Detroit Tigers 2014 Season Thread

[TribeFanInNC]

Ironically, Danny Salazar matched Scherzer's feat just last week, striking out 10 in only 3.2 innings in a sub-par performance.

Not sure what to expect from the this week's Tigers-Indians series. The Indians have been very erratic. Some games they look very complete and others they look very, very average. They should have a better record considering the softness of their schedule so far.

Tuesday's game should be good; McAllister looked very sharp in his last outing (albeit against the Padres...). Salazar and Carrasco are another matter.

[RandyTiger]

Hope the Tribe like snow as much as the Tigers do - we're going from a high of 68F today to 26F and 1-2 inches of snow tonight.

Tomorrow's forecast at Harwell Park... err... Comerica Park is in the mid-30's with flurries.

[RandyTiger]

The Tribe and the Tigers square off for 3 games, Tuesday 4/15 to Thursday, 4/17th. Here's a look at things:

Pitching match-ups

Tuesday:

RHP Zach McAlister (1-0, 2.31 ERA) vs. RHP Anibal Sanchez (0-0, 3.00 ERA) .

McAlister has a record of 1-0, 2.31 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, with 11/4 K/BB in 11.2 IP over 2 games.

Here's his splits this season:

LHB: .290 (9-31) BA, .791 OPS, with 9/4 K/BB in 31 AB's.
RHB: .143 (2-14) BA, .429 OPS, with 2/0 K/BB in 14 AB's.

Career splits, 4 seasons (including this season):

LHB: .259 BA, .755 OPS, 3.86 K/BB ratio.
RHB: .276 BA, .759 OPS, 1.83 K/BB ratio.

Road/Home splits: Consistent across the board in almost every category, with the only real marked differences in OPS: .784 at home, .721 at home.

First/Second half splits: He's definitely a first-half pitcher, both in terms of ERA, BA, .OPS, and SO/BB ratio.

Sanchez has a record of 1-0, 2.31 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, and 11/4 K/BB in 11.2 IP over 2 games.

Season splits:

LHB: .350 (7-20) BA, .881 OPS, with 4/1 K/BB in 20 AB's.
RHB: .077 (1-13) BA, .327 OPS, with 4/3 K/BB in 13 AB's.

Career splits, 9 seasons (includes this season):

LHB: .254 BA, .698 OPS, with a 2.16 K/BB ratio.
RHB: .248 BA, .696 OPS, with a 2.97 K/BB ratio.

Road/Home splits: Performs better at home in nearly every category.

First/Second half splits: Slightly better stats in the 2nd half, but overall consistent.

Wednesday:

RHP Danny Salazar (0-1, 6.75 ERA) vs. LHP Drew Smyly (1-0, 0.00 ERA).

Salazar has a record of 0-1. 6.75 ERA, 1.93 WHIP, with 14/5 K/BB in 9.1 IP over 2 games.

Season splits:

LHB: .263 (5-19) BA, .616 OPS, with 9/1 K/BB in 19 AB's.
RHB: .444 (8-18) BA, 1.577 OPS, with 5/4 K/BB in 18 AB's.

Career splits, 2 seasons (includes this season):

LHB: .226 BA, .592 OPS, 3.75 K/BB ratio.
RHB: .269 BA, .881 OPS, 4.25 K/BB ratio.

Road/Home splits: Fairly consistent, with a better K/BB ratio at home.

First/Second half splits: Mixed results, with not really enough data to see how he will perform.

Smyly has a record of 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.50 WHIP, with 6/1 K/BB over 6.0 IP in 2 games, both in the bullpen. This is his first start this season.

Season splits:

LHB: .000 (0-10) BA, .000 OPS, with 3/0 K/BB in 10 AB's.
RHB: .222 (2-9) BA, .522 OPS, with 3/1 K/BB in 9 AB's.

Career splits, 3 seasons (includes this season):

LHB: .198 BA, .547 OPS, 5.07 K/BB ratio.
RHB: .251 BA, .732 OPS, 2.92 K/BB ratio.

