Alex Avila

Tiger 2 Royals 1

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The Tigers are 2-0 on this young season and the first two wins have come at the expense of the Royals, who usually seem to give the Tigers trouble.

The Good:

  • The Tigers won and were able to come back after new closer, Joe Nathan, blew the save.
  • Ian Kinsler was 3-5 with two RBIs including his first home run as a Tiger, a solo shot to lead off the 4th.
  • 2013 Cy Young winner, Max Scherzer, looks to be picking up where he left off.  He pitched eight scoreless innings striking out 7 and walking only one.
  • The Tigers got two plays overturned with replay.

The Bad:

  • Joe Nathan blew his first save opportunity as a member of the Tigers.
  • Miguel Cabrera took an ofer and struck out twice.  He also missed an “easy” RBI chance in the 6th, grounding into a fielder’s choice with runners at the corners and one out.  I’m sure Miggy will ok but this was still bad.
  • Alex Avila struck out twice.

The Ugly:

The Tigers managed only two runs.  Despite the skewed numbers from the 2013 regular season, the Tigers have struggled to score consistently for the past two years, putting too much pressure on their pitching staff.  It’s only two game so I won’t sound the alarm for 2014, yet.

Back at it tomorrow.

“God I love baseball.” Roy Hobbs | The Natural

 

Tigers open 2014 with a win

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It wasn’t pretty, but it was a win.  The Tigers prevailed 4-3, over the Royals in the 2014 season opener.

JV looked pretty good.  He gave up only 2 earned runs and lasted  six innings.  He could have lasted longer but the defense behind him was, not good.  Torii Hunter dropped a routine fly ball in the second, shortstop Alex Gonzalez made an error in the fourth and Nick Castellanos, although he wasn’t charged with an error, failed to catch a ball in foul territory.

I was very pleased with the way the Tigers battled back in the late innings after trailing 3-1.

Also notable: A Squared money was 1 for 2 with 2 BB.  Victor hit a solo shot.  Castellanos and Gonzalez each had two hits.

 

“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural

 

Should the Tigers Dump Alex Avila aka A Squared Money?

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Paul Swydan at ESPN Insider thinks so.

When Alex Avila suffered an injury in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series, there was a lot of worry that he wouldn’t be able to play in Game 6 either. In reality, though, the Tigers would have been fine without him and should be looking to replace him heading into next season.

That’s certainly a touchy subject, considering that his father is the team’s assistant general manager, but the simple fact is that Avila didn’t cut it this season. His 0.6 WAR (per FanGraphs) ranked just 37th overall among catchers, and 26th among 32 catchers who had at least 300 plate appearances.

Swydan makes some good points but getting rid of Alex doesn’t seem likely.

Hat Tip Nebraska for pointing out this article.

“God I love baseball.” Roy Hobbs | The Natural

 

Tigers 3 A’s 2

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Whew!

Behind excellent pitching and just enough offense the Tigers took the first game of the series in Oakland.

The Tigers scored three runs in the first but couldn’t add on the rest of the way.  This was not really a surprise.  This is the same thing we’ve seen all year.

Scherzer, Smyly and Benoit were outstanding and combined to strike out 16 Oakland batters.

Readers of this blog know I’ve been hard on Dirks this year and I’m going to continue.  The Tigers are still not getting anything substantial out of his bat and his fielding is terrible at best. I know, there is supposed to be some metric that tells us Dirksy is a wonderful fielder but the numbers don’t correspond to the visual.

In the bottom of the second Yoenis Cespedes hit a hard shot to left field that ended up as a one out triple.  I understand the ball was hard hit but it looked like Dirksy didn’t take a very good route to the ball.  It would have been a nice play.  It is a play I would expect a good left fielder to make.

There was another play in the 5th or 6th inning where Dirks ran for a ball in foul territory.  The ball looked like it hit the palm of his glove and he ended up dropping it.

Luckily, Max was able to pitch around these two plays and the pen was able to hold on for the win but I think Leyland and the Tigers really need to evaluate what they are getting from left field both offensively and defensively.  I’m not even saying put Peralta in but perhaps it’s time to put DK in left.  Let him play solid defense and take what you can from his bat.  What are you really losing playing DK over Dirksy?

