Detroit Tigers 2014 Season Thread

[RandyTiger]

In case they do they do play tonight (starting to look as if they may actually get a game in), Avila has been scratched from tonight's game with lower back spasms. He's available to pinch-hit, but not catch.

Smyly is available in the BP tonight for a short outing.

[RandyTiger]

They got all of a half-inning in before they went into a rain delay.

[RandyTiger]

Tigers 4, White Sox 3. [Boxscore]

Summary: Holaday bunt helps Cats top Sox.

Pitching: Verlander turned in another quality start, going 7 innings (113 pitches, 67 strikes) and surrendering 3 runs on 6 hits (2 doubles and a triple), along with 3 walks. He struck out 4. [Video overview of performance]

Unfortunately, no win for him, but it was the 176th quality start of his career, which ties him for 2nd most since 2006.

- Season line: 3-1, 2.48 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, with 31/15 K/BB in 40.0 IP.

Chamberlain came on in relief for the 8th, and he wasn't particularly sharp, giving up a double to Abreu and intentionally walking Dunn in a 20-pitch (11 strikes) inning. He whiffed 2 for the win.

- Season line: 1-1, 1/1 Sv/Opp, 4 Holds, 4.82 ERA, 1.61 WHIP, with 14/3 K/BB in 9.1 IP.

Nathan closed out the game with a flawless performance, punching-out 1 to earn the save.

This was his 346th save, just 1 short of tying Randy Myers for 9th place in MLB history.

He has only allowed 2 hits and a walk in his his 4 IP (4 games) while striking out 6. In his past 7 innings (7 games), he's given up just 1 run on 4 hits and a walk while whiffing 12.

- Season line: 2-0, 5/7 Sv/Opp, 5.06 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, with 12/5 K/BB in 10.2 IP.

Offense: The Tigers managed 9 singles (no walks) off the Sox staff while whiffing 14 times. They stranded 5 on 4-7 hitting with RISP.

In the end, it came down to one play, Doc Holaday's perfectly executed bunt for their 10th comeback win, the most in MLB. (Shades of '84!)

Here's how they did:

Kinsler: 1-4 (.277), RS (16).
- Single and RS in the 4th.

Cabrera: 2-4 (.270), RS (7).
- Infield single in the 1st; Single and RS in the 6th.

V. Martinez: 2-4 (.296), RS (8), RBI (11).
- RBI single in the 4th; Single and RS in the 6th. [Video of RBI single]

Hunter: 1-4 (.307), 3 K's, RBI (13).
- RBI single in the 6th. [Video of RBI single]

Jackson: 1-4 (.311), RS (13), RBI (10).
- RBI single in the 6th; Reached to 3B (!) on E-9 and RS in the 9th. [Video of single] [Video of error]

Holaday: 2-4 (.286), SB (1), RBI (2).
- Single in the 3rd; RBI bunt single and SB in the 9th. [Video of bunt single] [Video of 1st career SB]

Note: First career SB.

Golden Sombero Award: Davis, 4 K's. (Only the 3rd time in his career, last time being September 4, 2013.)

Hat Trick Awards: Hunter, Castellanos.

GIDP: Worth (1), 3rd inning.

Defense: Double plays, 1: 5-4-3 (Castellanos-Kinsler-Cabrera), 6th inning.

SB allowed/attempted: 0/1: Verlander-Holaday, OUT, 4th inning. [Video of play]

Next game: Wednesday, April 30th: Detroit (13-9, 4-4 Away. Season series: 2-2.) @ Chicago White Sox (14-14, 9-6 Home), 2:10 Eastern.

Projected starters: Scherzer (2-1, 2.45 ERA) vs RHP Hector Noesi (0-1, 11.74 ERA).

Detroit TV: FS-D. Radio: 97.1 The Ticket.
CWS TV: WCIU. Radio: WSCR 670, 97.5 ESPN Deportes.
Subscription TV: MLBN.

Divisional standing: 1st place, 1.5 games over Minnesota and Kansas City.

Injury note: Avila will not be available to play in Wednesday's game due to back spasms.

