2013 Tigers: covering more ground

http://i.imgur.com/OYUlYkA.jpg

also the new prospective closer who is like the Prince Fielder of the bullpen: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=19549

Bruce Rondon, the rookie pitcher with the golden arm, stood in the Tigers' clubhouse.

"What's the fastest you have ever thrown?" I asked.

"Here in Florida, 104," he said through a translator.

This is magical, mythical territory, even if it was during a minor league game.

"Can you control 104?" I asked.

His smile grew wide.

"Yeah," he said, full of confidence.

"You can?" I asked, stunned if not skeptical.

"Strike out," he said, smiling.

Hmmm.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/one-detroit-tiger-challenges-miguel-cabrera---i-don-t-see-him-as-a-leader---024751695.html

This makes Dotel look like a chump. Cabrera produced those numbers while playing through "serious ankle pain" and was supposed to provide vocal leadership, too? Quiet non-leader Cabrera has veto power on the holding of team meetings?

His career arc, natural talents, and personal struggles slightly echo those of Josh Hamilton

o_O

http://cmsimg.freep.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=C4&Date=20130223&Category=SPORTS02&ArtNo=130223022&Ref=AR&MaxW=600&Border=0

!!!!!

http://i.minus.com/ibeTD6WrTj4Eif.gif

Tom Gage ‏@Tom_Gage
#Tigers Leyland not only with iPad this spring and face-timing with daughter in Italy, but was puffing on electronic cigarette on Sunday

http://nesn.com/2013/03/justin-verlander-says-he-would-absolutely-be-accepting-of-openly-gay-teammate/

so matt tuiasosopo is going to make the team? Just saw him hit HR off Strasburg yesterday.

had to google: is indeed a cousin of that other tuiasosopo

Chris Sheleton 2K13

Shelton

@Tom_Gage
#Tigers Leyland about optioning Quintin Berry: "It's pretty simple. We broke a heart today."

tigers' spring training hats are so terrible

‏@Tom_Gage
No Rondon on #Tigers - does not make club

http://mit.zenfs.com/121/2011/08/AP070326022269.jpg

@DannyKnoblerCBS
Jose Valverde has re-signed with the Tigers, team announces. Minor-league deal for now.

@Dan_Dickerson 2m
Dombrowski says this falls into the categor(ies) of "leave no stone unturned" and "don't have anything to lose by taking a look" ...

http://media.mlive.com/broncos_impact/photo/9215610-small.jpg

keep valverde away from the closers spot. I need more COKE BLOWS SAVE headlines in my life..

pretty sure carlos marmol is available if the tigers want to make a deal

Wow.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9130536/detroit-tigers-max-scherzer-pitches

Research Notes
Miguel Cabrera has a triple and a stolen base in the first two innings against the Blue Jays. It's the first time in his career that he has a triple and steal in the same game. Noted speedster Mike Trout also has one triple and one steal so far this season.

Detroit - Top of 4th
Brett Anderson pitching for Oakland

P Fielder homered to center (422 feet).
V Martinez singled to center.
M Tuiasosopo walked, V Martinez to second.
J Peralta homered to left (379 feet), V Martinez and M Tuiasosopo scored.
O Infante reached on infield single to second.

Anderson can't get anyone out! Let's help him by shortening the inning and playing for one run.

B Pena sacrificed to catcher, O Infante to second.
A Jackson grounded out to second, O Infante to third.
T Hunter grounded out to shortstop.

you can't have ALL productive outs.

bruce rondon recalled to detroit

Detroit Tigers ‏@tigers 6m
Valverde will be with the club in Detroit tomorrow and manager Jim Leyland says he will be the team's closer.

OK.

"I like to send guys if I think they've got a chance, and if we get some guys thrown out, so be it," Brookens told Bill Simonson of "The Huge Show."

http://imgflip.com/i/18cyn

http://imgflip.com/i/18cyn

Oh well.

http://sports.cbsimg.net/images/visual/whatshot/vmartscurred.gif

otm

Goggles-less and working from the wind-up, Jose Valverde pitched a perfect save-situation ninth by inducing a ground out and a pair of full-count warning-track fly-outs.

what a (disturbing) moment

tbf brandon inge has two rbi in two games with the pirates after a lifetime of suckage and two weeks of hitting .150 in triple-a, but we needn't necessarily celebrate these moments, as they will only crush us in the end

amen.

perfect save-situation ninth by inducing a ground out and a pair of full-count warning-track fly-outs

Only a Proven Closer knows how to keep those balls in the park though, with any other relief pitcher they would have been home runs.

mookieproof, you should celebrate the fact that you have the best closer in the game.