In the 6th the Tigers had a chance to add on.  With one out, Martinez on second and Avila on first, Omar Infante singled sharply to right field.  Tom “The Windmill” Brookens sent Victor home and he was nailed at the plate for the second out of the inning.  At first, I was screaming about another horrible send from The Windmill, but on further review, I think it was the right thing to do.  The Tigers had just gotten three hits and Dirks was up next.  At this point, you can’t expect anything from Good Ole Dirksy.

I’ve been screaming all year about the offense but nothing is going to change.  The formula the Tigers used tonight to win will have to be the recipe going forward.  But at least if they could tighten up the left field defense, it might increase their chances.

JV goes tomorrow.  Your guess is a good as mine regarding what to expect.

“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural

Tigers 4 Twins 2

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Whew!  Fister and the pen got it done reducing the Tigers’ magic number to 1.

The Tigers always seem to make it interesting.

Despite scoring 4 runs the offense was pathetic again.  They scored all their runs in the 4th inning but missed several chances to blow this game wide open and take some pressure off the pitching staff.  The biggest blown opportunity was in the second inning when the Tigers loaded the bases with nobody out and couldn’t push across a single run.

Cabrera left 4 runners on base and took an 0-4.  Fielder was 1-4 and left 3 on base.  Matt Tuiasosopo and Alex Avila each took ohfers and stranded 3 runners a piece.  The bright spot on offense was Austin Jackson.  AJax has been struggling but went 3-5 and drove in the winning runs with a two run big-bingo to put the Tigers up 4-1.

Fister was good, the bullpen was better.  Fistet pitched 6.1, allowed 8 hits, one run, struck out 7 and walked one.

Smyly and The Amazing Al got the final two outs in the 7th stranding Twins at first and second.

Conspicuously, Bruce Rondon was called upon to pitch the 8th and was very impressive striking out the side.  Hmmm does anybody else find it interesting that Veras was brought in to pitch the 8th?  Maybe the Puppet Master isn’t getting the warm and fuzzies from Veras either.

The Tigers are getting nothing offensively from left field.  If they can clinch tomorrow perhaps they should start Jhonny Peralta all three game is left in Miami and see what they’ve got.  Offensively, it is hard to imagine doing any worse than the platoon of Dirks, Tui, and DK.  (Hat Tip Rossie for this suggestion).

I’ll say this one more time, WTF is up with this offense?

Scherzer goes for number 21 and the division tomorrow.

Get it done!

“God I love baseball.” -Roy Hobbs | The Natural

White Sox 6 Tigers 3

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After an emotional come from behind victory last night the Tigers fell to the White Sox today.  That coupled with another Indians victory over the Astros and the Tigers’ magic number remains at 2.

Anibal Sanchez didn’t have it today.  He surrendered 4 earned over 5 innings, striking out 6 while walking 2.

The Tigers made a bid to repeat last night’s 9th inning magic but fell short when Austin Jackson struck out swinging.

Jackson was hitless again today taking an 0-4 dropping his batting average to .269.

I didn’t see this one coming.  After last night’s heroics and Sanchez on the mound I really thought the Tigers would pull off the sweep.

In another interesting move, The Puppet Master had Brayan Pena pinch hit for Alex Avila to lead off the 9th.  Alex was 3-3 and has been swinging a hot bat.  In fact, his batting average is closing in on .230.  Not bad for a guy who was hitting in the .160s in June.  With left-hander Donnie Veal pitching I guess he was playing the left right match-up, and it did work out, Pena doubled, but it seemed like a questionable move to me at least.

Anyway, there’s not much more to say about this game other than Fielder’s home run the game was kind of a dud.

Hopefully the Tigers can get back on track in Minnesota tomorrow and clinch the division ASAP.

Verlander against Pelfrey in the opener.

God, I love baseball.” – Roy Hobbs | The Natural

Tigers 6 Mariners 2

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After three typically, pathetic innings, the Tigers offense woke up and scored single runs in the 4th, 6th, and 7th, then blew the game open with three in the bottom of the 8th to give the Tigers their 6th win in 7 games.

Sanchez was good tonight and the bullpen was even better.  Anibal threw 125 pitches.  He lasted 6 and 1/3, allowed 2 earned runs, walked two and struck out 10.

The Amazing Al did an excellent job of clutch pitching.  Alburquerque relieved Sanchez with one out in the 7th, runners at second and third, and the game tied at 2.  He got Abraham Almonte to pop out to Jose Iglesias at short, who flashed some leather making a nice running catch in shallow left.  The Amazing Al then struck out Franklin Gutierrez to end the inning and keep the game tied.

