Detroit returns to Comerica for some home cooking with a 3 game series against the Chicago White Sox. They likely will be fed a diet of cutters and changeups by Mark Buehrle, who faces Justin “Hop-Throw” Verlander. Verlander was 2-0 vs the White Sox in 2010; Buehrle was also 2-0 vs Detroit in 2010. May the best man win (and the best man’s initials are JV).
The Tigers catch the White Sox at a good time: they have only won 2 of their last 10, and like the Tigers, have had all sorts of trouble generating offense, batting only .202 in that 10-game span. And like Detroit, most of their offense has come from one player, Paul Konerko, who is hitting .320 with 4 HR and 15 RBI.
You might want to take the “under” on this one.
One big difference is that the White Sox don’t strike out as much as the Tigers: 111 to 133. And it isn’t because they are more patient at the plate: they only have 53 BB compared to Detroit’s 72, and have the lowest Pitch-Per-Plate-Appearance in the AL at 3.66 (Detroit is 2nd to Boston at 4.00). So the Sox will be up there taking their hacks.
Against Buehrle today discipline at the plate will be necessary. Buehrle features an inside cutter and an outside changeup. Apparently, the key to beating Buehrle is to lay off of the changeup, which lately he has had trouble getting in the strike zone, and then to look for the cutter. There appears to be a direct correlation between the effectiveness of his cutter and the location of his changeup.
Today’s Player of the Pre-Game: Magglio Ordonez
- Magglio career vs Buehrle: .469 (15 – 32), 2 HR, 2 2B, 5 RBI
- He is also playing his former team
- He also needs 1 more double to become the first player to hit 100 at Comerica
- There you go Maggs, you couldn’t ask for a better set up
Today’s Jhonny-Phrotecting-Cabrera? lineup:
- Austin Jackson CF
- Ryan Raburn 2B
- Magglio Ordonez DH
- Miguel Cabrera 1B
- Jhonny Peralta SS
- Brennan Boesch LF
- Brandon Inge 3B
- Alex Avila C
- Casper Wells RF
Comments
37 responses to “Game 2011.20: White Sox at Tigers”
The WSox found their bats yesterday and ended their skid. I guess you could say they were due. Let’s hope JV can make them lose them again.
On a side note, I am about half way through reading “Sixt Feet Sox Inches”. A great dialogue between Reggie Jackson and Bob Gibson concerning the one-on-one battles that go on between pitcher and hitter over during the game and sometimes beyond. Highly recommended.
That’s “Sixty feet, six inches : a Hall of Fame pitcher & a Hall of Fame hitter talk about how the game is played”. The old eye/hand coordination is off today.
I’m going out on a limb to predict that AJax will K 3 times tonight. Hopefully, by betting against him, he’ll break out but I’m not counting on it.
R3L2O – Boesch!
Rios took a terrible angle there. I’ll take it.
Prove me wrong AJax!
The K-Bros come through!
This game now is becoming a race against the weather
Doppler 7,000,000,000 shows no heavy weather fronts heading our way so maybe this stuff will go away.
Verlander at 98/99 mph that inning.
Basch!
JV is rock’in. This game can be called over if the iffy weather continues.
OK who’s bright idea was it to send Magglio on that one?
A hit-and-run play with leadfoots on 1st and 2nd. Leyland loves that play – too bad it never works.
Wells whack.
T-Bran, your prediction of 3 K’s is 2/3 of the way there. Do Ajax’s fielding positives out-weight his batting negatives?
Tough call. I would be inclined to leave AJax in the line up a little while longer (certainly the rest of this series) because of his defensive abilities but he would not bat lead off if I was signing the line up card. More like 8th.
Carlos “Jermaine Dye” Quentin
Did that replay just show A.J. Pierzynski mouthing F__ off. towards JV???
Somebody needs the 1-pitch intentional walk next time up
A.J. was just living up to his reputation for being an A hole
Morel’s nickname has to be “Shroom”, right?
A quick search finds B-Mo and the Demorelizer. Because…White Sox fans…
Anibal Sanchez is going into the 9th inning Marlins vs Rockies with a no-hitter–but not a shutout.
Actually, I would have rather had Boesch bashing there than Santiago sacrificing, but…..
Wells whack no. 2.
Thanks Ozzie — that strategy paid off perfectly.
Actually I feel really bad for Ozzie, and the whole White Sox team.
Haha, no, not really.
The Ghost is friendly tonight
Raburn rip.
Ordonez out.
Groundouttlio
POG – Rick Knapp – no walks tonight.
Alex Avila is a such a stud right now.
Did anybody else have problems posting comments tonight?
Props to Tom Gage for discovering BABIP. It’s just a shame he’s under the impression AJax’s 2010 .400+ BABIP is a reasonable benchmark.
Statistically speaking, his flyball rate has gone up from 27% to 42% and his line-drive rate has dropped from 24% to 10%. A few things have changed since last season. He bulked up a little during the off-season and his swing is more uppercut. His BABIP follows these things. It’s not some random variation at all.