It’s Cy vs Cy today at Comerica Park, as two leading Cy Young contenders face off.
Jered Weaver is 14-4 with a 1.79 ERA, and has actually been improving–over his last 12 starts he is 8-0 with a 1.28 ERA. Justin Verlander (14-5, 2.35) has had to work for his last couple victories, throwing over 120 pitches in back-to-back games. He has lost 2 in a row against the Angels and is only 3-4, 4.13 lifetime against them. Erick Aybar (.429) has had the most success against him.
As the trade deadline nears, the Tigers are rumored to be still pursuing bullpen help, this time Joel Peralta from the Rays. No word whether he would change his name to Jhoel if he came to Detroit.
Today’s Player of the Pre-Game: Magglio Ordonez
Magglio was able to knock in a run against a tough Haren yesterday; now he gets a shot at Weaver.
Today’s Jered-Jolting Lineup:
- Austin Jackson CF
- Brennan Boesch LF
- Magglio Ordonez RF
- Miguel Cabrera DH
- Victor Martinez 1B
- Jhonny Peralta SS
- Carlos Guillen 2B
- Alex Avila C
- Don Kelly 3B
Comments
29 responses to “Game 2011.108: Angels at Tigers”
So pumped about this game.
Magglio!!!
Magglio comes through!
Great day to be at the ballpark! I’m sitting in the absolute top row but couldn’t be happier with the shade provided overhead. Verlander looking dominant as usual.
Why did Weaver het ejected? I following on game day but it didn’t say.
Guillen showed him up on the HR. Then Weaver threw at Avila head.
I’m really interested to hear the post-game interviews with Guillen and Weaver. I have to imagine that Weaver had to have been talking junk to the Tiger hitters because I’ve never seen Guillen show a pitcher up before in his long tenure with the Tigers. It was totaly out of character and I know Weaver has been characterized as a bit of a hothead in the past (much like his older brother Jeff).
Sorry for the bad iPhone typing before…
I see Andrew Miller is getting pounded by the White Sox today. I guess he hasn’t panned out as well as expected.
I thought we were going to blow this game. We had some bad Karma after Guillen showed up Weaver.
I couldn’t even watch the end. Glad we pulled it off.
Great win, Tigers! Interesting, but great!
Everyhing we thought it would be and more. Can’t help but wonder if Guillen’s show upset JVs rhythm.
Just think how interesting it would’ve been if one got away from Verlander and hit a batter in the 8th, and he was ejected with a no-hitter going.
Pretty sure the move when your pitcher has a no hitter is no matter what garbage the pitcher is yelling at you at that point, you tuck your head and round the bases. The ejection and subsequent delay is not what you want when your ace is going for a no hitter. Bad, bad move on Guillen’s part. Situational awareness minus 37.
Weaver was jawing at Maggs when he hit his HR. Yeah, he stood there and watched it, but he thought it might go foul. I mean, I thought it was going foul. Then Weaver continued jawing at Cabrera afterwards. Then the next time Guillen was up, he swung out of his shoes and struck out. The following time up, Guillen finally connected. He wasn’t so much showing up Weaver as he was backing up Magglio and Miguel. I’m guessing some choice words in Spanish were exchanged before the event involving Weaver (translation: #!%?*!* *^%!!). Yes, the Verlander no-hitter was more important at that point than showing up Weaver. But Guillen’s action was a later act in the play.
(And if warnings hadn’t been issued, Verlander would’ve drilled someone after the bunt).
a great win – and one could argue Guillen’s bat-flip and stare may have been a bit ill-timed (in light of JV’s no-hit bid), but Guillen explained that was a response to Weaver barking at Maggs for watching his HR (to determine whether it was fair or not) and then again for Maggs not running fast enough (in Weaver’s opinion). Guillen stood up for his teammate, and consequently got Weaver ejected (appropriately)… sure JV lost the no-hitter, but he got the W and the team had a bonding experience, and this type of thing can help provide extra motivation during a pennant run and through the dog-days of August.
