Okay Okay I know I haven't posted on this site anything baseball related in 2 years. But I can't sleep so I figured what would be a better use of my time, writing some thoughts on the season so far or getting schooled online on PS3 some more..
29 games into the season and our beloved Kitties are 20-9; winners of 8 straight and going for the sweep of the lowly Astros tomorrow at 1:08pm. The remarkable thing to me is the way that this team is winning games. Gone are the days when they would rely on the 3 run HR by Prince or Jhonny and now it's the era of Rajai getting on swiping 2nd, moving to 3rd on a GO and scoring on a Sac Fly. To me this is a much more balanced/harder to pitch against team. They're pesky now...fouling off pitch after pitch, working deep counts. This team has the best record in MLB and their best hitter THIS GUY is just starting to get his bat swinging like we know it can.
The real strength of this team is the starting rotation; with JV and Mad Max leading the way. Anibal is due back off the DL in about a week, Smyly is just starting to get into a groove as a starter and Ricky P is pitching possibly the best baseball of his career as we speak. The team is not without it's flaws though. The 'pen is still a work in progress it's getting there with Joba and Nathan looking solid in the 8th and 9th respectively but AlAl, Reed.Miller all need to be better. I believe Coke will be DFA when newly signed Joel Hanrahan comes off of the DL.
The bottom line is with this team the way it is now Tigers fans should expect about 70-77 more wins throughout the end of September and hopefully 11 more once the calendar flips to October.
That's all for me tonight. I promise this won't be the last time you hear from me for the next 2 years!
Where I fell in love
Wednesday 7 May 2014
Saturday 19 January 2013
Hockey????
Hello All!
Here at Tigers F.T.W. I took a longer break than the NHL season did! That said I decided with a little less than an hour to go til the puck FINALLY drops on the 2012/2013 NHL season I'd write a NHL related prediction post.
Eastern Conference:
1)Pittsburgh Penguins
2)Boston Bruins
3)Tampa Bay Lightning
4)New York Rangers
5)Philadelphia Flyers
6)Washington Capitals
7)Buffalo Sabres
8)Carolina Hurricanes
9)Ottawa Senators
10)New Jersey Devils
11)Montreal Canadiens
12)Florida Panthers
13)Toronto Maple Leafs
14)Winnipeg Jets
15)New York Islanders
Western Conference:
1)St. Louis Blues
2)San Jose Sharks
3)Vancouver Canucks
4)Nashville Predators
5)Los Angeles Kings
6)Detroit Red Wings
7)Chicago Blackhawks
8)Edmonton Oilers
Here at Tigers F.T.W. I took a longer break than the NHL season did! That said I decided with a little less than an hour to go til the puck FINALLY drops on the 2012/2013 NHL season I'd write a NHL related prediction post.
Eastern Conference:
1)Pittsburgh Penguins
2)Boston Bruins
3)Tampa Bay Lightning
4)New York Rangers
5)Philadelphia Flyers
6)Washington Capitals
7)Buffalo Sabres
8)Carolina Hurricanes
9)Ottawa Senators
10)New Jersey Devils
11)Montreal Canadiens
12)Florida Panthers
13)Toronto Maple Leafs
14)Winnipeg Jets
15)New York Islanders
Western Conference:
1)St. Louis Blues
2)San Jose Sharks
3)Vancouver Canucks
4)Nashville Predators
5)Los Angeles Kings
6)Detroit Red Wings
7)Chicago Blackhawks
8)Edmonton Oilers
Tuesday 31 January 2012
A Look at the SP of the 2012 Detroit Tigers
20-2, do those numbers mean anything to you? If they don't they should. That was the combined record of the Tigers top 2 (Verlander and Fister) starters Post All Star game last year. Those kinda of numbers are usually only heard of in MLB The Show! Verlander went 12-1 and Fister went 8-1 which helped propel the Tigers from a dogfight that was the AL Central at the end of July to a cruise control Divisional Championship title for the 1st time since 1987! Of course there were reinforcements to go along with those two big boys and we'll take a look at them today and what we can expect going forward in 2012.
As we sit here a mere 2.5 weeks away from Pitchers and Catchers reporting to Lakeland (and my happiness being restored) 4 of the 5 starting rotation spots are spoken for, they are of course Verlander,Fister,Scherzer, and Porcello. The 5th spot appears that it is going to come down to a camp battle between one of the young guys even with some decent veteran arms still out on the FA market. Some of those arms wouldn't be a terrible risk (Jackson, Harden, or Brandon Webb). The one pitcher who I was hoping they'd attempt to sign this off season was Paul Malholm. Nothing fancy but a decent LHP who eats innings! Now let's take a look at how the front 4 are going to shape up.
