Baseball Reference Game Preview

Justin Verlander vs. Scott Carroll

Detroit closes out August and begins their next to last road trip before a home-heavy September with four against the Sox in Chicago, including a Saturday makeup doubleheader (and so far the doubleheaders haven’t doubled our pleasure). The team has yet to put up a calendar month below .500 – let’s see if they can punctuate this one a little more emphatically. Let’s worry less about the Royals and more about how to correct going 17-19 against those other guys in this supposedly “weak” division.

…Evan Reed returns…. Imminent roster shuffle could leave someone on the 40-man to be DFA, or…  Sanchez might not be back, Tigers seem prepared to roll the dice with rookie fill-ins, but are they really?… Avila continues to be the terrible hitter with the knack for the big hit, thunder he stole from Kelly… Kinsler’s drawing ire with the bat and raves for the glove, team could really use both… #CastellanosInLeft2015… Hunter’s energy is energizing, gotta hand it to him. He’s our Derek Jeter, sort of…. There’s no problem with Miggy, except that there is, but really there isn’t, although there might be. 3 HR in 220 PA is a little unusual, that’s all, even with 400 doubles. He’s been great at 1B, though, no lie… Suarez plays with a lot of swagger, which is annoying when he swaggers something stupid (would someone teach him how to slide, please?), but enjoyable otherwise. He is as good as it gets for any homegrown middle infield talent you’ll ever see under current ownership, so enjoy it… Chambermaid! Brilliant, Stormin.’ Tuck or no tuck? Tuck, tuck! How much do you tip a Chamberlain?… You’ve gotta tip it (the cap) to Phil Coke – he never stopped shrugging. Violently. We all need to eat some crow and acknowledge what he’s done over the past couple months. I always wanted to keep him as bench coach, but now I think I might let him pitch once in a while, too… I wonder if Victor Martinez might get some consideration for MVP if the Tigers went all the way… I don’t know why I find it so hard to forgive J.D. Martinez when he grounds out to 3B. Again. Look at those numbers. Holy cats. Where would we be without him?

Oh, right. The other team, the White Somethings. Well, they’re really struggling of late and not that good, neither of which strikes me as good news (see Twins). We must not allow Jose Abreu to shame us again. Chicago plays better against Detroit, and that’s a natural fact. Recent memory suggests that this holds less true late in the season.

Irrelevant Factor Of The Day: Until the most recent Tampa Bay series, I hadn’t won a series since June and Texas. That’s got to bode well for this series and the stretch. Somehow. Doesn’t it?

Derek Jeter – I’ve enjoyed watching you play for the past twenty years. Best of luck with whatever is next.

Drew Smyly has allowed fewer runs in 5 starts with the Tampa Bay Rays than David Price allowed last night in the 3rd inning.

In no way would I go back and unwind that deal. I loved it then and I love it now. But baseball is a funny game, and there are a lot of intangibles which we can’t see nor measure. For the better part of the last four years, we all took those intangibles for granted, and many of us, including me, even suggested that other teams had better intangibles than us. I blamed the manager. Though it sure did seem that things tended to fall the right way for the Tigers more often than not.

Not I’m starting to rethink whether we were missing much at all.

This team is missing something. Perhaps JV isn’t the same in the clubhouse, or Miggy’s injury means he can’t laugh as much, or the bullpen is on pins and needles and that’s hurting things. But this team hasn’t been right in a month, and I’m not sure how we get there.

Winning is contagious, Royals are showing us that. Is mediocrity the same?

There’s still time, the Royals can’t play .800 ball the rest of the way out. But they’re likely going to play better than .500 ball. Can we be 3 games better than whatever that number is?

Kyle Lobstein makes his first career start this afternoon. I’ll be tuned in all game. Let’s go Tigers.

