Category: Game Post

The Tigers return home from a rather memorable road trip on the heels of a rather forgettable loss to the Twins.  I found this in an MLB.com story today:

“Despite the loss, the Tigers still finished 5-2 on the trip.  Over seven games, the Tigers’ pitching staff posted a 3.16 ERA, while the starters went 5-1 with a 3.37 ERA. Entering Sunday’s game, the Tigers had a 1.84 ERA through the first six games of the trip, including the starters with a 2.15 ERA.”

The Royals come to town for 4, and open up a Tigers homestand in the middle of a 19 game AL Central only stretch.  The White Sox will round out the homestand this weekend.

Hochevar has been pretty good as of late, posting 4 QS in his last 6 outings.  This is his 4th start against the Tigers this season.  He’s 1-1 with a 6.48 ERA, including 6 earned in 3 1/2 in early July in Detroit.  Cabby is a lifetime .480 hitter off of Hochevar with 2 bombs, I’m looking for him to get to 5 today.

Max Scherzer toes the slab in an effort to get his ERA below 4.20 for the first time since May.  Scherzer has had two streaks of 5 QS this season, let’s get one started tonight to carry us through September.

A few notes:

– Jacob Turner is going to get a “spot” start on Thursday so that JV can get an extra day of rest.  I’m guessing that this is an audition for the “5th spot”.
– Did you know that a recent SI poll of ML players ranked Leyland as the 3rd skipper on the list of managers that they would like to play for?
– Guillen will start a rehab stint in Toledo tonight.  Not sure if this is a good thing.
– Raburn and Boesch are still day to day with sore fingers.  Boesch needs to get healthy soon before JL gets any ideas.

Tonight’s Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Ramon Santiago, 2B
3. Delmon Young, LF
4. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
5. Victor Martinez, DH
6. Alex Avila, C
7. Jhonny Peralta, SS
8. Wilson Betemit, 3B
9. Don Kelly, RF

Previously here at DTW we pointed out how much better Brad Penny was pitching at night vs pitching during the day, and hoped that Leyland would change the rotation to get him off of the day shift.

Sure enough, he returned with a solid night start against Minnesota and a great 1-run evening win against Tampa Bay.

Leyland, being the scientific type that he is, clearly decided to test whether the night start was responsible or Penny was just getting better, but starting him in another day game.  So even if he is awful this afternoon, the knowledge gained will be invaluable, so the Tigers really can’t lose.

Meanwhile, the Tigers can bask in the glory of Justin Verlander’s 20th win, especially since, for a change, it was a real team effort, as Justin had a merely human outing.  Verlander becomes the earliest 20-game winner in MLB since Curt Schilling in 2002.

Detroit faces Brian Duensing (8-13, 5.12) who has had a rough August (0-5, 8.65).  Duensing said “I’m just kind of wrong right now.”  Stay wrong Brian, stay wrong.

And just for fun:  Detroit is now only 1 game behind Texas for the playoff 2nd-seed.

Player of the Pre-Game:  Alex Avila

He just keeps going.  August Alex is now hitting .408 (1.300 OPS), with 7 HR and 17 RBI for the month.  The Tigers are 16-8 for the month, which ties them with Tampa Bay for AL best (the Brewers have somehow gone 20-5).

Today’s Because-Whoever-Plays-RF-Has-To-Bat-2nd Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Magglio Ordonez, RF
3. Delmon Young, LF
4. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
5. Victor Martinez, DH
6. Alex Avila, C
7. Jhonny Peralta, SS
8. Ramon Santiago, 2B
9. Brandon Inge, 3B

Dare I say it, the Detroit Tigers are beginning to look like a team on a roll. Rick Porcello pitched like a Rick Porcello should, the Tigers, led by Delmon Young, piled on a bunch of runs, and Detroit cruised to an easy victory over Minnesota (so easy that the game elicited a scant 7 comments).

And now we come back with Mr. Verlander, who seems primed to become the first Tiger since Bill Gullickson (1991) to win 20 games, and the first this season in MLB.  Facing a decimated Twins team that has lost 6 straight, this one seems all but inevitable.  But this is baseball, so nothing can be taken for granted.

If ever there were an appropriate villain to play spoiler to Verlander’s bid for 20, it would be Carl Pavano, who takes the mound for the Twins.  Pavano is 6-10, 4.54, and is facing a milestone of hs own:  he has 99 career losses.  But Tiger fans will not easily forget what he did to Detroit in the nail-biting 2009 season.