1) Justin Verlander The unquestioned best SP in the League last year will be looking to build off of his record setting year where he went 24-5 with a 0.92 WHIP and a 2.40 ERA along with an astronomical 250 strikeouts and a .192 BAA. Some of the most impressive stats about Verlander are the opposing SP he was up against. I know that you don't pitch against the opposing pitchers, but when those opposing pitchers are the other teams Aces' there is no doubt you have to be on your A game that night on the bump. Another crazy fact is of his 5 loses 4, that's right 4 were against the paltry AL West, it should be noted that the 1-0 to LAA on July 5 should belong to "Cowboy" Joe West for the BRUTAL call that lead to the 1 Angel run that night. When I look back to his year last year I think his defining moment and where he really hit the map as the best in the league wasn't necessarily his NO NO against the Jays in May (which was the best sporting event I ever attended in my life), but rather the game in Comerica against the Angels on July 31where he battled Jared Weaver and went 8 innings giving up 2 Runs, 0 Earned and the Tigs made Jared Weaver lose his marbles. has Guillen's HR even landed yet?
2) Doug Fister He came over from the Seattle Mariners at the deadline and immediately taught everybody How to Dougie! He made 10 starts (1 Relief appearance) when he came to Detroit pitching 70 innings and compiling a .084 WHIP, 1.74 ERA and a .206 BAA while racking up 57 K. He was the reliable arm that DD had been looking for for quite sometime to slot in behind JV and take some of the load off of him. The most impressive stat to me of Fister's is that everybody knew he was a control pitcher, but issuing JUST 5 BB...that's right 5 BB in 70 innings is unheard of! That's some Greg Maddux type of control right there. Allowing only 5 free passes in 70.1 innings was key as everybody knows that the Tigs D was suspect last year and will continue to below average this year. It's a simple formula keeping runners off of the base paths will give you success in The Show!
3) Max Scherzer I've been waiting for Maxwell to reach his potential since coming to the Tigs at the end of the 2009 season. The guy has an electric slider a plus fastball and a average change piece. The thing is though it seems like every game at least one of those pitches isn't there for him. He needs to be a more consistent pitcher and maybe take a page out of JV's book, strikeouts are nice and sexy, but getting outs early in the count saves your energy and saves your pitch count which will allow you to pitch deeper into games and put less wear and tear on your arm! Max could go out on any given night and toss a 7 inning 2 run gem, and then the next game go out and get lit up for 7 runs in 2+ innings against the Mariners anaemic offence! Bottom line for him is that I feel like this is the year that he has to show more consistency, improve the change up and not have the slider flatten out so often.
4) Rick Porcello When he made the roster out of Spring Training in 2009 everybody (including myself) expected him to make the transition to the bigs without a glitch. We need to remember that he just turned 23 last month. I don't know too many 23 year olds who can go out there every 5 days and have total control of a major league ball game every time. We all know the book on him: he has a heavy sinker that he relies on A LOT...sometimes too much. I'd like to see him get a true swing and a miss pitch which is what he is lacking right now. Last year was a tale of 2 different types of seasons. He was AWFUL in months April, June, and August with his lowest ERA in any of those months being April at 4.25. He was on fire in months May, July, and September with his best month being July going 5-0 with a 3.06 ERA and a WHIP of 1.05. Ultimately I would like to see him as a 15-9, 3.75 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP for a full season and if that happens I think that all Tigers fans would be quite happy with that.
Here are my predictions for the 4 starters mentioned above for the 2012 season
1) Verlander 19-6, 1.17 WHIP, 2.60 ERA and 235 K
2) Fister 17-8, 1.25 WHIP, 3.45 ERA and 155 K
3) Scherzer 15-9, 1.30 WHIP, 4.15 ERA and 190 K
4) Porcello 12-10, 1.35 WHIP, 4.40 ERA and 125 K
If we add those up it's a 63-33 record for our top 4 SP. To make the playoffs you generally need 70-75 W out of your starting rotation so if the 5th starter can manage even a .500 record at say 10-10 would put the Tigers at a 73-43 record. Add in 20 wins from the 'pen (it had 22 last year) and that's a 93 W team which should be good enough to win the AL Central in 2012!
Oh and in case anybody wants to see my favourite moment from the 2011 season click here
As we sit here a mere 2.5 weeks away from Pitchers and Catchers reporting to Lakeland (and my happiness being restored) 4 of the 5 starting rotation spots are spoken for, they are of course Verlander,Fister,Scherzer, and Porcello. The 5th spot appears that it is going to come down to a camp battle between one of the young guys even with some decent veteran arms still out on the FA market. Some of those arms wouldn't be a terrible risk (Jackson, Harden, or Brandon Webb). The one pitcher who I was hoping they'd attempt to sign this off season was Paul Malholm. Nothing fancy but a decent LHP who eats innings! Now let's take a look at how the front 4 are going to shape up.
