You know the drill: Send us questions, we answer them in the BYB podcast!
by BigAl on Oct 14, 2011 7:01 AM EDT
in Detroit Tigers Podcasts
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PrintToday's a badly needed and much appreciated off day in the Tigers - Rangers ALCS. The editorial staff wants to take advantage of the break in action to knock out this week's Bless You Boys Podcast. It's not as if there's much to talk about, right?
Though we won't be struggling for topics to discuss, we still need you help in putting together a podcast. Which is another way of saying, it's question time!
So you know what to do! Fire off your questions, and we'll do our damnedest to answer them in the podcast.
We do have one request. Please do your best to keep your questions on topic, specifically to the ALCS, World Series and the MLB playoffs in general. We know you love to talk about possible off season moves. So do we. But we'll have all kinds of time to cover the Tigers' strategy for 2012 after the playoffs end....which we hope won't be for a few more weeks.
Remember, there are several ways to submit a question to the BYB Podcast.
You can email your question to: BYBPodcast at Gmail.com. Please mention your BYB handle in your message so the community knows who to blame!
Don't want to mess with email? The easiest way to get involved is to leave your question in the comments of this post.
Aren't registered to comment at BYB? Even though you should be, you can still reach us on Twitter, where the all the cool kids are making fun of Tim McCarver! Send us your question as an @ reply to our Twitter account, @BlessYouBoys.
Aren't on Twitter? Like everyone else in the universe, we're on Facebook too!
We'll do our best to get to as many of your questions as humanly possible. Your questions are a big reason why the BYB Podcast has been so successful! We very much appreciate your help!
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Put on your MLive hats for a moment...
If (and I repeat: if) the Tigers lose this series, whose fault is it?
If I have to single out one player, it would be Victor Martinez. We’ve seen all year how great he has been hitting behind Miggy, but he’s been slumping like crazy in the postseason. His postseason average is down to .194 due to the fact that he only has three hits in the ALCS. His lack of production has really hurt the offense and is part of the reason why we’re looking at this deficit.
He's still getting on base at a reasonable clip (.318)
The guys behind him aren’t hitting very well when he’s there. Peralta and Avila need to drive him home. Or…perhaps the revamped lineup should have VMart in front of Cabrera so we can take advantage of his OBP. The best guy to protect Cabrera right now is, gulp, Raburn.
The other sports are just sports. Baseball is a love. ~Bryant Gumbel, 1981
I agree that the guys behind him are struggling too
But like you said, Martinez isn’t protecting Cabrera and, thus, Texas has mostly been pitching around him. It’s a similar situation to the 2nd half of 2010.
by Rob Rogacki on Oct 14, 2011 10:42 AM EDT up reply actions
ummm...
if we lose the series it is the texas rangers’ fault. coz they’re pretty damn good.
this has been GREAT baseball. every single game could have gone either way (though the two we won were A BIT more comfortable).
Victor is playing hurt, with the utmost class, has had quality at bats, and been unlucky at times with balls he has put in play. Let’s not play the blame game now. Let’s enjoy the series.
by situationalbuntingapologist on Oct 14, 2011 10:42 AM EDT up reply actions
You must be new here
Victor is playing hurt, with the utmost class, has had quality at bats, and been unlucky at times with balls he has put in play. Let’s not play the blame game now. Let’s enjoy the series.
It’s just a podcast question. The show tends to get pretty boring if we act like everything is puppy dogs and ice cream in regards to the lineup. Asking Kurt, Al and David who they think has stunk up the joint during this series isn’t the same blame game that you’re insinuating.
by Rob Rogacki on Oct 14, 2011 11:05 AM EDT up reply actions
What Rob said!
If he wasn’t doing such crazy things as going to school this afternoon, he’d bring it up on the podcast himself…
I'm owner/editor of The Wayne Fontes Experience a deputy editor at Bless You Boys, host the Bless You Boys Podcast and co-host The Knee Jerks podcast.
I'm debating skipping class, if that means anything
by Rob Rogacki on Oct 14, 2011 11:19 AM EDT up reply actions
Gotta do it
Priorities, man, priorities
I don't care what the Chinese say, 2011 is the Year of the Tiger!
sure, it's not all puppy dogs and ice cream
our tigers HAVE made mistakes during this series. some players HAVEN’T performed as well as we hoped. so yes, yr podcast question is legitimate and i’m intrigued to hear the gang’s answer. sorry if my response was breaching some unwritten BYB code.
however, all that said, i’m just tired of the negativity. in a lot of ways, your question feels like a fucking new york yankee fan’s question to me. it’s the question of someone who assumes we should be in the playoffs every year and that winning/losing revolves entirely around US (while discrediting the teams on the other side).
i make this comment because i have watched years of baseball from that cynical perspective (asking and answering who lost us THAT game? / or why didn’t we make the playoffs this year?), and i have found that it gets in the way of enjoying my tigers. i still pop a xanax or two during the games, but being successful… and two games away from the world series should be exciting. it’s what we dream for every year. but if you’re ready to consider finger-pointing before we even lose, then that’s yr prerogative.
by situationalbuntingapologist on Oct 14, 2011 5:22 PM EDT up reply actions
Like I said, you must be new here
When I say “put on your MLive hats,” it’s a general sign that the question/statement to come isn’t to be taken very seriously. There’s a big difference between pointing out negative spots in the lineup and expecting to lose the series.