#DoItForTheRotation

1. Rajai Davis, CF
2. Ian Kinsler, 2B
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
4. Victor Martinez, DH
5. J.D. Martinez, RF
6. Nick Castellanos, 3B
7. Don Kelly, LF
8. Alex Avila, C
9. Andrew Romine, SS

71-59, 1.5 games behind, .5 WC games back.

Last night’s win was a real, professional win. 5-2 is a score that seems like an appropriate margin for a good, but not obnoxious, team. If the San Antonio Spurs played baseball, they would win most games 5-2.

Ricky P was phenomenal, again, scattering 9 hits over 8 innings and walking none. He’s only allowed 8 walks in his last 10 starts, and none (NONE!) in his last 3 games, spanning 23 innings. Keep that in mind when a reliever walks the first guy he sees tonight.

If Porcello pitches like this over the final 5 weeks, he may be slotted as the 3rd pitcher in a playoff series, or the 3rd guy to hit in a Tigers foursome caddied by JV. Note, it just hit me that there is a real chance that we don’t get to see this rotation in the playoffs. Who knows if Illitch can afford to keep Scherzer around, or of Max even wants to stay. But what a shame it would be to not give this rotation a shot. I’m going to start a movement. #DoItForTheRotation We’ll see if this picks up more steam than my last movement #StopLettingQuasimodoMakeAirplaneSeats.

The Tigers crowd last night got a little emotional with Joe, chanting “Let’s Go Joe” as he got going in the 9th. Joe heard it, and I’m sure the team loved it. We’re stuck with him, might as well see if we can help him in anyway. The crowd at Comerica is the best.

David Price takes the mount tonight, looking to rebound from a one hit complete game blowout loss.

#DoItForTheRotation

1. Ian Kinsler, 2B
2. Torii Hunter, RF
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
4. Victor Martinez, DH
5. J.D. Martinez, LF
6. Nick Castellanos, 3B
7. Alex Avila, C
8. Eugenio Suarez, SS
9. Rajai Davis, CF

70-59, 2nd place, 1.5 games back, .5 WC games back. Lots of teams to watch these days.

I gotta admit, it’s hard to find the motivation to prepare for this series. The Tigers have been in a three month tailspin, peppered with just enough respites to keep hope alive.

You know, one of the DTW posters (can someone remind me) used to do a nice write-up every 18 games, calling them innings. There are 9 innings in a season (18 games x 9 = 162). The season is in the 8th inning. We’re turning it over to our bullpen, down by a run. Chad Qualls to save the day? As Smoking Loon pointed out, we’re still in it.

Lots of baseball left.

Rick Porcello on the mound tonight.

1. Ian Kinsler, 2B
2. Torii Hunter, RF
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
4. Victor Martinez, DH
5. J.D. Martinez, LF
6. Nick Castellanos, 3B
7. Alex Avila, C
8. Eugenio Suarez, SS
9. Rajai Davis, CF

Baseball Reference Game Preview

David Price vs. Alex Cobb

GREAT game last night. There’s something to be said for dinosaurs and pitchers written off as perpetual #5 starters. Not only did Ricky P toss his third complete game shutout of 2014 (a feat that has never been accomplished before in baseball’s 900-year history), but he was also part of a couple nicely turned plays where he covered 1B, and almost part of what was almost a double play except for his part. And don’t forget Rajai Davis, Center Fielder of the Future.

Good times. I can see the Kansas City whatever-they’re-calleds in the rearview mirror already.

David Price facing the Rays. Hmmm. I like it. I like it a lot.

Baseball Reference Game Preview

Rick Porcello vs. Jake Odorizzi

Don’t mind me, just throwing this up early in case I work late tomorrow and/or the random word generator breaks down again. Carry on.

Say, how about some lineups, early birds?

…..

So, good win last night. Down but not out. Bend but don’t break. Runs are runs, and 5 to 8 of them is a very good thing. Aren’t the Tigers about due for a winning streak?

Hey, where did Melvin Mercedes go? Ah well, it’s almost September.

Wil Myers makes his return for the Rays.

