OT: Tigers vs Tribe, 7/26
Verlander's on the mound and he's dealing. AJax is 3-3 with an RBI and a run scored.
3-1 Tigers, bottom of the 6th.
How do you think Anibal will do in his Tigers debut?
Toronto can mash when they play north of the border. BUT they are missing Bautista and Arencibia, so that will help. Hopefully the guys give him plenty of run support Saturday.
The Tigers usually hit well in Toronto as well, unfortunately we miss Ricky Romero who has been an absolute train wreck for over a month( he's on my fantasy team, and it's brutal.) Rick, Anibal and Fister take the mound against Cecil, Alvarez, and Villaneuva I think. All 3 have control issues so hopefully the bats go crazy.
Just noticed Infante looks like a right handed Alex Avila in the batter box
I'm hoping he can just come in and be a so-so pitcher. Maybe 6 innings 3 earned? With JV being JV and Scherzer dealing we have a great 1-2 right now. Fister has been solid and Porcello (maybe, knocks on wood repeatedly) has figured it out a bit.
Hoping for an above average fifth starter. Which seems like it could be the case. From everything I've heard it sounds like he has the stuff.
Sanchez has good stuff, he's a lot like Scherzer but doesn't have the ceiling that Max does. Anibal is solid, and I'm not sure you can get much better as a 4th starter.
Yeah, if Sanchez is your No. 4, you've got a pretty solid rotation.
In other news. Damn it.
Double post.
I think a double post is in order given the two homeruns...ugh
This is all Leyland's fault... he should have designated him to Toledo 3 weeks ago.
WTF? Was that instant replay?
Sorry guys, I knew I shouldn't have created the thread. That said, I wasn't the one who told Verlander to put a fastball over the plate to Hafner.
Well I was going to give you a pass on the jinx, but that inning combined with Miguel hitting into a DP when you first posted pretty much confirms it.
Yep, probably the last time you see me start a Tigers thread.
Well shit.
Open thread DOOM! Come on JV, we should have more than 3 runs as well.
Watching Verlander give up massive homers back to back is like watching a heavy weight champ get rocked and knocked to the canvas. Stunning but at the same time mesmerizing
Wow, JV in line for the loss. And with our struggles against Pestano and Perez, blargh..
Don't worry, the Tribe doesn't have great bullpen depth, but the back end is fairly solid. Everyone struggles against Pestano and Perez.
JV...why
Verlander is just not as good as last season unfortunately. After tonight JV is likely 11-6; Last season JV went 24-5. So JV got a long way to go to reach last years WAR of 19. This season his WAR is hovering around 5 or 6
I believe his peripherals are almost identical to last season. He obviously doesn't have the W/L differential he did last year but without looking at fangraphs on my phone I'm pretty sure opponent BA and his K/9 are very similar to last year.
Edit: Fangraphs says he's the same pitcher, with less offense behind him like Danton has said.
http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=8700&position=P
I think wins is a pretty poor stat for baseball pitchers. If you compare his stats from last year to this year, you get an ERA of 2.42 vs. 2.4 a WHIP of 0.92 vs. 0.92 and a K/BB of 4.2 vs 4.4. Also, it seems like you don't remember that JV had an almost identical record (as well as stats) at this time last year before he went on to finish the year 12-0 (I don't recall what his WAR was at this time last year, but I'll assume it was near the 5.2 that he has now considering he finished at 8.2 going 12-0 down the stretch). As a side note, JV is also getting the lowest run support of all pitchers in the AL this year .
Dont know how much of that is on JV though. Take the first game of the year against boston. Bullpen blows the lead in the ninth. I believe he has 1 to 2 more games blown by bullpen. Then his 2-1 loss to Indians a month or so ago. Im curious as to what his run support is when he starts because he doesnt seem to get a whole lot
His run support was at 4.3 before tonight's loss
Dont know how much of that is on JV though. Take the first game of the year against boston. Bullpen blows the lead in the ninth. I believe he has 1 to 2 more games blown by bullpen. Then his 2-1 loss to Indians a month or so ago. Im curious as to what his run support is when he starts because he doesnt seem to get a whole lot
against Cleveland this year. The Tigers are clearly the superior team from a talent standpoint, but for what ever reason Cleveland seems to have their number this year. Kind of frustrating to be playing so well coming into this series, and let the series get away (if the score of this game doesn't change) when it easily could have been a sweep for the Tigers.
Oh well, hopefully they will rebound against Toronto and Boston.
This team makes my head asplode. No more santiago plz!!!
These open threads have just been killer.....
Baseball IQ is lacking with Quintin Berry, with Cabrera coming up you should be taking nearly every pitch. JV shat the bed in the 7th and its bound to happen from time to time, doesn't make it any less annoying but he is human. Tough loss, move on to Toronto.
Kate Upton may be the worst thing to happen to Tiger baseball this millennium
CLE pulls it out.
Haven't you Tigers fans learned not to start an open thread on a Tigers game when the game is already in progress?!
That being said, please continue to do so as my White Sox are once again in first place and are there to stay.
F the Sox and superstitions from 4th grade. Man up!