Instead of continuing this debate further (which is feeling mostly like banging my head against the wall at this point), just listen to the podcast when Al puts it up.
oh... i missed the mlive reference
my bad, i am new.
by situationalbuntingapologist on Oct 14, 2011 5:49 PM EDT up reply actions
No fault
That’s like asking whose fault it was that the Tigers didn’t win the division in 2009. When you come that close, you can point to any one of a multitude of things that were “the reason” that they lost, and you might be technically correct.
If I had to single out one thing that has hurt the Tigers in this series, it is the failure to capitalize when they’ve had the Rangers’ starting pitchers on the ropes. When you get to their bullpen, I think that the lion’s share of the equation is just the effectiveness of their pitchers. Not the case early with their starting pitchers. The Rangers haven’t gotten a quality start out of their rotation yet. The Tigers have put runners on, but have not brought them home.
Secondary on the guilt list are the middle relievers. Not just the job that they’ve done, but the fact that they can’t be counted on, which has caused over reliance on Valverde and Benoit. If Leyland had anything close to the arsenal that the Rangers have in their pen, we wouldn’t have seen a worn down Valverde giving up runs in the 11th inning. Perry’s performance in the first 11 inning loss was pathetic. He was throwing batting practice out there. Al Al wasn’t much better, while Schereth and Penny are nightmares waiting to happen.
I can’t scapegoat any one player. Avila has been the most useless at the plate. Just an automatic out, and I do have sympathy for what he’s done for us this season. It’s almost painful watching him go through the motions and was heart warming to see him hit one out. But there’s plenty of “blame” to go around. AJax, Peralta and Victor have all been in a slump.
I don't care what the Chinese say, 2011 is the Year of the Tiger!
I would ask if they think anything can/should be done with Ajax
He isn’t just slumping. He looks absolutely defeated at the plate. But he is still an excellent CF, and we don’t really have anyone else who can play there. So what do the experts think? Should we at least be pinch hitting for him in late game clutch situations?
For Ernie. For.Sparky. For Magglio. For ME
Long time / first time blah blah blah
All hail Kurt.
Do you think the tenor of the series has changed after the Cruz stare down and the “good” bounces the Tigers got last game? It has seemed like a love-fest with tons of respect between both the teams, but do these next games get a touch “angry” in the Texas twilight?
I don't know much about payroll and stuff...
But with Maggs possibly (probably) being done and Guillen(?), what are the chances the Tigers try to chase someone like CC, should he opt out, or CJ Wilson in the offseason? Think of the rotation with JV, Fister, Scherzer, CC/CJ and Porcello. Maybe the best in baseball, with Benoit and Valverde on the back end.
If not a starter, who do you think would be the biggest target for the Tigers in the offseason?
We do have one request. Please do your best to keep your questions on topic, specifically to the ALCS, World Series and the MLB playoffs in general.
by Kurt Mensching on Oct 14, 2011 10:23 AM EDT up reply actions
And to answer the question, the chances are less than nil.
I'm owner/editor of The Wayne Fontes Experience a deputy editor at Bless You Boys, host the Bless You Boys Podcast and co-host The Knee Jerks podcast.
Will Keith-Allen ever admit he was wrong...
…about pitching to Cruz in game 2 when we were up 3-2 in the 7th?
Baseball is like a poker game, nobody wants to quit when he's losing: nobody wants you to quit when you're ahead. ~Jackie Robinson
by LittleLeagueTiger on Oct 14, 2011 10:36 AM EDT reply actions
Or about saying Avila should DH?
Sorry Keith…just giving you some junk. I love reading your comments.
The other sports are just sports. Baseball is a love. ~Bryant Gumbel, 1981
Now you guys are taking me out of context
That was only IF, (BIG IF), VMart couldn’t play or DH and Delmon Young was still hurt. Who are you going to DH then? Danny Worth? Betemit?
Porcello
That kid’s got a stick.
Actually, I would use Dirks before Avila as a DH right now.
The other sports are just sports. Baseball is a love. ~Bryant Gumbel, 1981
Depends who is pitching
I might DH Delmon- his injury was supposed to be more of a problem throwing than hitting. If he can’t play and Victor can’t play, that’s a pretty long list of unavailable players, but you’re going to wind up with more lefties in the lineup even if a LHP is on the mound. Dirks did okay vs LHP’s. Kelly didn’t.