Career Road/Home splits: Consistent across the board.

Career First/Second half splits: Consistent with one exception: has a higher SO/BB ratio (3.86) in the 1st half than 2nd half (2.80).

Thursday:

RHP Justin Masterson (0-0, 5.87 ERA) vs. RHP Justin Verlander (1-1, 2.57 ERA).

Masterson has a record of 0-0, 5.87 ERA, 1.70 WHIP, with 15/9 K/BB in 15.1 IP over 3 games.

Season splits:

LHB: .279 BA (12-43), .750 OPS, with 11/4 K/BB in 43 AB's.
RHB: .278 BA (5-18), .758 OPS, with 4/5 K/BB in 18 AB's.

Career splits, 7 seasons (includes this season):

LHB: .283 BA, .778 OPS, 1.54 K/BB ratio.
RHB: .218 BA, .592 OPS, 2.90 K.BB ratio.

Career Road/Home splits: Performs significantly better at home.

Career First/Second half splits: Consistent stats across the board.

Verlander has a record of 1-1, 2.57 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, with 13/6 K/BB in 21 IP over 3 games.

(Note: Verlander was swapped for Porcello for this start, making this the first time this season he's started on 4 days rest. The reason for this is that the Indians are heavy on lefties and switch-hitters, which is Porcello's vulnerability. The Angels, the next series up, do most of their damage from the right side. Ausmus seems to be playing by the numbers, and I'd guess we'll see things like this throughout the season.)

Season splits:

LHB: .196 (10-51) BA, .535 OPS, with 8/3 K/BB in 51 AB's.
RHB: .300 (9-30) BA, .776 OPS, with 5/3 K/BB in 30 AB's.

Career splits, 11 seasons (includes this season):

LHB: .231 BA, .656 OPS, 2.78 SO/BB ratio.
RHB: .240 BA, .656 OPS, 3.51 SO/BB ratio.

Career Road/Home splits: Performs better at home.

Career First/Second half splits: Slightly more of a 1st half pitcher, with one exception: K/BB ratio is slightly better in the 2nd (3.16) as opposed to 1st (2.98).

TEAM BATTING

Cleveland vs. Detroit (numbers are MLB rank):

BA: .245 (17th) vs. .253 (13th).
OPS: .712 (12th) vs. .713 (11th).
RS: 61 (8th) vs. 40 (26th).
SB: 7 (T-16th) vs. 9 (T-9th).

Cleveland analysis: The Tribe are not as bad as their record suggests - most of their woes come from their pitching, but they've also been hampered by loss of DH Jason Giambi (ribs) and CF Michael Bourn (hamstring).

Both are on rehab assignments, with Bourn expected to rejoin the team on Tuesday.

Also, 3B Lonnie Chisenhall was placed on the paternity list on 4/10, but he's back with the team now and will provide a bit more punch.

The Indians are a middle-of-the-road club offensively with one main weakness: a goodly number of their starters are lefties, which makes them susceptible to pitchers who are hell on lefties. Fortunately, they ameliorate some of that with switch-hitters, but it's not enough.

Players to watch:

LF Michael Brantley: .292, 1 HR, 10 RBI.
C Yan Gomes: .270, 2 HR, 4 RBI.
2B Jason Kipnis, .234 (.362 OBP), 2 HR, 7 RBI, 3 SB.
RF David Murphy: .297, 2 HR, 11 RBI.

Here's how they're faring, split-wise:

LHP: .267 BA, .756 OPS.
RHP: .251 BA, .707 OPS.

Detroit analysis: The Tigers, at this point in the season, are a middle-of-the-road offense that surprisingly struggles against RHP (see splits at the end).

A good amount of that is due to the fact that Cabrera is having issues with his swing (as Miggy goes, so does the club), along with the lack of production from both the Catcher and Shortstop positions.

To illustrate, collectively, the catchers are hitting .212 with an .611 OPS, while shortstops are mightily slugging away with a batting-title winning .167 BA and magnificent .453 OPS.