Jason Beck ‏@beckjason 7m
Prince Fielder changes at-bat music to Mozart's Requiem, then hits into inning-ending double play. Not a good start for the classical turn.

phil coke

lol at the same Tom Brookens who (I think) Sparky Anderson compared to Mickey Mantle.

You have the wrong scrappy white guy. It was Kirk Gibson.

so, Verlander thumb?

"A little bit of a blister," he called it. "It developed toward the end of my last start, and it started getting a little bit worse in the fifth inning of this game.

"We came to the decision there's no point in creating something that could be a nagging issue. So we called it a day."

And then the bullpen blew up.

annabelle 10ks thru 5

He had 7 through his first 11 batters. This Atlanta strikeout situation is getting bad.

16ks

I hope he finishes with 20. ATL needs to have their fucking noses rubbed in their own mess.

golden sombrero uggla, 17ks sanchez

Franchise record. Wild.

Rondon got Freeman to miss on two 86 mph sliders, then a high 101 fastball.

damn anibal

Also enjoyed Leyland's decision to bring in the team's worst pitcher with the bases loaded, one out, tie game, 11th inning.

@Ken_Rosenthal
All five #Tigers SPs in top 15 in AL in Fielding Independent Pitching. Sanchez 1, Scherzer 3, Fister 10, Porcello 12, Verlander 15.

Verlander, u r the weakest link

M Scherzer doubled to deep center, A Dirks scored, B Pena to third.

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/3108619/Dugout_8-24-13.gif

Booooo

whoa

torii torii torii

*tory tori tore

YES

(Would swap the win for a healthy Cabrera, though.)

from a few months ago; Leyland gets philosophical about defensive shifts

http://sulia.com/channel/detroit-tigers/f/7985a886-d0ee-405a-be7a-5ece8b5ffffa

lol

Iglesias, damn.

Fister was asked what he thought of Iglesias’ double play.

“Which one?” he replied.

This one:

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/3147835/Iglesias_DP_9-2-13.gif

"Some people could find a flaw in Bo Derek. ... I also like guys that win. I'd rather have a pitcher nobody is talking about who has won 15 games than somebody everyone is raving about who has won five. I'm a baseball manager, not a statistician."

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9633091/jim-leyland-detroit-tigers-manager-blasts-run-support-statistic-supports-max-scherzer

i get that some people actually do feel this way but it's still absolutely mind blowing that at least one of them manages an actual major league team

I have absolutely no idea what the answer is: while Leyland says this, is there any evidence that he actually manages that way? Is there a pattern where he's had a number of pitchers over the years who carried W-L records that masked how ineffective they really were? I say that because part of a manager's job is to advocate for his players. Scherzer has a Cy Young vote coming up where there's still a chance (albeit small) he could lose to Sale or Felix. I would think any manager would reply along those lines in that context. (Or even without the looming Cy Young vote..."You're right, Max has had a lot of run support--he's been good, but he ain't no 20-1 pitcher.")

I'd better make clear that I'm not ruling out that he does indeed believe that pitcher wins are more important than how well someone actually pitches. He may well. I'm sure there's some way that could be studied. (Hmmmm...wonder who might want to undertake such a question?)

Leyland can be slow to bring the hook. Wouldn't know if he does it with greater frequency than other managers. Purely speculation but it seems like he has done it to get the starter a W a few times -- struggling to finish the fifth (with a lead), or allowed to finish a later inning (during a tie).

Cabrera out again tonight -- wish he'd sit for a week straight or more. Maybe he'd be fine now if he did that a while back.

Absolutely agree. I now think Lester may have been the bait last night: saw a note that Cabrera (in 24 PA) was .526/.625/.789 against him going in. So of course he goes 0-4.

If Leyland does believe all that, I wonder if it occurred to him that his own career record is under .500. Took a quick look, and the list of current and recent managers who have better winning percentages (and at least 1,000 games) includes Joe Girardi, Grady Little, Ron Washington, Buck Showalter, and others. If you asked Leyland, "Who's a better manager, you or Joe Girardi?" would he say Girardi on the basis of W-L record, or would he factor in things like payroll, personnel, etc. That's one reason I suspect he's at least partially just advocating for Scherzer there--but what you say about sticking with starters for the W would indicate otherwise.

I'd better make clear that I'm not ruling out that he does indeed believe that pitcher wins are more important than how well someone actually pitches. He may well. I'm sure there's some way that could be studied. (Hmmmm...wonder who might want to undertake such a question?)

