Category: Game Post

Our Tigers come in fresh off a 3-1 series v. the Bad Guys, and welcome the struggling Orioles into town.

Kevin Millwood will arguably be the best starter the Tigers face all weekend, and his 3-15, 5.38 line is a far cry from his league leading 2.86 ERA only five years ago.  Millwood really isn’t that good anymore.  His WHIP, H/9, BB/9 and K/9 (1.55, 10.9, 1.4, 3, 6) are all well off his career averages.  He actually had three good starts in August, but overall he’s 1-7 with a 5.24 ERA and 1.58 WHIP in his last 10 starts.  Let’s hope the boys can keep up their hot hitting.

After a rough patch in July and early August, Galarraga has been very good as of late, dare I say dominant? (though he has been suffering from a lack of run support).  He’s 1-0 in his last four with a 1.48 ERA and 1.11 WHIP.

The Orioles come in after taking 2/3 in NY and Tampa.

Tigers with a chance to take their second straight series against the Bad Guys in 2010.

First of all, props to Bondo last night.  He had his best outing of the season, striking out 8 over 8 IP, allowing only 1 run, 3 hits and 1 walk.  Of his 16 non-strike outs, 13 were ground outs.

Gavin Floyd has been pretty good all season, and even better over his last 10.  During that stretch he’s posted a 3.06 ERA, 1.37 WHIP and 7.57 K/9.  He was shelled in back to back starts by the Twins in mid-August, but in his other 8 games he has not allowed more than 2 runs in any game (1.54 ERA and 1.18 WHIP).

Porcello got roughed up a little last time out, giving up 4 over 7 IP in a win over KC, but had fantastic back to back starts prior to his last game.

A few quick notes:

– Tigers are 19 games over at home, and 19 games under on the road this season.  Their RS is +2 over RA, for a 70-70 X W-L.

– Tigers are 8-1 with a 1.80 ERA over their last 9 home games.

– Not surprisingly, Tigers rookies have 439 hits this season, most since 1961 (and likely will set an all-time record).

Well, the Tigers are all but mathematically out, and Cabrera and Guillen are facing their own injury issues.  But it’s still baseball.  Let’s finish strong, see if Cabby can win the MVP, and find out what we have in these young players.  Tigers are 11-7 over their last 18, and all 7 of those losses have come by one run.  Had we been 18-0, we’d only be 6 games back…goodness Minnesota is good.

Danks has been up and down all season, with more good than bad.  His last four starts have seen two quality ones, and 2 where he was hammered by each NYY and Min.

Let’s consider these last few starts a long audition for Bonderman’s spot in the 2011 rotation.

JV goes for win number 15 tonight at Comerica.

Tonight’s lineup:

Jackson CF
Rhymes 2B
Damon DH
Cabrera 1B
Kelly LF
Boesch RF
Peralta SS
Inge 3B
Avila C

Happy Labor Day everyone.

Enjoying the long weekend?

Who is your Tiger today?

Hope everyone is enjoying the start of college football and a little Tigers baseball.

Fun game last night.  Good chatter on DTW too.

Grienke goes for the Royals tonight.  He’s 1-0 over his last three with a 2.45 ERA and 1.36 WHIP.  Though the Tigers won’t need to score much though.  In Grienke’s past 10 outings for the Royals, his teammates have averaged just 2.4 runs per game.

Bondo goes for the Tigers.  He has not done much to solidify his spot in the rotation this year, though he did limit the Royals to 2 runs on 8 hits over 6 innings in his last outing on August 23rd (remember, Figaro started in his spot 5 days ago).

Tigers’ last game at the new Target Field this season.  Good riddance.

Tigers look to their ace to salvage a win in the series.  It’s a shame that Galarraga and Scherzer were not rewarded for their dominant efforts already, though Liriano pitched like an ace yesterday. Man do I miss Seay.

Congrats to Max St. Pierre for a well deserved call-up after 14 minor league seasons.

Seay is likely out for 2011…ouch.  And on to tonight’s game.

Tigers have their work cut out for them tonight versus Liriano.  Liriano is 3-0 in august, with a 3.68 ERA, but a pedestrian 1.44 WHIP (compared to 1.27 on the year).  He averages 9.37 Ks/9 against just over 3 walks per 9.  His fastball is great, and his slider is devastating as the OPP BA against it is only .164.  Though the Tigers have had his number this year.  He’s 1-2 with a  7.47 ERA against the boys this season.

Scherzer has been nails as of late.  He has won his last three decisions allowing only 2 ER in 21 IPs, while striking out 22 and only walking 5.  Since the AS Break, he’s posted a 1.98 ERA and 7 quality starts in 9 outings.

Tonight’s Casper Wells batting thiiiiird lineup:

Jackson – CF
Rhymes – 2B
Wells – LF
Cabrera – 1B
Peralta – DH
Inge – 3B
Santiago – SS
Boesch – RF
Laird – C

Duensing has been nothing short of phenomenal since entering the rotation in late July.  During that span he is 4-1 with a 2.67 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP.  For the year his BABIP is a low .249 and he strands 85% of the runners that get on.  He’s been getting grounds outs at a 2/1 ratio over flyouts, and two starts ago he went 8 innings against LA, allowed 7 hits, struck out 6, and had a ridiculous 16 to 1 GO/AO ratio.  His only blemish for the season (he was a stud out of the bullpen) came in his last start in Texas, where he allowed 4 earned in six innings.  Which really isn’t all that bad.  He’s primarily a fastball guy who works the corners well.

Galarraga has been very good over his last three starts and has a sub-4 ERA since the All Star break.  He’s been getting more Ks as of late, and has been walking fewer batters.

A few notes:

– Rhymes is hitting .422 with six RBI over his last 11 games, and .333 for the month of August.

– Tigers have hit a HR in each of their last 11 road games.

– Raburn leads the AL with 21 RBI since August 5th.

– Cabrera is on a 12 game hit streak, batting .409 in that span.

There have been some flashbacks to the 1987 season when the Tigers took 4/7 games over the last two weeks to close out the division.  Incredibly, every single game was won by 1 run.  I’ll never forget when the Tigers clinched on a solo shot by Herndon and a complete game shutout gem tossed by Tanana.  (Did you know that the Twins ended that season with a pythagorean < .500?)  Baseball is fun.

Difference is these games don’t (seemingly) matter too much these days.  Though they have been exciting to watch.  I really hope that Leyland sits Santiago today after he managed to bunt into a double play with a runner on 2nd and no out in the first, and then struck out three times on 10 pitches (yes, on 10 pitches) in three of his other four ABs.  (He did work 1 walk.)  The last K was with the tying run on 2nd.  Tigers were 1-9 with RISP yesterday, which puts them at 2-25 or .080 over the last two games.

Rzepczynski has been a recent spot starter for the Blue Jays since being called up on July 7th.  He’s had one really strong outing against LAA where he blanked them on 2 hits over 7 innings, and a bunch of pretty bad ones.  On the season he’s got a 5.65 ERA and a 1.64 WHIP. He strikes out around 7 batters per 9, and walks over 3.  He’s given up 5 home runs in 25 2/3 IP.   He gets 2 ground balls for every fly ball, so expect a lot of stuff down in the zone.

Other than the start 10 days ago against the Yankees, Porcello has been very good as of late. He had his best outing of the season last time out against Cleveland where he went 7 innings and only gave up 2 hits with 0 earned.  Porcello has not allowed a home run in his last four starts after allowing nine over the previous 8.

Tigers need a win to salvage a split in the series before heading to Minnesota on Tuesday.