Baseball Reference Game Preview

Max Scherzer vs. Chris Archer

Things aren’t going well for the Detroit Tigers these days. Not only are they not playing well as a team, but in addition to the DL-injured Anibal Sanchez and Joakim Soria, and the non-DL injured Justin Verlander, now speed demon and dropper of fly balls Rajai Davis is day to day with a bruised thumb. Sunday’s 8-1 loss to the Mariners was another notable low point in a season with too many already. It was a drag to watch that literally put me to sleep. Yes, there have been both ups and downs, to wit:

27-12
9-20
17-6
13-18

… and we currently find ourselves in a down. What’s next? Up, maybe?

Melvin Mercedes and Jim Johnson are the latest efforts to shore up the bullpen. We’ll see, eh? The Tigers are up to 26 pitchers used this season, and not a lot of that can be chalked up to injuries.

There was a bit of initial buzz about the opportunity for Ezequiel Carrera, and I kept an open mind myself. He is quite a good defender, and on top of that, well… um…  he really is quite a good defender.

No one’s on fire*, and no one is going down in flames. We can blame whoever – it’s really quite the team effort at failure when they fail these days, isn’t it? And is 66-56 so surprising? When you consider how little has changed over the course of the season? Bullpen the same, offense the same, defense the same, starting pitching about the same (a bit challenged by injuries lately, but not such a big factor in the post-break funk). Maybe Detroit’s streaky way of getting to such a pedestrian record is the surprising thing. I suppose it will take some kind of magic to again rise above. Not a question of “going out and getting someone” anymore (such as Nathan? Soria? Price? Johnson?). No. Team magic.

In the meantime, I like Vince’s idea of pondering the rebuilding – or the retooling, or whatever you see fit – ahead for 2015. I think it would make a good off day discussion in advance of Tuesday’s game. Let’s fire ’em and unload ’em in the offseason now and get all that out of our system in advance of the new 2014 season that begins August 19.

*Well, OK, you could say that Max has been on fire – in a good way – and David Price ain’t been too shabby himself. Victor keeps rolling. The rest of  ’em need to pick it up in a big way.

Gotta win series’ at home.

A few thoughts on last night’s game (repost from yesterday’s thread)

A few questions about the Vince/SL exchange from last night [regarding Nathan coming out for the 9th].

1) If Price doesn’t struggle in the 8th, does Ausmus bring him out in the 9th? Let’s say he’s at 100 pitches after a quick 8th. I feel that the right move would be to bring him back out, but based on Ausmus’ brief managerial history, I’m pretty sure he would have brought in Nathan regardless b/c “the 9th is the 9th.”

2) Assuming the 9th is the 9th, at what point in time does Ausmus bring in someone else. If Soria is healthy, does he get a chance? How many more lives does Nathan have? Statistically, I think Nathan is the worst regular reliever in the majors (no research done prior to asserting that claim). I mean, objectively, how can this be our answer? Are DD and Ausmus sharing a drink every night praying that Jim Johnson or Soria or Hanrahan are ready to take a shot?

Other thoughts:

1) Who pitches game 163? Price or Scherzer?

2) Holy cow is anyone watching the Angels? Do the Tigers have a streak like that in them? They’ve done it before (albeit 4 months ago). The Royals, Angels, and Mariners have done it.

3) Sick as Felix is, is it a relief getting to that bullpen? Tigers hit tonight like we expect them to.

4) I’ve been meaning to say this before, I don’t get ever pulling Castellanos late. Is Kelly that much of a defensive upgrade considering our bullpen liabilities? Wouldn’t it be smarter to keep that bat in the lineup?

5) The ads in between the MLB.com highlights kill me. I pay for the subscription, I should be able to skip those.

6) How awesome is beer?

Robbie Ray versus the resurgent Chris Young in the rubber match today. Game preview here.