1) Justin Verlander The unquestioned best SP in the League last year will be looking to build off of his record setting year where he went 24-5 with a 0.92 WHIP and a 2.40 ERA along with an astronomical 250 strikeouts and a .192 BAA. Some of the most impressive stats about Verlander are the opposing SP he was up against. I know that you don't pitch against the opposing pitchers, but when those opposing pitchers are the other teams Aces' there is no doubt you have to be on your A game that night on the bump. Another crazy fact is of his 5 loses 4, that's right 4 were against the paltry AL West, it should be noted that the 1-0 to LAA on July 5 should belong to "Cowboy" Joe West for the BRUTAL call that lead to the 1 Angel run that night. When I look back to his year last year I think his defining moment and where he really hit the map as the best in the league wasn't necessarily his NO NO against the Jays in May (which was the best sporting event I ever attended in my life), but rather the game in Comerica against the Angels on July 31where he battled Jared Weaver and went 8 innings giving up 2 Runs, 0 Earned and the Tigs made Jared Weaver lose his marbles. has Guillen's HR even landed yet?
2) Doug Fister He came over from the Seattle Mariners at the deadline and immediately taught everybody How to Dougie! He made 10 starts (1 Relief appearance) when he came to Detroit pitching 70 innings and compiling a .084 WHIP, 1.74 ERA and a .206 BAA while racking up 57 K. He was the reliable arm that DD had been looking for for quite sometime to slot in behind JV and take some of the load off of him. The most impressive stat to me of Fister's is that everybody knew he was a control pitcher, but issuing JUST 5 BB...that's right 5 BB in 70 innings is unheard of! That's some Greg Maddux type of control right there. Allowing only 5 free passes in 70.1 innings was key as everybody knows that the Tigs D was suspect last year and will continue to below average this year. It's a simple formula keeping runners off of the base paths will give you success in The Show!
3) Max Scherzer I've been waiting for Maxwell to reach his potential since coming to the Tigs at the end of the 2009 season. The guy has an electric slider a plus fastball and a average change piece. The thing is though it seems like every game at least one of those pitches isn't there for him. He needs to be a more consistent pitcher and maybe take a page out of JV's book, strikeouts are nice and sexy, but getting outs early in the count saves your energy and saves your pitch count which will allow you to pitch deeper into games and put less wear and tear on your arm! Max could go out on any given night and toss a 7 inning 2 run gem, and then the next game go out and get lit up for 7 runs in 2+ innings against the Mariners anaemic offence! Bottom line for him is that I feel like this is the year that he has to show more consistency, improve the change up and not have the slider flatten out so often.
4) Rick Porcello When he made the roster out of Spring Training in 2009 everybody (including myself) expected him to make the transition to the bigs without a glitch. We need to remember that he just turned 23 last month. I don't know too many 23 year olds who can go out there every 5 days and have total control of a major league ball game every time. We all know the book on him: he has a heavy sinker that he relies on A LOT...sometimes too much. I'd like to see him get a true swing and a miss pitch which is what he is lacking right now. Last year was a tale of 2 different types of seasons. He was AWFUL in months April, June, and August with his lowest ERA in any of those months being April at 4.25. He was on fire in months May, July, and September with his best month being July going 5-0 with a 3.06 ERA and a WHIP of 1.05. Ultimately I would like to see him as a 15-9, 3.75 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP for a full season and if that happens I think that all Tigers fans would be quite happy with that.
Here are my predictions for the 4 starters mentioned above for the 2012 season
1) Verlander 19-6, 1.17 WHIP, 2.60 ERA and 235 K
2) Fister 17-8, 1.25 WHIP, 3.45 ERA and 155 K
3) Scherzer 15-9, 1.30 WHIP, 4.15 ERA and 190 K
4) Porcello 12-10, 1.35 WHIP, 4.40 ERA and 125 K
If we add those up it's a 63-33 record for our top 4 SP. To make the playoffs you generally need 70-75 W out of your starting rotation so if the 5th starter can manage even a .500 record at say 10-10 would put the Tigers at a 73-43 record. Add in 20 wins from the 'pen (it had 22 last year) and that's a 93 W team which should be good enough to win the AL Central in 2012!
Oh and in case anybody wants to see my favourite moment from the 2011 season click here
Monday 30 January 2012
Please Forgive Me....
Hello!
First of all to the 5 people who read this blog I would like to take the time to apologize for going 6ish months without posting. I can assure you that that will not happen again, I promise at least 1 blog post per week!
So with that said let's get down to business....