Players to watch:

1B Miguel Cabrera: .225, 1 HR, 4 RBI.
LF Rajai Davis: .345 (.412 OBP), 1 HR, 4 RBI, 5 SB.
RF Torii Hunter: .267, 3 HR, 9 RBI.
2B Ian Kinsler: .302, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 3 SB.
DH Victor Martinez: .286, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 1 SB.

Here's how they fare, split-wise:

LHP: .267 BA, .756 OPS.
RHP: .251 BA, .707 OPS.

Series prediction: Tigers take series, 2 games to 1.

[RandyTiger]

Today's game has been postponed due to inclement weather, and will be made up at a later date.

*grumbles*

(Interestingly enough, TB @ Baltimore, Cubs @ NYY, Atlanta @ Phillies have also been cancelled for the same reason.)

Probables for tomorrow remain the same as for today's game: McAlister vs. Sanchez, which will result in Smyly being scratched.

Thursday will be Salazar vs. Verlander.

Edit: Rotation for this weekend's series is: Smyly/Porcello (Friday), Scherzer (Saturday), Smyly/Porcello (Sunday).

[RandyTiger]

Ausmus has finalized his choices for the Angels series: Smyly, Scherzer, Porcello.

There will be a game tonight, barring any last-minute disasters such as an earthquake or asteroid smacking the Midwest.

It'll be cold, tho' - low 40's daytime, 32F tonight. Nippy baseball, always fun.

Only weather hiccup over the next several days is rain on Friday. I'm sure Smyly appreciates that, since he seems to always get scrubbed because of weather issues..

[RandyTiger]

Sanchez has walked 3 in a row to load the bases with no outs to begin the game.

Right now, the ball-strike ratio is around 2-1. This is not going to end well.

[RandyTiger]

Sanchez gets out of the jam with just a run given up, thanks to a DP (Gonzalez-Kinsler-Miggy) and a really nifty foul-ball sliding-catch by Castellanos.

Whew, 1-0 Tribe. Could have been considerably worse.

Oh, intriguing stat: Castellanos is 1 of only 4 regular Third Basemen not to commit an error this season. (I think 30 or 60 chances was the qualifier they used, not sure, but don't hold me to that.)

Edit: Checked. He's only had 12 total chances, but has played 62 full innings, so I'm assuming that innings is the qualifier they used.

[RandyTiger]

Tigers tie it up, 1-1, on RBI ground-out by Miggy, driving in Kinsler, who doubled to lead off the inning.

[RandyTiger]

Tribe score 2 runs in the 2nd to make it 3-1.

Sanchez has thrown mid 50's pitches already; ratio is about half and half. Bullpen's gonna get some serious usage tonight.

[RandyTiger]

Indians 3, Tigers 2. [Boxscore]

Summary: Frozen bats dominate cold game.

Pitching: The cold clearly effected both teams, with the pitchers getting the better of things, but in the end, Sanchez's early control woes made the critical difference.

Out of the first 7 batters he faced, Sanchez walked 4 of them, including 3 in a row to start off the game. The 2nd inning cost the Cats the game as an error by Miggy, a walk, and then a triple (in that order) gave the Tribe a lead they never relinquished.

Out of the last 9 batters he faced, he struck out 6 of them, including the side in the 4th. Just like a car, he needed time to warm up his oil, I guess.

His game line comes out to 3 runs (2 earned) on 2 hits (1 triple) and 4 walks over 5 innings, with 8 whiffs. Of his pitches, only 61 of 104 were for strikes. The loss was credited to him, of course.

Season line: 0-1, 3.21 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, with 17/8 K/BB in 14.0 IP.

Evan Reed followed, and over 1.2 innings, he gave up a double, walk, and HBP while striking out 1.

Season line: 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, with 3/1 K/BB in 5.0 IP.

Krol threw to 1 batter (Kipnis) in a lefty-lefty situation with a runner on third and 2 outs in the 7th, and got him on grounder to 1B to end the inning.

