Random Thoughts On An Off Day

It's Thursday, September 8th, the Tigers have an off day, riding a 6-game win streak, your 2 closest competitors face off against each other in a 4-game series this weekend, with 9 games separating said competition.  Things must be going well.

And they are, albeit with a little help.  But for some reason, I am a bit concerned with Justin Verlander.

Verlander now has a 22-5 record after beating Cleveland yesterday.  He hasn't lost since July 15th vs the White Sox.  He seems to be in full control of the American League Cy Young award.

Justin Verlander

But his last 3 starts have been somewhat alarming.  His numbers in that time: in 19.1 innings, he's allowed 9 runs (all earned), 18 hits, 6 walks, has struck out 20, and given up 5 home runs.  That's good for a 4.19 ERA... but the number that jumps out is his WHIP (walks + hits / innings pitched) in that stretch is 1.24, well above his 0.91 that he's averaging for the season.

Far be it for me to assume that the staff workhorse is wearing down as the season goes by, but it's hard not to think about that.  In all 31 of his starts this season, Verlander has thrown at least 100 pitches, with 9 of those starts breaking 120 and 1 beyond 130.  No matter what kind of shape you're in, even the best of us (not me, personally) get worn down.  Let's just hope he's not completely spent by the time October rolls around.  Assuming the Tigers make the playoffs, they'll need him to be ready.  So if in the next 2 or 3 starts I pray that he's pulled with minimal damage and pitches thrown, it won't be seen as the root of all evil that he's not throwing his arm off before the post-season.

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How about that Delmon Young?

Delmon Young

While not exactly fleet-of-foot defensively (watching him run down fly balls in left field is nerve wracking), his bat has been a welcome sight since he was traded to the Tigers from the Twins early last month.  Before he was dealt, he was hitting only .266 with 4 HRs and 32 RBIs... not exactly great numbers that earned him his $5.4M contract to start the year.  But since his trade, he's batting .312, with 3 HRs and 17 RBIs.  He even drew a walk for the first time, bringing that total as a Tiger to... 1.  Okay, that's not ground-breaking, but his early returns from his change of scenery are very good thus far.  It will be interesting to see what the Tigers do with him this offseason, as the organization is left with a minor surplus in outfielders.  So far though, it looks like he likes his new digs and that might be enough for Dave Dombrowski to offer Delmon arbitration after this season is over.

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The Tigers face the Twins this weekend for the final time this season and we may not recognize most of the current Twins lineup.  Last night's Twins lineup featured only 2 players from their opening day roster in the lineup, that being Joe Mauer and Danny Valencia.  The Twins have expanded their roster a bit, bringing up players from AAA Rochester as well as AA New Britain.  With what the Tigers offense has done lately, I'm going to try and hold off reporting a future 9-game winning streak, but it sets up well for the team as the White Sox and Indians battle each other this weekend.  Two or three Tiger wins this weekend could drive those nails further into Cleveland and Chicago's coffin.

Finishing Them Off?

The Detroit Tigers open up another big series in Cleveland vs. the Indians today, 1 day after completing a big sweep of the White Sox, pasting them in the 18-2 finale last night.  With the Sox at 8.5 games back of the Tigers now, they should focus on keeping the Indians at the very least, 7.5 games back.

That would mean the Tigers would have to win 2 out of 3 in this set, which is what they should be doing anyway if they are to prove their worth as a playoff-ready team.  Not too much to ask, as 2 of your rotation stoppers will go in this series, being Doug Fister (today) and Justin Verlander (on Wednesday).  We've seen the offense do what they're doing, so there's no reason to believe the Tigers can't have an extra nice cushion with only a few weeks left in the regular season.  For today's game, it can be done... Ubaldo Jimenez goes for the Tribe, and his last outing vs the Tigers yielded 7 runs.

