The Tigers have played half their games and find themselves in second place. This is clearly not acceptable. But it is time for some perspective.
Last year the Tigers had 39 wins and 42 losses after 81 games. They were four and a half games out of first place. They had put us through four streaks of at least three losses. But they were poised to make the World Series.
The Yankees have lost Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Curtis Granderson, and Kevin Youkilis to injuries. Their replacements, including Brennan Boesch, have performed surprisingly well. And yet the Yankees find themselves in fourth place, six games out of first, and have allowed more runs than they have scored. Cot's Baseball Contracts lists their payroll as $228 million for 2013. For reference, the Tigers' payroll is $149 million.
The Angels doubled down on their free agent signings of Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson by signing Josh Hamilton, a total commitment of $442 million. They are four games under .500 and nine games out of first place. Unless they resurrect the rally monkey, Mike Scioscia's long tenure as manager may be coming to an end.
The Nationals shelved Stephen Strasburg for the postseason last year, expecting to use him in many future playoffs. The future may not arrive, as they are six games out of first and allowing more runs than they have scored.
The Blue Jays acquired Jose Reyes, Melky Cabrera, R.A. Dickey, Josh Johnson, and Mark Buehrle. Their payroll is a meager $120 million. So I was happy for Toronto yesterday. They celebrated Canada Day with a big win to start the second half of their season, after finishing the first half under .500 and in last place.
The most significant criticism of the Tigers yesterday was that they were boring. Baseball is entertainment. It should be fun. Miguel Cabrera hitting a home run into a tank full of stingrays is fun. Prince Fielder hitting a ball off a catwalk and musing how far it would have gone in another park is fun. Watching Rajai Davis steal third on the catcher's toss back to the pitcher, like in Little League, is not fun.
In 2012 the Tigers started the second half with a streak of six wins, and 13 out of 15, to retake first place. It is time for a similar run this year. But another couple of losses and I may go off like a 4th of July fireworks display.
Doug Fister gets his second look at the Blue Jays tonight going up against Chien-Ming Wang. Fister first faced Toronto on April 11th going 8 innings allowing 1 run on 5 strikeouts in what turned out to be an 11-1 victory for Detroit. Since that game, Fister has continued to pitch pretty solidly resulting in an ERA of 3.50 and a FIP of 2.82. With a ground ball rate of 56.7% and only 4 home runs given up in 103 innings expect Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder to get a (much needed) workout tonight fielding grounders off of Fister's sinker.
On the April 11th game against Toronto Fister had his curveball working, which is key for his success. He threw it for strikes two-thirds of the time getting Rajai Davis swinging for a strikeout on the looping pitch:
During that game Fister focused on the arm-side part of the plate and that pattern has held true during the whole season, consistently jamming right handers with his sinker:
nope. stick a fork in ‘em, they’re cooked. Hate to say it, because I thought that the changes were going to make a real difference. But the pitching staff is just not good enough to challenge in the AL East. Another fourth place finish, 10 ~ 15 games out. And with the minor league cupboard bare, we won’t have another sniff (does this one even count?) for awhile.
It's not really clear who's injured so making a lineup wouldn't be an easy thing to do.
For the "Find the Link":
Find the link between Doug Fister and the Detroit Tiger catcher who saw the third most games at that position in the 2008 season.
Bowie won 10-6. Eduardo Rodriguez gave up 5 ER in 5 IP on 7 hits (1 HR) and 2 walks, striking out 5 with a GB/FB of 4/4. It's worth it to remember that "they" say the biggest jump is from A ball to AA. Oliver Drake gave up 1 ER in 1 IP on 2 hits.
Frederick lost 8-3. Michael Ohlman went 1-4 with 3 Ks. Christian Walker went 1-2 with 2 walks and a K. Nicky Delmonico DNP. Jesse Beal struck out 4 of the 10 batters he faced, recording 8 outs, allowing 2 hits but nary a run, nor a walk.
Delmarva lost 1-0. Parker Bridwell gave up 1 ER in 5 IP on 2 hits (solo HR) and 3 walks, striking out 7 with a GB/FB of 5/0. Remember Ashur Tolliver? We were so much younger then! He retired 9 straight, 6 via the strikeout. Hope springs eternal, if you can throw with your left hand. The Shorebirds were two hit, both of the bat of Tucker Nathans.
Aberdeen won 6-2. Sebastian Vader gave up 2 ER in 6.1 IP on 4 hits and a walk, striking out 6 with a GB/FB of 6/4. Hector Veloz went 0-3 with 2 Ks.