Season line: 0-0, 2 Holds, 1.93 ERA, 0.64 WHIP, with 5/0 K/BB in 4.2 IP.

Alburquerque took over for the 8th, giving up a single during his inning of work.

Season line: 1-0, 1/1 SV/OPP, 3.86 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, with 3/0 K/BB in 4.2 IP.

Chamberlain finished off the game, giving up a single and striking out 1.

Season line: 0-1, 6.75 ERA, 2.00 WHIP, with 7/1 K/BB in 4.0 IP.

Offense: The boys managed a total of 9 hits and 2 walks in this one, stranding 7 on 1-9 hitting with RISP.

They had chances to score in the 8th (4 baserunners total, with the Hunter GIDP and Jackson whiff terminating any further chances outside of the 1 run scored) and 9th (runner on 3rd with 1 out, with the donkelly striking out and Davis grounding out to SS to end the game.)

Here's how they did:

Kinsler: 2-4 (.319), Double (4), RS (9).
- Double and RS in the 1st; Bunt single in the 8th.

Cabrera: 1-4 (.227), 2 RBI (6).
- RBI ground-out in the 1st; RBI single in the 8th. [Video of RBI ground-out] [Video of RBI single]

Martinez: 2-3 (.316), BB (3).
- Walk in the 4th; Single in the 6th; Single in the 8th.

Jackson: 2-4 (.310), CS (1).
- Single and CS in the 2nd; Single in the 4th.

Avila: 2-3 (.192), Double (1), BB (5).
- Walk in the 2nd; Single in the 7th; Double, advanced to 3B on E-8 in the 9th.

Davis: 0-4 (.303), RS (7).
- Reached on E-4 and RS, 8th inning.

GIDP: Hunter (1; 8th inning), Gonzalez (2; 7th inning).

Defense: Errors, 1: Cabrera (1), ground ball in the 2nd.

Double plays, 2: 6-4-2 (Gonzalez-Kinsler-Cabrera), 1st inning; 4-4-2 (Kinsler-Cabrera), 9th inning (line-out to Kinsler, Gomes doubled off 1st).

SB allowed/attempted: 2/2: Sanchez-Avila, 5th inning; Reed-Avila, 6th inning.

I spoke earlier of a great defensive play Castellanos made. Here it is. [Video of play]

Next game: Thursday, April 17th, Cleveland (7-7, 4-4 Away) @ Detroit (6-5, 4-2 Home), 1:08 Eastern.

Projected starters: Danny Salazar (0-1, 6.75 ERA) vs. Justin Verlander (1-1, 2.57 ERA).

- Cleveland TV: SportsTime Ohio. Radio: WTAM 1100.
- Detroit TV: FS-D. Radio: 97.1 The Ticket.
- Subscription TV: MLBN.

Divisional standing: 2nd place, .5 GB White Sox.

[RandyTiger]

This game also marked the first time Brad Ausmus has made a controversial strategy decision in-game, namely, to have Hunter bunt with runners at first and second with no outs.

Hunter, bunting? You're kidding, right? (For those not in the know, Hunter is a LOUSY bunter - and I'm being polite, Torii being the fine gentleman he is.)

Well, one can argue the pros and cons. I guess it was worth a try, if only for the surprise factor, but Hunter botched it up rather badly.

Lynn Henning has the entire story if you're game for it.

[TribeFanInNC]

Originally Posted by RandyTiger

Projected starters: Danny Salazar (0-1, 6.75 ERA) vs. Justin Verlander (1-1, 2.57 ERA).

Looking forward to watching this matchup tonight on MLB.tv. Unfortunately didn't get to watch last night.

[RandyTiger]

Tigers 7, Indians 5. [Boxscore]

Summary: Kinsler sparks Tigers past Tribe in a very sloppy game.

Pitching: On the whole, the pitching crew wasn't sharp - every guy put a runner on base except one - but they got the job done somehow. Here's how they fared.