Of course, trying not to think too far ahead of the game here, a division lead that big of course has been erased before, as the Tigers may have the ghosts of 2009 haunting their fan base, saying nothing is imminent until it's all locked up.  Fair assessment, but while the Tigers did cough up a 7 game lead with 3 weeks to go in the season, they did it against what was a scorching hot Minnesota Twins team, who came down the stretch that season at a 42-17 mark.  Impressive, if not improbable: which is a word I'll use now.  For me, it's almost impossible to believe that either the White Sox or Indians could pull off what the Twins did 2 seasons ago, largely because neither team is healthy or hitting the ball with much consistency.  That is key when making a nice little run towards the postseason, and I don't forsee the Tigers coughing this up like they did in '09.

Far be it for me to say the Tigers will win the division right now, but for a while now, it's been their division to lose.  Imagine how different the division might look if the Tigers didn't stumble out to a slow start in April/May.  If they were playing then like they are playing now, we may be talking about a more insurmountable 10-12 game lead instead of 6.5.

The Tigers will win this division, even if I'm keeping my fingers crossed as I type this.

Sweep!

After the Detroit Tigers walked off the field Saturday night with a convincing 10-1 win over the Cleveland Indians, thoughts of a repeat performance Sunday afternoon were on display when they jumped out to an early 7-0 lead on Cleveland and newly acquired Ubaldo Jimenez. The Tigers pitcher who was given this early wealth of run support? Rick Porcello.

Porcello, who was unbeaten in July, isn't fooling anyone in August. After three scoreless innings, the third of which included an interesting pitch behind Asdrubal Cabrera, Porcello coughed up a 5-run top of the fourth inning, with four of those runs allowed coming with 2 outs. The command issues are still there, which is not a welcome sign as the Tigers march towards September and the stretch run. Just 3 2/3 innings pitched, which potentially taxes the bullpen. The Tigers would use 6 relievers today... Though some will suggest the Tigers don't need the bullpen tomorrow with Justin Verlander pitching... It's still not good heading into a 7-game road trip.

The fourth inning insurance run provided by newcomer Delmon young (who had 4 RBIs today) proved to be vital, as the Tigers would ultimately cling to a 1-run lead as the game entered the ninth inning. Enter Jose Valverde, who hasn't blown a save opportunity this season. Valverde, who lately has been making things tough on himself when he takes the mound, would walk the leadoff man Kosuke Fukudome, and on an 0-2 pitch, hit Jason Donald with a pitch. Valverde would almost blow it against someone who was TRYING to get an out, as Jack Hannahan finally sacrificed himself, allowing both lead runners to advance.

In what might be the play of the year, pinch hitter Matt LaPorta hits a relatively shallow, lazy liner to center fielder Austin Jackson. Jackson lines himself up, catches the ball, and throws an absolute DART, slightly up the third base line, and directly into the glove of Alex Avila, who was perfectly placed to catch that ball and block the attempt from Fukudome, who tagged up and tried to score. Ball beats Fukudome, tag is applied, Avila shows the umpire, DOUBLE PLAY, GAME OVER. A sellout crowd celebrated, as did the players, finishing off an incredible sweep of the Indians. With all that, the Tigers will take with them to Tampa a 4 1/2 game lead in the division, with the hopes of maintaining some of the momentum from this game on to the ensuing trip.

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Lost in that insane finish is the work of Rick Porcello.  He's certainly not proving his worth at all this month, but as mentioned in previous posts, he's young and the organization is not going to give up on this young talent.  However, mired in a pennant run, Jim Leyland is going to have to be careful with him, as he was today when he wasted very little time ripping him from the ball game.  His next scheduled start is Friday night at Minnesota, a team who has grossly underachieved this year, a team who right now isn't going to let that stop them from trying to be a spoiler.  I think Tigers fans desperately want Rick Porcello to be good, but most of those faithful aren't going to be too patient with what they are seeing now.

Big Win for Max

Last night, the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians started what some are calling a very big, meaningful, August series.  Max Scherzer vs Josh Tomlin, and... Joe West.

Major League Umpire and Grimace descendant Joe West essentially got in the way of what could have been a shutout by Tigers pitcher Max Scherzer when he called a pitch that went right down the middle of the plate, at the knees, for a BALL.  The batter was Lonnie Chisenhall, who instead of striking out to end the inning, would work an infield single after Miguel Cabrera stumbled as he tossed to first for what would have been out number 3.  Carlos Santana, who singled to start the inning, would eventually score on a wild pitch, all after an obvious blown strike call.

