How Was The Game? (April 28, 2013)
Awesome.
Tigers 8, Braves 3
The Tigers took the field Sunday knowing they had already taken the series against the Braves, but didn’t leave their brooms at home. Doug Fister got the strikeout working early and often and finished with 8 K’s in 7 innings, while allowing 3 runs, all of which came in one awkward inning. The bats delivered for Fister as Austin Jackson and Miguel Cabrera both smacked 3 run homeruns in the 3rd and 7th inning, respectively. Infante also provided a solo homerun and Martinez added a sac fly to round out the score. Alburquerque pitched a scoreless 8th, but put the first two men on in the 9th and Valverde was called on to get the final three outs in the 9th. The Tigers have now won three straight and four of their last five, sending them to 13-10 on the season as they welcome the Twins in for three starting tomorrow behind Max Scherzer (2-0, 24 IP, 4.53 ERA, 1.54 FIP, 1.1 WAR).
The Moment: Jackson slams a three run bomb to left center in the 3rd.
How Was The Game? (April 27, 2013)
A nice bounce back for Porcello.
Tigers 7, Braves 4
The Tigers came into today’s game on a high note thanks to a 10-0 win on Friday, but the starting pitcher, Rick Porcello was coming off his worst performance by results of his career. The Tigers would provide him with 7 runs thanks in part to homeruns by Peralta and Infante and Porcello wouldn’t need more. His only issue came in the 3rd inning when he allowed 3 runs, but none of the balls were hit hard and three batters reached via infield groundballs. His only real mistake was a bases loaded walk to Dan Uggla. Aside from the 3rd inning, Porcello allowed just one hit over his 6.1 innings of work while striking out 5 and using his changeup more effectively than I can ever remember. Smyly finished the 7th with two strikeouts and Benoit got three outs in the 8th despite allowing a Justin Upton homerun. Leyland called for Valverde in the 9th for his second appearance of the season and he retired the Braves in order. With the win, the Tigers improve to 12-10 on the season and set themselves up to go for a sweep of the Braves on Sunday night behind Doug Fister (27 IP, 3-0, 2.00 ERA, 3.55 FIP, 0.5 WAR).
The Moment: Infante delivers a 2-out homer in the 4th to put the Tigers ahead for good.
The Morning Edition (April 27, 2013)
From Last Night:
- Normally we don’t talk Tigers here, but check out Anibal Sanchez striking out 17 Braves in a 10-0 win
- Jordan Zimmermann twirls a CGSO against the Reds in a 1-0 win (91 pitches, 1 hit)
- Kyle Kendrick also delivers a CGSO in a 4-0 win over the Mets
- Rizzo delivers 2 homeruns in a 4-3 win over the Fish
What I’m Watching Today:
- Lefties face off in New York as Sabathia and Happ duel (4p Eastern)
- Under-the-radar standouts, Burnett and Garcia, battle in St. Louis (4p Eastern)
- Must-see Matt Moore faces the White Sox (7p Eastern)
- Felix Hernandez takes the hill (9p Eastern)
The Big Question:
- Which great performance was your favorite, Sanchez, Zimmermann, or Kendrick?
Friday was a fun night if you like pitching. You can read about Anibal Sanchez’s 17 strikeout night here, but Zimmermann and Kendrick delivered excellent performances as well. Sorry, Kendrick, but yours was the least interesting. Sanchez went 8 and struckout 17 and Zimmermann went 9 and only needed 91 pitches. Textbook examples of two kinds of domination. Sanchez overpowered and went with strikeouts and Zimmermann just induced easy out after easy out. If you have the time, go watch the highlights and enjoy. Man, great pitching is fun. Sorry to Rizzo, Encarnacion, and Beltran, but multi-homer games don’t measure up.
How Was The Game? (April 26, 2013)
A good old fashion whooping.
Tigers 10, Braves 0
Many, if not all, baseball observers would likely tell you that the Atlanta Braves have been the best team in baseball over the first four weeks of the 2013 season. The Tigers did not seem to care on Friday night as they opened their interleague series against the Braves by destroying them. Not only did the Tigers score 10 runs, but they did so against one of the best rotations in the league and one of the hottest starting pitchers in Paul Maholm. If that wasn’t enough, Anibal Sanchez violated the Braves hitters by striking out 17 in 8 innings while walking just 1 and allowing 5 hits and no runs. Those 17 strikeouts are a Tigers franchise record for a pitcher in a 9 inning game. Put another way, the Tigers had their best offensive output in the same game that they received their best pitching performance, all while playing the league’s best team. All in all, that’s a good day at the office as they improve to 11-10. Sanchez’s line earns him a remarkable -0.88 FIP for the day and lowers his season ERA and FIP to 1.34 and 1.36, respectively. By WAR, he’s now tied for 2nd best for a pitcher in the majors this season with Yu Darvish (1.7) thanks to a 10.96 K/9 and 1.13 BB/9. The Tigers will look to take the series behind Porcello tomorrow afternoon against Kris Medlen.
