Justin Verlander wins No. 19 as Tigers streak reaches 4
by Kurt Mensching on Aug 22, 2011 11:05 PM EDT
in Detroit Tigers News
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KEY STATS
5.5 -- The Tigers have their biggest lead in the division this year. Chicago and Cleveland are now tied, by the way.
1 R, 3H, 7 IP -- Justin Verlander again looked like his pitch count was getting a bit high, but he bridged the gap to the late innings and worked his way through several situations that would scare you if anyone but Verlander were on the mound. Also: That run he gave up was to the leadoff batter, Matt Joyce
KEY PLAY
Jhonny Peralta single scores two runs in the seventh, giving Detroit a more comfortable 4-1 lead. (Don Kelly extended it with a HR in the ninth.)
KEY THOUGHTS
Man, 5.5 games up in the division certainly feels cozier than the 1.5 games the Tigers led by just four days ago. For the past six weeks we've been waiting for the team to take the bull by the horns, and it certainly did. Detroit is now 11 games over .500 as well, a season high.
Still, the quicker the Tigers get through this series, the better. It's not like the Rays sneak up on you. They're a good team with a good rotation. They can't sneak up. But the series was four games sandwiched between an emotional series with the Indians and a trip to Minnesota. it's probably the hardest team left on Detroit's schedule. Getting out of town at 2-2 would certainly be good for the Tigers.
Thankfully, Justin Verlander took the mound today rather than Sunday. That meant Detroit had a great opportunity to start the series on the right foot. Even though they trailed 1-0 after Matt Joyce homered for Tampa Bay to lead off the bottom of the first, you could feel pretty secure in the knowledge JV would give his team a chance to win. Well, he didn't allow another run and pitched seven innings. Wins may be an over-rated stat, but Verlander certainly earned his.
Meanwhile Alex Avila has really earned a day off. Hopefully he gets it before October. Avila gave Detroit the 2-1 lead with a home run in the second -- his 15th of the year. Then he gave us all a good scare in the bottom half of the inning when he took a baseball off his neck while catching. But of course, being Alex Avila that was no big deal. He stayed in the game like nothing happened. A baseball to the neck. The man is not human.
Finally, I wasn't real keen on Jose Valverde pitching in the ninth in a non-save situation. But he was already warmed up, so I'm not surprised. Blame Don Kelly for hitting a home run in the top of the ninth and making it a four-run lead. But due to the decision and Valverde's ineffectiveness, he won't pitch Tuesday. Neither will Joaquin Benoit.
But Victor Martinez (scratched late for back spasms) should be able to play.
SITE NEWS
I'll be out of town the rest of the week enjoying a little camping respite on the beach. (Think sunny weather thoughts, thanks.) Big Al, Alli, Rob and the gang will keep you up to date while I'm gone.
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Man crush dilemma...
Justin Verlander has been firmly entrenched for some time as my man crush…but Alex is seriously vying for my affections.
Obviously
they need to create a love child…a superironman who can pitch and catch at the same time
God ain't got no use for a 180 lb bag of sugar.
They need Elastigirl in a threesome . . .
. . . so that their progeny would be able to stand on the mound and reach behind the plate to catch his own pitch.
Nice win
I hope someone throws those save vs. non-save situation splits with Valverde on Jimmy’s desk sometime soon. I kinda thought he would have put that idea away by now.
Fan of the Detroit Tigers, Lions and Red Wings.
2 Ex-Tigers
Casper wells had a hit and scored one of Seattle’s 3 runs and Chance Ruffin got the win over Cleveland. I guess if you’re going to trade good players, you hope they still beat up your enemies.
No
When you trade good PROSPECTS you hope you improve your team with proven commodities. The tigers are much better with Fister as a starter and Below in the pen. What Wells and Ruffin do now is irrelevant. There are countless factors in there current success that may not have been constant in Detroit (playing time, pressures of being a playoff contender, etc).
That rug really tied the room together.
by Motown514 on Aug 23, 2011 1:55 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions 1 recs
Yes it's nice they helped beat cleveland
But it’s ridiculous that people track their stay lines every day and post them when they ate good. Casper went 0-4 the. Other day but nobody commented on it. Matt Joyce hit a home run off JV today…why isn’t anyone lamenting letting him go? Do I wish we still had Jurrjens? Sure. But we don’t, so let’s move on please.