The end of the Tigers 2011 season was bittersweet for many fans and it left us wondering "what if". What if ALAL could have thrown strikes, what if Mags didn't shatter his ankle again, what if Max could have gotten out of game 2 with the lead, what if Nelson Cruz didn't make me say a string of curses every time he came up that would make a sailor blush, what if Avila and V mart had 2 legs to stand on..you get the point. Our beloved Tigs were downed in 6 games to Texas in the ALCS.
I think that if you would have asked any Tiger fan back on March 31 if they would have been happy watching the boys of summer play ball into the middle of October nearly every one would have said HELL YA, but might not happen. It did and it was a magical ride. Last season was even more fun that the magical 2006 season for me anyway.
Heading into the off season we fans knew that their needed to be some changes to the roster to make us legit contenders, not just to win the Central, but to advance to the Fall Classic. *Side note, I'm not saying it's a given that the Tigs will be there in in October of 2012* DD has gone and made some of those changes necessary. Gone are grizzled old vets who were fan favourites such as Mags, and Guillen. Penny, Perry,Zumaya, V Mart (for 2012) also will be joining Mags and Carlos in not wearing the Old English D on the field this year. But let's look into who will be:
1B) Prince Fielder. It's no secret Prince signed a looooooonnnnnnggggggg deal worth a lot of Pizza's to come here and that sort of set off a musical chairs feeling with some people switching positions, but I think this deal is going to pay HUGE dividends for the Pizza Man and the city of Detroit. This is the same Prince Fielder who at the age of 12 was hitting moon shots into the RF porch of old Tiger Stadium while wearing Zubaz.
RP) Octavio Dotel. Dotel comes in reasonably cheap (3,000,000) and is what the Tigs needed in the playoffs last year, a dependable RHP not named Benoit or Valverde. Benoit and Papa must have felt like their arms were going to fall off in October last year, but JL had no other options as neither Albuquerque nor Perry could throw strikes to save their life. We all know the book on Dotel..Low 90's heat with some good off speed pitches to complement his heater. JL must make sure that he doesn't let Dotel pitch against LHB because those balls will be into the Pepsi Porch quicker than Prince hit play on his Kid 'N' Play cassette back in 1991!
RP) Collin Balester. I'll admit I know virtually nothing about him other than he rocks a sweet 'stache in his pic and that the Tigs got him from the 'Nats in the Perry trade. He had an ERA of around 4.5 last year and 2010 is the only year he had an era below that. I reckon he'll endear the fans of Fifth Third Field with his moustache! However if he makes the club, he better be good other wise, he'll be my Tiger to hate on this year! (For those of you who don't know I pick 1 guy on the club each year and pine to my friends about how bad he sucks. It's usually somebody who takes the position of one of my favs, and Agent P was one of my favs)!
C) Gerald "G Money" Laird. The only good thing I see out of re signing Laird to a 1 year deal is we'll get to hear Rod say "I see ya G $$$$" from time to time.. See what I did there, I just referenced the Rod Allen Game..if you're reading this..start drinking!!!
So heading into ST this is what the TIgs lineup could look like on any day.
1) Jackson-CF
2) Boesch-RF
3) Cabrera-3B
4) Fielder-1B
5) Young- DH
6) Avila- C
7) Peralta-SS
8) Dirks-LF
9) Raburn-2B
Not a bad lineup at all. Personally I'd have Santiago at 2B more often than not for his D and his ability to get bunts down and move runners over. I do like the Left/Right balance that it has now which is something it has been lacking for years!! I don't mind giving Dirks and opportunity in LF, but I think that if he can't handle it on a full time basis I'd move Delmon back there and get Inge into the lineup at 3B.
I'll do another report on the pitchers tomorrow...How many more days till we get to hear Rod say "I see ya Big Fella"? The answer: not soon enough!!
1 last thing before I go. BIG shout out to my homie who helped me recover this post after I thought I lost it ya'll should follow him on Twitter @majorleaguenerd!
First of all to the 5 people who read this blog I would like to take the time to apologize for going 6ish months without posting. I can assure you that that will not happen again, I promise at least 1 blog post per week!
So with that said let's get down to business....
The end of the Tigers 2011 season was bittersweet for many fans and it left us wondering "what if". What if ALAL could have thrown strikes, what if Mags didn't shatter his ankle again, what if Max could have gotten out of game 2 with the lead, what if Nelson Cruz didn't make me say a string of curses every time he came up that would make a sailor blush, what if Avila and V mart had 2 legs to stand on..you get the point. Our beloved Tigs were downed in 6 games to Texas in the ALCS.
I think that if you would have asked any Tiger fan back on March 31 if they would have been happy watching the boys of summer play ball into the middle of October nearly every one would have said HELL YA, but might not happen. It did and it was a magical ride. Last season was even more fun that the magical 2006 season for me anyway.