[DamPenguin]

What a beautiful way to win the game last night! I love smart baseball. I really don't see a positive to Avila. They say he handles the pitchers better but I liked Pena better than him last year and now Holaday is producing. Besides getting hurt, Avila is good at allowing stolen bases and running the count deep and hoping the pitcher will walk him but more often he'll stare a strike 3 go across the plate.

[RandyTiger]

I think a lot of Avila's problems are between the ears - and I don't mean that in a bad way. What I do mean is that he's laid-back outside of baseball by all accounts, and that impacts him as a player, since that's his default behavior.

When he's aggressive at the plate and hitting the ball early, he gets results.

Here's something to show you what I mean:

Alex Avila Career Batting Splits - Baseball-Reference.com

Scroll down to the section titled, "Count/balls-strikes" and you will notice that after 3 pitches, the batting average drop off sharply. Thus, the earlier he hits, the better.

If a pitcher gets two strikes on him, forget it. He can't even hit his weight (listed as 210).

It all adds up to the fact that he needs to be more aggressive instead of passive at the plate, or he'll never regain his 2011 All-Star form. He knows it. The Tigers know it. But they don't have anyone who can push him - yet. Give the guys on the farm a few years, and they'll challenge him for the job.

[RandyTiger]

Tigers have just announced that when they need a 5th starter next Tuesday (May 6th) against Houston, they will call up LHP Robbie Ray (part of the Fister deal) for that game. It will be his MLB debut.

This season at Toledo, Ray is 3-2 with a 1.59 ERA and 1.13 WHIP, with 21/5 K/BB in 28.1 IP in 5 games. He's only given up 1 HR.

[CONN CHRIS]

Another day without a Coke sighting. It's a good day.

[RandyTiger]

Originally Posted by CONN CHRIS

Another day without a Coke sighting. It's a good day.

Gonna say just one thing: Robbie Ray is not the 40-man list, which is full. When he gets called up Tuesday...

Hope springs eternal.

[RandyTiger]

Tigers 5, White Sox 1. [Boxscore]

Summary: Mad Max and Doc Holaday KO Sox for series sweep.

Pitching: Scherzer certainly hasn't shown any sign of the post-Cy Young "curse" as he continues to mow down hitters at a frenetic rate. In this game, he tossed 105 pitches (69 strikes) over 6 innings, punching out 7 while surrendering 4 hits (2 doubles) and 3 walks - and no runs. [Video of performance]

With this performance, he not only wins his 3rd straight game, he becomes the only Cat in the past 100 years to begin the season with at least 7 strikeouts in his first 6 starts, beating out Mickey Lolich for that honor. He's also the first MLB pitcher to do that feat since Tim Lincecum did it in 2010.

- Season line: 3-1, 2.08 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, with 51/11 K/BB in 39.0 IP.

Alburquerque took over in the 7th, and he stymied the Chicago gents as well, striking out 1 in the sole inning he worked.

- Season line: 1-0, 1/1 Sv/Opp, 3 Holds, 4.50 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, with 11/2 K/BB in 10.0 IP.

Out came Chamberlain for the 8th, and he turned in an efficient and flawless performance, inducing 3 consecutive ground-balls on just 8 pitches.

- Season line: 1-1, 1/1 Sv/Opp, 4 Holds, 4.35 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, with 14/3 K/BB in 10.1 IP.

Reed, on the other hand, was anything but flawless as he gave up the Sox's sole run on 2 hits (1 double), whiffing 1.

Season line: 0-1, 1 Hold, 3.86 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, with 7/3 K/BB in 9.1 IP.

Offense: The Boys came up with 8 hits and 5 walks, stranding 9 on 3-9 hitting with RISP. Here's how the gang did:

Kinsler: 2-5 (.283).
- Single in the 1st; Single in the 9th.

Hunter: 1-5 (.300), Double (7), RS (11).
- Double and RS in the 4th.

Cabrera: 2-5 (.277), RS (8).
- Single and RS in the 4th; Single in the 8th.

