Jose Miguel Cabrera

Good Ole Dirksey

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Paced by seven strong innings from Rick Porcello and a 3 RBI day from Andy Dirks, the Tigers beat the Mets and swept the weekend series at Citifield.

With the Tigers down 3-2, Andy Dirks hit a two run homer in the top of the 6th, to give the Tigers the lead for good.

It was a one run game going into the 9th but the Tigers exploded for 7 runs to put the game out of reach and give Porcello his 10 win of the season.

Good Ole Dirksy drove in another run in the 9th when he drew a bases loaded walk driving in the Mighty Miggy.

Speaking of Miggy, he was 3-4 and drove in 2 on his 42nd home run of the season to get the Tigers started in the 1st.

Ricky gave the Tigers 7 good innings. He allowed 3 earned on 4 hits, struck out 4 and walked 3.

The A’s are at Comerica tomorrow for a four game series.

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

Tigers Win, Scherzer 19-1

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Despite only scoring 3 runs on 15 hits the Tigers managed to beat Matt Harvey and the Mets 3-0.

Max Scherzer was cruising along and looked like he would go deep in the game but two at bats in the bottom of the 5th significantly shortened Max’s start.  Juan Lagares led off the inning and worked Max for a walk on 12 pitches.  John Buck followed and made Scherzer throw him 8 pitches before flying out to right field.  Max needed 35 pitches to get out of the 5th but kept the Mets off the board.

Scherzer’s final line was 6 innings, 3 hits, 11 strikeouts and 4 walks.  The 4 walks are a season high for Scherzer.  Max is only the third player in MLB history to start a season 19-1.  The last to do it was Roger Clemens in 1986.  Before Clemens, Rube Marquard, went 19-1 in 1912 for the New York Giants.

This game should have been a blow out but the Tigers lack of speed, coupled with their lack of extra base power today, kept the Mets in the game.  In the seventh, the Tigers looked like they would open the flood gates but failed to score on 4 consecutive singles. With one out, Infante and Cabrera singled, bringing Fielder up with runners on first and second.  Fielder delivered a single to left and Tom Brookens sent Infante home.  This was one of the worst sends by a third base coach I’ve ever seen.  Infante was out by 45 feet.  Tui then followed with another single to load the bases.  Torii Hunter, who didn’t start the game, came in to pinch hit for Andy Dirks, who was 3-3, and grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the inning and keep the score at 2-0.

The Tigers scored 2 runs off of Matt Harvey on 13 hits.  The 13 hits allowed are a career high for him.

The Tigers go for the sweep tomorrow with Rick Procello on the mound facing Dillon Gee.

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

Tigers 6 Mets 1

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The Tigers beat the Mets tonight, 6-1, a Citifield.

With the game tied 1-1, the Tigers exploded for four runs in the second for a 5-1 lead.  As usual, Doug Fister, put up zeroes and shut the Mets out, with help from his friends in the pen.

The big blast in the second inning, came off the bat of the Mighty Miggy.  With two on and two out Miggy took the first pitch from Daisuke Matsuzaka and sent it over the left field wall for his 41st of the season.  Torii Hunter hit a solo shot in the first to get the Tigers started and AJax, Austin Jackson, capped off the scoring with a solo home run in the 7th.

This was the first start for Daisuke Matsuzaka in the big leagues in over a year and other than the second inning, I thought he pitched pretty well.  He gave the Mets 5 innings, allowed 5 earned runs on 6 hits.  He struck out 4 and walked 1.  If he could have avoided the long ball, his line would look a lot better.  If I were a Mets fan, I would be fairly happy with what Daisuke gave them.

For the Tigers, Fister, was aces.  But I think the important thing today was the pitching of Drew Smyly.  Smyly relieved Fister with one out in the 7th and inherited runners on 1st and 2nd.  Smyly got Eric Young Jr. on strikes and got Daniel Murphy to fly out to right to end the threat.  This was big because I thought Smyly struggled, just a bit, in his last few outings but looked impressive today.

Victor Martinez started at catcher tonight for the first time in two years or so and looked pretty good.  I’m not sure what I was expecting but Victor didn’t look broken down at all.  He actually looks like he’s feeling pretty well.  In fact, in the first inning, on the play that the Mets scored their only run, Victor made a nice play at the plate.  Don Kelly made a great throw from left field, and Victor received the ball well and did a good job of blocking the plate.  Although, the runner was safe, it was a solid play on both ends by DK and Victor and not one I would expect from an ailing catcher.