The Moment: Anibal Sanchez delivers his 17th strikeout to set a career and franchise record.
The Morning Edition (April 26, 2013)
From Last Night:
- Valbuena homers in the 9th to lift the Cubs over the Marlins 4-3
- Buehrle continues to struggle, allows 3 HR to the Yankees in 5-3 loss
- Harper and Espinosa power Gio to a win over the Reds
- Buchholz K’s 10 Astros enroute to a 7-2 victory
What I’m Watching Today:
- After a terrible first start, Scott Kazmir takes another shot on the comeback trail against the Royals (8p Eastern)
- Chen and Milone face off as last year’s Cinderella’s meet in Oakland (10p Eastern)
- Lincecum looks to stay on track against hard throwing Cashner and the Padres (10p Eastern)
The Big Question:
- Have you seen the Yu Darvish .gif? You must. You just must.
As I often do in the space below the Morning Edition, I’d like to highlight a weird early season set of statistics. Most would tend to consider wRC+ the best catch-all offensive metric, and as I sort the 2013 leaderboard by said metric a variety of names expected and unexpected rise to the top. The player who ranks 11th as I write this (11:21pm April 25) is Braves 3rd basemen Chris Johnson with 176 wRC+. I’m not going to make the case that this makes Johnson an MVP candidate or anything silly like that, but I would like to point out that he is, by out best single number, one of the best dozen hitters in baseball over the first four weeks. What makes that so interesting is that he is doing so while walking a preposterously small amount, just 3% of the time. Usually when someone is near the top of the leaderboards this early, we talk about negative regression to the mean, but Johnson’s walk rate is so low it can only regress upward. Don’t get me wrong, the dude doesn’t walk, but he’s never walked less than 4% of the time in the major leagues, so that should get marginally better, or at least not worse. The next player on the list who walks less than Johnson is JP Arencibia, who is 44th ranked. Johnson’s line looks like this: .397/.424/.556. He has the same wRC+ as Prince Fielder who has walked 17% of the time while hitting for more power! How is this so? Well Johnson is hitting .397, which is very high and very BABIP driven (.460). He is a high BABIP guy (career .353), but that should come down to some degree and he’ll settle in closer to his career mark of 104 wRC+, which is nothing at which to sneeze. Now if only he could play defense (career UZR -34.9 in 365 games).
The Morning Edition (April 24, 2013)
From Last Night:
- Rain came after the 7th inning in Boston as what can only be described as a mercy rule, with the A’s winning 13-0
- Wainwright finally walks someone, but K’s 9 in 8.1 innings as the Cards blank the Nats 2-0
- The Braves top the Rox in Game 1 of a double-header in 23 (!) degree weather
What I’m Watching Today:
- Samarzija and Latos battle at GABP (1230p Eastern)
- Strasburg gets Garcia as the Nats and Cards face off (1p Eastern)
- Halladay faces the Pirates coming off two strong outings (7p Eastern)
- MATT HARVEY against the Dodgers (7p Eastern)
- Guys, MATT HARVEY.
The Big Question:
- Why aren’t you watching Matt Harvey yet?!
So obviously, I’ve written a good deal about Matt Harvey in this post and in previous iterations thereof, but let’s admire Adam Wainwright today because Adam Wainwright is awesome. He missed all of 2011 with TJ surgery after two very strong seasons and came back in 2012 nearly as good as before. If there was question last season, it’s gone now. He’s back and on a mission. Here’s the line to admire:
4-1, 37.1 innings, 8.92 K/9, 0.24 BB/9, 1.93 ERA, 1.12 FIP, 1.9 WAR
Want me to blow your mind more? I will. That line is in spite of a .340 BABIP. For context, that’s like a Rick Porcello BABIP. When guys make contact, they’re getting their hits. He’s just not letting anyone on via the free pass and he’s striking them out when he needs to. Watch out NL Central.
The Morning Edition (April 20, 2013)
From Last Night:
- Halladay holds the Cardinals to 2 runs in 7 innings in a 8-2 win
- Matt Harvey continues to dominate as he outduels Strasburg in a 7-1 win
- Jean Segura somehow steals first base in a 5-4 win over the Cubs (that was not a typo)
What I’m Watching Today:
- Buchholz and Shields face off as the Sox and Jays kick off their series after Friday’s cancellation (1p Eastern)
- Paul Maholm tries to keep his scoreless streak alive against the Bucs (7p Eastern)
- Cliff Lee and Lance Lynn toe the slab in Philly (7p Eastern)
The Big Question:
While I’m repeatedly reminding you that small sample sizes can belie the truth, Matt Harvey is starting to look like one of the NL’s best starters. Certainly we can say he has been one of the best so far this season, but his success looks real and sustainable, even if it won’t be at this level. He looked very good in a handful of starts last season and the stuff is good. Let’s admire his numbers thus far. 4-0, 29IP, 9.93 K/9, 2.79 BB/9, 0.93 ERA, 2.25 FIP, and a 1.0 WAR. That’s pretty good. As I write this, only Wainwright, Darvish, and Lester have higher pitcher WAR. Fun fact, Verlander, Sanchez, and Scherzer are right behind him. I didn’t include Harvey as one of the best pitchers in the NL going into the season, but man, I’m pretty sure I should have. Every five days, The Morning Edition is just going to become the Matt Harvey How’d He Do? Get used to it.