Heading into the off season we fans knew that their needed to be some changes to the roster to make us legit contenders, not just to win the Central, but to advance to the Fall Classic. *Side note, I'm not saying it's a given that the Tigs will be there in in October of 2012* DD has gone and made some of those changes necessary. Gone are grizzled old vets who were fan favourites such as Mags, and Guillen. Penny, Perry,Zumaya, V Mart (for 2012) also will be joining Mags and Carlos in not wearing the Old English D on the field this year. But let's look into who will be:
1B) Prince Fielder. It's no secret Prince signed a looooooonnnnnnggggggg deal worth a lot of Pizza's to come here and that sort of set off a musical chairs feeling with some people switching positions, but I think this deal is going to pay HUGE dividends for the Pizza Man and the city of Detroit. This is the same Prince Fielder who at the age of 12 was hitting moon shots into the RF porch of old Tiger Stadium while wearing Zubaz.
RP) Octavio Dotel. Dotel comes in reasonably cheap (3,000,000) and is what the Tigs needed in the playoffs last year, a dependable RHP not named Benoit or Valverde. Benoit and Papa must have felt like their arms were going to fall off in October last year, but JL had no other options as neither Albuquerque nor Perry could throw strikes to save their life. We all know the book on Dotel..Low 90's heat with some good off speed pitches to complement his heater. JL must make sure that he doesn't let Dotel pitch against LHB because those balls will be into the Pepsi Porch quicker than Prince hit play on his Kid 'N' Play cassette back in 1991!
RP) Collin Balester. I'll admit I know virtually nothing about him other than he rocks a sweet 'stache in his pic and that the Tigs got him from the 'Nats in the Perry trade. He had an ERA of around 4.5 last year and 2010 is the only year he had an era below that. I reckon he'll endear the fans of Fifth Third Field with his moustache! However if he makes the club, he better be good other wise, he'll be my Tiger to hate on this year! (For those of you who don't know I pick 1 guy on the club each year and pine to my friends about how bad he sucks. It's usually somebody who takes the position of one of my favs, and Agent P was one of my favs)!
C) Gerald "G Money" Laird. The only good thing I see out of re signing Laird to a 1 year deal is we'll get to hear Rod say "I see ya G $$$$" from time to time.. See what I did there, I just referenced the Rod Allen Game..if you're reading this..start drinking!!!
So heading into ST this is what the TIgs lineup could look like on any day.
1) Jackson-CF
2) Boesch-RF
3) Cabrera-3B
4) Fielder-1B
5) Young- DH
6) Avila- C
7) Peralta-SS
8) Dirks-LF
9) Raburn-2B
Not a bad lineup at all. Personally I'd have Santiago at 2B more often than not for his D and his ability to get bunts down and move runners over. I do like the Left/Right balance that it has now which is something it has been lacking for years!! I don't mind giving Dirks and opportunity in LF, but I think that if he can't handle it on a full time basis I'd move Delmon back there and get Inge into the lineup at 3B.
I'll do another report on the pitchers tomorrow...How many more days till we get to hear Rod say "I see ya Big Fella"? The answer: not soon enough!!
1 last thing before I go. BIG shout out to my homie who helped me recover this post after I thought I lost it ya'll should follow him on Twitter @majorleaguenerd!
Monday 20 June 2011
All Star Game
I write this tonight because I felt like it was time for a baseball blog, and not just a Tigs blog. As we all know the MLB All Star game is in Arizona in aprox 3 weeks. It's supposed to be a who's who as far as talent goes especially since the MLB game actually means something (Home Field advantage) unlike the other pro sports All Star games.
I realize that it is supposed to be for the fans, and that is why we get the chance to vote in our favourite players to the occasion, but I can't help but think that something has to be done to fix this. As of right now 8/9 starting spots would go to the AL East. (5 NYY, 2 Bos, and 1 TOR) I have no problem with 7 of the 9 selections, but the 2 that really bother me and think that it's absolutely ridiculous and just a popularity contest are Russell Martin and Derek Jeter. Martin started out the season hot, but last I looked (Yesterday) was hitting a cool .238, and Jeter who is on the DL is hitting about .260 with 2 HR!
If I'm a player I want the best people out there who can help my league win so that I could have home field advantage in the WS. The 2 people who should be in those starting roles are Alex Avila at Catcher from the Tigs and Asdrubal Cabrerra at SS from the Tribe. Avila is hitting .305 9HR and 41 RBI while throwing out around .35% of the would be basestealers! Cabrera is hitting .296 with 12 HR and 43 RBI and is as smooth a SS as I've seen in a long time.