Player of the Pre-Game: Brandon Inge

Yes, he is not playing today.  But with Santos sent back to Toledo,  Martinez still hurting, and Kelly on paternity leave, he is Detroit’s only backup catcher.  His job is to sit in the dugout, vote for himself for Top Web Gem (he is in the running against Ben Revere), and pray that nothing happens to Avila.

Today’s Make-Verlander-Proud Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Ramon Santiago, 2B
3. Delmon Young, LF
4. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
5. Victor Martinez, DH
6. Alex Avila, C
7. Jhonny Peralta, SS
8. Wilson Betemit, 3B
9. Ryan Raburn, RF

Tonight the Tigers arrive at Target Field in Minneapolis faced with the daunting prospect of 10,000 Jim Thomes.

Fortunately, none of them will be in a Twins uniform.

(Unfortunately, Jim Thome is back in a Cleveland Indian uniform).

On Jim Thome Wind Up Walker Giveaway Night, the first 10,000 fans will receive a replica of the player the Twins just traded to Cleveland for Player-To-Be-Named-Later.  Thome will rejoin the team on which he began his career,  and began killing the Tigers.  The Indians are hoping he will be able to continue the Tiger-killing, or if not at least give the fans something to talk about other than the team’s August downslide.

If the Tigers continue winning, they won’t have to worry about Thome or anyone else:   Detroit now has a solid lead of 6 1/2 over Cleveland, and 7 over Chicago,  with a week of baseball against the struggling Twins and Royals on tap.

And the Tigers have been winning without even scoring–Detroit only scored a total of 11 runs in the 4-game series with Tampa Bay, but managed to win 3-of-4 anyway.

That approach may not work tonight, unless Rick Porcello has a much better showing than he did when he faced the Twins on Aug 16.  He gave up 6 runs in 6 innings, and followed that up with a 5-run, 3 2/3 inning appearance against Cleveland.  With a season ERA now at 5.17–and 9.15 in August–he has been doing a good impersonation of a 5th starter.

The Tigers will be facing dreaded Rookie Pitcher Guy, this one a lefty named Scott Diamond (0-1, 4.26), making his 2nd major league appearance.

Player of the Pre-Game: Alex Avila

I might as well just leave this name up here for a while.  He is now hitting .418 (1.336 OPS) for the month of August, with 6 HR and 16 RBI.  His 2010 season totals:  7 HR and 32 RBI.

Today’s Wind-Up Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Magglio Ordonez, RF
3. Delmon Young, LF
4. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
5. Victor Martinez, DH
6. Alex Avila, C
7. Jhonny Peralta, SS
8. Ryan Raburn, 2B
9. Brandon Inge, 3B

Before we complain too much more about “The Throw” last night, let’s remember that even had that play been made, we would have still had to score a run somehow (which requires hits), and then likely asked another reliever not names Benoit or Valverde to pitch a scoreless inning.

Today’s task doesn’t get any easier, as the Tigers run out Omir Santos and not Miguel Cabrera (congrats on the new kid big guy) against Jeremy Hellickson.  Oh, and Boesch re-injured his thumb last night (2nd degree sprain), so we’ll need the bench guys to step up.  No word on his return.

Today’s Series Winning Lineup:

1. A Jax – CF
2. Santiago – 2B
3. Young – LF
4. V-Mart – DH
5. Betemit – 3B (yeah, that’s 5th)
6. Kelly – 1B
7. Peralta – SS (I don’t get this)
8. Raburn – RF
9. Santos – C

Let’s give credit where credit is due…Ol’ Jimmy managed us to a win last night, and he’s been conducting the bullpen like a maestro over the last week.  Coke’s effort last night was tremendous, and may be the type of performance that defines a division championship (may).  He went 0-2 or1-2 on 6 batters, struck out the first 5 that he faced, and performed brilliantly in the face of extreme pressure after the IBB to put the winning run on.  The 10 pitch at bat to Zobrist had my stomach in knots.  And it’s not (get it?) even September yet.  WPs only bounce into the stands to save a run when a team is on a 5 game winning streak.  Overall, the bullpen has a microscopic 1.55 ERA and 58 Ks over their last 58 IPs dating back to August 4.

Brad Penny ate up 6 1/3 allowing only one run, and Ryan Perry maintained composure and got Longoria to fly out with the bases loaded in the 7th.

