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.
How Was The Game? (April 25, 2013)
Great, until the bullpen showed up.
Royals, 8, Tigers 3
Two of the better starters in the AL over the last couple of seasons hooked up for a matinee on Thursday at Comerica Park and did a fairly good job limiting the offensive output. Verlander surrendered 2 runs over 7 innings and Shields held the Tigers to 3 over 8. After Verlander left the game with “cracked skin” on his thumb (which has to be the lamest injury you can have!), Leyland called for the rookie Bruce Rondon, who surrendered the tying run in the 8th inning. Rondon wasn’t particularly ineffective in his MLB debut, but he wasn’t brilliant and the Tigers would need to deliver a walk off win to overcome his appearance and they would need it to come in extra innings after Collins retired them in order in the 9th. Unfortunately, Phil Coke had other ideas and melted down in the top of the 10th allowing a double, walk, wild pitch, intentional walk, and another walk to give up the lead with just one out. He left the bases loaded for Darin Downs who allowed a grand slam before getting out of the inning with the score 8-3. The loss drops the Tigers to 10-10 on the season with the Braves coming to town for a weekend set starting tomorrow. It will be Maholm and Sanchez for game one.
The Moment: Gordon puts it out of reach with a bomb to dead center.
How Was The Game? (April 24, 2013)
Not one for purists.
Tigers 7, Royals 5
It wasn’t pretty, but it was effective. The Tigers got ahead early, but Scherzer struggled in the 3rd inning and gave up 4 runs. The Tigers paid Wade Davis back and hung 7 runs on him and chased him after just 11 outs, so things evened out thanks to Cabrera, Martinez, and Peralta. The offense did their part, but Scherzer inconsistently worked through 5 and relied on his bullpen for the final four innings. Alburquerque and Benoit got the Tigers to the 9th, at which point it was time for the return of Jose Valverde, who Leyland put right back into the closer role without a second thought. The reception was mostly positive from the hometown crowd as he arrived to the mound for his first outing in 2013. He went to his fastball for all 18 pitches and got all three Royals he faced despite a long fly ball to Dirks for the final out. It seems fitting a game that featured 13 walks would end with a Valverde return to the 9th inning. He got the job done, but I didn’t see anything from him that makes me less concerned about his return. Verlander and Shields suit up tomorrow for the series finale at 1pm.
The Moment: Victor Martinez is thrown out by 30 feet at home plate in the 4th inning and decides to simply walk to the dugout instead of face a collision or slide at the plate. Tom Brookens is comforted by Gene Lamont.
The Morning Edition (April 22, 2013)
From Last Night:
- Zito carves up the Padres enroute to a 5-0 win
- Five Mets combine to shut out the Nats 2-0
- The Rays offense wakes up to punish the A’s in an 8-1 win
What I’m Watching Today:
- Shelby Miller faces Dan Haren in a battle of pitchers going in opposite directions (7p Eastern)
- Sabathia and the Yankees travel to Tampa to face Matt Moore in the Rays in a battle of lefties (7p Eastern)
- Felix Hernandez gets his first crack at the Astros in 2013 (8p Eastern)
The Big Question:
- How long can the Rockies exceed expectations?
The Tigers pitchers comfortably lead the entire league in FIP and WAR at 2.79 and 4.2, respectively, which is mostly due to their 2nd best K/9 and league best HR/9. But as you can also notice, their team ERA (3.81) is in the middle of the pack and they have allowed the highest BABIP (.326). All of this points to a pretty filthy pitching staff that could benefit from some better defense. They went a long time before they made their first error, but we’ve seen in recent games that they have a tendency not to make 50/50 plays. What’s remarkable about this? The bullpen isn’t actually a weakness.
Tigers Starters : 108 IP, 8.58 K/9, 2.42 BB/9, 0.50 HR/9, .327 BABIP, 3.42 ERA, 2.84 FIP
Tigers Relievers: 59.2 IP, 11.46 K/9, 4.68 BB/9, 0.45 HR/9, .324 BABIP, 4.53 ERA, 2.69 FIP
Both groups lead their counterparts in WAR and FIP. The ‘pen walks more, but they make up for it by striking out more too. They allow homeruns at the same rate and allow the same batting average on balls in play. Their FIP are essentially the same. Their ERA is elevated, but that’s mostly outside of their control. Funny how that works out, we don’t need to panic.
How Was The Game? (April 21, 2013)
One they should have had.
Angels 4, Tigers 3
After two blowouts to open the series, the Tigers sent Doug Fister to the mound to salvage a win in LA and he was equal to the task on Sunday. Fister went 7 innings and held the Angels to 3 runs (2 earned), but those should all be unearned due to the official scorer calling something that was clearly an error on Cabrera a double. Fister didn’t get a ton of help from his defense, but he provided some of his own and limited the damaged that occurred due to errors and should-be errors. Wilson, on the other side, danced around trouble all day until Prince Fielder broke out in the 5th with a two run homerun to tie the game. Alburquerque entered in the 8th innings to relieve Fister and struck out the side which set up a failed scoring chance in the 9th in which the Tigers left the bases loaded four batters after a blown call at second cost them an out. Al-Al shut the Angels down in the 9th and sent this series finale into extra innings. Despite scoring opportunities, neither side could deliver a run until Mark Trumbo ended the game with a homerun to left field off Phil Coke in the 13 inning, Coke’s third inning of work. No one can blame the pitching for this one, as the defense and bats let the Tigers down in their attempt to win one in LA. The Tigers head home with a 9-9 record after going 4-5 on the roadtrip that ended with a sweep at the hands of the Angels. They’ll be in action again on Tuesday against the Royals behind Max Scherzer at Comerica Park.