If it were up to me this would be my starting lineup for the AL ASG:
1) Granderson-OF NYY
2) Cabrera-SS CLE
3) Bautista-OF TOR
4) Gonzalez-1B BOS
5) Rodriguez-3B NYY
6) Ortiz-DH BOS
7) Hamilton-OF TEX
8) Cano- 2B NYY
9) Avila-C Det
SP) Hernandez Sea
I only saw Hernandez because Verlander is scheduled to pitch the Sunday before the ASG so he will be unavailable to pitch during the game.
The subs I would take are as follows
C) Wieters-BAL
C) Olivo-SEA
1B) Konerko-CWS
1B) Cabrera-DET
2B) Pedroia-BOS
2B) Zobrist- TB
3B) Beltre-TEX
3B) Gordon- KC
SS) Andrus-TEX
SS) Aybar- LAA
OF) Ellsbury-BOS
OF) Quentin-CWS
OF) Ichiro-SEA
OF) Cruz- TEX
DH) Cuddyer-MIN
DH) Martinez-DET
P) Ogando-TEX
P) Verlander-DET
P) Pineada-SEA
P) Cahill-OAK
P) Shields-TB
P) Beckett-BOS
P) Weaver-LAA
P) Price-TB
P) Gonzalez-OAK
P) Sabathia-NYY
P) Rivera-NYY
P) Valverde-DET
P) Perez-CLE
P) Sipp- CLE
P) Downs-LAA
P) Alburquerque- DET
So there ya have it, what would be my AL All Star team. Some very good players are left off of it for the simple fact that every team has to be represented at the game.
P)
I realize that it is supposed to be for the fans, and that is why we get the chance to vote in our favourite players to the occasion, but I can't help but think that something has to be done to fix this. As of right now 8/9 starting spots would go to the AL East. (5 NYY, 2 Bos, and 1 TOR) I have no problem with 7 of the 9 selections, but the 2 that really bother me and think that it's absolutely ridiculous and just a popularity contest are Russell Martin and Derek Jeter. Martin started out the season hot, but last I looked (Yesterday) was hitting a cool .238, and Jeter who is on the DL is hitting about .260 with 2 HR!
If I'm a player I want the best people out there who can help my league win so that I could have home field advantage in the WS. The 2 people who should be in those starting roles are Alex Avila at Catcher from the Tigs and Asdrubal Cabrerra at SS from the Tribe. Avila is hitting .305 9HR and 41 RBI while throwing out around .35% of the would be basestealers! Cabrera is hitting .296 with 12 HR and 43 RBI and is as smooth a SS as I've seen in a long time.
If it were up to me this would be my starting lineup for the AL ASG:
1) Granderson-OF NYY
2) Cabrera-SS CLE
3) Bautista-OF TOR
4) Gonzalez-1B BOS
5) Rodriguez-3B NYY
6) Ortiz-DH BOS
7) Hamilton-OF TEX
8) Cano- 2B NYY
9) Avila-C Det
SP) Hernandez Sea
I only saw Hernandez because Verlander is scheduled to pitch the Sunday before the ASG so he will be unavailable to pitch during the game.
The subs I would take are as follows
C) Wieters-BAL
C) Olivo-SEA
1B) Konerko-CWS
1B) Cabrera-DET
2B) Pedroia-BOS
2B) Zobrist- TB
3B) Beltre-TEX
3B) Gordon- KC
SS) Andrus-TEX
SS) Aybar- LAA
OF) Ellsbury-BOS
OF) Quentin-CWS
OF) Ichiro-SEA
OF) Cruz- TEX
DH) Cuddyer-MIN
DH) Martinez-DET
P) Ogando-TEX
P) Verlander-DET
P) Pineada-SEA
P) Cahill-OAK
P) Shields-TB
P) Beckett-BOS
P) Weaver-LAA
P) Price-TB
P) Gonzalez-OAK
P) Sabathia-NYY
P) Rivera-NYY
P) Valverde-DET
P) Perez-CLE
P) Sipp- CLE
P) Downs-LAA
P) Alburquerque- DET
So there ya have it, what would be my AL All Star team. Some very good players are left off of it for the simple fact that every team has to be represented at the game.
P)
Thursday 16 June 2011
AHHHHHH Interleague Play
Well the series with the Tribe is now over. Tiger killer O Cab broke up JV's bid for his 2nd No No of the season with 5 outs to go in the game, but if you ask me the Tigs got something more important...the "W". That allowed our boys to take a 1 game lead into Wednesday's game with Penny on the hill against Fausto.