― clemenza, Wednesday, September 4, 2013 6:23 PM (1 hour ago)

of course they're "more important" retrospectively -- you can't get a win unless your team wins the game. otoh you can pitch great and still get the loss

yes, teams and not pitchers win games. Leyland has also said "Chemistry is a class you take," so I wdn't kill him on this. He's saying what needs to go in the paper.

yeah

I was going to make the same point--he's about to turn 70, he started playing minor-league baseball the year after Stan Musial retired, and you're just not going to get someone like that to start extolling the virtues of FIP--so I shadow-boxed a bit. Better that it comes from Morbius.

Don't get this one: Infante's 5-5 going into the top of the 9th, he needs for someone to get on to get up to the plate, someone does, and they pinch-hit for him. I know 6-6 is one of those dumb stupid things that ruins baseball (looking at you, Morbius), but it looks like it's only happened about 50-60 times ever, so why not give him a chance?

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/feats/6_hits_1_game.shtml

Infante and Dirks went 10-10, with six runs and seven RBI.

yeah but how many wins did infante get

Spector considered their recording of "River Deep – Mountain High" to be his best work, but it failed to go any higher than #88 in the United States.

(I call your non sequitur, and raise you one bizarre detour.)

I don't know how to use Baseball Reference's Play Index (and I think you have to pay to have full use of it anyway), so I threw out the question on High Heat Stats whether that was the first time ever that two guys on the same team had gone 5-5. When I thought about the math, it seemed unlikely.

Turns out it's the fourth time (from commenter Richard Chester):

Pedro Feliz and Deivi Cruz of the Giants on 8-16-2005
Terry Whitfield and Darrell Evans of the Giants on 7-17-78
Curt Walker and Pete Donohue of the Reds on 5-22-25

Congratulations on your first complete game, Disco Rick.

Seeing yesterday's game-ending play for the first time--great!

http://wapc.mlb.com/play?content_id=30624341&topic_id=11493214

Bold prediction: this will never happen again for the remainder of Prince Fielder's career.

Absolutely NO reason to have someone pinch-run for Fielder, right?

Just look at that textbook slide.

Thinking Pop wouldn't been much slower.

http://mlb.mlb.com/assets/images/custom/princenacho_vdec4u8h.gif

completely forgot Detroit won the pennant last year btw

I remember it.

prince otm

Hawk and Stone's call of this inning must have been spectacular.

Detroit - Bottom of 9th	SCORE
Nate Jones pitching for Chicago	CHW	DET
T Hunter tripled to deep right center.	6	0
M Cabrera singled to center, T Hunter scored.	6	1
P Fielder singled to left center, M Cabrera to second.	6	1
V Martinez doubled to deep right, M Cabrera scored, P Fielder to third.	6	2
A Dirks hit for M Tuiasosopo.	6	2
A Dirks homered to right (428 feet), P Fielder and V Martinez scored.	6	5
A Reed relieved N Jones.	6	5
O Infante walked.	6	5
R Santiago sacrificed to pitcher, O Infante to second.	6	5
A Avila hit for B Pena.	6	5
A Avila walked.	6	5
A Jackson walked, O Infante to third, A Avila to second.	6	5
H Perez ran for A Avila.	6	5
T Hunter hit sacrifice fly to right, O Infante scored, H Perez to third.	6	6
M Cabrera walked, A Jackson to second.	6	6
D Veal relieved A Reed.	6	6
P Fielder grounded out to first.	6	6

20 away from breaking the single-season MLB record for staff strikeouts.

One more game against the Twins (Scherzer) and three against the Marlins (Porcello, Sanchez, Verlander), so they just might do it.

Cabrera's moving around like someone WHO SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN BED ALL DAY.

Two XBH in the last month?

Victor Jr. In the clubhouse, getting doused.

"That's nonalcoholic," Dombrowski announces.

http://content.foxtvmedia.com/wjbk/GIF/leyland-dancing.gif

This was about 30 seconds after Torii took Leyland out of his office, while Leyland was sobbing/reflecting to a reporter, bear hugged him, and carried him into the clubhouse to get showered.

http://cdn2.sbnation.com/assets/3292361/leylandtears.gif

‏@Tom_Gage
"I'm not going to win that war with fans. A lot of people want me to rest Cabrera totally"- #Tigers Leyland about MC playing 2 of next 3 gms

Richard Justice @richardjustice
Brad Ausmus and I just had a passionate discuss on the nihilism of Reinhold Niebuhr.

!

http://nbchardballtalk.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/kate-upton-and-justin-verlander.jpg

RIP

Where's Emily Yuen when ya need her?