The Tigers got some bad news regarding Alex Avila today.  Apparently, he’s been playing in Toledo and has complained of headaches.  Concussions are tricky things and I hope this doesn’t linger.  That being said, I think Alex has looked broken down and beaten up since the end of the 2011 season and I think his declining offensive production is directly related to his ailing body.  While I hope his concussion problems get solved I think an extended period of rest would the be best for his career in the long term.  I think Alex is so beaten up that it will take more than a few months for him to recover.  If Victor feels ok, perhaps the Tigers should consider making Pena the starter, let Martinez spell him once a week or so, and just let Alex rest.  While I like Alex and wish nothing but the best for him, I think a six months to a year off would do the trick for him.  He needs to get healthy not only for the Tigers long term, but for himself.

Scherzer v Harvey tomorrow afternoon.

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

Tigers Beat Twins 7-1 – Even Series

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Behind 6 and 2/3 strong innings from Anibal Sanchez, the Tigers beat the Twins 7-1, at Comerica Park tonight.

This was a frustrating game to watch for 6 and half innings.  The Tigers offense seemed like it could do nothing against Twins’ starter Kevin Correia, despite having 6 hits entering the 7th inning.

The problem with the Tigers’ offense is their lack of speed.  Cabrera, Fielder, Martinez and Infante can’t run at all.  While none of these guys are burners, injuries have slowed them further.  Additionally, as a team, they steal very few bases and rarely take an extra base on singles, especially going first to third.  Given this lack of offensive speed, the Tigers have two ways of scoring.  First, and most difficult, is to play station to station and string together 3-4 base hits.  The second way is to hit home runs, and extra base hits in the outfield gaps.  When they aren’t getting the extra base power their offense fizzles and looks lethargic.  Today’s game was a case in point, for 6 innings, and there was no better example than Victor Martinez hitting a ball off the right field wall and settling for a single in the 4th.

On defense, the biggest problem the Tigers have is stopping, or slowing down, the running game.  I hate to sound like a broken record but every team the Tigers play runs on them at will.  In the top of the 7th, I thought the story of the game was going to be a 1-0 Tiger loss and a wasted quality start from Anibal.  With two out in the 7th, Sanchez walked the Twins’ number 9 hitter, Pedro Florimon.  Florimon promptly stole second and scored on a Brian Dozier single giving the Twins a 1-0 lead and chasing Sanchez.

Luckily, the Tigers’ offense exploded for 4 runs in the 7th and 3 in the 8th.  The big hit came in the 7th.  With two out, and nothing really to cheer about, Bryan Holaday extended the inning and turned the lineup over with a single.  Austin Jackson followed with another single and Torii Hunter doubled in Jackson and Holaday to open the flood gates and give the Tigers the lead.

An oddity in Today’s game was the pattern Sanchez fell in to.  In the first four innings, Sanchez retired the first two hitters easily.  However, with two outs he would give up base runners.  In fact, it wasn’t until the 5th inning that Anibal had his first 1-2-3 inning.  I’m not sure what this means, or if it means anything, it just struck me as a little odd.

Jose Iggy Iglesias continues to impress.  In addition to his stellar defense, he had two more hits tonight raising his average to .324, not too bad for a guy known for his glove.

Verlander pitches tomorrow afternoon.  This is a win the Tigers must have.  (It sounds like I say that a lot.)

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

Lethargic…

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is the best way to describe the game tonight.  The Tigers looked flat and disinterested and I got that feeling the minute I walked into Comerica Park.

Rick Porcello was good for 3 innings but, for the second straight outing, fell apart in the 4th.

Ricky only lasted 4 and 1/3, striking out 6, walking 2, and allowing 5 earned runs on 7 hits.

With one out in the 5th, Phil Coke relieved Porcello to pitch to lefty Justin Morneau and surrendered a two run double. That is the last batter Coke will face in a Tiger uniform for a while as he was sent to Toledo immediately after the game.  Jose Alvarez was called up to replace him.

I’m sorry to see Coke go but I can’t make excuses for him anymore.  After struggling this year he was basically used as a left handed specialist for the last few months but couldn’t get lefties out.  I guess the Tigers have just decided that they’ve seen enough and can’t afford to use a roster spot for a lefty that can’t get out lefties.

