ChiSox continue their stubborn ways. Up. 2.5 on the Tigs now and Tigs 1 game back in the wild-card race. If they don't get any bottom-of-the-order production, they will be golfing soon. With the new playoff format (which I hate), it should be an interesting finish. If the Tigs don't qualify for the playoffs, Leyland should be fired and Francona hired.
7-3 in our last 10 and we pick up 0 on the Sox. Great job keeping it within reach though. We've been seeing some really incredible performances pitching wise that might be going somewhat unnoticed because we're not gaining ground. Let's take a look at the past 10 games. 1) Scherzer: 0 ER in 7.0 innings. Pen: 1 ER in 2.0 innings. 2) Verlander: 3 in 6.0. Pen: 0 in 3.0 3) Porcello: 3 in 6.0. Pen: 0 in 3.0 4) Fister: 7 in 3.2. Pen: 0 in 5.1 5) Scherzer: 1 in 7.0. Pen: 2 in 2.0 6) Sanchez: 1 in 6.2. Pen: 0 in 2.1 7) Verlander: 2 in 9.0. Pen: 0 in 2.0 8) Porcello: 2 in 6.0. Pen: 0 in 3.0 9) Smyly: 1 in 6.0. Pen: 0 in 3.0 10) Scherzer: 1 in 7.0. Pen: 1 in 2.0 That is some stingy stuff there. Fister's start was the only blemish. Smyly subbed in great for him 2 games ago. Verlander put in a 9.0 inning game. Scherzer has been sick. Porcello better than average. Sanchez had a great comeback outing. And the bullpen was lights out. In summary per pitcher: Starters- Scherzer: 2 ER in 21.0 innings. ERA = 0.86 (ACE!) Verlander: 5 ER in 15.0. ERA = 3.00 Porcello: 5 ER in 12.0. ERA = 3.75 Sanchez: 1 ER in 6.2. ERA = 1.35 Smyly: 1 ER in 6.0. ERA = 1.50 Fister: 7 ER in 3.2. ERA = 17.16 TOTAL starter ERA = 2.94. (2.07 in the 9 games without Fister) Relievers- Dotel: 3 ER in 7.2. ERA = 3.52 Benoit: 0 ER in 6.0. ERA = 0.00 Villareal: 0 ER in 4.1. ERA = 0.00 Coke: 0 ER in 1.1. Putkomen: 0 ER in 2.1. Downs: 0 ER in 1.0 Valverde: 1 ER in 5.0. ERA = 1.80. TOTAL reliever ERA = 1.58 Total Team ERA = 2.44 It will really be a shame if we can't find a way to overtake the Sox because the Tigers are playing much better baseball than they were at the start of the year. We have a starting rotation and bullpen capable of winning it all. We have arguably the best lead off hitter and center fielder. We have an MVP candidate in Miggy. Fielder is actually living up to his contract. Dirks' average isn't dropping. Infante has been hitting .300 since we got him. And lately the underachievers are starting to show some talent (Young is hitting .299 in August with 16 hits in his last 15 games). Boesch has 12 hits in his last 11.
Good stuff TaS....Sox and all of the wild cards have great these past two weeks....got to make it up vs the Sox next weekend
Last bit of research here regarding our remaining weakness- fielding. Pos/ AL rank/ errors (sorted from best position to worst) CF/ 3rd/ 1 SS/ 3rd/ 9 3B/ 5th/ 13 (surprisingly good) C/ 8th/ 8 2B/ 8th/ 11 RF/ 11th/ 5 1B/ 11th/ 8 LF/ 12th/ 7 P/ 14th/ 19!!! First the good: - only 1 error by our center fielder all year and he has about the best range in the league?? - SS is our worst hitting position, so it's good to see that we are getting defensive production - Cabrera has been solid on D when he's the one guy that could be terrible and nobody would ever dare say a word The bad: - What is up with the pitching errors? Cleveland only has 4 this year and we have 19. Almost 1 in 4 errors by the Tigers are committed by our pitchers. We're the worst in the league. I'm not sure how you fix this. It may just be the luck of the draw in that our pitchers are not selected based on their fielding ability. It's kind of a big deal though. The rest is not important. We rank below average at positions where not many errors are made (right and left field and 1st base). That's where you park hitters. Overall- We have the 20th best fielding percentage in baseball. Our defense has had the 3rd least opportunities (i.e. our pitchers don't allow the ball be be put in play very often) That nets out to us having the 16th most errors... totally average. If our pitchers had only made 4 errors this year instead of 19, then we'd have the 5th best fielding percentage in the league.
Crazy game brewing tonight.... Justin Verlander gave up 7 runs in the first 2 innings (yea, you read that correctly). The Tigers have put up 6 runs of their own. Kansas City 7, Detroit 6 after only 2.5 innings.
Verlander gives up 7 runs and 10 hits in 2 innings???? Only the Tiger bats can save him from this mess......With the Tigers getting 3 runs in the first and third to move to within one run, can JV settle down and hold the Royals for the next 3-4 innings while the Tigers come back and grab the lead and hopefully win this one?? Stay tuned...
Looked like a home run to me...Tigers were robbed of a chance to get within a game of the Sux. with the foul ball by Delmon that would have been a "Homer" Run in Comerica Parks....If I was Leyland I may want a copy of every camera angle and would protest as this is playoff time...and you can lose to the bottom feeders and expect to get to post season play.... .... Second game in a row that a game that Verlander starts and the Tigers lose by a run...... maybe JL should have stayed with Villereal, instead going with a cold coke who gave up the winning hit....
Those were some of the weirdest replays I've ever seen. One looked like an obvious HR and the other looked obviously foul. The umps should have looked at the play longer
Tigers down three and wild card teams are distancing themselves, too. Thanks, Indians, for nothing. Making the A's look like world-beaters. Tigers getting frustrating to watch. Lots of games left so no reason to panic yet, but we're heading in the wrong direction.
