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Manager Davey Johnson of the Washington Nationals answers questions duirng the pre-game news conference before the Nationals take on the St. Louis Cardinals in Game Five of the National League Division Series at Nationals Park on October 12, 2012 in Washington, DC. (October 11, 2012 – Source: Patrick McDermott/Getty Images North America) NEW YORK (AP) [...]
(L-R) Prince Fielder #28 and Phil Coke #40 of the Detroit Tigers celebrate after they won 8-1 amongst their teammates against the New York Yankees during game four of the American League Championship Series at Comerica Park on October 18, 2012 in Detroit, Michigan. (October 17, 2012 – Source: Leon Halip/Getty Images North America) DETROIT [...]
The Detroit Tigers are running out of rope. Just when all seems right with the world, after a 3-game sweep of the division leading White Sox and with the Indians coming to town, this team, yet again, has found a way to disappoint. Faster than it takes Alex Avila to grow a beard (or kill a rally), the Tigers are seemingly grasping at straws for the umpteenth time this season.
When is it going to stop? Will it ever? Will the curtain close on the 2012 season with a feeling of complete embarrassment cast over this team and the still proud city of Detroit?
Conventional wisdom has persisted for much of the year – give this team more time and they will come together and overwhelm the AL Central. Well, here we are 5 months later still preaching the same sermon.
When the Tigers finished off the White Sox on Sunday night and grabbed a tie for 1st place, the writing seemed to be on the wall. The Tigers had been beating up on the AL Central most of the year and the horrible Cleveland Indians were up next for 3 games. The Tigers were in prime position for another September surge.
What they didn’t know is they were going to be facing Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling in the first two games of the series. Sorry, I read that wrong, apparently it wasn’t two Cy Young’esque pitchers, it was merely Corey Kluber and Justin Masterson.
Kluber entered the game with a 0-3 record and 5.16 ERA. He stifled the Tigers over 6 strong innings to snag game 1 for the Tribe. Up next was the 10-12 Masterson armed with his 4.91 ERA. No problem for Cleveland. 6 more riveting innings from an Indians starter and some more solid work out of the pen gave the series win to the Indians. The same team who was a pathetic 6-29 in their 35 games prior to this series. The same team who had no American League equal in terms of bad baseball in this season’s 2nd half. Yep, that team.
How can this continue to go on? We keep hearing the standard answers from Jim Leyland, because really, what else can he say? “That’s baseball” or “It is what it is” or “yes, he struggling, and we’re working through that” are starting to sound like hollow answers from a man without a plan.
I have not often rocked the Jim Leyland boat but he needs to find a way to inspire this baseball team. Even the best of the best can use a little kick in the pants from the coach.
It might not hurt to keep Delmon Young active during the best hot streak of his career. Yes, Masterson is tough on lefties, but Delmon can hit a good fastball and is incredibly locked in. To bench him in a game the Tigers needed to win last night seemed precarious. Was it really the move that gave the Tigers the greatest chance of winning?
[Follow me on Twitter @isportsJoe or subscribe to our Detroit Tigers Feed]
To bat Brennan Boesch 2nd, ever again, is pure error. Yes, he hit a triple that got the scoring started for the Tigers on Saturday night, but this guy is not a 2-hitter. He is not a table-setter. He had his chance and blew it early in the season. Give me Andy Dirks every day.
To bat Don Kelly 6th? I’m not sure what adjective best describes that move. He’s collected extra base hits in 3% of his at-bats this season but there he was in a run-producing slot last night. He did manage an infield single.
Leyland’s track record for picking his spots with fill-in players is actually pretty good but sometimes the creativity foils the greater good. The Tigers need wins now and for the next 30 days. Lots of them.
The Tigers know who their best players are. It’s time for these guys to rise to the occasion and play winning baseball. If Alex Avila faked his birth certificate and actually is 38 years old, as he appears to suddenly be, then put his old ass on the bench.
It’s time to win. Now.
Be sure to check out other great articles at isportsweb.
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Last Week: 5-1
This Week: at KC (8/28-30; CWS 8/31-9/2)
So, What Happened?