The offense didn’t look that good today, and they did their best to make Mike Pelfry and his 5.19 ERA look like a Cy Young contender.  Even the Mighy Miggy didn’t really have good at bats today.  He ended the night 1-5 and ended the game by striking out with the tying runs on base.  But the Tigers can’t count on him to bail the them out every game.

The at bats, as a team, got better in the late innings but they just couldn’t get the big hit to get them back in the game.

On the flip side, Prince had a homer and two RBIs tonight.  And Victor Martinez, Brayan Pena and Jose Iglesias each had two hits.

Let’s see if they can get back to winning tomorrow.  It would bad to lose this series to the Twins.

Update:  Here is a link to the Freep regarding Coke’s demotion.

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

Jose Miguel Cabrera!

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in the words of John Kruk, “he’s just better than everybody else”.

Miggy started today’s game the way he ended yesterday’s.  He took the first pitch he saw from Royals’ starter, Bruce Chen, and deposited it over the left field wall for his 40th home run of the season.  Miggy’s blast gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead and the Tigers never looked back.  MIggy drove in another run with a single in the 3rd and finished the day 2-3, with a homer and 3 RBIs.

Here’s an animated GIF of Miggy’s 40th courtesy of the Bless You Boys Blog at SBNATION.

Miggy's 40th
Miggy’s 40th

After today’s game, Miggy is hitting .360, has 120 RBIs, and 40 home runs.

A bit over shadowed my Miggy’s performance was Max Scherzer.  Max picked up his 18th win of the season.  He pitched 8 innings allowed 2 earned, struck out 4 and didn’t give up a walk.  He and Roger Clemens are the only pitchers since 1919 to pick up 18 wins in their first 19 decisions.  He should be the runaway winner of this year’s Cy Young award.

Miggy was intentionally walked in the 5th.  The thing I’m wondering is, how long will any team continue to pitch to Cabrera?  I know if I was an opposing manager, I would pitch to him rarely especially while Prince Fielder isn’t hitting as well as his track record shows.  Additionally, teams really can’t pitch around Miggy, via the unintentional intentional walk, because he’s proved time and again that he can and will expand his strike zone and do major damage.

Tigers fans, you are seeing on a regular basis, the best hitter in baseball, and probably one of the best of all time.

Behind Miggy and Scherzer, the Tigers took the rubber game of this 5 game series and welcome the Twins to Comerica Park this Tuesday.

Update: Cleveland Indians second baseman, Jason Kipnis, tweeted this after the game, “Dear Miggy… You’re making the rest of us look bad.. Knock it off! – MLB Hitters”.  Hat Tip to Sark for pointing out the Kipnis tweet.  I’ve retweeted it and it can be seen on the right side of this page.

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

Mighty Miggy!

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The Mighty Miggy hit his 39th home run, a solo shot, in the bottom of the 9th to give the Tigers a 6-5 win and even this 5 game series with the Royals.

Despite leaving 9 men on base, the Tigers offense was able to bail the pitching staff out tonight.  The pitching wasn’t horrible but it is not what Tigers fans have come to expect.

Doug Fister lasted 6 and 1/3.  He surrendered 3 earned.  Fister walked 2, struck out 6 and gave up 10 hits.

The top of the 4th inning featured one of the strangest plays I’ve ever seen. With Chris Getz on first base and nobody out, Fister threw a pitch that Alcides Escobar foul tipped behind home plate.  Home plate umpire Mike Muchlinski ruled it a wild pitch.  While Brayan Pena was waiting for the umpire to hand him a new ball, Chris Getz ran all the way to 3rd base.  If it wasn’t for Doug Fister, realizing what had happened, and retrieving the ball, Getz would have scored.  As it turned out, Getz ended up scoring when Escobar doubled to tie the game at three.

Jim Leyland and Brayan Pena, furious at the call, were both thrown out of the game.  Replays showed that the call was blown.  It was clearly a foul tipped ball.

Withe score tied at 4 in the bottom of the 7th, Prince Fielder homered to give the Tigers the lead back 5-4 but the bull pen couldn’t hold it.  Jose Veras allowed the tying run in the top of the 8th and the stage was set for Miggy’s heroics.