That rug really tied the room together.
by Motown514 on Aug 23, 2011 2:01 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions 7 recs
They're really good
At ignoring Furbush’s bad starts. But boy do they come in droves the second Furbush pitches decently.
All too funny.
And they love to ignore that...
Joyce did NOTHING in 2009 or 1st half of 2010, and while he had a fabulous 1st 2 months of the season, he is hitting somewhere around .185 since June 1st. Can imagine the Leyland/DD haters if we had Joyce on the roster for all of 2009 and 2010?
Before last night, Jurrjens had an ERA approaching 7 in the 2nd half and while he threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings vs. the Cubs last night, he gave up 8 hits and 5 BB. Against a semi-adequate offense, he would have given up 5 or 6 runs.
by davking1980 on Aug 23, 2011 10:20 AM EDT up reply actions
Yep. Jurrjens had a very lucky 1st half of the season.
His BABIP was ridiculously low. I rode his luck to some good fantasy win totals, but he was/is due for a falling off. Which has happened the last few weeks.
Drink, and Drink, and Drink, and Drink, and Drink, and Drink, and Fight!
by Brand New Hero on Aug 23, 2011 10:22 AM EDT up reply actions
And Fister has won two games for Detroit.
Pauley isn’t gangbusters but the price of getting a cost controlled starter with decent stuff is high and Dombrowski actually didn’t pay through the nose for Fister. Seattle has a surplus of pitchers coming up.
You’ll need to let it go. Stop obsessing over players that were traded. Think about this: Peralta (Ex-Cleveland), Scherzer (Ex-Diamondback), Valverde (Ex-Astro), Martinez (Ex-Cleveland, Ex-Red Sox), Cabrera (Ex-Marlin) and the list goes on. Players move. Get over it.
I have a grand idea: let's win a game.
when you trade players and prospects who don't fit with your own plans
You hope that your team is better after the trade (I like Fister in the rotation) and also that the other team gets something that will help them, because ideally trades help both teams.
I’m glad that Casper and Ruffin are both doing well because I like them and want them to succeed, but I’m not pining for them to be back with the Tigers. (Beating up on Cleveland is a nice bonus, though.) :D
Random nonsense at @Baroque97
Honest, I'm completely harmless. I make up in ALL CAPS and creative threats what I lack in actual violence.
"It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time." --Sir Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965)
by Baroque on Aug 23, 2011 6:15 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
I don't second guess those trades of prospects
but I do follow those who are now on other teams. Their success demonstrates that the tigers farm system is not so decrepit anymore. The better Joyce, Jurjens, Wells, et al do, the more highly tiger prospects are valued and the more advantageous trades can be made.
We keep pushing forward
I was a little worried about the Rays sweeping this series, so I’m glad we prevented that from happening. Leyland double down and won both hands when he saved Verlander for this game.
Another important thing we learned from this game
Mario & Rod think farting is hilarious
"I'm a simple man. I like pretty, dark-haired women and breakfast food" - Ron Swanson
Was awesome
I was busy blogging while my wife was watching the game and suddenly she says “dude, someone farted.” I looked up (across the room) and saw her pointing at Ordonez doing the nose-in-shirt thing right before Mario & Rod said something.
We know who smelt it, but but which one of those guys dealt it? This is the kind of investigatory work we demand from our bloggers which mainstream press won’t cover. Get on it BYB’s!
www.mgoblog.com
using MLogic
It’s always Leyland’s fault
"I'm a simple man. I like pretty, dark-haired women and breakfast food" - Ron Swanson
by rock n rye on Aug 23, 2011 10:01 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions 1 recs
LOL!
Drink, and Drink, and Drink, and Drink, and Drink, and Drink, and Fight!
by Brand New Hero on Aug 23, 2011 10:23 AM EDT up reply actions
Funny thing is...
I was blogging too, and I may or may not have covered it.
by Rob Rogacki on Aug 23, 2011 11:59 AM EDT up reply actions
I know with the pitching matchup, it looks lika a blowout on paper, but
…let’s say we got a lead in the ninth. Who closes tonight if Benoit and Papa are not gonna see action?
"i think it will be mostly feast the rest of the year,"
My guess...