V. Martinez: 1-3 (.298), BB (7), SF (3), 2 RBI (13).
- RBI SF in the 4th; Single in the 8th; Bases-loaded walk in the 9th. [Video of SF] [Video of bases-loaded walk]

J. Martinez: 1-5 (.214), Double (1), RS (3) - and a strikeout hat trick.
- Double and RS in the 4th.

Jackson: 0-1 (.307), 3 BB (13), RS (14).
- Walk and RS in the 4th; Walk in the 6th; Walk in the 8th.

Note: For those interested, his OBP is a scorching .391, and his OPS is .911. He has 13 walks against 14 K's. What a season he's having!

Castellanos: 0-3 (.233), SF (2), RBI (14).
- RBI SF in the 4th. [Video of SF]

Holaday: 1-3 (.292), Double (1), BB (1), RS (3), 2 RBI (4).
- 2-run double in the 4th; Walk and RS in the 9th. [Video of double]

Defense: Nothing to report.

Next game: Friday, May 2nd: Detroit (14-9, 5-4 Away. Season series: 2-0) @ Kansas City (13-12, 7-3 Home*), 8:10 Eastern.

(* KC has home games Wednesday and Thursday that are not reflected in the total.)

Projected starters: Rick Porcello (3-1, 3.96 ERA) vs. RHP James Shields (3-2, 2.03 ERA).

Detroit TV: FS-D. Radio: 97.1 The Ticket.
KC TV: FS-KC. Radio: KCSP 610, Royals Radio Network.

Divisional standing: 1st place, 2 games over Minnesota and Kansas City.

[RandyTiger]

Multiple media sources are reporting that the Tigers have signed 32-year-old RHP Joel Hanrahan, a former All-Star, who has not pitched since undergoing Tommy John surgery last year.

[EDIT: The Tigers have confirmed that Hanrahan has inked a standard 1 year MLB contract, which gives him $1 Million with the potential for $2 Million more in incentives.]

He recently threw for several teams in a practice session, with his fastball topping out at 92-93 MPH.

He only has 2 pitches: a 4-seam fastball (primary pitch) (pre-surgery: 96-99 MPH) and a slider (pre-surgery: upper 80's).

He's expected to take over the set-up role.

[Edit: He will not be joining the team directly, as he needs time to work up to speed. The Tigers have placed him on the 15-Day DL (which they can do, since he's coming off TJ surgery) and assigned him to Lakeland (A) for extended "Spring Training", and he can do up to 20-day rehab stint. Time frame for him to join the team is in June.]

[RandyTiger]

Roster move:

Since Hanrahan has been placed on the DL (see post above), and thus the 40-man, the Tigers have outrighted the contract of P Mike Belfiore to Toledo to free up room.

[RandyTiger]

The April 27th game that was rained out at the Twins will be made up on August 23rd at 1:10 Eastern as part of a day/night doubleheader in Minnesota.

[RandyTiger]

Injury update:

OF Andy Dirks was cleared Friday to begin light baseball activity, and head trainer Kevin Rand was quoted as saying, "Right along schedule."

Excellent news - not that they're really missing him, with Davis tearing the ball to pieces and J. D. Martinez more than capably handling platoon duties.

[RandyTiger]

Tigers 8, Royals 2. [Boxscore]

Summary: Arms and Bats overpower Royals.

Pitching: Porcello shone in this one, tossing a strong 7 inning, 106 pitch (71 strikes) effort for his 3rd quality start 5 appearances this season. He gave up 2 runs on 4 hits (double, triple, homer) while striking out 6 for the win. [Video overview of start]

Interesting fact: In his last 37 outings, he's walked 2 or fewer batters in 34 of them.

- Season line: 4-1, 3.66 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, with 22/4 K/BB in 32.0 IP.

Krol took over in the 8th and he only needed 4 pitches to complete the inning, getting 3 ground-outs.

- Season line: 0-0, 0/1 Sv/Opp, 4 Holds, 3.00 ERA, 0.78 WHIP, with 6/0 K/BB in 9.0 IP.

Reed finished off the game, throwing 6 pitches, getting 2 ground-outs and a fly-out.

- Season line: 0-1, 1 Hold, 3.48 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, with 7/3 K/BB in 10.1 IP.

Offense: The Boys took Shields and the Royals (sounds like another grungy garage band, heh) to the woodshed, toting up 14 hits, a walk, and a HBP to score 8 runs. They stranded 7 on 6-15 hitting with RISP.