Royals reliever Aaron Crow came in to pitch the 9th with Miggy leading off.  Crow fell behind Miggy 3-1 and I was sure he was just going to put him on.  And in fact, he may have been trying to.  The 3-1 pitch looked to be about 6 inches off of the plate away, but Miggy expanded the strike zone and did what he does.  He hit a bullet over the right field fence giving the Tigers a much needed win.

The running game is becoming a big problem for the Tigers.  They can’t stop anybody from running and this deficiency is compounded when the pitching staff gives up walks.  They need to find a way to address this but I’m not sure they have the tools to do so.  Neither Pena, Holaday nor Avila have been very effective at throwing this year.  I hope this doesn’t come back to bite the Tigers in a crucial situation, like a playoff or World Series game.

On the flip side of the coin, the Tigers did a bit of running themselves tonight.  They scored their third run in the bottom of the second on a suicide squeeze.  With Infante on 3rd and one out, Iggy, laid down a bunt that not only scored Infante but gave Iglesias another infield hit.

With a win tomorrow, the Tigers can win the five game series 3-2.

Update, Cleveland Indian’s second baseman, Jason Kipnis, tweeted this today, “Dear Miggy… You’re making the rest of us look bad.. Knock it off! – MLB Hitters”.  Hat Tip to Sark for showing me the Kipnis tweet. I have retweeted the Kipnis tweet and it can be seen on the right side of this page.

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

Tigers Problems…

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Nebraskaknows pointed out a Lynn Henning article at DetNews dot com that I think is worth a read.  Henning takes a look at issues the Tigers are facing and possible solutions.

First-place Tigers still facing problems down the stretch: You can read the article in full here.

In the space below I use the problem Henning points out and add my two cents.

Problem: Miguel Cabrera can’t run.

FlashinLeather Solution: It’s hard for me to believe that sitting won’t allow Miggy to heal faster.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not, how could anybody, complain about his production. I’m just afraid that if they don’t let him heal now, he’ll end up battered like Alex Avila was in the 2011 playoffs.  I think a trip to the 15 day DL would be a good idea.

Problem: Left-field offense is killing the Tigers.

Flashin Leather Solution: I don’t think Castellanos is the answer.  Bring him up on 8/31, similar to what the Tigers did with Avisail Garcia last year, and see what he can do, but don’t hold your breath.  Castellanos his only hitting in the .270s in Toledo.  I’m not sure why he would be expected to hit better, or even the same, in the big leagues.

This is going to shock to readers of this blog but I have not given up on Dirks just yet.  He had some good at bats a few night ago and might be ready to break out of his slump.  That being said, I’m still not convinced that his fielding is what everybody else says it is.  I’ve watched almost every game this year, home games in person, and I think he’s closer to Albert Belle than he is Gary Pettis.

Bring Castellanos up and see what he can do but I’m betting Dirksy will be there in the end.

Problem: Alex Avila’s absence hurts the Tigers in multiple ways.

Flashin Leather Solution: I agree with Henning, all the Tigers can do is hope A Squared Money is healthy enough to return soon.

Problem: Phil Coke and Al Alburquerque are coin-flips in late-game situations.

Flashin Leather Solution: I agree with Henning.  The Amazing Al needs to be on the next bus down to Toledo and send Evan Reed back up.  I thought Reed pitched pretty well for the Tigers.  He just needs to learn how to throw to first base.

I think Phil Coke is going to be ok.  The last few hits he’s given up, while important, were flares over a drawn in infield.

Problem: Prince Fielder has one home run in his last 28 games.

Flashin Leather Solution: I think personal problems, read here, can have a devastating and lingering effect on a player in all facets of the game and his life.  I think Prince has hit the ball fairly well, but I would not be surprised if his struggles continue through the end of the season.  That being said, he has driven in 81 runs so far and is on pace for 110.  There is no solution.  They have to ride Prince and take what he can give them.

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

Tigers Avoid Sweep – Beat Sox 6-4

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The Mighty Miggy and Joaquin Benoit bailed the Tigers out and helped to avoid a three game sweep to end the 10 game road trip.

This game looked ugly, early.  Rick Porcello required 37 pitches to get out of the first inning and when he did, the Tigers were down 3-0.

Ricky settled down after the first.  He put up zeroes for the next 5 innings and was able to go 6 complete.  He allowed 3 earned runs, walked 1 and struck out 4.  What is kind of troubling however, is that he surrendered 11 hits and didn’t have a 1-2-3 inning.  In fact, no Tiger pitcher recorded a 1-2-3 inning today.