I don't care what the Chinese say, 2011 is the Year of the Tiger!
good question
Nelson Cruz has a lower career batting average than Austin Jackson. .270 vs .271. So why would I ever want to walk someone like Cruz? Especially when there are no outs.
All the homers
But yeah, you’re right.
"You, on the other hand, make Eeyore look like Rainbow Brite." -johnmoz
"I think of you more as the blue book style essay of sports journalism."-Kurt Mensching
Contributor, Bless You Boys
by David Tokarz on Oct 14, 2011 5:31 PM EDT up reply actions
I would not have walked Cruz
and not because of his batting average. Just don’t give him a meatball to hit. If you’re going to put him on, though, keep the pitch count down and do it with a single pitch to the ribs.
I don't care what the Chinese say, 2011 is the Year of the Tiger!
here's my question:
should the tigers start giving nelson cruz the same treatment that opposing pitchers give cabrera? in other words, wouldn’t it be better to simply put him on (or, at the very least pitch around him) than let him see another fastball for the rest of the series? he is their #7 hitter after all… so it’s not like the guys coming up after him scare me. but cruz? he scares the bee-jeezus out of me. he is en fuego this series.
[looks like my question is related to LittleLeagueTiger’s :)… I was just a bit slower on the draw…]
by situationalbuntingapologist on Oct 14, 2011 10:37 AM EDT reply actions
Realistically, what odds do you guys think the Tigers have to pull this thing (the ALCS) out?
Also, it seems like there are a couple black holes on the roster— guys Jim Leyland just will not, or is very resistant to trot out. Do you think this has had or will have any effect on Detroit’s uphill battle?
hint: someone just has to use the words sample size
and david will talk for so long al and i can grab lunch and something cold to drink in the middle of the podcast.
by Kurt Mensching on Oct 14, 2011 11:07 AM EDT reply actions
I volunteer!
Also: how awful is the fact Brad Penny is wasting a roster spot and when can is it appropriate to start to laugh at possible mishaps befalling the Rangers?
I have a grand idea: let's win a game.
Brad Penny isn't wasting a roster spot
Who do you put on the team in his place?
by Rob Rogacki on Oct 14, 2011 11:16 AM EDT up reply actions
He is if he's never actually used.
Below would take the spot.
I have a grand idea: let's win a game.
Okay, Duane and Turner!
They can replace The ALASKA BB-SIN and Penny.
I have a grand idea: let's win a game.
At this point, Pauley may not be much
but I believe that if he gets some work instead of those prized young guns like Perry and Schlereth, Pauley can be a valuable addition to the pen. That trade gets even better at that point.
I don't care what the Chinese say, 2011 is the Year of the Tiger!
If Magglio is indeed done as a Tiger
how do you think he will be remembered (outside of THE home run of course)? Or is that all people will remember about him?
by Anthony Steven Lewis on Oct 14, 2011 11:16 AM EDT reply actions
I think it will definitely be the fondest memory that most have
I view Maggs as one of the biggest reasons that the Tigers are relevant again. The Tigers took a chance on him after he was injured and he paid them back with some of the best seasons of his career.
by Rob Rogacki on Oct 14, 2011 11:21 AM EDT up reply actions
that was euphoria
Like Northrup’s triple off Bob Gibson in the seventh inning of game seven in 1968.
I don't care what the Chinese say, 2011 is the Year of the Tiger!
We'll be recording shortly w/Kurt, Rob, David and myself!
Thanks to everyone who submitted questions!
I'm owner/editor of The Wayne Fontes Experience a deputy editor at Bless You Boys, host the Bless You Boys Podcast and co-host The Knee Jerks podcast.
Most likely too late, but here goes anyway.
“Jackson can’t run it down” has been said more by TV play-by-play guys in the post season than in the entirety of the regular season.
It has been surprising(dreadfully so), how many batted balls have gotten over his head.
Are the Tigers having him play more shallow? Is his first step misdirected because he is choking? Is he taking his 4 Ks out to the field with him? Or have the Rangers just been lucky enough to hit it in the exact spots that no one could run down?
Justin can now let the fungus grow back on his shower shoes.
I think the Rangers have absolutely blistered most of them
Goes back to what some other people have said, those Rangers are actually very good.
The other sports are just sports. Baseball is a love. ~Bryant Gumbel, 1981
It's the hitters he is facing.
More balls are being hit to that location than during the regular season. The Rangers have had amazing luck, IMO, in their fly balls finding the gaps this entire series.
I don't care what the Chinese say, 2011 is the Year of the Tiger!
Because Buck and McCarver are so intelligent.
I don't care what the Chinese say, 2011 is the Year of the Tiger!
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