Detroit Baseball Hurts My Stomach

Here are ten reasons why it is really hard to watch the Tigers play baseball right now.

1. Miscues by umpires against the Rangers. (The curse of Jim Joyce.)

2. Miscues by umpires against the Red Sox. (The curse of Jim Joyce.)

3. Miscues by umpires against other teams. (The curse of Jim Joyce.)

4. Why do umpires hate the Tigers?

5. Our inability to turn a double play. 

6. Max Scherzer's ability to strike people out but inability to win.

7. Our inability to get a big 2 out hit.

8. 560,341,285,019 runners LOB.

9. The play of our second basemen.

10. The scary comparison with the 2007 disaster.

Defensive Soft Spots Revealed in Detroit

We knew that the defense was going to be down. Picking up Prince Fielder didn't exactly happen for his glove. Moving Miguel Cabrera to third base wasn't for his quick feet. Snagging Delmon Young wasn't for his range. Giving Boesch more and more AB's isn't so he can use his deep intuition in right.

Let's be honest... The Tigers snuck by for the first 36 games as mediocre defenders. Committing 21 errors through Tuesday would have kept them in the top ten best in baseball. However, we learned against Minnesota that they are not mediocre defenders. In fact, we learned that they are poor defenders and that errors are costly. The four errors on Wednesday led to four unearned runs and probably cost us the game as we lost by four. The two errors on Thursday led to one unearned run and probably cost us the game as we lost by one. (Not to mention that Prince Fielder's error has embarrassing for everybody. No wonder why he never gets hurt.)

Overall... Again... We didn't put this lineup together to be great at defense. We put this lineup together to score a boat load of runs. And this is the problem. 

So what that the Tigers are 21st in fielding percentage at .981? This is expected. What is unexpected is that the Tigers are 11th or 12th in just about every major hitting category.

11th

AVE (.256)

H (329)

R (167)

12th

OPS (.719)

HR (37)

By the way, Cleveland is thus far better than the Tigers in just about every major offensive category. Here is what their lineup has looked like the last three days.

The realty that this lineup is producing better that Detroit's is more embarrassing than Prince Fielder's defense. The irony is that without Jackson or Dirks, these numbers would be even more frightening. Hopefully they can keep it up while the rest of the team begins to pick it up as many have been putting in extra time at BP.

I was earlier arguing that when Victor Martinez returns, the Tigers lineup could be the best in history. I am now beginning to question if this is true.

Can I Be Frustrated Yet?

I live with a football coache's mindset. I get amped up. I overreact. I get fired up when things don't go as planned and more so, when people underperform. I have learned, and I believe it to be true, that this is a great attitude to have for sports such as football. Football has such a short season and every game has undeniable importance. Therefore, a fiery attitude may be the difference in winning one of the sixteen games during the season or not.

In contrast, this type of attitude for a baseball fan leads to chronic disappointment and even some anger. Therefore, at the advice of a best friend, I have been trying to adjust my mindset when the Tiger's season starts. I have even encouraged other to look past the Tiger's 16-17 start, their multiple blown save chances, their lack of timely hitting, and ultimately their bad baseball play. I tell them that this is a long season...every team loses games...and they play in the worst division in baseball and they will be fine when it comes to the post-season. I really believe this is true, but when is it okay to get frustrated?

This team was supposed to be solid. This team was hailed as a Fall Classic contender. The performance thus far raises serious questions about the team even making the playoffs (at this pace)!

This is a pep-talk, more-or-less to myself, but maybe other Tiger's fans will appreciate it as well.

3 goods:

1. Starting pitching....is good. This area of the team is pretty much as expected except for a few sporadic starts by Porcello and Scherzer. Verlander has battled in a few games, but still looks like himself. Fister is now back on the bump and looks great when he gets dialed in. Smyly (the 5th starter as predicted by this blod before the season) has been astounding - no more than 2 ER in any start this season! Porcello can be great and Scherzer is Scherzer...this staff, when given some (even minimal run support) will win games!

2. Austin Jackson...is hitting (8th in AL AVG!), getting on base (11th in AL OBP), and scoring (5th in AL Runs). This is getting done with unexpected, below expected hitting stats from the Tiger's 2-3-4 hitters! If he keeps this up and the Tiger's middle-of-the-order bats wake-up, AJAX will have a great season and it will translate to the Tigers winning games, and hopefully a lot of them.