That trimmed the Tigers lead to 2-1, but a couple of big home runs in the bottom of the 7th off of Tomlin, a moon-shot by Alex Avila, followed by a back-to-back shot - on the following pitch - off the bat of Jhonny Peralta.  A 4-1 win for the Tigers to open a 2.5 game lead over the Indians in the AL Central race.  A monumental victory coming off a disappointing series with the Minnesota Twins (losing 2 of 3) and perhaps avoiding some short-time panic amongst the knee-jerkiest of Tigers fans.  Doug Fister pitches tonight against David Huff in the hopes that Fister can find some of that command that we all thought we were getting when Seattle sent him our way.  Always good to go into Sunday with a series win in hand vs your closest opponent.

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It seems that after that game was completed, bigger that the win itself was the news that the Tigers had purchased the contract of one Brandon Inge, and he will be joining the team for Saturday night's game.  Oh, and how about starting on Saturday night too.  Yep, batting .177 this season at the Major League level, comes back from his time in Toledo, having hit .287 with 7 home runs.  He will platoon with Wilson Betemit, who will likely get his starts with right-handed pitching, and Inge against lefties.  The casualty here is Andy Dirks, who was sent back to Toledo to make room for Inge on the roster.

More importantly, Inge's return will provide him a spot on the postseason roster, should the Tigers finish off this division and make the playoffs.  Dirks will be back after major league rosters are allowed to expand from 25 to 40, on September 1st.  Inge's defense, which isn't what it used to be, is still very important here.  Since Inge was Designated For Assignment, the Tigers have used Betemit, Ryan Raburn, and Don Kelly at third, all with mixed results.  Of the 3, Kelly might be better defensively but has struggled at the plate.  Betemit, many will say, hasn't had enough playing time since he was dealt to the Tigers from Kansas City, has the offensive numbers that are decent for every day play, but his range is limited in the field.  As for Ryan Raburn, Tigers fans will be fine if I don't remind them how terrible his is defensively.

The Tigers need Inge's glove, and if he can carry some of the mild success that he did at the plate in Toledo back to Detroit, that will be an automatic bonus for this team, and perhaps he can get the critics and fans to stop booing him... after all, he had a bitterness about that.  The clear answer to avoid that is to be the player he's being paid $5.5M to be.  Tigers fans will easily forget how bad he's been if he can pull this off.

Wrapping Up the Roadie

Newly acquired Doug Fister, pitching for the Detroit Tigers today, is used to not having a whole lot of run support in his starts.  Today, 9 runs would have been a lot to ask for.

Fister's first shaky outing as a Tiger was today in Baltimore, giving up 8 runs (6 ER) on 12 hits, had no real command of his pitches this afternoon and wasn't fooling anybody.  Usually in good control, he didn't have it today as the Tigers finished up this 9 game road trip by losing 8-5 to the Orioles.  As previously posted, the Tigers road woes have been well documented in the past, but at least this season they can boast a better record on the road than last year, which for me is progress.  As for Fister, no reason to worry about him, as he had a bad day.  No need for Tigers fans to blow up about the trade being good or bad for either the Seattle Mariners or the Tigers, as there hasn't been nearly enough time passed to make that kind of judgement (get back to me in 3 years, then we can discuss that).  He'll get his next start at home, and we'll all hope it's a better outing than today.  Call off the dogs.

As for the road trip, they did go 5-4, which from here looks like a winning record... albeit I'm reaching a bit by boasting that a single victory over the losses is a successful road trip.  To a degree, I am reaching: the 2 series wins were against 2 last place teams in the American League (KC and Baltimore) but the series loss was vs AL Central competitor, the Cleveland Indians.  Sure, winning this series would have been nice, but for me it's still about road trip success.  The Tigers can take care of their business at home, and bringing home more wins than losses on a long road trip is never a bad thing.