Every Cat had a hit, so here's the long list:

Kinsler: 2-4 (.291), HBP (1), RS (17).
- Infield single in the 4th; HBP and RS in the 7th; Single in the 8th.

Hunter: 2-5 (.306), GIDP (2), 2 RS (13).
- Single and RS in the 3rd; GIDP in the 4th; Single and RS in the 7th.

Cabrera: 1-5 (.273), Double (8), RS (9), RBI (16).
- RBI double and RS in the 3rd. [Video of RBI double]

V. Martinez: 3-5 (.315), 2 doubles (5), 1 RS (9), 2 RBI (15).
- Double in the 2nd; RBI double in the 3rd; RBI single and RS in the 7th. [Video of RBI double] [Video of RBI single]

Jackson: 1-5 (.300).
- Single in the 7th.

The donkelly: 1-5 (.292).
- Single in the 2nd.

J. Martinez: 2-4 (.278), 2 doubles (3), RS (4), 2 RBI (4).
- Double and RS in the 4th; 2-RBI double in the 7th. [Video of 2-RBI double]

Avila: 1-3 (.226), HR (1), BB (10), RS (7), 2 RBI (4).
- Walk in the 2nd; 2-run HR to right center (420 feet) in the 4th. [Video of HR]

Romine: 1-4 (.209), RS (6).
- Single and RS in the 4th.

Defense: Nothing to report.

Next game: Saturday, May 3rd: Detroit (15-9, 6-4 Away; Season series: 3-0) @ Kansas City (14-14, 8-5 Home), 7:10 Eastern.

Projected starters: Drew Smyly (1-1, 3.60 ERA) vs LHP Danny Duffy (1-1, 2.16 ERA).

National TV: FS1.
Detroit radio: 97.1 The Ticket.
KC radio: KCSP 610, Royals Radio Network.

Divisional standing: 1st place, 3 games over Kansas City.

[RandyTiger]

Tigers 9, Royals 2. [Boxscore]

Summary: Smyly's gem and hot bats propel Cats to 4th straight win.

Pitching: I've long been an advocate of Smyly staying in the bullpen, but he proved he belongs in the rotation as he shut down the Royals, holding them to just 2 hits (1 double) and 2 walks over a 93-pitch (60 strikes) effort. He whiffed 6 and deservedly collected the win.

What a gem! [Video overview of performance]

Note: Drew's 7 innings tonight is a career-best.

- Season line: 2-1, 2.45 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, with 21/6 K/BB in 22.0 IP.

Chamberlain took the mound for the 8th and tossed a flawless inning, punching out 1 for a hold. Well done.

- Season line: 1-1, 1/1 Sv/Opp, 5 Holds, 3.97 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, with 15/3 K/BB in 11.1 IP.

"TrainWreck" (my new nickname for Phil Coke) came on for the 9th, and he continued to show why he does not belong at the MLB level. He gave up 2 runs on 3 hits (2 doubles) and a sacrifice fly.

Can we give this guy a ticket to Toledo and recall someone else, please?

- Horrific season line: 0-0, 1 Hold, 9.39 ERA, 2.09 WHIP, with 4/3 K/BB in 7.2 IP.

Offense: The Boys savaged KC, there's no two ways about it - 12 hits (7 extra base) and 6 walks. they stranded 8 on 4-13 hitting with RISP.

This season, over 4 games against the Royals, they've scored 23 runs (and only given up 8).

Every starter came up with a hit, so here's another very long list:

Davis: 1-5 (.325), SB (9), RS (14).
- Bunt single, SB, and RS in the 9th.

Kinsler: 2-4 (.299), Double (7), SF (2), RBI (15).
- Single and picked-off 1B in the 3rd; Double and out stretching for 3B in the 5th; RBI SF in the 9th. [Video of SF]

Cabrera: 2-4 (.282), Double (9), BB (7), 3 RS (12), 1 RBI (17).
- Walk and RS in the 4th; Double and RS in the 6th; RBI single and RS in the 9th. [Video of RBI single]

Note: 9-game hitting streak, and has 1,182 hits as a Tiger, tying him with Pete Fox for 21st in franchise history.

