Series Preview: Indians at Tigers

by MatthewLaFave on Sep 26, 2011 3:00 PM EDT in Detroit Tigers Analysis

Cleveland Indians (80-79) at Detroit Tigers (92-67)

Probable Pitchers:
Monday September 26, 7:05p:
RHP Ubaldo Jimenez (10-12, 4.52, 177 K, 75 BB)
Hitter to Fear: Delmon Young (7 for 12, 2 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI)
Hitter to Fail: Andy Dirks (1 for 10, 2 K)

RHP Doug Fister (10-13, 2.94, 137 K, 37 BB)
Hitter to Fear: Travis Hafner (4 for 13, 1 HR, 2 RBI)
Hitter to Fail: Carlos Santana (1 for 11, 3 K)

Tuesday September 27, 7:05p:
RHP Jeanmar Gomez (5-2, 3.52, 26 K, 13 BB)
Hitter to Fear: Delmon Young (3 for 6, 2 2B, 2 RBI)
Hitter to Fail: Jhonny Peralta (1 for 4)

RHP Max Scherzer (14-9, 4.37, 167 K, 54 BB)
Hitter to Fear: Jim Thome (5 for 11, 1 HR, 4 RBI)
Hitter to Fail: Grady Sizemore (1 for 8, 2 K)

Wednesday September 28, 7:05p:
RHP Zach McAllister (0-1, 8.53, 10 K, 6 BB)
Hitter to Fear: Has never faced a Detroit hitter.
Hitter to Fail: Has never faced a Detroit hitter.

RHP Rick Porcello (14-9, 4.76, 100 K, 44 BB)
Hitter to Fear: Carlos Santana (6 for 14, 1 2B, 3 HR, 4 RBI)
Hitter to Fail: Shelley Duncan (0 for 2)

What to Watch For:
1. Trade Deadline vs. Trade Deadline - This series opens up with 2 pitchers who started the season on different teams. One of the bigger (and expensive) trades was Ubaldo Jimenez. The former Colorado Rockie has been productive for his new team, he is 4-2 with a 4.62 ERA for the Indians. But the best trade acquisition was Doug Fister coming to the Detroit Tigers. Fister is 7-1 with a 2.02 ERA in a Tigers uniform and 4-0 with a 0.69 ERA in the month of September.

2. Betemit returning - Tigers third baseman Wilson Betemit is expected back early in this series. He has not played since September 16th after injuring his knee in a play at home plate in Oakland. Betemit was hitting .233 with 5 RBIs in his last 10 games.

3:45 UPDATE: Jim Leyland told MLB.com's Jason Beck's about Betemit: "He's not right." He's also not starting, obviously.

3. Don't ignore Gomez - Indians starter Jeanmar Gomez takes the mound on Tuesday night. He is 3-0 with a 2.41 ERA in his last 3 starts. He has not given up more than 2 earned runs since July 17th. He is 1-1 with a 4.60 ERA against the Tigers in his career.

On Deck:
Regular season over. Postseason begins 9/30!

Tweet Comment 9 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Tonight's game should be fun

"You, on the other hand, make Eeyore look like Rainbow Brite." -johnmoz

Contributor, Bless You Boys

by David Tokarz on Sep 26, 2011 3:20 PM EDT reply actions

Indians got Ubaldo specifically to beat us, and the results have been inadequate.

They traded away half their farm system for a pitcher who was, interestingly, passed up by the big spenders. Perhaps the Rockies knew something about Jimenez the rest of the league wasn’t aware of, but were aware of his high demand and racked up the price for anyone willing to get him. Ubaldo has had his moments, no doubt; I thought he was money in his Indians’ debut against Detroit, but he’s had control issues and sometimes can’t put the ball where he wants to. His fastball will cut back over the middle of the plate, and for that reason, he allowed 7 runs in his start at Comerica. He wasn’t bad his last time out, but made one mistake too many, as we saw last time against Doug Fister. I’m not saying Alex White is going to be anything special, but it looks like a move Chris Antonetti and company will be paying for the next few years…

by Boeschlander on Sep 26, 2011 3:37 PM EDT up reply actions

Not good news on Betemit though

Bless You Boys.com

by Kurt Mensching on Sep 26, 2011 3:44 PM EDT reply actions

1 more tune-up series

can’t wait for some playoff baseball

No longer the Founder, President and CEO of the Ryan Raburn Fan Club

by tigers22 on Sep 26, 2011 3:57 PM EDT reply actions

Verlander or Cabrera?

I know that almost all Tigers fans, there are always those few exceptions, would love to see Cabrera win the Batting Title and Verlander win the ERA title.

However if you could pick just one who would you prefer to win their respective title?

Personally I would rather see Cabrera win the BA title for a number of reasons.

1. He has no chance at the the MVP whereas Verlander has a good chance at winning the Cy Young award.

2. Right now Cabrera leads the BA race by .003 and is hot. He is batting .416 in Sept with an OPS of 1.276 I do not want to see him cool off during the last series of the regular season.

3. Historically the Tigers are better known for their great hitters than pitchers and winning a batting title would move Cabrera one step closer to joining this elite group of great Tigers hitters.

4. Last but not least. He and his wife had a baby during the 2011 season why not cap off a great season with a batting title?

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/7163/splits;_ylt=A0PDk81J3IBOelMAfzWFCLcF

Having written the above, of course I would love to see both win their respective title opportunity but if I had to choose one it would be for Cabrera to win the batting title.

by Buddahfan on Sep 26, 2011 4:17 PM EDT reply actions

i'm ok with verlander not winning the era title if it means weaver beats texas!

Bless You Boys.com

by Kurt Mensching on Sep 26, 2011 5:09 PM EDT up reply actions

It Will Be Interesting

I believe that Weaver’s next start is scheduled for Wednesday the last day of the regular season.

The Angels most likely will be out the wild-card race by Wednesday.

Verlander is 0.01 ahead of Weaver.

My guess would be that Weaver will probably pitch Wednesday even if the Angels are out of the wild-card race just for a chance to win the ERA title. He could also top 200 Ks for the year and win his 19th game on Wed. I don’t think he has a shot at the Cy Young though he should finish in the top three of the voting unless he falls victim to pitching in CA where half of America misses most of his West Coast games due to time factor.

by Buddahfan on Sep 26, 2011 5:30 PM EDT up reply actions