How Was The Game? (May 3, 2013)
Late blooming.
Tigers 4, Astros 3
The Tigers jumped out to an early lead in this one, scoring single runs in the 2nd and 4th to take a 2-0 lead, but the Astros came back and got to Doug Fister (4-0, 40 IP, 2.48 ERA, 3.09 FIP, 1.1 WAR) for 3 runs (2 earned) in a very strange 7th inning that featured scoring plays on an error and a peculiar infield hit. Otherwise, Fister was strong, striking out 4 and walking 1 in 6+ innings of work. Norris limited the Tigers on the other side and Smyly (2-0, 20 IP, 1.35 ERA, 1.67 FIP, 0.7 WAR) shut down the Astros in relief of Fister in the 7th and 8th. It was uneventful as far as close games go aside from an iffy homerun review in the 4th inning, until Alex Avila strode to the plate in the 9th inning with the team down a run with Don Kelly standing on first. He worked the count to 3-0 and then took a strike before smashing the 3-1 pitch over the left centerfield fence for a much needed go-ahead homerun (Avila has 4 HR this year but only a 56 wRC+). The win improves the Tigers to 17-11 on the season and 2-0 on the roadtrip and they’ll be back at it tomorrow behind strikeout artist Max Scherzer (3-0, 31.1 IP, 4.02 ERA, 1.68 FIP, 1.4 WAR) trying to lock in a series win.
The Moment: Avila knocks a go-ahead 2 run homer in the 9th.
How Was The Game? (May 2, 2013)
Late, but worth the wait.
Tigers 7, Astros 3
The Tigers traveled to Houston today to play an AL team for the first time and the small number of fans (16,000) who attended were treated to a close game. Rick Porcello (1-2, 26.1 IP, 7.18 ERA, 4.92 FIP, 0.1 WAR) gave the Tigers 7 solid innings, surrendering 3 runs on two homers while striking out 7 and walking none, while also allowing just 5 hits. He wouldn’t factor in the decision as he left the game down 3-2 before Martinez drove in Fielder in the 8th inning to tie the game at 3. Ortega, Benoit, and Putkonen held the Astros at bay while the Tigers threatened but didn’t score in innings 9 through 13, which set up an Austin Jackson lead off double in the 14th which begat two intentional walks followed by a go -ahead single by Don Kelly to make it 4-3 and a Matt Tuiasosopo double to make it 6-3 and a Jhonny Peralta sac fly to make it 7-3 and put the game out of reach. With the victory the Tigers improve to 16-11 on the season and have now won 7 of their last 9, not to mention their impressive 2-0 record in 14 inning games. They’ll be back at it later today behind Doug Fister (4-0, 34 IP, 2.38 ERA, 3.17 FIP, 0.9 WAR) in search of their 17th win.
The Moment: Kelly drives in Jackson to give the Tigers the lead in the 14th.
How Was The Month?: Detroit Tigers April Report
Right on track.
15-11
This piece comes a day late, forgive me, but I had four or five posts yesterday and didn’t want to clog up the feed, so May 1st is part of April for one year only. It’s hard to be upset about anything after a 15-11 month which puts the team on pace for 93-94 wins and a third straight AL Central title, but there are always negative voices. Ignore them.
The Tigers offense is 8th in baseball with 104 wRC+ so far this year and have scored the 6th most runs of any team (127). They are 2nd in batting average (.279), 4th in OBP (.345), and 12th in slugging (.410), giving them the 6th best wOBA (.329) in the league. I don’t generally subscribe to the idea of clutch hitting with runners in scoring position, but if you’re interested, their OBP in those situations is .341, which is roughly what they’re doing across the board.
The defense, as you might suspect, hasn’t been great so far with the team posting a collective -12 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) good for 27th in baseball and a -9.6 UZR which ranks the same. Early defensive numbers should always be taken with a grain of salt given the small sample size and Austin Jackson probably won’t post negative numbers over the course of the season, but Cabrera is already at -4 DRS this season and I think that’s probably true. I don’t think he’s necessarily gotten worse, but he is missing more close plays that he did last year. Hopefully that evens out.