The Moment: Trumbo walks off to sweep the Tigers in the 13th.
How Was The Game? (April 20, 2013)
Kind of a laugher.
Angels 10, Tigers 0
The Tigers lost their third straight game today and we can point to two distinct causes. First, the offense has really just not gotten anything going over the last few days. Second, Rick Porcello had one of the most hard luck innings you’ll ever see. He faced 11 hitters, gave up 9 hits, 1 walk, and 9 runs, retiring just two batters courtesy of the double play. At first, you wouldn’t really see how that qualifies as hard luck, but the Angels only hit two balls hard. The rest were weakly hit balls that just barely made it through the infield or died on the infield grass. Leyland mercifully pulled him after he surrendered the second hard hit ball, a grand slam to Trout, but it was too late for any justice for Porcello. It certainly wasn’t a great start, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as the box score indicates. Luckily for the Tigers, Drew Smyly was excellent in relief. He went 5.2 innings, allowed 4 hits and struck out 7 to really save the bullpen. The Angels and the Tigers both failed to do much else offensively and the game whimpered to its conclusion. You can imagine there will be Smyly versus Porcello speculation in the coming days, but it’s far too early to bail on your early season decisions. I’m a Porcello believer, but even if a change needs to be made eventually, you can’t make that call based on the information you have so far. The Tigers fall to 9-8 after today’s loss and lose their first series since the opening one in Minnesota. They’ll try to salvage one behind Doug Fister tomorrow.
The Moment: Mike Trout ends Porcello’s day with a grand slam to center.
How Was The Game? (April 19, 2013)
Full of missed opportunities.
Angels 8, Tigers 1
I’m not entirely sure how to describe the game in which the Tigers fell to 9-7 on the season, but it goes something like this. Pitchers allowed runners to reach base, but didn’t allow many of them to score. Anibal Sanchez went 6.2 innings, allowed 11 hits, and allowed 3 runs (2 earned). Hanson went 6 innings, allowed 6 hits, and 4 walks, but allowed no runs. The Tigers had a ton of opportunities to score but ended up leaving 20 men on base over the course of the evening. In the 8th inning, the game got away from the Tigers when with the bases loaded, Jackson and Tuiasosopo misplayed a catchable fly ball with two outs. I wouldn’t consider this one a well played game as far as these things go, as both offenses failed to capitalize on chances and both pitching staffs got into a lot of trouble. The Tigers will send Rick Porcello to the hill Saturday on big Fox (read: where I can’t watch them because of stupid blackout rules that end after this season) and will look for their 10th win of the season at 3pm eastern after not scoring over the last 18 innings.
The Moment: Anibal Sanchez avoids being struck in the head by a Pujols line drive and quite literally gets his hat knocked off. In the next inning, he would actually be hit in the arm with a batted ball.
How Was The Game? (April 18, 2013)
The appropriate length!
Mariners 2, Tigers 0
Just 13 hours after taking the second game of the series in 14 innings, the Tigers and Mariners hooked up for the final game of the three game set and runs were just as hard to come by in this one, but they played the standard 9 innings. The only scoring came in the bottom of the 7th as the Mariners worked two runs across against Verlander who was otherwise brilliant over 7 innings, striking out 12 while walking just one. The bats made some hard contact from time to time but never got anything going against the Mariners. At any rate, the Tigers won the series and head to LA 9-6 after winning four straight series. They will send Anibal Sanchez to the hill tomorrow against Mike Trout and the Angels.
The Moment: Endy Chavez makes a diving catch to keep Prince Fielder off the bases in the 9th
How Was The Game? (April 17, 2013)
A thing of beauty.
Tigers 2, Mariners 1 (14 innings)
For my birthday, baseball got me a Max Scherzer, Felix Hernandez pitching duel. It was exactly what I wanted. Both were dazzling on Wednesday in Seattle. They each allowed single runs, Felix in the 5th, Scherzer in the 7th, and dominated the rest of the evening. Scherzer went 8, allowed 6 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, and struck out 12. Felix, not to be outdone, went 8, allowed 4 hits, 1 run, no walks, and struck out 12. It was a thing of beauty in every way. One of the better pitched games on both sides that you’ll see this season. I said yesterday they could combine for 25 strikeouts, they nearly did, topping out at 24. It was so much fun. Eight innings of magic, and then they handed it off to the children who allowed more baserunners, but no runs until Brayan Pena delivered an RBI groundout in the 14th inning to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead. Benoit handled the bottom half of the inning and a game that featured 40 strikeouts came to a glorious end at 237am in the east as Torii Hunter gunned down Justin Smoak at the plate via Prince Fielder’s relay to Brayan Pena, who had to withstand a serious collision. There are probably a great many subtle storylines worthy of discussion from this game that is an early contender for Game of the Year, but I’m simply too exhausted to analyze them. I left it all on the couch tonight. Tigers improve to 9-5 and go for the sweep behind Verlander later today.
The Moment: All of it. Just all of it.
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.
New English D 