Avila’s Awesome August sees him leading the AL with a 1.338 OPS in 19 games.  His August slugging percentage alone would put him about 1/2 up the team leader board in OPS.  Oh yeah, and that was his 17th straight start.

Max Scherzer goes for the Tigers tonight against Wade Davis, perhaps the most hittable Tampa pitcher in the series.  Davis had one of his best starts of the season last time out (against the Mariners) but has carried a 4+ ERA for most of the season, and has a 1.41 WHIP.  Lefties hit .290 against him, and righties are batting .265 for the year.

Before you start checking your October calendars, remember that the Rangers were 7.5 games up on the Angels less than a week ago…that lead is now 3.5.

Lineups coming later.

First place by 5.5 games.  High fives all the way around.

– AJax DP to end the game on Sunday?  Been there, seen that, says Ol’ Smokey.
– Freep had a nice compilation of national articles on JV’s 19th win.

Tigers look for their 5th in a row, to go 12 games over .500, and hopefully to increase their lead tonight against David Price.  The Tampa lefty has only shut down the Yanks and Red Sox over his last two starts, allowing just 1 run in 16 innings.  Bad Brad Penny looks to eat up some innings as the Tigers run out 8 righties against Price.

Tonight’s Lineup

1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Magglio Ordonez, RF
3. Delmon Young, LF
4. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
5. Victor Martinez, DH
6. Alex Avila, C
7. Jhonny Peralta, SS
8. Ryan Raburn, 2B
9. Brandon Inge, 3B

Hello all – work is not really cooperating with the essay I’d like to write on the Catch & Throw alone, so I’m hoping that an early post will lead to some good pre-game chatter.  That link is great b/c you can hear the TV and radio calls.  Did anyone else notice that Inge was one of the first to congratulate Jackson?  (when he’s hitting) I love that guy.

– AJax has not registered a strike out in his last 8 games.  The longest such streak of his career (by 4 games).

Tonight’s lineup:

1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Brennan Boesch, RF
3. Delmon Young, LF
4. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
5. Victor Martinez, DH
6. Alex Avila, C
7. Jhonny Peralta, SS
8. Wilson Betemit, 3B
9. Ramon Santiago, 2B

2-for-2, and a series sweep is looking good with Justin Verlander taking the mound–wait, what?  An extra day’s rest?  Oh, nevermind…

Well, the Inge call-up is looking like a bit of genius, isn’t it?  I would have predicted that (although he was Player of the Pre-Game).  And sure it was all in a blowout victory, but it was only 2-0 when he hit his HR, and 4-1 when he hit his double.   If Inge can do this even a handful of times the rest of the season, it could make the Tigers pretty tough to take down in the Central.

Rick Porcello will man the broom and try to pretend it’s July, or even September.  After a 5-0, 3.06 July, Porcello has gone 0-2, 8.44 for August.

Ubaldo Jimenez looks to win the re-match with Porcello (he gave up no earned runs in 8 innings for the victory), and to keep Cleveland from dropping to 4 1/2 games back.

In unrelated news, ESPN has a nice article about Kirk Gibson and Alan Trammell in Arizona.

Player of the Pre-game:  Alex Avila

He has caught 14 straight games, and is hitting .429 with a 1.269 OPS over the last 2 weeks, and .442 for the month of August.  Last year Tiger catchers combined for a .223 BA and .624 OPS.  Avila is making a huge difference this season.

Today’s New Standard RHP Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Brennan Boesch RF
3. Delmon Young LF
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Victor Martinez DH
6. Alex Avila C
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Betemit 3B
9. Ramon Santiago 2B

Tigers beat Indians, then call up Brandon Inge.

That sentence itself is enough to generate enough commentary to last all night.  We’ll push it a step further, with this tidbit:  “Brandon Inge will be back in Detroit tonight and will start at third base against Cleveland left-handed pitcher David Huff and all left-handers thereafter.”

In the ESPN game preview they referred to Inge as “former Tigers All-Star Brandon Inge,”  which is sort of cute, isn’t it?

To make room for Inge, the Tigers sent Andy Dirks to the land of muddy hens.  So, in the outfield right now we have Boesch, Jackson, and Young, with Ordonez as a backup (Raburn is now the starting 2nd Baseman, and Kelly is 3rd string 3B, 3rd string 2B, backup catcher, and 5th outfielder).

So there you go.  Discuss amongst yourselves.