With the Tigers trailing 3-0 in the 3rd, The Mighty Miggy got the Tigers even with a 3 run bomb with Austin Jackson and Bryan Holaday scoring in front of him.

The Tigers got 3 more runs in the 6th to take a 6-3 lead.  With one out, Victor singled then went to 3rd on a Matt Tuiasosopo single.  This was a very encouraging sign because it actually looked like Victor was running well.  Victor scored when Omar Infante singled breaking the tie and giving the Tigers a 4-3 lead.  I was hoping for a big clutch hit from someone else in the lineup, to break the game open, but it never came.  The next two runs were scored on a Conor Gillaspie throwing error on a ground ball off the bat of Austin Jacskon.  I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, but a clutch hit would have been better than a throwing error.  However, with the way things have been going lately, I’ll take it.

In the bottom of the 7th, it looked like Jose Iggy Iglesias chose the wrong time to make his first fielding error as a Tiger.  With two out, Jeff Keppinger, hit a routine ground ball to short that Iggy booted.  Drew Smyly then walked Conor Gillaspie.  When Dayan Viciedo was announced as a pinch hitter for Tyler Flowers.  Jim Leyland countered by bringing in the Amazing Al and I thought the flood gates were about to open.  But, to my and the Tigers’ delight, Alburquerque got Viciedo to fly out and end the threat.

Jose Veras is beginning to scare me.  He came out to pitch the 9th and with one out gave up a run on two walks and a single.  This basically forced Leyland into bringing in Benoit for a 5 out save.  Benoit got Dunn and Garcia on strikes to end the inning and the threat and eventually got the save.

This win wasn’t pretty but it was needed.  It would have been a real downer to end the road trip at 5-5, especially with a sweep at the hands of the White Sox.

The Tigers are back home tomorrow for a 5 game series with the Royals.

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

Keep Dirks For His Glove?

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Nebraksa knows turned me onto this article at DetNews dot come by Kurt Mensching, Tigers have the left fielders they need, if they’re used correctly.

For the first few paragraphs, I was agreeing with what Mensching had to say.  I don’t think Nick Castellanos is the answer to the vacancy in left field.  He’s not pounding AAA pitching, he’s only batting .278.  I think that at this point, the best the Tigers can do is platoon and hope Dirks’ bat perks up.  If it doesn’t, try Don Kelly.  If that doesn’t work, hoping and praying won’t hurt.

The second half of the article, Don’t Forget About Defense, is where I lost any interest in the story.

What should keep Dirks in the lineup is his glove. That’s a far cry from what we’ve come to expect of past Tigers left fielders.

The advanced metrics have painted a nice picture of his game. Those stats take into consideration a number of factors, such as where and how hard a ball is hit as well as the unique configuration of each stadium. Baseball Information Solutions has people watch and “score” every defensive play, then formulas are applied to the results to compare players.

This season, Dirks has been worth eight runs more than an average left fielder according to the Defensive Runs Saved stat. For his career, he has been worth 18 runs.

Using Ultimate Zone Rating per 150 games, Dirks again shines. He has been about 17 runs better than an average left fielder this year per that stat. For his career, he has been worth about five runs per 150 games by UZR.

I am a believer in Money Ball statistics and I’m sure there is an advance metric that makes Andy Dirks look like Willie Mays but I also know statistics and metrics can be manipulated to say anything.  In fact, there is an entire book written called, How To Lie With Statistics.  I’m not saying this “advance metric” is a Mensching fabrication, I’m just saying that empirical evidence doesn’t seem to corroborate the metric.

Dirks, at best has been an abomination in left field.  I’m thankful when he makes the routine play.  Anything more than routine, he won’t come close to.  I remind readers again of his embarrassing performance on the last trip to Chicago.

Look, here’s the bottom line, I know the Tigers don’t have a left fielder.  I think platooning and hoping is the only option for the Tigers right now.  That being said, running Dirks out there every night because Jim Leyland suffers from Dirksburger Syndrome is not the proper way to platoon.  Use Tui against lefties, but don’t let him sit around so long that he gets K’d by Ryan Rayburn.  Put Dirksy in against righties but don’t let him struggle for a month before pulling him out.

One more thing, NEVER PULL MIGUEL CABREREA OUT OF A CLOSE GAME UNLESS HE’S INJURED.

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