The GCL Birds split a doubleheader with the Twinkies. In the Game 1 3-2 victory, Josh Hart (supplemental first rounder) went 1-4 with a walk off double; he also struck out once. Ronarsy Ledesma went 2-3. Chance Sisco went 1-3. Jonah Heim went 0-2 with a walk and a K. Zach Clark gave up 1 ER in 4.2 IP on 4 hits and 2 walks, striking out 2 with a GB/FB of 7/3.
In Game 2, the GCL Birds lost 10-6. Ronarsy Ledesma went 0-4 with a K. Andres Aguilar went 1-3 with a double and a SB.
The original DSLers won 8-0. Victor Medina went 2-4 with a double. Wendell Floranus went 7 scoreless, scattering 7 hits and a walk, striking out but 1, with a GB/FB of 7/6.
The other DSLers lost 4-0. Francisco Jimenez yielded 1 ER in 4.2 IP on 3 hits and 2 walks, striking out 3 with a GB/FB of 4/6. Ademar Rifaela went 1-3, as did Kelvin Mena. The opponent today was the Blue Jays, who had a 17 y/o throw six shutout innings.
Most of the news over the past couple days involves the Cubs, and I generally leave that to others. We had several front page stories about the Cubs, the trades and the international signings. More will come, as the Cubs apparently came to terms with Eloy Jimenez late last night.
Also, be sure to check out the fanshot on the "Merkle Boner" from Monday night. If you're anything like me, your life revolves to an unhealthy amount around the 1908 National League Pennant Race. So to see James Baldwin possessed by the Ghost of Johnny Evers brought a smile to my face.
Joe Posnanski looks at the "rag-tag" Pirates and says that their success doesn't really make sense. They're making all the same poorly thought out moves that they've been making for 20 years, but for once, they're working. He says we should all sit back and enjoy the show.
On the other hand, fans are staying away from the Houston Astros, who are on their way to their third straight 100 loss season. Jose de Jesus Ortiz in the Houston Chronicle wonders if the Astros are in danger of losing an entire generation of fans. Honestly, I can't imagine the good people of Houston sitting around during the 2018 World Series and thinking "Nah, I'm not going to watch the Astros. Remember when they stunk so badly five years ago?" But there is a valid point in there somewhere.
On Sunday, Orioles farmhand Eddie Gamboa threw a seven-inning no-hitter. As a 28 year old pitcher in Double-A, you'd normally dismiss him as a prospect. Except in this case, Gamboa has recently learned to throw a knuckleball and was throwing 75% knucklers in the no-no. R.A. Dickey might not be so lonely anymore.
Finally, Bob Nightengale interviews all living major league Korean War veterans. Ernie Banks is among them, although Banks never left the United States during his military service. The only two living ballplayers who saw action in Korea are Jerry Coleman (who also served in World War II) and Bobby Brown.
And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. I hope that's because my daughter won't be throwing up everything she eats. Sick children are the worst.
Here are your MLB scores and highlights from an exciting first Tuesday in July:
Reds 3, Giants 0:Homer Bailey threw a no-hitter and has now recorded baseball's last two no-no's. The last guy to have that distinction was Nolan Ryan in 1975. Bailey struck out nine Giants and was perfect until he walked Gregor Blanco to start the seventh inning. That was the only baserunner Bailey would allow during his magical performance, which garnered a game score of 95.
Dodgers 8, Rockies 0:Yasiel Puig went 3-for-5 and hit his eighth home run of the year, but Clayton Kershaw's complete-game shutout was the most impressive performance in this game. Kershaw allowed just four hits and ended Michael Cuddyer's 27-game hitting streak en route to conquering Coors Field. The Dodgers are now just two-and-a-half games out of first place in the NL West. You know times are good in L.A. when you don't get penalized for doing this:
Mets 9, Diamondbacks 1: New York handed Patrick Corbin his first loss of the season by scoring seven runs in the seventh inning. The Diamondbacks are now 2-8 in their last ten games, but they're still clinging to first place thanks to all of the other teams in the division not named the Dodgers combining for a 5-21 record over the past ten days (hat-tip to Eric Stephen).
Rays 8, Astros 0:David Price struck out ten batters and allowed just three hits in seven innings of work in his return from the disabled list. Desmond Jennings had three hits, including a two-run homer in the sixth inning, and drove in four runs.
Tigers 7, Blue Jays 6:Torii Hunter capped off a four-hit day with a go-ahead RBI single in the eighth inning. Miguel Cabrera homered and drove in three before leaving the game in the ninth inning with back stiffness. The injury isn't considered serious and the reigning AL MVP should be ready to play on Wednesday, according to MLB.com's Jason Beck.