The Tigers road show comes home to face the Minnesota Twins, a team snakebitten by injuries and relative "UnTwinslike" play in the field this season.  A real chance for the Tigers to continue their recent dominance over this ballclub, having won 8 of 9 meetings so far this season.  They play the Twins 9 more times, with 6 of those games at home.  Take care of these guys, because those Indians are back in town for another big series next weekend.  And they'll need to play better against the Tribe next weekend, with Justin Verlander pitching in the middle of the Twins series, he won't be a savior this time around.  It'll be time for someone else to step up and have a good pitching performance, against a team that seemingly won't go away.

It still sets up well for the Tigers, they just need to remember that and take full advantage of their opportunities.

Starter, Setup, Closer

Tonight was about as important game the Tigers will have on the road this month during an August pennant race: losers of the first 2 games to the Cleveland Indians, and their stopper pitching in the finale.

The game was probably a little too close for comfort in the eyes of Detroit Tigers fans, as they got out quickly vs Fausto Carmona, and staked Justin Verlander to an early 4 run lead.  A solo HR later, and a 2-RBI double in the next inning, and we have a 4-3 Tigers lead.

A score that would stick throughout the course of the game.  And to quickly summarize the type of season Cleveland has had, exciting, close, pulled it out in the end.  They have a lot of walk-off wins this season, or wins earned late in games, which made many of us nervous about the potential outcome of a game to salvage the series.

Collective moans could be heard after the 7th inning, as it became known that after 7 innings, 3 ER, 3 walks, 10 strikeouts, and 108 pitches, his day was over.  Enter setup man Joaquin Benoit, who won no fans for how he started his season.  April and May were forgettable months for him, but Tigers fans won't be so quick: 6.10 ERA in April, 5.59 in May.  Got it together in June and July, with a hiccup in this month that leads fans to be nervous when he takes the ball, especially in a close game.

Strikeout, strikeout, groundout.  The haters are nowhere to be found.

Enter Jose Valverde, who has had a knack of making his save opportunities at times, very "exciting."  At times, putting runners on via the walk, not exactly making life easy on himself.  Add to that, the fact that he still hasn't blown a save opportunity this season (32 for 32), and more anxious Tigers fans await to see if this, in fact, was the night it might happen.

Strikeout, popout, groundout.  Ballgame.

And with that, Justin Verlander wins his 100th career game, and Jose Valverde came in and converted what is now a club record 33rd consecutive save to start the season, breaking the old record held by Willie Hernandez in 1984.  Yes, 2 big milestones were had tonight, but the win is bigger.

A loss may have sent panic through Tiger-town.  Talk would have been about Verlander perhaps not being able to stop the bleeding that was 13 straight losses in Cleveland, or perhaps how the bullpen was unable to hold onto what Verlander had left them.  They would move on to Baltimore with a slim 1-game lead in the standings, perhaps wondering what might have been, especially to allow the Indians back to within striking distance.

Instead, the top-dogs of the pitching corps did what they were supposed to do: Verlander struck out 10 more and only gave up 3 hits (big hits, but only 3).  Benoit, brought in this season to set up Valverde, did just that.  And rather impressively, I might add.  Valverde did his thing, minus the crazy dance at the end, and got his save.  Everything fell into place, and now it's time to move on to Baltimore with a 3-game lead in the division.

A sweep there would be nice.  Winning and fundamental baseball would be ideal.  Finishing road trips ahead would be paramount.

Worst Blog Post Ever

Since the Detroit Tigers found a way to lose last night's game in absolutely pathetic fashion, I'll keep this short and sweet...

That might have been the worst Tigers loss.  EVER.  Although fighting with me on that claim is April 30th's Tigers loss to Cleveland.

Losing by hit batsman is embarrassing.  Losing by our offense taking hacks and terrible pitches is embarrassing.  Losing by submitting some piss-poor baserunning, is EMBARRASSING.

