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)
Where I fell in love
Monday, 20 June 2011
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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