But the Tigers are up by 2 1/2 now, after a stellar performance by Max Scherzer.  Tonight Doug Fister tries to un-Washburn himself against David Huff, who has a season ERA of .051–but not to worry, he has had 2 starts against Detroit, and come away with a 6.00 ERA.

Player of the Pre-game:  Brandon Inge

Yes, the call of Avila as player of the pre-game yesterday was pretty spot on, as they say.  But I will resist the temptation to repeat, and instead play the Ingetangibles angle.

Today’s Ingeteresting Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Magglio Ordonez RF
3. Delmon Young LF
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Victor Martinez DH
6. Alex Avila C
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Brandon Inge 3B
9. Ramon Santiago 2B

Tonight the Tigers begin the first of three remaining 3-game series against the Cleveland Indians, and by Sunday evening the standings in the Central division could look very different. With the Indians only 1 1/2 games back and the White Sox only 4, by the end of the weekend Cleveland could be in first–or in third.

Even Baseball Tonight’s video feature today is a Tigers-Indians series preview. The short version: why isn’t Justin pitching?

Series matchups:

• Game 1 Fri 7:05  Josh Tomlin (12-5, 3.97)  vs Max Scherzer (12-7, 4.37)
• Game 2 Sat 7:05 David Huff (1-1, 0.51) vs Doug Fister (1-1, 6.14 with DET)
• Game 3 Sun 1:05 Ubaldo Jimenez (1-0, 4.58 with CLE) vs Rick Porcello (11-8, 4.98)
• Not pitching:  Justin Masterson (10-7, 2.71) vs Justin Verlander (18-5, 2.31)

While we clearly win the matchup of the not-pitching guys, the Indians look to have a bit of an edge overall in the series.

In tonight’s battle of the 2nd-bests, Max Scherzer will try to avoid having an inning like the 2nd inning of his last start, where he gave up 5 runs, but then settled down and pulled out a 6-5 victory, reaching Verlander-like fastball velocity in his last inning.

Tomlin has put together better numbers than Scherzer, and is coming off of a 3-1 victory over Minnesota in his last start.

The AccuScore Projections say Cleveland should take this one (although it’s a close 52-48% margin).  The ESPN fan poll currently has the Tigers with a 77.5% favoritism.  Are you with the computer simulation or with the fans?

Player of the Pre-game:  Alex Avila

Alex’s bat is still hot–over the last two weeks he leads the Tigers in BA, OBP, and OPS (.405/.542/1.082), keeps the 6th spot in the lineup, and the backstop warrior finally had a day off.

Today’s Central-Leading Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Brennan Boesch RF
3. Delmon Young LF
4. Miguel Cabrera 1B
5. Victor Martinez DH
6. Alex Avila C
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Wilson Betemit 3B
9. Ryan Raburn 2B

A Once Notorious Tiger Killer meets Newer Tiger Killer.

Pavano’s dominance over the Tigers has taken a 180 since 2009.  Since a 4-0, 1.69 ERA start covering 5 games in 2009 (still hurts), he’s 1-3 with a 7.12 ERA over his past 5 starts.  Several Tigers (avg/ABs Cabrera – .310/29, Ordonez – .375/24, Betemit – .333/12, Peralta – .417/12, Avila – .300/10, Martinez – .444/9, Santiago – .444/9, Raburn – .333/6, Young – .600/5, Kelly – .750/4) are ready to pounce on Pavano.

Despite his winning record, Penny has been pretty bad this year posting a 1.49 WHIP and 4.99 ERA.  But has been above average at home, posting a 3.98 ERA in 81 1/3 at CoPa.  He also has reverse BAA splits, as lefties are only batting .250 against him this year, while righties are batting .339.  This bodes well against the lefty heavy Twins lineup which includes Thome tonight.

– Al Al had a CAT scan today.  If all went well, he could be ready to pitch this weekend.
– Chance Ruffin is on his way to Seattle as the PTBNL in the Pauley/Fister deal.
– Phil Coke has allowed 0 runs and only 3 hits over his last 5 2/3.
– Cabrera is batting .414 with 8 RBIs over the last two weeks.

Today’s player of the game – Bad Brad Penny gets on a roll heading into the stretch run.

Today’s Leyland has been reading Vince in MN’s platoon suggestion Lineup is:

1. Andy Dirks, CF
2. Brennan Boesch, RF
3. Delmon Young, LF
4. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
5. Victor Martinez, DH
6. Alex Avila, C
7. Jhonny Peralta, SS
8. Don Kelly, 3B
9. Ramon Santiago, 2B