Verlander cruised for the first 2 innings, but the last 3 he pitched, it was one thing after another, thanks to a pesky and patient Indians club and a couple of errors.

Altogether, JV threw 113 pitches (74 strikes) over 5 innings, giving up 3 runs (none of them earned) on 6 hits and 4 walks while striking out 7. He was credited with the win.

Season line: 2-1, 2.08 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, with 20/10 K/BB in 26.0 IP.

Coke began the 6th inning, and after getting into a jam caused by an error and single, he was gone, with just 2/3 of an inning pitched. A hold was given him for his trouble.

Season line: 0-0, 1 Hold, 11.57 ERA, 2.14 WHIP, with 0/1 K/BB in 2.1 IP.

Alburquerque took over at that point, while he got the final out of the 6th after allowing a SB, he walked the first batter, allowed a SB, and struck out the second one in the 7th inning. His total line comes out to 2/3 of an inning, a walk, a strikeout, and 2 sB allowed, with the runner he put on scoring a few minutes later. He drew a hold for his work.

Season line: 1-0, 1/1 SV/Opp, 1 Hold, 5.06 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, with 4/1 K/BB in 5.1 IP.

Krol trotted out with 1 out in the 7th, and the Tribe proved to have his number as Brantley promptly hit a 2-run HR off him, followed by an infield single. The best thing that can be said was that he got a Murphy fly-out to CF before being yanked.

His final line was 2 hits and a run given up. Yet, he was given a hold.

Season line: 0-0, 3 Holds, 3.60 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, with 5/0 K/BB in 5.0 IP.

Chamberlain was summoned to stem the bleeding with 2 outs, which he did, going on to pitch the 8th. He gave up a single in his 1.1 innings of toil, striking out 2 for his first hold.

Season line: 1-0, 1 Hold, 5.06 ERA, 1.69 WHIP, with 9/1 K/BB in 5.1 IP.

Nathan took the mound for the 9th and got the job done, getting a foul-out, whiff, and fly-out to save the game.

Season line: 2-0, 2/4 SV/Opps, 7.94 ERA, 1.94 WHIP, with 4/4 K/BB in 5.2 IP.

Offense: Kinsler, with some help from his team-mates, was the offensive spark for the Boys as they collectively came up with 9 hits, 4 walks, and a HBP as everyone got on base, plus they were the beneficiaries of a couple of Tribe errors.

They stranded 6 on 3-6 hitting with RISP.

Here's how they did:

Kinsler: 2-5 (.327), HR (2), SB (3), CS (1), RS (10), 4 RBI (8).
- 3-run HR to Left Center (412 feet) in the 5th; RBI single, SB, CS in the 6th. [Video of HR] [Video of RBI single]

Hunter: 1-4 (.237), RS (6).
- Infield single and RS in the 5th.

Cabrera: 2-4 (.250), Double (4), RS (2).
- Single and RS in the 4th; Double in the 5th.

Martinez: 1-3 (.317), IBB (2) (BB: 4).
- Single in the 4th; IBB in the 5th.

Jackson: 0-2 (.295), 2 SF (3), 2 RBI (6).
- RBI SF to CF in the 4th; RBI SF to LF in the 5th.

Castellanos: 1-3 (.242), BB (3).
- Walk in the 5th; Single in the 8th.

Romine: 0-0 (.083), SB (1), RS (2).
- (Pinch-ran for Castellanos in the 8th), SB and RS in the 8th.

Avila: 0-3 (.172), BB (6), RS (3).
- Walk and RS in the 5th.

Gonzalez: 0-3 (.167), SB (1), BB (2), RS (4).
- Walk and RS in the 5th.

Davis: 2-3 (.333), HBP (4), RS (8), RBI (5).
- Single in the 3rd; HBP and RS in the 6th; RBI infield single in the 8th. [Video of RBI single]

Defense: Errors, 3: Verlander (1), throw in the 4th; Castellanos (1), ground ball between the pins in the 5th; Gonzalez (3), throw in the 6th.