V. Martinez: 2-3 (.326), Double (6), 2 IBB (5) (BB: 9), 2 RS (11).
- Double in the 2nd; IBB in the 4th; IBB and RS in the 6th; Single and RS in the 9th.

Hunter: 1-4 (.303), HR (4), BB (3), RS (14), 3 RBI (16).
- Walk in the 2nd; 3-run HR to LF (413 feet) in the 9th. [Video of 3-run HR]

Note: 10-game hitting streak.

Jackson: 1-4 (.298), Double (7), BB (14).
- Walk in the 4th; Double in the 8th.

Castellanos: 1-4 (.234), Double (4), SF (3), 3 RBI (17).
- RBI SF in the 4th; 2-run double in the 6th. [Video of SF] [Video of 2-run double]

Note: Nick is batting 8-22 (.364) with 15 RBI with RISP.

Holaday: 1-3 (.296), BB (2), RS (4).
- Walk in the 6th; Single and RS in the 9th.

Worth: 1-4 (.182), Double (1), RS (2), RBI (1).
- RBI double and RS in the 9th. [Video of RBI double]

Defense: Outfield Assists, 1: Davis (1), 5th inning: gunning down Valencia trying to stretch a single into a double. [Video of play]

Hunter also made a terrific catch in the 2nd inning, worth watching: [Video of catch]

Next game:Sunday, May 4th: Detroit (16-9, 7-4 Away. Season series: 4-0) @ Kansas City (14-15, 8-6 Home), 2:10 Eastern.

Projected starters: Justin Verlander (3-1, 2.48 ERA) vs. LHP Jason Vargas (2-0, 2.40 ERA).

Detroit TV: FS-D. Radio: 97.1 The Ticket.
KC TV: FS-KC. Radio: KCSP 610, Royals Radio Network.

Divisional standing: 1st place, 4 games over KC.

[CONN CHRIS]

I've been camping all weekend. Glad that I didn't have to sit through another Coke sighting. No lead too big with this turkey. Call up someone. Anyone.

[RandyTiger]

Originally Posted by CONN CHRIS

I've been camping all weekend. Glad that I didn't have to sit through another Coke sighting. No lead too big with this turkey. Call up someone. Anyone.

Welcome back, hope you and your family enjoyed yourselves.

At least it was only one inning, and I thought, "There's no way he can blow a 9-run lead. It's impossible, even for him."

For a few minutes, I was afraid he just might.

I just gotta wonder, if Dombrowski and Ausmus are so fired-up smart, why in the world are they keeping TrainWreck on the staff? I'm baffled.

[cephasjames]

Originally Posted by RandyTiger

I just gotta wonder, if Dombrowski and Ausmus are so fired-up smart, why in the world are they keeping TrainWreck on the staff? I'm baffled.

I read an article not too long ago, I think on MLive.com, that pretty much said Detroit has no real viable options to Coke. No lefties in the system are better than him and there are no real lefties available to sign that are better than him. The hope is that he simply just improves.

[CONN CHRIS]

Originally Posted by cephasjames

I read an article not too long ago, I think on MLive.com, that pretty much said Detroit has no real viable options to Coke. No lefties in the system are better than him and there are no real lefties available to sign that are better than him. The hope is that he simply just improves.

Then plug in a competent righty.



If the recipe calls for olive oil and all you have is spoiled olive oil and fresh canola oil you can make awful meals or live with the substitute until the olive oil is replaced. Is this truly more complicated then that? The guy is not an MLB pitcher.

[Tram2Whitaker]

Originally Posted by CONN CHRIS

Then plug in a competent righty.



If the recipe calls for olive oil and all you have is spoiled olive oil and fresh canola oil you can make awful meals or live with the substitute until the olive oil is replaced. Is this truly more complicated then that? The guy is not an MLB pitcher.

It was not long ago that the Tigers did not have a left handed reliever. On the other hand, Ausmus is a matchups manager (people stop short of calling him a SABREmetric manager). Personally, I've never believed much in the situational lefty; if you can't hit left handed pitching, how are you playing major league baseball?