And kudos to our newly extended manager, Jim Leyland, for... well, nothing.  Brutal game all over.  And for those who stayed up to watch it, we're the suckers.  Clearly.  On the flip side, we might have stayed up because we as fans knew the importance of that game.  And it went down the chute on a HIT BATSMAN.  I'll have to remind myself to only put forth 9 innings of ball tonight, because all season long, we've seen the Indians do what they do.  Win close games, and win them late.  Maybe THEY have the killer instinct necessary, and the desire to win this awful division.

For the sake of me and the fan base, I hope I'm wrong.

Random Thoughts: The Week That Was

Sitting here typing while listening to the Indians/Rangers game - a game I cannot watch because of MLB's and ESPN's "exclusive broadcast window" - wishing there was some Tigers baseball tomorrow. But, since the schedule says so, we'll have to live with the night off.  But that might be a good thing as we look at Victor Martinez.

Victor went down like a bag of stones after coming home on a grounder to second base, trying to dodge a tag.  At first glance, he had needed help off, putting no weight on his knee.  During the broadcast, we were informed that it was a sprain, and it would be further evaluated on Sunday.  Well, even as early as the post game locker room questioning, Dr. Jim Leyland had convinced all who would listen that he'd probably be fine.  I guess we'll see, when that Tuesday lineup comes out.

Here's the issue: Victor never should have put himself in that position, with the play dictating he should have stayed at third base. With a drawn in infield, the ball was hit directly to the second baseman.  Even the fastest runner probably gets thrown out.  In this case, the ball was there with plenty of time to spare.  Unnecessary.  Poor baserunning has doomed the Tigers at spots this season (Paging Jhonny Peralta), and in a pennant race, slow and steady wins the race.

Sure, we saw the successful debut of new Tigers acquisition Doug Fister earlier this week, but it may have been a little to close for comfort.  Another problem spot for the Tigers has been their defense.  Fister had some errors behind him, but held on for the win.  Run support has been an issue for Fister with his days in Seattle, but with one of the top (yet inconsistent) offenses that should ultimately change.  Ultimately, that's why I'm not worried about the fact that he's now 4-12 on the season.  Judging by his body language so far on his new team, he seems to be excited about his new role in a pennant chase.

The Rangers rallied tonight to beat the Indians, and as a result, the Tigers will have a 4 game lead in the standings over their next opponent.... the Indians, and on the road.  The Tigers recent history on the road hasn't been great, but this season they've turned a bit of a corner with their efforts.  Big wins on the road would be lovely, this week is no exception.  The Tigers are poised to finish better on the road this season than last season, and all they have to do is win 2 games (we hope more though).  The Tigers were an awful 29-52 on the road last year, and so far this year they are 28-28.  Sure, .500 ball isn't anything to write home about, but I'll accept it after what they did last season.  Sure, the Tigers lost their game today to the Royals, but they still won 2 out of 3.  Keep winning series like that, especially on the road, and the division is theirs to lose.

And it sets up well for the Tigers down the stretch.  The common cliche, "controlling your own destiny," is well in play here.  The Tigers non-divisional opponents down the stretch include the Orioles on the road next weekend and the Rays on the road later this month.  In September, they will have a 4-game series in Oakland in the middle of a 9-game road trip, and a 4-game series at home vs the Orioles before the season finale (vs Cleveland).  All teams who don't factor into the playoff chase, but can be dangerously scrappy because of that.  In short, all series that need to be won, not lost.  Easy, right?  And as we do come down the stretch we marvel at the amazement of the schedule maker, bringing Cleveland in for the final series of the year.

Stretch run time: bring on the Indians.

Leyland Shuffling the Rotation = No Brainer

Before today, Justin Verlander's turn in the rotation has him starting tonight, and then next Friday as they open a series in Baltimore.

Perhaps he's not as ornery as we have all thought he was, and he realized that pitching the future Cy Young winner would  be better off on Thursday against the Cleveland Indians in what will be an important series for the Tigers.  And he won't be losing any rest, as the Tigers are off on Monday.

