Tigers take care of business, 2-1, while the ChiSox are losing in the 9th inning. If that holds, the Tigers need just one win in Kansas City (or one more Sox loss) to clinch.
Cabrera goes hitless but still has a slim lead in batting average and is tied for the HR lead. For RBI, he's comfortably ahead.
(Insert stupid comment about
Borges must be White Sox
Borges must be White Sox offensive coordinator. HALOL LULZ
He still needs to go. The
He still needs to go. The tigers are winning despite Leylands mismanagement.
I have never seen analysis
I have never seen analysis that shows that. While I personally don't know if I would re-hire or fire Leyland if I was the GM, that decision would be based on a gut reaction and not a statistical conclusion.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/cliff_corcoran/08/26/manag...
Are you a park ranger at Yellowstone? Say hi to Yogi Bear for me. - the_big_house 500th
I may not be a 70 year old man. - Herm
Having deja vu...
from a few years back when the Tigers needed just one win againt the Royals at the end of the year and got swept....
Shut up.
Shut up.
Michigan: 903–315–36 (Best in NCAA)
vs Ohio State: 58-44-6
vs Notre Dame: 23-16-1
vs MSU: 68-32-5
vs B1G: 522-197-24
vs SEC: 20-8-1
vs PAC 12: 48-24-1
vs Big 12: 10-5-1<
Yeah, for some reason I feel
Yeah, for some reason I feel uneasy about that series. On the bright side, the White Sox seem to be doing their best to help out.
Only in this case, the Tigers
Only in this case, the Tigers aren't in a race with a white hot twins team. The white sox are not going to sweep their last series, they are struggling.
Are you a park ranger at Yellowstone? Say hi to Yogi Bear for me. - the_big_house 500th
I may not be a 70 year old man. - Herm
Tigers offense against
Tigers offense against mediocre pitching is ugly to watch but somehow they got it done and Anibal looks fairly locked in as we head into the last series. I'm pretty sure Prince knocked off Dirks arms after that bomb too.
Blank.....Blank......You're not looking at the big picture here.
Dave Dombrowski has done a
Dave Dombrowski has done a great job last two seasons keeping Tigers atop the AL Central. Fielder in the off-season, Sanchez and Infante via trade, and the trade for Fister last season helped put the Tigers over the top.
Indeed
also the Granderson trade is looking better and better, though I'm still a little bitter about that one.
If you remove the
If you remove the personalities of the players from that trade, we ripped everyone off (mostly Arizona however)
Are you a park ranger at Yellowstone? Say hi to Yogi Bear for me. - the_big_house 500th
I may not be a 70 year old man. - Herm
I think it was a win for all
I think it was a win for all teams. I think we won the most as we got two possible long term starters in Jackson and Scherzer and got rid of possible costly contracts in the future in Granderson and Jackson, but Kennedy was pretty good for the D-Backs last year and the Yanks got a ready-to-go CF tailor-made for their ballpark instead of waiting to see what Ajax would become.
Granderson
He is regressing. His power numbers are still there but he is becoming an all-or-nothing type, and his defense is average at best now.
Curtis is obviously a great guy, but I'll take Jackson.
"The difference between a man and a boy is, a boy wants to grow up to be a fireman, but a man wants to grow up to be a giant monster fireman."
- Jack Handey
Yeah, he's putting up Rob
Yeah, he's putting up Rob Deer-like numbers now. .226 average/.315 OBP and 191 (!) strikeouts to go with his 40 HR.
world series champs
book it
www.eatacheeseburger.blogspot.com Brian Cook has read this blog!
Consider yourself booked
Consider yourself booked
Man ball. Formerly, somebody else.
Most evertything in the
Most evertything in the Tigers favor (3 game lead w/ 3 to go, how could it not be?), but the White Sox couldn't ask for a better rotation for the Tigers to put out these last three games. Porcello going game 1, Fister set for game 2 and Smyly going the final day (probably). Sox still gotta win their games, but I'm sure they're glad the Tigers two worst starters will pitch against KC (although it'd mean they'd probably face JV in the one-game playoff, but you just gotta hope you get there at this point).
Fista gonna get it done.
Fista gonna get it done.
I've never understood the way
I've never understood the way Ilitch has gone about owning the Tigers. Our pitching rotation for the first time feels like it's established, but ever since Comerica opened in 2000 until last year its felt like a revolving door filled with a bunch of question marks. I'll never understand why he built the most pitcher friendly park since the Polo Grounds then never took advantage of it. They've gone after high$ power hitters while pitching and defense had been largely ignored until recently. I thought 12 seasons ago that he would've pushed the team to have great defense, great pitching, and stealing bases and bunting while neglecting the long ball, and building through the draft, but they've done the exact opposite until recently. Even this season we have the biggest power hitters in the game, and Verlander, but we've spent almost the entire year on the outside of .500 looking in while the Rays keep playing the way I thought we would've this whole time. We feel like the Yankees and the Red Sox to me lately. Huge salaries, and very little to show for it in the playoffs.