It’s what didn’t happen that was rather frustrating.
The Tigers had a fine 5-1 week at home, but lost ground in the standings, because what didn’t happen was a White Sox loss—not a single one. Chicago had a 6-0 week.
Even manager Jim Leyland appears to be scoreboard-watching.
“We have to try to figure some way to play better than the White Sox,” the skipper said after Sunday’s 5-2 win over the Angels. “They’ve been answering every bell so far.”
Indeed.
MMM isn’t panicked, because there are still about six weeks left in the season, and a 2.5 game lead isn’t very big at this stage, but a White Sox loss on occasion would be rather nice. They haven’t lost since being swept in Kansas City a week ago last weekend.
As for the Tigers, pitching was the key to just about every victory last week—that, and two-out hitting.
The offense wasn’t exactly prolific, but it was enough to support one solid start after the other from Tigers starters. Even rookie Drew Smyly got into the act, making a spot start for Doug Fister on Saturday and going six strong.
The Angels had been hot coming into Detroit, their offense humming. But Tigers pitching shut down rookie sensation Mike Trout and slugger Mark Trumbo. The Angels were without Albert Pujols, out with an injured calf.
The week began with a low-scoring three-game sweep of the reeling Toronto Blue Jays, a team ravaged by injury and with only five wins in their past 27 games. The third victory was an exciting 3-2 walk-off win in extras, thanks to pinch-runner Quintin Berry’s stolen base and race home on Alex Avila’s single.
The only loss of the week was a tough 2-1 decision Friday night, a game in which Ricky Porcello pitched well and only had one “bad” inning.
A 5-1 week ought to have produced a gain in the standings, but last week it didn’t. All the Tigers can do is keep pitching and winning and maybe the Chisox will hit a cool spell.
Oh, and Anibal Sanchez even had a good start, so have faith, Tiger Nation!
Hero of the Week
MMM believes that Jhonny Peralta delivered one of the biggest hits of the season on Saturday when he doubled home two runs in the eighth inning, with two outs, giving the Tigers a 4-3 lead on their way to a 5-3 win.
The White Sox were cruising to victory, as usual. The Tigers had fallen behind 3-0—thanks partially to Austin Jackson’s first error of the season—and were still trailing 3-2. A loss would have extended Chicago’s lead in the division to 3.5 games.
Two were out and earlier in the inning, Miguel Cabrera’s long drive to right center had been chased down by Torii Hunter. That appeared to be a bad omen.
Then Peralta struck, scoring Prince Fielder and Andy Dirks (from first base), and just like that, the Tigers were leading. Avila added an insurance run with a single, scoring Peralta.
Jhonny’s hit was huge.
MMM thinks it was huge enough to make him HotW, despite a week in which several Tigers chipped in to forge a 5-1 mark.
Honorable mention: Max Scherzer, who picked up two wins and keeps blowing hitters away, threatening to wrest the MLB strikeout crown from Justin Verlander.
Goat of the Week
It is with a heavy heart that MMM select fan favorite Austin Jackson as the GotW, but don’t worry—it’s mainly because it’s hard to find a Goat in a 5-1 week.
But AJ did go 0-13 in the Angels series, and his error (yes, first of the season, MMM gets that) could have put rookie Smyly on the ropes on Saturday. Regardless, the Tigers had to claw back thanks to Jackson’s dropped fly ball.
While MMM is nitpicking Jackson, he would be remiss if he failed to mention that Jackson was batting at a .332 clip at the All-Star break, and is at. 302 now. That’s a 30-point drop, and while not catastrophic, it’s something that MMM feels you need to remember.
It’s not enough, right now, to put Jackson UtM, but a 30-point drop in six weeks is a cause for concern, wouldn’t you agree?
Under the Microscope
If you thought that MMM had a tough time naming AJ the Goat, that’s nothing compared to placing Miguel Cabrera Under the Microscope. Actually, it’s Miggy’s right ankle that’s under the scope.