Phillies 3, Pirates 1: Pittsburgh's nine-game winning streak was snapped thanks to the 4-5-6 hitters in Philadelphia's order, which combined for five hits and three RBIs. The Phillies used seven pitchers to preserve Jonathan Pettibone's win. Pettibone allowed a run on three hits while striking out six batters in 5 ⅔ innings.
Athletics 8, Cubs 7: Derek Norris hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the A's sole possession of first place in the AL West. Oakland also got deep flies from Josh Donaldson and Chris Young. Alfonso Soriano hit a three-run homer as part of the Cubs' five-run fourth inning.
Red Sox 4, Padres 1:John Lackey continued his resurgence, lasting eight innings and allowing a run on six hits. He struck out six and lowered his ERA to 2.81. The Red Sox scored three times in the bottom of the fourth inning to provide Lackey with all the run support he would need.
Braves 11, Marlins 3:Justin Upton, Brian McCann and Chris Johnson had three hits apiece for the Braves, who racked up a total of 16 hits against Miami pitching. First-place Atlanta has won four straight games, and six of its last seven, to climb to 15 games over .500.
Yankees 7, Twins 3:Robinson Cano hit his 20th homer of the season, a three-run shot in the seventh inning, to break the game open. Phil Hughes lasted seven innings and allowed a run on six hits to pick up the win. Mariano Rivera earned the save, his 27th of the year.
Indians 6, Royals 5:Alex Gordon hit a game-tying grand slam off of Corey Kluber in the bottom of the fifth inning, but the Tribe answered with two runs in the seventh to win their fifth consecutive game. Nick Swisher finished with three hits and Carlos Santana drew three walks and collected a pair of RBIs.
White Sox 5, Orioles 3:Adam Dunn hit his 22nd homer of the year, a two-run shot off of Jason Hammel in the seventh inning, and Conor Gillaspie added a long ball to power Chicago to a win over the O's. John Danks allowed a pair of runs on six hits in seven innings, picking up just his second win of the year.
Mariners 9, Rangers 2: Kendrys Morales homered twice and drove in six runs and 41-year-old Raul Ibanez hit his 20th home run of the year. Joe Saunders limited the Rangers to two runs -- one earned -- in 6 ⅔ innings despite scattering ten hits.
Brewers 4, Nationals 0: Milwaukee scored all four of its runs in the eighth inning, the first two of which came on a double by Juan Francisco to break a scoreless tie. Stephen Strasburg exited after seven shutout innings. He allowed three hits and four walks and struck out eight.
Angels 5, Cardinals 1: The Angels scored five times in the second inning and Jered Weaver kept St. Louis off-balance for seven frames, allowing a run on six hits while racking up five strikeouts. Howie Kendrick led the Angels with three hits. Albert Pujols went 0-for-3 with a walk and a pair of strikeouts against his former team.
Speaking about Kawasaki as the designated hitter on Tuesday night, it was actually just the 59th time in Blue Jays franchise history that a starting DH was slotted into the ninth spot in the batting order. The Jays never batted a DH ninth between their founding in 1977 and 1986 when Kelly Gruber did it, then had another huge gap between September callup Shawn Green in 1993 and Dave Berg (remember him?) in 2002. Rick Leach and Glenallen Hill both did it six times, while Travis Snider and Eric Crozier did it five times each.
On to the links!
Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos offers injury update on Brett Lawrie, others - National Post John Lott summarizes the injury and signing update given by Alex Anthopoulos Tuesday evening. Sergio Santos was noticeably missing from the list of updates. Anthopoulos on hot-hitting Kevin Pillar: "reports are that he's ready to come if we have a need." It is still early into the AAA portion of his career (55 PA) but the 24 year old has not batted below .313 in any season or partial season in professional ball.
Morrow In The Doghouse And Other Intrigues - Drunk Jays Fans Yesterday, Andrew Stoeten wrote about Richard Griffin's Bullpen piece (linked therein), specifically the part where Griff wrote that Brandon Morrow was in John Gibbons' "dog house". And later on Baseball Central, Dirk Hayhurst, Jon Morosi, and Jeff Blair talked about how Morrow is someone who couldn't pitch through pain. Certainly I think that Morrow has disappointed both the club and the fans, but I'd wait for a couple more beat reporters to make their observation of the Gibbons-Morrow relationship known before taking Griff's comments too seriously.