Bottom-line, the Tigers won, and CWS and CLE both lost – and the W-L stat is the only one that really matters from here on out. 3 more games at home against a hot TX team, then a 9 game road trip against KC, CLE and BAL – got to find a way to win at least 7 or 8 of the next dozen games.
nice win….lots of emotion on both sides…..I felt good that the Tigers could actually show some emotion……in the end…..JV…..you da man!!!!
I don’t think that Verlander appreciated the Aybar bunt.
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=17516243&topic_id=7417714
If I was managing vs. Verlander and had some speed in my lineup, I would be bunting 3-4 times a game because I don’t think he is a very good fielder. That was his 5th error this year, although all the others may have been on pickoffs (anyway, he seems to have difficulty with throws to first). As dominating as he can be, you need base runners any way you can get them.
I’d also be bunting against Scherzer whose follow-through takes him to the first base side and leaves him in a very poor fielding position. Come to think of it, with the poor fielding reputation Tiger pitchers have, I would probably be bunting against all of them.
At least we’re not on the losers list.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/jon_heyman/08/01/trade.deadline.winners.losers/index.html
More of the same here:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=As5ci.zszyvFHFGKTcO46igRvLYF?slug=jp-passan_10_degrees_trade_deadline_winners_losers_073111
Joe Posnanski calls Guillen home run prance one of the most bush league things he’s ever seen. I agree with him.
http://joeposnanski.si.com/2011/08/01/the-new-code-of-baseball/
personally i think a lot of the tit-for-tat stuff and the so-called ‘unwritten rules’ in baseball are unwritten for a reason – because it can be a lot of petty BS… some of it bordering on teenage girl cattie-type stuff.
Get over it Weaver, a guy beat you and hit a home run – no reason to get your panties in a knot simply because Maggs didn’t proceed w/ his hr trot in compliance with the unposted minimum speed limit… here’s a great idea Mr Weaver, strike him out next time.
JV, so you’ve been mowing down another teams hitters – if i were an opposing manager i’d have my speedy/good bunters try to disrupt JV’s rhythm (and possibly put some runners on) by bunting… get over it JV, they’re admitting they can’t hit you… take it as a compliment and simply field the bunts and throw the guy out.
Much ado about nothing, IMHO. Baseball players, as a group anyway, aren’t known as the most mature members of the human race after all.
There were a lot of unwritten rules of baseball broken yesterday. But I have to commend Matt Sussman on mlive.com for including on the list the Tigers putting in Ryan Raburn as a late-inning defensive replacement. That should never, ever happen in baseball, and somebody should have done something about it.
I think they were showcasing him as trade bait. We’ll see how much playing time he gets now that the trade deadline has passed. Maybe he will be the PNL in the Seattle deal (will the Mariners absorb the salary – stay tuned).
FWIW, I also think that running out Turner for 1 start on Saturday was just a decoy.
lol at raburn as a defensive replacement. when i was that i laughed out loud right away.
i thought guillens staredown/bat flip/staredown was hilarious. i have never seen anything that direct in baseball as far as showing up. people get pissed at watching a homerun and being slow out of the box. guillen straight stared at weaver, then flipped the bat, and then turned more at him in defiance. thats hardcore. wow
and if you were watching baseball tonight, someone made a reference that Scioscia allowed that bunt chance because the ethics of the game were out the window after guillen. i tend to agree with that statement. aybar wasnt bunting on his own. that was a dugout call. and with that perspective, it all seems fair. definitely thought after verlander threw that ball wild the no hitter was gone, he was very rattle by that.
GO TIGERS
Coleman,
This was such an exciting pitchers duel. It will be interesting which one of these aces can pull away from the rest of the Cy Young contenting pack. Here are some visuals detailing how the top three contenders stack up: http://experiencesap.wordpress.com/2011/08/01/three-man-race-for-al-cy-young/
Please feel free to use our tools to further enhance your future Tigers analysis: http://experience.sap.com/baseball/index.htm
Cheers,