Cabrera’s bum ankle caused him to miss a game on Sunday—his first in about a year—and forced manager Jim Leyland to DH Cabrera the previous two games. This, after Miggy was pulled from Thursday’s game in the second inning.
MMM wasn’t crazy about Miggy’s gait in the two games he played after being pulled, and thus wasn’t shocked when Leyland scratched him from Sunday’s game. Monday’s off day gives Cabrera two days off in a row, essentially.
MMM thinks Cabrera’s ankle bears scrutiny because this is an MVP candidate and if he tweaks it and has to miss any significant time…
No need to finish that sentence.
Yes, Cabrera is a gamer and yes, he’s never been on the disabled list in his 10-year (yes, 10 years) career. MMM gets that. And MMM knows that being hurt isn’t the same as being injured. That said, Cabrera goes UtM anyway because he’s just too damn valuable to mess around with.
Upcoming: Royals, White Sox
“Spoiler” is a double-edged word. You really don’t want to be one, nor do you want to be the victim of one.
The Tigers play a spoiler this week—the Kansas City Royals. The same Royals team who swept the White Sox out of Missouri a couple weekends back.
The Royals, as usual, are out of the race. They have, as usual, a young and somewhat talented roster that hasn’t jelled yet. And they, as usual, are in a position to mess up a playoff contender’s plans.
The Tigers can’t afford to look past the Royals and set their sights on the White Sox, who come to town for the weekend.
The Royals are either feast or famine, it seems, when you play them. You either sweep them, or get swept. They laid a licking on the White Sox with a combo of good pitching and timely hitting. But then they can look so awful just one day later.
MMM wants 2-of-3 in KC. The pitchers: Sanchez, Justin Verlander (only 12 wins despite an ERA of around 2.50), and Porcello.
On Friday, the White Sox come calling—the Tigers’ last shot at them in Detroit this season (barring a playoff matchup).
Just like the Tigers of 2011, this year’s White Sox are getting career years from secondary players like Alex Rios and AJ Pierzynski, to support the Paul Konerkos and Adam Dunns of the world. Role players like Gordon Beckham and Tyler Flowers have chipped in with key hits recently.
Lefty rookie starter Chris Sale has been lights out, though with a 2.79 ERA in 71 IP last year, he definitely showed some promise in 2011 so this year’s season shouldn’t be a total shocker.
MMM doesn’t have to tell you how important the series against Chicago is, though the division will not be decided based on it. Repeat: WILL…NOT. No series on Labor Day weekend has the ability to win a division when the distance between two teams is as short as that between the Tigers and the White Sox.
Tigers pitchers: Fister or Smyly, Scherzer, Sanchez. If it’s Smyly on Friday, all three Tigers starters’ last names will start with S.
S, for Sweep?
Sorry.
That’s all for this week’s MMM. See you next week!
By: Greg Eno
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Russell Martin, a good baseball player having a bad year, almost poisoned the Tigers earlier this week.
Martin, the New York Yankees catcher, is hitting below .200 for the season—well below his career mark (going into this year) of .272. But despite his failure to get a hit rate of over 80 percent, Martin shot the hearts of Tigers fans into their throats on Tuesday night.
It was the ninth inning, the Tigers clinging to a 6-4 lead, and closer Jose Valverde was having one of those ninth innings that all closers sometimes have—the kind where he leads the fans, like a demented pied piper, to the gates of Hell and back again.
Valverde was as wobbly as a punch-drunk prize fighter. And even the weak-hitting Martin wasn’t an antidote.
With runners on first and second and two outs, a run already in, Martin laced a Valverde fastball deep into the left-field corner. For sure, it was a double; the only question was: Would the hit score both runners and tie the game?
Raul Ibanez scored easily from second base. Chugging around second and heading for third at full speed was the recently acquired, future Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki.
Would Ichiro round third and dare try to score the tying run?
He would have, without question, had it not been for one very well-timed defensive replacement.
Quintin Berry, so fleet of foot, had been sent to play left field in the eighth inning by manager Jim Leyland, bumping the competent but slightly slower Andy Dirks over to right field.
And it was because Berry, not Dirks, was the one who raced to field Martin’s double, that Ichiro was unable or unwilling to try for home plate.
