And when they get a hit next inning you'll be blamed for the MgoJinx
Brandon's country strong 6-1 Tigers
If the Tigers hang on and win this one, they'll have gone 5-6 on the always-brutal western swing. I'll take that.
Its crazy that the guy with the most strikeouts in the league (31 as of the 5th inning) is batting .321. I really like this kid, hopefully he can get the strikeouts under control and then he will be really dangerous
had the same problem. I think it's a youth thing.
April 26th, 2010 at 10:02 PM ^
There are a lot of similarities between the two of them. I was sad to see Grandy go but Jackson is going to be a great replacement
April 26th, 2010 at 10:14 PM ^
trade along with the Yankees.
The Yankees may get Granderson who will hit 35-40 HR this season but it's mostly due to the short porch out at RF at the Yankee Stadium.
Austin Jackson is roughly equal to Granderson, but is a better defensive player and a better athlete. Granderson offer more power, but Jackson supposedly has power potential but I have yet to see it. Coke has been a good RP for the Tigers. Scherzer has been steady, not spectacular though his K/9 has been down. Not sure about Scherlth(sp?)
April 26th, 2010 at 10:59 PM ^
I'm glade you can name teams winners and losers of this trade after 4 weeks of baseball, with one of the pieces we got in the deal still in the Minors and Jackson sitting on an unsustainable BABIP.
Granted, he looks like he'll be a great player, but lets hold off on who "won" this deal.
I'll bet you thought the Braves crushed that deal with the Rangers in 2007 after Teixeira crushed NL pitching for over 1.000 OPS in the second half.
I don't even think Jackson will hit .250 if he continues to strike out at the pace he's going...which is a mind-blowing 275 Ks. Mark Reynolds has set the record the last two years, which is currently 223. In his defense he's a power hitter who draws a fair amount of walks though. My guess is when Jackson starts to slump, which is almost a certainty, Leyland will move him down the order to take some pressure off and slide Damon to leadoff.
Long term though, I don't think there's any doubt Detroit will win this deal. It remains to be seen though.
If Zumaya remains healthy, it is only a matter of time before he is closing. Here is what Nolan Ryan had to say about Joel.
"That's the best arm I've seen since I don't know when,'' Ryan said in the Detroit Redacted. "His fastball is electric.''
April 26th, 2010 at 10:01 PM ^
He's so much fun to watch, I just want to see him pitch as much as possible. What the heck, make him a starter!
Actually... didn't he come up through the minors as a starter?
April 26th, 2010 at 10:07 PM ^
Dammit I jinxed him. Yes he was a starter in the minors, I believe Leyland moved him to the bullpen in the spring of 2006. That's how I remember anyway
April 27th, 2010 at 12:03 AM ^
Leyland == Genius
April 26th, 2010 at 10:01 PM ^
In my worthless opinion, his control is what matters most. He hasn't had issues with free passes this year and if he keeps that up, he will morph into a utterly dominate pitcher.
April 26th, 2010 at 10:08 PM ^
zero free passes so far
April 26th, 2010 at 10:03 PM ^
Being a Cubs fan and not having watched Zumaya that much, I'd have to say that my most endearing memory of him was when he got ahead of a struggling Cubs hitter 0-2 on two overpowering fastballs and then had an awful, hanging changeup go into the Cubs bullpen for a homerun.
If he can get his head on straight, he'll be an elite closer.
April 26th, 2010 at 10:39 PM ^
Back to back homers by Cabrera and Inge!
April 26th, 2010 at 10:41 PM ^
wow thats Cabrera's third home run in the top of the ninth when Detroit has either been losing or tied. Definition of clutch
April 26th, 2010 at 10:48 PM ^
Makes you wonder how scary he'd be if he had that kind of concentration in every at bat. I'm not saying, but you can sometimes tell when he's swinging for the fences. Inge is prone to the same thing.
April 26th, 2010 at 10:56 PM ^
If thats true I can't even imagine with Cabrera. He's already terrifying for pitchers. With Inge you can easily tell when it happens. He gets this huge uppercut to his swing and either hits it 450 feet or whiffs.
Cabrera is the closest thing in baseball to Albert Pujols. There's nobody else in the game who can hit with power to all parts of the park while maintaining the ability to hit for a good average. If Detroit stays in the race, he will be the frontrunner for MVP coming down the stretch.
Edit: Even if they don't stay in the race, he could still win it....he's going to drive in at least 130 this year, book it.
April 26th, 2010 at 10:41 PM ^
In the ninth inning proves that, even with the whole dontrelle willis thing, he was worth the trade.
As I type this brandon also hits a homer.
April 26th, 2010 at 10:44 PM ^
Even Lard Laird is hitting his weight! Too bad he couldn't quite leg out that triple...
April 26th, 2010 at 11:00 PM ^
You gotta love the "run til you're out" school of thought. Seriously, whatever he thinks his 40 time is, I give it five FAKES out of five.
April 26th, 2010 at 10:51 PM ^
Valverde shuts the door! Tough win for the Tigers, the bullpen really fell apart but clutch hitting did the job.
April 26th, 2010 at 10:54 PM ^
You know the Texas lineup is really good, right? Maybe the bullpen didn't fall apart, but the rangers do what they do best, hit the snot out of the ball.
April 26th, 2010 at 11:06 PM ^
Seeing as how valverde is part of the bull pen. I wouldnt say that it really fell apart.
April 26th, 2010 at 11:15 PM ^
and a 4-4 split with the angels and rangers is certainly a step in the right direction when you look at how God-awful we've been out there.
April 26th, 2010 at 11:31 PM ^
Can you just go ahead and get banned already? I get the feeling that you are just trying to piss people off. Can you give me on single reason why the Tigers have been playing 'god awful'?
April 26th, 2010 at 11:52 PM ^
but the starting pitching has been somewhere between below-average and horrid. Verlander needed 125 to get through 5 the other night, and Bonderman nearly gave away a 6-1 lead tonight. Porcello has an ERA over 7. Only Scherzer has pitched with any kind of consistency this season in the rotation. Dontrelle is a crapshoot until further notice, or until he throws one over the Hockeytown Cafe on a 1-2 count and removes all doubt. Our bullpen has been our saving grace from a pitching standpoint, but they've got to get some help from our front 5.
Now, there are some holes in the bottom of the lineup (looking squarely at Gump Laird and his sparkling .140 average and his getting thrown out at 3rd to end the 9th tonight), but good grief, if Cabrera is going to do this all summer, we might be able to hang on until someone down there learns which end of the bat to hold properly.
April 26th, 2010 at 11:49 PM ^
The one thing that really intrigues me about this Tigers team is that they seem more patient at the plate. They seem to be making pitchers really work to make good pitches this year rather than hacking away at the first thing close.
Best OBP in baseball, even ahead of the Yankees. The more patient at the plate, the quicker you can get into the bullpen and wreak some havoc. It'd be nice if they could hit for more power (11 homers, almost last in the majors), but if they keep putting it in the gaps the runs will continue.