In the top of the 8th it was Jose Alvarez’s turn to come up big.  Phil Coke started the 8th and got Kyle Seagar to ground out to first base.  Prince Fielder showed he can flash leather as he made a nice diving stop on the bullet hit off of Seagar’s bat.  Coke then got into some trouble.  He walked Raul Ibanez and got Justin Smoak to hit what looked like an inning ending double play ball to the left of second base.  Unfortunately, the sure handed Jose Iglesias couldn’t handle the ball and everyone was safe.  The last batter Coke would face was Michael Saunders who he walked to load the bases on five pitches.  So in comes Alvarez to relieve Coke.  Alvarez battled Mike Zunino in an 11 pitch at bat but finally got the Mariner catcher to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.

Phil Coke was booed as he left the field.  I hate to see anybody get booed but tonight I felt it was really unwarranted.  I can’t defend him for the walks he gave up.  Walks are enough to drive anybody mad but his defense really let him down.  If Iglesias makes the play on the ball hit by Justin Smoak, like I’m sure he’ll do 99 out of 100 times, Coke gets out of the inning having only faced three batters.  But I guess that’s just how this season has gone for Phil.  Very little has seemed to work for him this year.

Let’s talk about Alex A Squared Money Avila.  It looks like he is getting healthy and his game is starting to show it.  His batting average is up to .225, not bad considering it was down to about .168 as late as June.  What really impressed me today was his triple.  He hit a line drive to right leading off the 7th inning that made it all the way to the wall and left Avila standing on third.  He’s never been a speed demon but he was running about as well as I’ve ever seen him.  Alex also had two walks in this game.  His second base on balls came in the bottom of the 8th.  After falling behind Seattle reliever Carter Capps 0-2, he was able to work a walk and load the bases.  For the last few weeks, Alex has been looking like the Alex we saw in the 2011 regular season.  Let’s hope he stays healthy and continues playing this way.

JV is on the mound tomorrow.

Update: I forgot to include this in the original post, perhaps I was subconsciously blocking it out.  In what can only be described as the most bizarre move I’ve seen in baseball, Jim Leyland, pinch hit Andy Dirks for Jose Iglesias with the bases loaded in the 8th inning.  This move is insane on so many levels I’m not sure where to begin.  I guess lets start with Dirks Blows!  He’s having a terrible season.  Iglesias is hitting .315.  Dirks is hitting .257. Iglesias is the best defensive player on the team, something I thought was important to Leyland, especially in the late innings.  Andy Dirks plays left field like Charlie Marcuse, the now deposed singing, hot dog, vendor.  The only logical explanation for this asinine move is Dirksburger Syndrome.  After lying dormant in the bowels of the Tigers manager for a few weeks, it was bound to flair up again and did.

Oh, yea, true to form, Good Ole Dirksy struck out.

Hat Tip to Sark for reminding me of this abomination.

God, I love baseball.” – Roy Hobbs | The Natural

Tigers 3 Royals 2

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The Tigers took the rubber game of this series courtesy of Max Scherzer and Alex Avila.

Max pitched more than well enough to get his 20th win this season but his offense, once again, hung him out to dry.  Max pitched seven strong innings.  He allowed only one run on a solo shot from Alex Gordon.  He struck out 12 and walked only one.

Max left the game leading 2-1 but lost his 20th win when Drew Smyly surrendered the tying run in the top of the 8th.  However, Smyly surrendering the tying run isn’t the story of this game.  The story of this game, and the season, is that the Tigers’ offense BLOWS!

Let me be clear, I don’t care what the statistics say, this offense is pathetic.  As a team the Tigers left 10 runners on base.  Individually, Martinez left 4 on base and Dirks and Infante left 5.  I can’t wait for Peralta to get back to see what he can do in left field.  It is hard for me to believe that he’ll be worse than Dirks.

Max Scherzer picked Emilio Bonifacio off of first base in the first inning continuing the Tigers’ recent success of shutting down the opposing running game.  In fact, this is the third game in a row that Tigers pitchers have picked off a base runner.

What can I say about Alex A Squared Money Avila?  He’s hit .313 since the All-Star break and accounted for all three Tigers runs today.  He hit a two run homer in the bottom of the second to give the Tigers an early 2-0 lead and a solo shot in the bottom of the 8th to break the 2-2 tie and give the Tigers a much needed series win.