Even the fact that Berry is left-handed, which meant he’d have to turn his body after scooping up the baseball before throwing it, didn’t sway Ichiro toward going for it.
Even though there were two outs, and baseball axioms say that making the final out of the game at home plate in a one-run contest is not without honor, Ichiro still wasn’t convinced to lower his head and try to score the tying run.
All because the sprinting Berry was upon Martin’s batted ball as if he was wearing a red cape and a big “S” on his chest—for Speed.
Ichiro stayed at third base. The score stayed 6-5. And that’s where both stayed after Valverde managed to strike out the next batter—Curtis Granderson, the kewpie doll center fielder for the Yankees, who still makes the women swoon in Detroit.
After the game, the dunderheads who call into the sports talk radio shows lit up the switchboard with venom.
The Tigers had won a big game over the vaunted Yankees—two in a row to open the four-game series—and better yet, they kept the pressure on the first-place Chicago White Sox.
You wouldn’t know it by the cranks with their cell phones.
The Tigers won, but it was all about Leyland—as usual.
A baseball season allows for Monday morning quarterbacking 162 times a year—and more if your team gets into the playoffs. It’s part of the fun—I get that.
But sometimes, those calling into the talk shows ought to press their phone’s mute button before opening their mouths. They’d save themselves some embarrassment.
The Tigers won Tuesday, and right away the callers to the postgame show on 97.1 The Ticket started laying into Leyland.
Why didn’t Leyland leave Octavio Dotel, who pitched a perfect eighth inning, in for the ninth inning? Why does he keep using Valverde at all, for that matter? The Tigers won despite Leyland! Why is Leyland even around to make these decisions to begin with?
And so on.
I listened to the drivel for about 30 minutes and not once did a caller chime in and say, “Thank goodness Leyland put Berry in the game! If not, Ichiro would have scored and maybe the Tigers would have lost!”
Heaven forbid someone give the skipper some credit.
It may have been Managing 101 to some, to insert the lightning-quick Berry into the game as a late-inning defensive replacement, but Leyland did it and it worked, no matter how elementary of a decision some may think it was—and upon further review, it wasn’t all that elementary.
Because, with someone like Dirks, who’s not a slow poke, already playing left field, some managers might have stayed with the status quo. They may have figured they had enough speed and range out there with a player of Dirks’ caliber. Berry might have been on the bench instead of chasing down Martin’s double.
Yet there was Quintin Berry, bless his jackrabbit soul, pouncing on Martin’s hit and doing it so fast that Ichiro, another non-slowpoke, was forced to remain at third base.
The decision to put Berry into the game kept the tying run 90 feet from home plate. It was instinctive, thinking-ahead managing at its best.
But again, not if you listened to the blowhards talking into their cell phones after the game.
Leyland is fired everyday in Detroit. The fans have been firing him for years. He was fired even last year, when the Tigers ran away with their division with a second-half blitzkrieg that folks (like me) had been bitching hadn’t occurred in the Leyland Era prior to 2011.
There’s a Facebook page devoted to firing Leyland. Entire blogs exist with firing Leyland as their theme.
Few of the wannabe Leyland executioners have any replacements in mind, but that’s another column for another day.
To the manager’s credit, Leyland not only doesn’t mind the monotonous second-guessing, he actually seems to like it.
Speaking to Mike Stone on The Ticket Thursday morning, Leyland said, “We’re in a pennant race. Everyone’s into it. Everyone’s a manager. I think that’s great, I really do. I have no problem with that whatsoever.”
Leyland knows, too, that the second-guessing is only going to get worse and more pervasive—and, in a lot of cases, more asinine, as the race heats up down the stretch.
Another longtime baseball manager once summed up second-guessers thusly.
“A second guesser,” legendary Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda once said, “is someone who needs two guesses to get it right.”
Leyland needed just one guess Tuesday night with Quintin Berry. It’s one reason why Leyland has 1,649 big league wins—and counting—as a manager. And not one of those 1,649 wins came with the crutch of a second guess.
by Greg Eno
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