How many times have you been on the freeway and had someone fly by you at 100 mph then end up 2 cars ahead of you at the off ramp? What's the point? -Mark Harmon
Well, they have drafted
Well, they have drafted pitchers in the first round almost every year. There is a school of thought that you should develop your pitchers and go after hitters through free agency, because free agent pitchers are considering somewhat riskier signings.
Remember they
moved the LF fence in after the first season. Comerica isn't quite the pitchers fortress it was when it opened, though still a good pitchers park.
Cabrera is pretty much a
Cabrera is pretty much a neutral park, it really doesn't favor pitchers.
While you bring up good
While you bring up good points, I do not think that building a team is as easy, nor as fast, as most people think. But first, the GM, in this case Dave Dombrowski, has built the team while Ilitch just cuts the checks.
First, let us assume a few things such as 1) pitchers peak earlier in their careers than hitters, 2) a players salary is primary a function of their age, 3) long contracts for better players is expected.
If those assumptions hold, it makes a lot of sense to draft/develop your own pitchers and trade/buy for hitters. By the time a pitcher is hitting free agency for the first time, you really have to worry about them being healthy by the end of the contract, while a hitter can go through at least one long contract after their first time as a free agent and really just be hitting their prime. Trading for pitchers is cool, as long as they are young, see Max, Doug and Anibal and their relatively young ages.
Now, I think DD has build a great starting rotation over the last few years and haw done as much as he can with the bullpen without breaking the bank. However, it takes years to go from the pile of crap the team was in 2000 to now. There has been a huge push to draft pitchers for the last decade and that is only now paying off. But, that means that we need to drop money for hitters since we aren't drafting them.
Finally, most advanced stats trend towards defense not playing a large factor in overall win lose record, compared to pitching and hitting. Personally, I am okay with DD not worried about the range of Fielder at first base, since his 30+ homeruns a year makes more of an impact on the final win/lose record than his errors at first base do.
I hope this post helps and doesn't come across as snarky. I just debate baseball a lot with friends and I hope to help.
PS. we do have something to show for it. We are going to make the playoffs this year, and the stress and strain of the regular season doesn't matter at this point. The team won the AL central, it doesn't matter if by 2 games or 20. Also, we should get back to back MVP's. That counts for a hell of a lot as well.
Are you a park ranger at Yellowstone? Say hi to Yogi Bear for me. - the_big_house 500th
I may not be a 70 year old man. - Herm
Home Wins
The Tigers have 50 wins at home this year which is most in baseball (tied w/Cincinnati). At this point in the season the goal was to be Central champions, which should happen barring something crazy happening. They have done what they were supposed to do, albeit with more drama than anyone would have liked. Anything can happen in the playoffs with a four or even three man rotation.
This has to have been the
This has to have been the biggest rollercoaster of a season ever. The fact that the Tigs are in shape to win the division is absolutely ridiculous.
It's amazing the Tigers are in this position
I stuck a fork in 'em two weeks ago, but I didn't think that Chicago would self-combust the way they have. Without the collapse of the Sox the Tigers probably wouldn't be in it, but they did what they had to do: win when it absolutely counted. Some of their wins have been ugly, but they've gotten the job done.
The fact that the Tigers will
The fact that the Tigers will likely win the worst division in baseball masks the fact that they have greatly underachieved in the regular season. Leyland waited until it was almost too late to consistently put his best lineup on the field and has made mind boggling roster decisions all year long. With that said, I'm not like others in rooting against the Tigers to get rid of Leyland and once the playoffs start it's a crap shoot as to who wins the WS. I love our rotation going in, but our offense and bullpen obviously have to step up a bit.
Hail to the Victors!
Tell that to the cardinals
Tell that to the cardinals last year and then flip it and explain it to the Yankees. Who cares. Making the playoffs in a sport that it actually matters that you made the playoffs is a reward.
All in for some manball.
Thank you for not giving any
Thank you for not giving any of the game details away in the title. You are a gentleman and a scholar.
Lets go
Here we go tigers , here we go.
Hail! to the Victors Valiant Hail!
(Insert stupid comment about Leyland here)
Oh wait, they won. Nevermind.
Are you a park ranger at Yellowstone? Say hi to Yogi Bear for me. - the_big_house 500th
I may not be a 70 year old man. - Herm