The Morning Edition (April 18, 2013)
From Last Night:
- Three games were washed out due to inclement weather
- AJ Burnett flirts with a no-hitter enroute to a 5-0 win over the Cardinals at PNC
- Bryce Harper delivers four hits as the Nationals roll the Fish
- Wade Davis leads the Royals to a 1-0 win over the Braves, who lost for the first time in 11 tries
What I’m Watching Today:
- Matt Cain faces recent criminal Gallardo at Miller Park (1p Eastern)
- Jon Lester looks to stay hot in Cleveland (7p Eastern)
- Wainwright tries to keeps his walk-less streak going against Hamels and the Phillies (7p Eastern)
- Fernandez and Cingrani match up at GABP in a prospect-off (7p Eastern)
The Big Question:
- Did Kershaw actually give up homeruns to Everth Cabrera and Chris Denorfia or did I make that up?
AJ Burnett probably had the most interesting night for anyone that didn’t play in the Tigers game (see How Was The Game?) by nearly no-hitting a very good Cardinals lineup. It’s often easy to dismiss Burnett as some sort of headcase due to certain struggles he’s had over the years, but his stuff is really good and he’s had a pretty sneaky good career that is starting to really come full circle in the NL. Harper continues to look great in the early goings with another big game, but the power hitter I have my eye on is Giancarlo Stanton who should be back from his recent injury tomorrow.
The Morning Edition (April 17, 2013)
From Last Night:
- Phillies and Reds remain tied in the 9th inning as play was suspended with the score 0-0
- In a wonderful display of patriotism, Yankee Stadium plays “Sweet Caroline” between innings of a 4-2 win
- Braves hit five homeruns and improve to 12-1 on the season
What I’m Watching Today:
- Justin Masterson takes on the Red Sox in Cleveland looking to build on strong start (7p Eastern)
- Cards’ rookie Shelby Miller takes the hill against AJ Burnett and the Pirates (7p Eastern)
- The brilliant and wild Matt Moore takes on the O’s (7p Eastern)
- Clayton Kershaw is pitching (10p Eastern)
- Felix Hernandez and Max Scherzer face off in the battle for the soul of Fangraphs (10p Eastern)
The Big Question:
- What’s the record for most games ahead of 2nd place for a team through 13 games? Braves have to be close. 4.5 ahead of the Mets and Nats as I write this.
Of note on Tuesday was hearing “Sweet Caroline” at Yankee Stadium in honor of those affected by the tragedy in Boston. That’s a relatively powerful statement of solidarity that should bring fear to the hearts of those responsible. Additionally, the Braves won a baseball game, which should not surprise us at this point. They’re 12-1 over their first 13 games but the only offensive star who is producing is Justin Upton. The other guys who are contributing are names like Evan Gattis, Chris Johnson, Juan Francisco, and, I kid you not, Ramiro Pena. Uggla, Simmons, Heyward, and the elder Upton are all struggling. The NL East should shudder at the thought of a Braves team in which all of those players are performing even reasonably well. I would also like to point out Edwin Jackson’s stat line for the season because it is just ridiculous. He’s 0-2 in 3 starts over 16.1 innings and has a 6.06 ERA which sounds awful. But he has an 11.02 K/9, 5.51 BB/9, and .260 FIP. Early season numbers mean very little, but that’s just silly. That’s a technical term, silly.
The Morning Edition (April 16, 2013)
From Last Night:
- The joy of a Sox win on Patriot’s Day is marred by tragedy in Boston
- The Nats pound the Marlins behind a CG from Zimmerman
- The Reds survive a tight one against the Phillies
What I’m Watching Today:
- Kris Medlen takes the mound for the Braves (7p Eastern)
- Barry Zito tries to keep the magic going against the Brewers (8p Eastern)
- Chris Capuano makes his first start in place of Zach Greinke (10p Eastern)
The Big Question:
- Will the teams who didn’t play Monday wear #42?
Baseball took a backseat on Monday after attacks killed and wounded many during the Boston Marathon. Our hearts are heavy for those who lost loved ones and who are currently fighting for their lives. Boston isn’t a city that will stay down for long. For today, this Tigers fan says “Go Red Sox.”
New English D 