5, 2.83)

Note the unusual back-to-back weekday day games. Thursdays game is a rescheduled game from an earlier rainout.

Today’s Lineup:

  1. Davis, CF
  2. Kinsler, 2B
  3. Cabrera, 1B
  4. V Martinez, DH
  5. Hunter, RF
  6. Jackson, CF
  7. Castellanos, 3B
  8. Avila, C
  9. Suarez, SS

Davis gets himself back in the lineup against the lefty…despite a career 3-for-15 against Vargas. Despite the lefty, Holaday gets a rest after his one grueling inning last night.