Individually, as one would expect given the collective numbers, lots of Tigers are performing well early. Cabrera is off to a great start .371/.446/.571, 175 wRC+, and 1.2 WAR. Remember too that most of these WAR numbers are suppressed due to poor defensive numbers. Hunter has been a standout hitting .365/.405/.490, good for 145 wRC+, and 0.8 WAR. Peralta is hitting like a top 10 shortstop, turning in a .293/.336/.404 line during the first month of play and Jackson is doing well after a torrid opening week, delivering a .284/.352/.397 April.
Prince Fielder is also punishing the ball in 166 wRC+ fashion thanks to 7 HR and a .302/.420/.583 slash line. Infante is doing well for himself too with a 100 wRC+, making him a top 10 second basemen so far.
Alex Avila has started slowly, posting a wRC+ of just 50 so far, but that is at least partially driven by a very low .213 BABIP which should regress upward and erase some of the problem. Victor Martinez has been someone a lot of people were worried about as he is hitting .212/.279/.263 so far but his .236 indicates that luck will change. He’s hit a lot of balls hard that haven’t found holes.
But even if that didn’t impress you, the pitching will. The Tigers pitchers lead baseball with a 7.0 WAR, which is 1.5 WAR ahead of 2nd place. They have a league best 2.71 FIP and are striking out 9.84 batters per 9. Lots of people are worried about the bullpen, but thanks to a lot of strikeouts, they’re 6th best in the league in FIP.
The top four starters are delivering. Sanchez (1.34 FIP, 2.0 WAR), Verlander (2.11 FIP, 1.6 WAR), Scherzer (1.69 FIP, 1.4 WAR), and Fister (3.17 FIP, 0.9 WAR) are all top 20 starters so far and Drew Smyly is performing at relief ace levels (1.64 FIP, 0.6 WAR).
The Tigers lost a couple extra inning games that could have gone either way, so their 15-11 record doesn’t even reflect the quality of play. If the Tigers keep this up, they’ll be playing October baseball once again.
The Moment: Brayan Pena absorbs a collision from Justin Smoak to finish off a 14 inning win in Seattle.
How Was The Game? (May 1, 2013)
It had to end sometime.
Twins 6, Tigers 2
Despite a 40+ pitch first inning in which he allowed 2 runs and a 2nd inning in which he allowed another, Anibal Sanchez (3-2, 39.2 IP, 11.34 K/9, 1.82 ERA, 1.33 FIP, 2.0 WAR) settled in and turned in a solid pitching performance against the Twins allowing just 7 baserunners and 3 runs to go with his 9 strikeouts over 6 innings. Unfortunately, just as the Tigers were rallying after a slow start in the bottom of the 6th, the bullpen erased the progress as Rondon allowed 2 in the 7th and Downs allowed 1 in the 8th to extend the deficit to four runs. With Dotel and Coke on the DL and Smyly and Alburquerque getting the day off, the Tigers didn’t have a lot of options in the ‘pen, but it’s likely that Rondon will head back to Toledo after today’s outing in which he couldn’t find the plate or get anyone to miss his fastball, especially considering how easily Ortega handled the Twins in the 9th. The Tigers still won the series and finish the homestand 6-2 and 15-11 overall as they hop on a plane for Houston to start a four game set on Thursday behind Rick Porcello (1-2, 19.1 IP, 8.84 ERA, 4.98 FIP, 0.0 WAR).
The Moment: Sanchez retires the last 11 batters he faces to get through 6 despite a 41 pitch first inning.
Justin Verlander Conquers April (with graphs!)
This particular pitcher, Justin Verlander, is widely considered to be one of the best in baseball. You may disagree with that statement, but he’s certainly one of the very best pitchers in the entire league. Yet he has become the game’s best without doing very well in the season’s first month over the course of his career. Even in his Cy Young/MVP season, his April ERA was 3.64. In 2009, it was 6.75!
