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| No One Team Should Have All That Power |
Detroit Tigers (3-0)
As you may have heard, the Detoit Tigers opened their season on Thursday, by walking off on the Boston Red Sox, 3-2. I did a game recap, which can be found here. Saturday, the Tigers lost Doug Fister in the 4th inning to an apparent side injury that was later classified as a "left costochondral strain". Fellow contributor Ryan is an exercise science major, and he had this to say: "his rib has an owie." No matter, as the Tigers pounded out 5 HR's while riding the arm of Duane Below to squeak out a 10-0 win. Cabby and Prince went yard two times a piece, and Avila added a paltry single home run to complete the quintuplet of long bombs. Fister was placed on the DL following the game, and Bryan Villarreal was called up from Triple A to replace him. Common logic dictated that the Villarreal move would mean moving Duane Below to the rotation, but, not so fast my friend(s). Leyland has not named a replacement starter for Fister, as he sent the scouts to Toledo this evening to watch Andy Oliver pitch; and will head to Toledo on Monday night to watch Casey Crosby throw personally. More on all that later.
Today, the Tigers played one of the most exhilarating, up and down games in recent memory. They jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first on the heels of a Jackson leadoff double, Cabrera RBI single, and, several batter later, a Jhonny Peralta 3-run double. Scherzer had some of the best STUFF I've seen him with. His fastball was excellent, sitting 94-95 with great arm side life with tilt, his slider had good bite, and his changeup had the same movement as his fastball, with perhaps more armside fade, but at 10 MPH slower. There was one issue. When I threw a golf ball at my roommate's head the other day from 3 stories down and across the parking lot, I had better command than Max did today. After the first inning, he couldn't buy a well-placed pitch, and the Red Sox spent the majority of innings 2 and 3 either walking to first, running to first, or limping to first after being drilled. Safe to say it wasn't Max's best day.
As for the offense. Austin Jackson continues to impress with his sizzling start. I'll caution you all to be aware that we are 3 games in, and, plainly said, shit happens in baseball. But for right now, by all means, enjoy the ride. Jackson picked up another 4 hits today, and scored 3 runs along with them. Boesch collected his first two hits today; finally being rewarded after two days of hitting the ball well with nothing to show for it. If Jackson and Boesch can get on base all season with at least similar consistency to the way they did today, this team is going to score at least 2.5, maybe a full 3 metricfuckton's of runs.
Miguel Cabrera is, simply put, the single greatest hitter I have ever seen in my life. Yes, I'm only 22, but I remember Mark McGwire. I watched Barry Bonds. I've watched Pujols and Braun and Votto and all of them. Guess what? I'll take Cabby in a runaway. Today, trailing 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th, Cabrera stepped to the plate with Jackson and Boesch on base (SEE! GET ON BASE!!) Boston closer Alfredo Aceves threw Cabrera a 2 seam fastball that tailed right out over the plate. Cabby did not miss it, sending into the LF seats and tying the game.
A couple innings later, down again, this time 12-10, Cabrera started things off again. With one out and the bases empty, he lined a single into RF. Prince Fielder followed that by singling down the LF line against an overshifted Boston IF. After a wild pitch advanced Cabrera to 3rd, Delmon Young Sac Flied him in. 12-11. Avila stepped to the plate, and proceeded to send Detroit into a frenzy by unleashing a drive to RF to win the game, sweep the Red Sox, and walk off the Tigers for the 2nd time in 3 games.
The bullpen today was somewhat shaky, but got the job done. With Scherzer lasting only 2 2/3, Leyland had to lean on everyone (except Papa Grande, who was sick). The combination of Balester, Schlereth, Dotel, Villareal, Coke, Benoit, and Below managed to keep the Tigers in the game until Avila's walk off winner.
Duane Below faced just one batter, striking out Adrian Gonzalez in the top of the 11th and escaping a Benoit-induced jam. Below also picked up the win, his second of the season and second of his career, moving him to 2-0 on the season and putting him on pace to win 108 games (no really, that was a tweet today, sent by none other than Ab(r)andon Inge author Phil.
Let's move onto some other tidbits:
-Fister is obviously out for at least 2 weeks, meaning he will miss 2-3 starts depending on how Leyland juggles things. The Tigers called up Villarreal, presumably to take the long man role in the bullpen, thusly bumping Duane Below to the rotation.
-Leyland said that there had been no decision made regarding the rotation spot now vacant. Tonight, Andy Oliver pitched for Toledo in front of Tiger's scouts. He didn't do well, only going 3 2/3 while surrendering 5 R (2 ER) on 3 H and 5 BB. The 5 BB is incredibly troubling, though he did also accumulate 5 K's. Safe to say that Oliver is not being considered right now.
-Casey Crosby (a personal favorite of mine) takes the mound Monday night for Toledo. Crosby, IMO, has the most upside of any pitcher in the Tigers system, with the obvious exception of Jacob Turner. He has an incredibly live fastball from the left side, showing very good armside movement and varying velocity from 93-97, occasionally touching 98 or so. Very nasty spike curve, which he has trouble commanding. He's more adept at burying it below the zone to get swings and misses than he is at throwing it for strikes (a la Verlander), but if he can figure it out he could be devastating. Also has a changeup that I see more as a "show me" pitch, but could develop to at least major league average. Crosby has been derailed by injury, but was fully healthy last season and despite an elevated ERA and WHIP, his numbers were promising. Should he be successful at commanding his pitches and limiting walks Monday night, he may get the call up.
-Adam Wilk was Toledo's opening day starter, and he impressed. However, I see Wilk as more of a swingman, long relief type guy. He has incredible command but lacks stuff, which doesn't translate well to the majors unless you're Greg Maddux.
We will seemingly know more by this time tomorrow, as Crosby will have finished his start in Toledo. As of right now, I would give Below a start and see what happens. If he gets shelled, it's one game and you can always dip into the minor league well following that.
As always, Beer, Broads, and Tigers Baseball to you all
Also, Happy Easter from all of us here at Ab(r)andon Inge
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