But with that move for his workhorse, I hope he realizes he needs to to the same with his lineup.  Stop playing the percentages, and play who needs to be played, i.e. streaky batters, regulars who should have regular time in a stretch run.  Leyland's late-game management is always in question, as was displayed last night when he yanked starter Rick Porcello after only throwing 82 pitches.  Instead of perhaps letting his young pitcher work himself out of trouble, he allowed the bullpen (which is nothing short of awful this season) to cough up the lead, letting the game go into extra innings.  Sure, Brennan Boesch, who had a great night last night, came through last night in the top of the 10th with the game winning hit.  What I'm saying is it didn't need to come to that.

I will also say that Daniel Schlereth, who's had a rocky season out of the 'pen for the Tigers, looked sharp.  He was supposed to be the lefty specialist out of the bullpen this season, and still needs to be because of the horrid season Phil Coke is experiencing.  Valverde has been Valverde, converting his 31st consecutive save to open the season.  He and his asinine antics can tie the club record held by Willie Hernandez ('84) with his next successful save opportunity.

I shall keep hoping that Leyland figures other things out as we continue along the stretch run, as the Tigers play the Royals in the second game of the series, starting the day with a 4 game lead over second-place Cleveland.  It would be beneficial for this now .500 road team to maintain that margin before starting a series against the Indians on Tuesday.

Baseball Etiquette?

So you're mad. You just gave up a big home run. You decide to send a message.

That message was simple, throw at the next batter's head. This was done twice in three days. The cowards? Jered Weaver of the Angels, and Carlos Carrasco of the Indians.

Friday night, already down 3-0 to the Royals, Carrasco serves up a grand slam to Melky Cabrera, giving them a 7-0 lead, still in the top of the fourth inning. Billy Butler stands in, and the first pitch offered to him "buzzes the tower." Carrasco is immediately ejected for throwing at Butler's head, and the benches clear out with no further incident afterwards. Butler looked like he was ready to brawl after that pitch.

Fast forward to today's game between the Tigers and the Angels. Earlier in the game, Magglio Ordonez hits a 2-run homer off of Weaver. The ball would hook close to the line, and around the left field foul pole. The distance was there, but to Ordonez, it was a matter of fair vs foul. Because of that, he didn't take off for what would be a trot around the bases. This was twisted as a sign of showboating, something you'll never see Magglio do. Soon after Weaver would have some words with Miguel Cabrera in the ensuing at bat. In the seventh inning, Carlos Guillen hit about as much of a no-doubter as you can at Comerica Park. Unlike Ordonez, Guillen featured a pause, bat flip, and squared himself for a few shuffled steps toward Weaver, and began a nice slow trot around the bases. The home plate umpire was rather wise and issued warnings to both benches, seeing what was transpiring. No matter, as Alex Avila stepped in, on the very next pitch, threw at his head. Again, instant ejection. Angels manager Mike Scoscia is also ejected, a rule in place after warnings are issued for instances like this.

What Carrasco, Weaver, and to a certain degree Guillen did in these instances is beyond the unwritten rules of baseball. Guillen just needed to drop the bat and run. The showboating bit was not necessary, and might have saved Avila from being a headhunting victim. The two pitchers displayed absolute cowardice by throwing at opposing players heads. Clearly, if you REALY want to properly send a message, usually you're planting one of those fastballs in the batter's backside, or perhaps between the numbers. NEVER AT THE HEAD. Jered Weaver has pitched his way towards being an elite pitcher this season, but instead remembers he's a total knucklehead. What a shame, and I hope he enjoy's finishing second or third in the Cy Young voting.

And that Erik Aybar bunt in the eighth inning? Also "bush league", trying to bunt his way to a base hit in the hopes of breaking up (another) no-hit bid by Justin Verlander. It didn't work, sort of, as Verlander threw wildly to first and was charged with an error. In the end, Verlander gave up 2 runs, only 1 lousy hit, and reminded the rest of baseball who the best pitcher continues to be. If you're keeping score at home, that's three times this season he's taken a no-hitter into the eighth inning. Of course he has the one tallied vs Toronto, and we're anxiously awaiting his next one. It will happen.

But in the end, it's necessary to follow the unwritten rules. Although sometimes some people can be remembered for the times they break those rules. I'm sure Jered Weaver won't mind that.