3. The Tigers play in the AL Central. I don't need to expound upon this...this gives them room to play poorly early on and be in a fine spot to overtake the lead in the division...of this we can all be confident. 

3 bads:

1. No need to repeat; but I would just forward you to the previous post on this blog...we have to win the games we are leading after the 7th inning. Whatever changes the bullpen needs to make to be more lock-down and the offense beginning to learn how to add some runs during the late innings for comfort could not come soon enough. 

2. "The Prince and the Popper" / "Miggy and Biggy" / "The Bats of the Cats" - yadayadayada! You get the point. Miguel and Prince are not Miguel and Prince. Both have had some very long hitless games streaks. Both have been striking out a lot. And both are not producing like we all thought! The nice thing is that it is early, and it is much better they are cold now than in October...let's just hope they warm up  even a little bit.

3. 2B!!!! Glad that Brandon Inge is gone...but seriously - our 3 options at second base are abysmal at best...the Tiger's need a second-baseman who can consistently, simply get on base!! Let's hope "D-squared" can put together a nice little trade for a good defense and solid offensive 2B, because it is very futile for the Tiger's to continue to hope that either Santiago, Raburn, or Worth will suddenly turn into good players at the dish. They did that with B-Inge for the better part of ten seasons and it never worked - it won't with these guys either!

Let's end this by saying....it is still only May 13th. They play in the AL Central...and they have the majority of the pieces that they need to be a productive winning team and they probably will. This little rant just allows those of us with a football mindset to vent a little so we can still maintain an even-keel!

Go Tigers!!!

Blown Saves in Detroit (ADDITION)

Rod Allen briefly quoted a frightening number during the game yesterday. He reminded listeners that the Tigers were 77-0 when leading after seven innings last year. This is an incredible number. 

I might argue that the next number that Rod Allen quoted was equally as incredible. He said that the Tigers have already blown 7 games this year when leading after 7 innings. I couldn't believe this number, so I looked into it. Rod Allen was wrong. When leading after 7 innings, the Tigers are 12-5 this year. This is still a shocking number, especially in light of last year's performance. We must improve here if a deep run in October is in our 2012 future.

Let's allow this layer to add to the previous conversation as held in the post below regarding thresholds for making drastic changes in the bullpen. The season is long and the grace is wide for Valverde, but if this trend continues into June and July, look for the conversation to pick up.

Blown Saves in Detroit

How many blown saves will it take for the Tigers to start questioning the role of Jose Valverde as the closer? 

He certainly bought himself some poker chips last year with his perfect effort at the center of the bullpen. He certainly has a knack for getting into trouble and then out of trouble in the game's most intense moments. He certainly is a great entertainer and an upstanding citizen... But... How many blown saves will the Tiger's allow this year before thinking about a transition?

Let's be honest. His fastball is down and his splitter does more rolling than splitting these days. He is 34 years old and his best year is now behind him. His numbers will inevitably get better, but still, look at how bad they have been this year. 

With all of this in mind, we at Detroit Tigers Storyline put the over/under at 7 more blown before September. If he blows 8 or more saves in the remaining 96 games until September begins, it is our estimation that replacing him will become a real part of the conversation. This would mean that in the next 96 games he can only blow 6 of the approximately 30 save opportunities that he will have during that time. He has already blown 2 saves in 7 opportunities this year, and blowing 8 more by September would place him at 10 blown saves in 37 opportunities. These sort of numbers could potentially place the Tigers in jeopardy of losing a playoff spot. Especially if another one of the teams in the Central can come up with 87 or 88 wins. In light of our 2011 campaign and the transitions that we made in the off season, missing the playoffs this year is not acceptable.

In case Valverde stays cold, who might we have to take his spot? Well it looks like Octavio Dotel won't be a good option from last night's performance. Who else is there? Benoit? Possibly. Beyond Benoit? Anyone else in the system? Ryan Perry fell short and is no longer a part of the conversation. Villarreal has been a mess. Albuquerque is MIA. I suppose that this leaves us with the potential of a trade. The season is too early to start predicting which closers will be on the block, but you heard it hear first... For better or worse... A trade for a closer come August just might be in the mix for our 2012 run to the World Series. 

(And if it is, we hope that the Angels continue to struggle as it would be a blast for Fernando Rodney to come back to Detroit!)