Double plays, 2: 6-4-3 (Gonzalez-Kinsler-Cabrera) in the 1st; 4-4-3 (Kinsler-Cabrera), 3rd inning.

SB allowed/attempted: 3/4: (Verlander-Avila), (Alburquerque-Avila x2).

Next game: Friday, April 18th: LA Angels (7-8, 4-2 Away) @ Detroit (7-5, 5-2 Home), 7:08 Eastern.

Projected starters: RHP Jered Weaver (0-2, 5.79 ERA) vs. Drew Smyly (1-0, 0.00 ERA).

- LA TV: FS-W. Radio: KLAA 830, KWKW 1330 (Sp.).
- Detroit TV: FS-D+. Radio: 97.1 The Ticket.

Divisional standing: 1st place, 1/2 game ahead of White Sox (pending outcome of Chicago night game).

[TribeFanInNC]

I ended up watching the Tigers feed because the Indians feed was skipping. The announcer totally got me on Cabrera's 320' strike, calling it a homer before watching for the umpire. I wish he would have been right.

The first four innings were fairly enjoyable to watch. The 5th felt like it took an hour and the rest of the game dragged. I like games that are a bit snappier than that.

Was it me or did it seem like Verlander was 2-2 or 3-2 to almost everybody? Indians did their job to get him out of the game early, but unfortunately Salazar completely lost it in the 5th.

Agree with Randy that neither team really showed their true colors today.

[RandyTiger]

Tribe: they did indeed go 3-2, 2-2 a bunch of times on JV.

I attribute that not to a lack of control (JV struggled a little, but not that much), but to Terry Francona's philosophy of hitting.

If you'll remember, when he skippered the Red Sox, they were known for being patient at the plate and grinding out at-bats. Same situation here. Everyone knows the bullpen is the Tigers' weakest link, so it makes sense to just wear down the starter as early as possible.

I suspect we'll see a lot of that during the season.

If the Tribe had somewhat better pitching and one or two more dominant hitters, they would be a true contender. Not a bad team, all-in-all. I particularly like the way Kipnis and Gomes are turning out, especially Gomes. He seems very quick on his feet, has an accurate cannon for an arm, and can call a solid game. Offense isn't bad, either.

He's definitely better than Avila.

[TribeFanInNC]

Originally Posted by RandyTiger

I attribute that not to a lack of control (JV struggled a little, but not that much), but to Terry Francona's philosophy of hitting.

Agree the philosophy has something to do with it. For their warts, the guys in the middle of the order do have good batting eyes (short compact swings...not so much). Also agree Verlander wasn't particularly wild. But it seemed like he worked purposefully outside the zone too much (for my taste anyway). The times he did get ahead, he'd waste two pitches and then get to work. Just seems like with 3 plus pitches, he should be able to work around the strike zone more and just keep guys off balance.

Another thing I was surprised to see was the extreme shift for Martinez. Have other teams been doing that? He used the whole field pretty well in Cleveland. I can't imagine his approach has really changed all that much.

[RandyTiger]

Agreed on your points.

I think what JV is trying to do is adjust from being a flameballer to truly pitching, but his fine control over location is spotty at best. I hope he makes the adjustment and becomes even better.

Dunno on the shift - when you watch games on TV and rely on the closed captioning of the guys in the booth, you tend to miss things now and then. Rod and Mario do not seem to mention much about defensive shifts, and I hardly ever see anything "in print" regarding this. :\

[RandyTiger]

RHP Justin Miller has reportedly been recalled from Toledo. No corresponding roster move has yet been reported.

Edit: OF Tyler Collins has been optioned to Toledo.

Roster updated.

[RandyTiger]

Edit: Nevermind, I played with my browser settings to override whatever the default is - black background, white text. Helluva lot better than this crappy new forum look.

I still think this new color scheme was a really bad idea. Hurts the eyes.

[DamPenguin]

I'm still trying to figure out what was the logic of the Fister trade... anyone?