Coke or Perry.
Which I think would be worth the blown save just to watch TD1’s reaction in the game thread…
by wilsonm24 on Aug 23, 2011 10:28 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Perry?!?
Jeez! How disheartening would it be for Penny to outpitch Price in TB and then have Perry blow it in he ninth.
But these are not the Tigers of the past. Penny pitches like he does a few years ago, the bats are booming and the Bengals win a laugher…10-3.
"i think it will be mostly feast the rest of the year,"
+1
The normal make a living, the deranged make history.
by sactwnsteelr on Aug 23, 2011 11:15 AM EDT up reply actions
Schlereth, coke, or even pauly
Depending on the situation….everyone know JL gets hard over the lefty on lefty matchup so it would probably depend on who’s up…hell, we could see all three of them if it’s a close game and the 9th goes lefty, righty, lefty, in the batting order
God ain't got no use for a 180 lb bag of sugar.
Coke
Gotta be Coke.
"Aside from the stuff I haven’t been diagnosed for yet, I don’t have a problem."- Phil Coke
Contributor, Bless You Boys
by David Tokarz on Aug 23, 2011 12:44 PM EDT up reply actions
If I was manager for a day
I would go with Coke as well. He is the most proven commodity in our pen, outside Benoit or Papa Grande. I just remember at one point in the not so distant past Perry was considered a closer in the making.
If I were manager
Valverde would most likely be available today.
Forget about the save vs non-save splits, there wasn’t really a good reason to bring in Valverde. If I read Baseball Reference correctly, Pauley hasn’t pitched since August 14th. What’s the worst that can happen? Maybe he gives up a home run and a walk.. in which case you now have a justifiable reason to bring in your closer.
Except that
Valverde was already warmed up before the game was no longer a save situation.
So the wear and tear on his arm was already done so even if he doesn’t come in. He probably still wouldn’t available today, or at least he probably shouldn’t have been available today even if he never stepped on the mound last night.
You might be right in the fact that Leyland might have viewed him as unavailable since he had warmed up, but I don’t think that’s a very strong arguement. It’s not like he’s throwing 95 in the bullpen… he’s progressively throwing harder until he feels that his arm is “ready”. I think if he had warmed up but not entered the game, he’d be physically capable of going tonight. Should we not expect to see Farnsworth tonight if the Rays have a save situation? Maybe we won’t, but I suspect that we will.
I guess my bigger point is that it wasn’t a save situation and there wasn’t a need to bring in your closer, whether he was warm or not. It’s not like he hasn’t had opportunities to pitch. If the team had gone a week between save situations maybe you run him out there to keep him going, but there were other guys on the bench who haven’t pitched, that could’ve used the work while enjoying a 4 run lead.
Not necessarily....
"I’d like to get Coke another day, to be honest with you," Leyland said.
http://www.mlive.com/tigers/index.ssf/2011/08/tigers_will_mix_and_match_if_t.html
"i think it will be mostly feast the rest of the year,"
They've given up already in Cleveland
The fools at “Let’s Go Tribe” are now referring to the weekend as the Great Detroit Egg-Laying of 2011. HAH!
Looks like Hafner might be done for the season too. Ya’ gotta figure they’ll pick up 1/2 game at the least today, though. Masterson against some guy I never even heard of in the opener.
"i think it will be mostly feast the rest of the year,"
Seattle just went ahead in the ninth!
This would kill those politically incorrect bastards!
"i think it will be mostly feast the rest of the year,"
League stinks!
Threw it away in the bottom of the ninth. Oh well…..
"i think it will be mostly feast the rest of the year,"
He didn't throw it away
he threw it right in Choo’s wheelhouse
God ain't got no use for a 180 lb bag of sugar.
Bring on This Week's Confidence Poll!
The last tiem we had a 4-game winning strak against teams with winning records was before the All-Star break, yes?
Maybe, just maybe things are coming together at the right time…
Hey Kurt
My prize kid goes to Lake State where they go to a beach but the waters too cold to get in is that where you’re going?
well I live in marquette
the temperature of lake superior isn’t a big deal for me. it’s especially warm this year.
i’ll be up around the two hearted river, probably a bit farther from where your kid go
by Kurt Mensching on Aug 23, 2011 9:26 PM EDT up reply actions
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