It’s been a bit of a thing among Tigers fans that Verlander isn’t that good in April. But he’s getting better and that should probably terrify you if you are a major league hitter.
Let’s take a look at his ERA and FIP in April across his career:
There was a time in which Verlander allowed a lot of runs in April and pitched in a way that suggested he would allow runs. ERA tells you what happened, FIP tells you what generally happens to pitchers who pitch a certain way. But over the last few years, he’s conquered April. His 2013 April ERA was 1.83. Imagine what he can do this season now that he isn’t trying to play catch up.
This trend is evident in his K/9 and BB/9 numbers as well:
Verlander has made noticeable improvement in April walk rate over the last few seasons and the strikeout rate hasn’t suffered.
Now maybe Verlander won’t take this great April and turn it into a season better than 2009 or 2011 or 2012, but he very easily could. If he continues his pattern of pitching better in the summer months, then we may be in for a treat. Verlander, I would argue, is nowhere near the top of his game so far this year, but he’s getting good results. When he settles in, it could be awesome.
He’s the richest pitcher in history and his teammates are putting pressure on him to match their great start. Justin Verlander has usually stumbled through April, but he did not do so in 2013. Could this be Verlander’s career year? If April is any indication, clear your calendar for every fifth day and start thinking about a trip to Cooperstown in about 15 years.
How Was The Game? (April 30, 2013)
A blast.
Tigers 6, Twins 1
Sorry for the pun, but the Tigers won with more homeruns. It was Cabrera, then Avila, then Price. And Hunter had a regular RBI in there too. They hammered Vance Worley across 4.2 innings and sent him to the showers in line for a loss. Verlander had a rocky 2nd inning, but limited the damage to one run and ended the night with 8 K’s, 1 walk, and 5 hits across 7 innings. His velocity was up from earlier in the month and his thumb didn’t seem to bother him. He capped off his best April to date with his 3rd win of the season (3-2, 39.2 IP, 1.83 ERA, 2.08 FIP, 1.6 WAR) and you can come back tomorrow at 12:30pm to see just how much better he performed this April than he had in the past. This win made it 5 in a row for the Tigers and 6 of their last 7 to move to 15-10 on the season with a chance to sweep the Twins behind Anibal Sanchez (3-1, 33.2 IP, 10.96 K/9, 1.34 ERA, 1.36 FIP, 1.7 WAR) tomorrow at 1pm. It’s possible we may see some strikeouts.
The Moment: Prince puts it out of reach with a line drive homerun in the 5th.
How Was The Game? (April 29, 2013)
Tigers’ baseball.
Tigers 4, Twins 3
The formula for Tigers’ victories this year is relatively simple: strike the other team out and hit for power. That’s just happens to be what they did on Monday against the Twins. Scherzer provided 7.1 innings of 3 run baseball and struck out 10 while allowing 6 hits and no walks to improve to 3-0 on the season (13.21 K/9, 4.02 ERA, 1.66 FIP, 1.4 WAR). Dirks homered in the 3rd and Prince matched him with a 3 run shot of his own in the 6th to give the Tigers a 4-3 lead that would hold up for good. The ‘pen backed Scherzer with 1.2 innings of scoreless relief from Smyly (who by the way, is killing it so far this season: 10.06 K/9, 2.12 BB/9, 1.59 ERA, 1.47 FIP, 0.6 WAR in 17 innings) and Benoit. They played to their strengths and won their 4th straight game and 5th in their last 6 tries to improve to 14-10 on the season. They’ll try to take the series tomorrow behind the seemingly forgotten ace, Justin Verlander (2-2, 32.1 IP, 1.95 ERA, 2.19 FIP, 1.2 WAR).
The Moment: Prince homers into the visiting bullpen to give the Tigers a 4-3 lead in the 6th.
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.
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