I didn't see all of the 2nd game of the set tuned in in the 5th, but if the boxscore is any indication of how it went, the Tigs let him off the hook early and often. The thing that bothered me the most about the loss in Wednesday's game was the mental error that took place on the winning run. With Furbush the LHP on the hill and a base open and 2 outs why in the world are you even pitching to O Cab (who like I said earlier is a Tiger Killer)? Tribe had Hannahan and Sizemore up as the next 2 scheduled batters. Just didn't make any sense to me, I don't know if that was JL's call or Avila's, but none the less O Cab did what he has done to us over the years...drive in big runs.
Today's game looked early like it was going to be a longggggggg day on Woodward Ave. A sweet throwing error by Raburn (is anybody surprised?) and a few poorly located pitches later and it was 2-0 before you could get 1/2 way done your 1st overpriced beer of the game! Thankfully for the Boys Mitch Talbot was just as bad..Long story short Tigs win 6-2 and retake sole possession of 1st heading out West to Col.
I had been an advocate of Interleague play for years now. It lets you see some new teams and I think it brings some excitement seeing the faces of the Sr. Circuit, and lets face it we all love the Tigs and divisional games but seeing Billy Butlers Ugly Mug 18 or 19 times a year gets a little redundant! This year however I'm torn. As our Beloved Tigs are probably just settling into Col now, the biggest task Jimmy has to be thinking about is how he is going to get both Avila and VMart into the lineup for 4/6 games on the road. Both Avila and VMart are just RAKING right now, and VMart is the protection that Miggy has needed for the last year+ . Is it a coincidence that the 7 game losing streak was while he was on the shelf, you tell me!
I've read many opinions on how they should go about doing this, they range from putting Miggy at 3B,V Mart at 1B and Avila at C to having Miggy back in LF. I can assure you that if you put the Big Fella anywhere but 1B it will be an absolute TRAIN WRECK...worse than Raburn anywhere, and worse than Roberto Luongo's "Goaltending" in games 6 & 7!!! My theory...Avila at 3B, Miggy at 1B and V Mart at C. Avila was a 3B at College so the position isn't foreign to him....I don't know if I'd do it tomorrow with Ricky and his nasty sinker on the bump though!
One last thing before I go get my butt kicked in another game of "The Show', to all the people that have been calling for Mags to be cut since he's come off the DL...It's been 3 games..and he's already hit more hard hit line drives in these 3 games then he did in the 1st 6 weeks of the season...they just haven't found any holes yet...you don't hit .300 for a career by accident folks! I'll be working away at a Community function tomorrow night so I won't get to see the game 1st hand...THANK JEBUS for my Iphone! Let's hope that the Tigs can continue to take these series and let's jump on the Pirates bandwagon for the next 3 games!
Go Tigs!
I didn't see all of the 2nd game of the set tuned in in the 5th, but if the boxscore is any indication of how it went, the Tigs let him off the hook early and often. The thing that bothered me the most about the loss in Wednesday's game was the mental error that took place on the winning run. With Furbush the LHP on the hill and a base open and 2 outs why in the world are you even pitching to O Cab (who like I said earlier is a Tiger Killer)? Tribe had Hannahan and Sizemore up as the next 2 scheduled batters. Just didn't make any sense to me, I don't know if that was JL's call or Avila's, but none the less O Cab did what he has done to us over the years...drive in big runs.
Today's game looked early like it was going to be a longggggggg day on Woodward Ave. A sweet throwing error by Raburn (is anybody surprised?) and a few poorly located pitches later and it was 2-0 before you could get 1/2 way done your 1st overpriced beer of the game! Thankfully for the Boys Mitch Talbot was just as bad..Long story short Tigs win 6-2 and retake sole possession of 1st heading out West to Col.
I had been an advocate of Interleague play for years now. It lets you see some new teams and I think it brings some excitement seeing the faces of the Sr. Circuit, and lets face it we all love the Tigs and divisional games but seeing Billy Butlers Ugly Mug 18 or 19 times a year gets a little redundant! This year however I'm torn. As our Beloved Tigs are probably just settling into Col now, the biggest task Jimmy has to be thinking about is how he is going to get both Avila and VMart into the lineup for 4/6 games on the road. Both Avila and VMart are just RAKING right now, and VMart is the protection that Miggy has needed for the last year+ . Is it a coincidence that the 7 game losing streak was while he was on the shelf, you tell me!
I've read many opinions on how they should go about doing this, they range from putting Miggy at 3B,V Mart at 1B and Avila at C to having Miggy back in LF. I can assure you that if you put the Big Fella anywhere but 1B it will be an absolute TRAIN WRECK...worse than Raburn anywhere, and worse than Roberto Luongo's "Goaltending" in games 6 & 7!!! My theory...Avila at 3B, Miggy at 1B and V Mart at C. Avila was a 3B at College so the position isn't foreign to him....I don't know if I'd do it tomorrow with Ricky and his nasty sinker on the bump though!
