The Tigers take the field this evening at absurdly-named O.co Coliseum at 16-16, 2 games back of Cleveland in the AL Central.
A lot went wrong last night. Rick Porcello once again sang the First Inning Blues, and was generally ineffective. The Below-pen didn’t fare much better. The Tigers blew their own chance at a big first inning when Cabrera grounded into a DP with runners on 1st and 3rd and nobody out, and that set the offensive tone for the evening.
The Tigers even accidentally suited up the retired Dmitri Young for their DH, at least according to the official Tiger game notes.
But the big story of course, was Brandon Inge, who has been tormenting the Tigers as much or more as when he played for them. Jason Beck collects some of the quotes about Inge’s new-found ability to hit a baseball (Inge now has 17 RBI in only 10 games with Oakland, which is more than Prince Fielder has for the season).
To add Inge salt to Ingery, Inge took the time to praise new hitting coach Chili Davis: “he and I mix well.”
***
After the last two games, a pitcher’s duel might be just the thing. Doug Fister was impressive in his first start back from the DL, going 7 innings without giving up a run or a walk. He didn’t come away with a W, but at this point in the season seeing Fister returning to form is a far bigger deal.
Taking their cue from Seattle with Blake Beavan, Oakland will counter the towering presence of the 6’8″ Fister with their tallest pitcher, 6’7″ Brandon McCarthy. McCarthy has followed up his big comeback season in 2011 (9-9, 3.32) with another good start (2-3, 2.96), although his turn in the rotation has been pushed back due to shoulder soreness.
The right-handed McCarthy isn’t much tougher on RHB than he is on LHB: last season lefties batted .256 against him, vs. .260 for righties. Nonetheless, Leyland has loaded the lineup with every available lefty. The Santiago for Peralta move looks good on paper though: Peralta is a career 1-for-21 against McCarthy.
Tonight’s Player of the Pre-game: Andy Dirks. Dirks has been nothing short of phenomenal, and has solved the problem of finding a 2-hitter who can take advantage of Jackson’s hot start this season. He won’t continue to hit .381 (and that with a sore hamstring!), but let’s enjoy it while it lasts. If Cabrera and Fielder can get back to their usual selves while Jackson and Dirks are still hot, it should make for a good time.
Tonight’s Pin-The-Tail-On-The-Don-Kelly Lineup:
- Don Kelly CF
- Andy Dirks LF
- Miguel Cabrera 3B
- Prince Fielder 1B
- Delmon Young DH
- Alex Avila C
- Brennan Boesch RF
- Ramon Santiago SS
- Danny Worth 2B
Comments
31 responses to “Game 2012.33: Tigers at Athletics”
So….no Raburn tonight, good, but then Jackson gets the night off. Is Leyland purposely trying to constantly handicap this offense?
Both Raburn and Jackson are tired, and Leyland doesn’t t want the bench to get rusty. Besides, Verlander is pitching.
Oops, I mean Fister. But the reasoning is the same. In fact, with Verlander going tomorrow it wouldn’t surprise me to see JL get creative with the lineup tomorrow too.
Raburn could use a nice, relaxing rest, until, say, early August.
I don’t know. Then he wouldn’t be able to hit his way out of his slump. Remember a few years ago when Inge broke his toe(?)? He was a piece of crap when he went down, but came back with a torrid burst as I recall (kind of like what he is doing now). Anyway, hmmmmm……..
Are you suggesting, for the good of the team, someone needs to “accidentally” step on Raburn’s toe? Fielder would be the obvious choice, but Kelly is versatile, and has that innocent look…
Fielder would be overkill. Kelly would definitely be a better agent to use for the old “accident” ploy.
On the othr hand…
so….let me guess: Fister will pitch a stellar 7 innings, Leyland will take him out…….and the blow-pen will do it’s thing…….. 🙁
I tried it out some (although I admit I had had a few beers) and after a while ococo (pronounced Oh-Ko-Ko with the accent on the seconf Ko) fairly falls off the tongue after a bit.
Fister isn’t looking too sharp tonight. Already two walks, that is uncharacteristic, which means this could be yet another long night for Tigers fans…
Worthless offense…and that is not a reference to Danny Worth, that is a reference to the whole team…
Another K with R3L2O. Bah. Why bother bunting a runner to 3rd?
Worth clearly doesn’t know how to bunt……he blunders ’em to second + third and they don’t score………this is getting ridiculous
DET’s 3-4-5 hitters 0 for 9 tonight w/6 K’s…
Perhaps when they call our 1B “Fielder” they are being ironic.
the guy threw exactly one pitch in the strike zone that inning yet fanned Cabrerra,Fielder and Young..hmmmmm!
Leyland won’t notice, because he doesn’t have the TV on.
One of the most expensive offenses in baseball, and yet one of the least productive…Great job Dombroski…That 209 million dollar investment in ANOTHER first baseman, rather than a decent 2nd baseman and/or 3rd baseman is working out so well…
The Tigers are going to get shutout this game and waste yet another great start by Fister…
Well, I called the pitcher’s duel…Scott may have called the Fister disappointment, although for the wrong reason–it’s not the BP, it’s the lack of any offense.
Although the BP isn’t helping.
Blowpen Alert…. As if the Tigers had a chance scoring 1-run, now there is practically no chance of them winning having to score 2-runs to tie it, let alone score 3-runs to win it.
…you just had to know that was going to happen (enter bullpen, runs follow)
when does Mr Illich become concerned w/the lack of production and direction of this team? …from the mgr down to the bottom of the roster…
OAK is the worst hitting team in baseball, a .220 team avg, and a $55M payroll – one would expect a lack of offense… on the other hand, DET $133M payroll and a .254 team BA, getting out-hit by teams like OAK & SEA… go figure
It looks like Friday’s offensive explosion was a false alarm and the offense is back in hibernation.
I meant Thursday.
It’s frustrating, but I’m going to wait until June before I get too worried. We’re in a weak division where CLE is leading the pack….sound familiar?
http://www.baseball-reference.com/games/standings.cgi?year=2011&month=5&day=12&submit=Submit+Date
1 year ago we were 2 games over .500 and 4 games back.
We’ll be fine.
Yes, but I recall the team took off after Verlander’s no-no. Meanwhile Vicksburger and DEFENSIVE 2nd baseman Justin Henry is hitting .352 in Toledo and .416 in May. http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=518784
Fister’s gonna ask to be traded soon….
Wow, haven’t really been paying close attention, but wow, Tigers playing .450 ball after the first week. I’ll check back in June!
Changes are likely coming – perhaps late Sunday – early Monday. Possibly two roster spots will bear new names.
Dombrowski has no other choice – but to shake things up.