1. Ian Kinsler, 2B
2. Ezequiel Carrera, CF
3. Miguel Cabrera, DH
4. Victor Martinez, 1B
5. J.D. Martinez, RF
6. Nick Castellanos, 3B
7. Alex Avila, C
8. Andrew Romine, SS
9. Rajai Davis, LF

If the playoffs started today, the Tigers would be swinging and missing at golf balls, not baseballs.

Game Preview Here.

1. Ian Kinsler, 2B
2. Ezequiel Carrera, CF
3. Miguel Cabrera, DH
4. Victor Martinez, 1B
5. Torii Hunter, RF
6. J.D. Martinez, LF
7. Nick Castellanos, 3B
8. Alex Avila, C
9. Eugenio Suarez, SS

(“I got this”)

The scorching hot Mariners roll into the D tonight, winners of 4 in a row and 8 out of their last 10. In fact, the Mariners are 9-3 in the Austin Jackson era, and he recently accounted for all 4 RBIs in a 4-2 Mariners win.

The Tigers counter with an impressive streak of their own, having won 2 in a row, 2 out of their last 6, and 3 out of their last 9.

What looked like an innocuous Austin Jackson returns series a few weeks ago (and should have been), is now a crucial one, as the Tigers maintain a scant .5 game lead on the Mariners for the do or die playoff spot. In fact, every game from here on out is going to be critical since the Tigers, well, you know, aren’t in first place.

There was a lot of buzz yesterday surrounding the fans booing Joe Nathan after Nathan walked the first two batters he saw on Wednesday night. I think the easiest way to appease everyone but Joe Nathan would be to release Joe Nathan, but I don’t think that is going to happen.

Nathan did not take kindly to the booing, as he Corleone-d a fan or the fans in general on his way off the mound after closing out the game. Nathan apologized Thurs morning, but I find his chin flick to be immature and indicative of a lack of focus and confidence.

Victor Martinez commented liberally on the boos after the game on Wednesday. I only heard Dan D’s recap of Martinez’s comments, but it sounded like Victor was disappointed, though understanding of the fans’ reaction. Victor, in case you haven’t figured it out, the fans are incredibly disappointed and are not understanding of the team’s sub.500 performance over the past 3 months.

I firmly believe that paying the price of admission gives any fan the right to cheer or boo, in a reasonable manner. Athletes, like CEOs, celebrities, and public figures, are well compensated (in pay or power), and absorbing frustration from constituents is part of the job. I applaud the fans that gave Nathan what he deserved, and only hope that they booed Ausmus as well. Neither have been performing to an acceptable level as of late and that type of reaction is warranted. When players and the team perform well, we cheer.

Praise needs to be earned. The players shouldn’t be surprised by the boos given the struggles over the past three months. Expectations are high because, on paper, this is the most talented team in the Majors. By a long shot. We have the past three Cy Young winners and Miguel Cabrera for goodness’ sake. Ausmus should be able to win with this team, no matter who he has in the bullpen. Other managers have made lesser bullpens look much better.

The whole team needs to look out into that sold out stadium tonight and realize that playing for such loyal and passionate fans is a blessing. They need to look at each other and recognize that playing with the teammates, and for an owner like Mr. Ilitch, is an opportunity. At the professional level, oftentimes the difference between winning and losing is effort. Not talent, not circumstance, but effort. If this team goes out and gives all the effort they have, they’ll get all the cheering they want.

****

–  Grantland recently rated Ausmus 25th out of 30 in a “manager meddling index.”

– Tigers lost 2/3 in Seattled May 30 – June 1

Baseball-Reference Game Preview here:

Rick Porcello v. M’s lefty James Paxton

1. Rajai Davis, CF
2. Ian Kinsler, 2B
3. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
4. Victor Martinez, DH
5. Torii Hunter, RF
6. J.D. Martinez, LF
7. Nick Castellanos, 3B
8. Bryan Holaday, C
9. Eugenio Suarez, SS

Baseball Reference Game Preview

David Price vs. Mark Buehrle

Baseball Reference Game Preview

Max Scherzer vs. Marcus Stroman