I wonder if Jim Leyland is second guessing his decision to have Nick Castellanos pinch hit for Avila in the 7th inning last night?  Although I forgot to mention it in the post, that was one of the worst moves I’ve seen JL make.

The Mariners come to town tomorrow.

“God, I love baseball.” – Roy Hobbs | The Natural

Royals 1 Tigers 0

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This was a tough loss to take but no that surprising.  Both Fister and Santana pitched like aces but the “top rated” Tigers offense could not produce a single run.

I understand that Santana has had a good season and pitched well tonight but with the money the Tigers have invested in their offense it is not unreasonable to expect better.

This game has it’s share of leather flashin.  Royals’ short stop Alcides Escobar made several nice plays.  Torii Hunter threw a seed from right field to gun down Chris Getz trying to take third on a fly ball in the top of the 8th.  Miguel Cabrera and Alex Avila teamed up to cut down Eric Hosmer trying to score from third and a ground ball in the first.  And the play of the game was a relay from Alex Gordon to Alcides Escobar to Salvador Perez to cut down Prince Fielder at the plate to end the game.

Objectively speaking this was a really well played game.  The only problem is that the Tigers offense couldn’t come up with a single run.  This seems to be the story of the last two seasons, no consistency on offense.  They score a lot of runs one game then go into hibernation for a week. It is very frustrating and sometimes painful to watch.

There are two plays in particular I’d like to address.

  1. In the bottom of the sixth Iggy led off with a bunt single.  At this point it was obvious runs were going to be at a premium.  I was hoping the Tigers would give Iggy the green light to try to swipe second.  I’m not big on bunting a guy over from first to second but I am a fan of the stolen base.  Instead, Jackson followed with a fielders choice then Hunter and Cabrera flew out to end the inning.  If Iggy could have stolen second he could have gone to third on Jackson’s ground ball and scored on Hunters fly out.  Instead the Tigers settled for nothing.  I understand speed is not the Tigers game but Iggy does bring this dimension to the team.  This would have been the perfect time to try something new instead of just going to the plate and taking your hacks against a pitcher that’s been dominating you.  I could have lived with Iggy getting thrown out at second.  But I can’t live with doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
  2. In the bottom of the 8th Miggy came to the plate following a Hunter double.  This put Hunter a second with two out.  Cabrera then ended the inning with a ground out to second base on the first pitch.  I know it is hard to complain about Miggy but he has been horrible the last few weeks and I’m not sure it is all injury related.

On the bright side Fister did pick off Emilio Bonifacio at first base in the top of the third inning.  With pick offs and runners thrown out at second the Tigers seem to be making strides at slowing down the opposing team’s running game.  Now if they could manufacture a run or two of their own they might have something.  Still with this lineup they really have no excuse for being shut out ever, let alone, 11 times this season.

Let’s see if Max can get is 20th win of the season in the rubber game tomorrow.

“God, I love baseball.” – Roy Hobbs | The Natural

Tigers 9 White Sox 1

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The Tigers ended their 3 game skid with a 9-1 victory over the White Sox tonight at US Cellular field in Chicago.

The story of this game was Rick Porcello.  Ricky pitched the first complete game of his career,  He allowed one earned run, seven hits, walked one, and struck out 5.  He really looked good tonight and the Tigers needed it.

The offense put up 9 runs but you’ll forgive me if I don’t get too excited.  Five of the nine runs scored were unearned.  The White Sox defense aided the Tigers offense with four errors, three of them by third baseman Conor Gillaspie.

Prince and Alex Avila each had 4 hits tonight but Miggy was 0-5 and something just doesn’t look right with him.

The Indians lost tonight so the Tigers’ lead is back up to 5.5.

Let’s see what the offense does tomorrow with Anibal Sanchez on the mound in the rubber game of the series.

On a another note, I heard that Jhonny Peralta will rejoin the team for the last week of the season.  From what I can make out of Dombrowski’s comments, he is definitely not coming back to play shortstop.  John Keating said on the pre-game that Peralta was fielding fly balls.  Does this mean that the Tigers plan to put Peralta in left?  That’s the only thing I can think of and if he hits, it might not be a bad idea.  I think the Tigers have run out of corner outfield experiments.  I don’t think Dirks, Tui, or Castellanos are legitimate options for an everyday left fielder.  I guess I’m not sure Peralta is either but how much worse can he be?  I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

“God, I love baseball.” – Roy Hobbs | The Natural