One last thing before I go get my butt kicked in another game of "The Show', to all the people that have been calling for Mags to be cut since he's come off the DL...It's been 3 games..and he's already hit more hard hit line drives in these 3 games then he did in the 1st 6 weeks of the season...they just haven't found any holes yet...you don't hit .300 for a career by accident folks! I'll be working away at a Community function tomorrow night so I won't get to see the game 1st hand...THANK JEBUS for my Iphone! Let's hope that the Tigs can continue to take these series and let's jump on the Pirates bandwagon for the next 3 games!
Go Tigs!
Tuesday 14 June 2011
The 1st Post!- Battle atop the AL Central
Hey all....
Welcome to my blog. It's very basic now because I've spent the majority of the day playing The Show and negotiating Fantasy Baseball trades.
Let's get down to business...talking Tigers. Today is June 14 and they are in a virtual tie atop the AL Central with the team that they will be playing for the next 3 days...the Cleveland Indians. We all know the story of Cleveland so far this year. Nobody (including me) expected them to be relevant at all in the AL Central race this year, they raced out to the hot start (30-15 after the 1st 45 games), but since then are just a paltry 5-14 with their last 2 victories being 1-0 ones. Which Tribe team will show up for the 3 game set in Comerica?
These 2 teams have played 3 times already this year back at the end of April when the Tigs were in the midst of a 7 game losing streak where nothing went right, and the Tribe won all 3 (2 of them were walk off wins, and the other the winning run was scored in the 8th when Benoit forgot where the strike zone was and Ryan Raburn was playing LF). Tigs have been rollin' of late which has caused me many of groggy mornings the next day thanks in part to the Rod Allen Drinking Game .
What has caused the Tigs run that they have been on? In my opinion it's a few different things, but the 2 main contributors are Austin Jackson and Joaquin Benoit. Since the beginning of May AJax has been the AJax of last year.making highlight reel catches in the OF and getting on base and creating Havoc and distracting pitchers for the Big Boys Boesch,Cabby and VMart. When these 2 teams played in Progressive Field Benoit had no clue how to locate the strike zone. Remember he loaded the bases with 1 out and went to a 3-1 count on Santana which Santana sent to SOUVENIR CITY for a walk off in the 1st game of the series and then Benoit had control problems again 2 days later which lead to another Tribe late inning rally. Since then he has gotten his stuff straight for the most part (even if he has given up runs in his last 2 appearances), which has allowed him to re-claim the 8th inning and allowed Jimmy to wake up from his slumber head to the tunnel smoke a few Marlboro's and slot in the other cast of characters in the pen where they should be.
Well that's all for now, time to make some dinner and some last min Fantasy baseball lineup changes and sit back and watch JV do work over the Tribe.
Welcome to my blog. It's very basic now because I've spent the majority of the day playing The Show and negotiating Fantasy Baseball trades.
Let's get down to business...talking Tigers. Today is June 14 and they are in a virtual tie atop the AL Central with the team that they will be playing for the next 3 days...the Cleveland Indians. We all know the story of Cleveland so far this year. Nobody (including me) expected them to be relevant at all in the AL Central race this year, they raced out to the hot start (30-15 after the 1st 45 games), but since then are just a paltry 5-14 with their last 2 victories being 1-0 ones. Which Tribe team will show up for the 3 game set in Comerica?
These 2 teams have played 3 times already this year back at the end of April when the Tigs were in the midst of a 7 game losing streak where nothing went right, and the Tribe won all 3 (2 of them were walk off wins, and the other the winning run was scored in the 8th when Benoit forgot where the strike zone was and Ryan Raburn was playing LF). Tigs have been rollin' of late which has caused me many of groggy mornings the next day thanks in part to the Rod Allen Drinking Game .
What has caused the Tigs run that they have been on? In my opinion it's a few different things, but the 2 main contributors are Austin Jackson and Joaquin Benoit. Since the beginning of May AJax has been the AJax of last year.making highlight reel catches in the OF and getting on base and creating Havoc and distracting pitchers for the Big Boys Boesch,Cabby and VMart. When these 2 teams played in Progressive Field Benoit had no clue how to locate the strike zone. Remember he loaded the bases with 1 out and went to a 3-1 count on Santana which Santana sent to SOUVENIR CITY for a walk off in the 1st game of the series and then Benoit had control problems again 2 days later which lead to another Tribe late inning rally. Since then he has gotten his stuff straight for the most part (even if he has given up runs in his last 2 appearances), which has allowed him to re-claim the 8th inning and allowed Jimmy to wake up from his slumber head to the tunnel smoke a few Marlboro's and slot in the other cast of characters in the pen where they should be.
Well that's all for now, time to make some dinner and some last min Fantasy baseball lineup changes and sit back and watch JV do work over the Tribe.
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