GM Anthopoulos mulling upgrades to starting rotation - Toronto Star Brendan Kennedy on rotation options. Right now, Anthopoulos is "not engaged" in any trade talks at all, but is collecting information (like always). And he answers the question about Romero the right way: "He’s not there yet, but he’s certainly getting better." I hope they get Romero on a solid streak in AAA before even thinking about a schedule to call him back up.
Gomez, Negrych named IL All-Stars - Buffalo Bisons News Bisons sluggers Mauro Gomez and Jim Negrych are now International League All-Stars and they get to take a free trip to Reno! Negrych has cooled down but is still batting .327/.391/.466 with 3 homers and 33 RBI while Gomez is hitting .244/.318/.563 with a league-leading 24 homers and 54 RBI. A notable "snub" is Luis Jimenez who has a .307/.381/.545 line with 16 homers and 61 RBI, but there's only so much room for no-defense first basemen.
One more thing: April Whitzman, the Canadian Ambassador to the MLB Fan Cave, wants you to tweet her pictures/videos of you and your friends "Edwinging." So take your Super 8 camera or whatever kids use to make movies these days and go film!
Late Addition
Best deadline deal ever: Blue Jays - SweetSpot Blog Matthias Koster of Mop-Up Duty thinks that the deadline deal sending Mike Timlin and Paul Spoljaric to the Mariners for Jose Cruz, Jr. was the best deadline deal ever for the Blue Jays, beating David Cone for Jeff Kent. I tend to agree that the Cruz trade was more lopsided in favour of the Blue Jays, but Cone led to a World Series, which is the ultimate goal of every season. What say you?
Last night, sitting in Dallas, blacked out from watching the Astros game, I was instead watching the Toronto Blue Jays and the Detroit Tigers battle back and forth for the lead. The first three innings were quite exciting to watch as the Jays started out up by four runs, only to be chased down in the second inning and passed by the Tigers before battling back again. It was a true contest of baseball.
Sometime in the fifth inning I read about Homer Bailey throwing a perfect game in Cincinnati, so I began the familiar flip-flopping of channels, keeping up with the Tigers/Jays game, but also keeping an eye on Bailey, the Reds and what would, of course turn from a perfect game into a no-hitter, Bailey’s second in 10 months.
It was exciting and fun to watch. It was everything that baseball should be. On one channel, a fierce competition for the lead and on the other, a fierce competition to win against oneself — Bailey trying to again be as good as he was 10 months ago.
When all was said and done, Bailey was doused with Gatorade for throwing a no-hitter on one channel while the Tigers managed to eke out a win by one run over the Blue Jays. My hometown Houston Astros? Well, I was following them on the MLB At Bat application as the shut out hole they were digging against the Tampa Bay Rays got bigger and bigger.
I was in the car on the way to get ice cream when it dawned on me – I was really happy about baseball again. I was thrilled by a game that always has my heart, but didn't always hold my interest. Why did it suddenly capture my attention again on that particular night?
I wasn't watching the Astros.
That’s a harsh reality and statement for me to make as someone who is as big a fan as I am. I have always cheered for the Astros and have always prioritized their games over everyone else’s.
At the same time, over the last two years I've chided fans who turned their backs on the Astros. Fans who said, "I’ll come watch when they can win again," have been viewed as traitors in my eyes … until last night. I get it now.
As I watched Joey Votto throw out Gregor Blanco on a fielder’s choice rather than nabbing Buster Posey at first, I got it. Would the Astros have made that play? Would they have thought to preserve the no-hitter rather than get the out? Would they even be in this situation?
Fans of the Astros spend their time playing defense, explaining the long and difficult process of building a successful ball club from the ground up. They explain the patience required to watch the major league team, and that the reward is coming when, in two or three more years, the Houston Astros are a baseball club that makes us smile and want to celebrate victories with ice cream rather than a team that makes us groan, shake our heads and throw things at the TV.
It gets tiring defending the process, explaining the plan, standing up for the weakest in the room. We do it though, while still tossing insults and judgments. Astros fans are sort of like my older brother — he can insult me all he wants, but don’t you dare insult me or he’ll have a few things to say. We all hate the nasty comments by the national media and hang onto every forward-thinking piece that gives our city hope. Yes, Houston fans, I get it. I've been frustrated right along with you.
But just because I get it doesn't mean I’ll walk away. After all, I’m in this. I've watched the strip-mining of this team and I want to watch it rise from the ashes as well. I’m not going anywhere, but I will tell you this — when I sit down to watch baseball the rest of this season, I’m going to make sure I watch that other baseball as well, you know, the games that still take my breath away.
Max Scherzer throws the four conventional pitches with the fastball-changeup combination featuring against left handers and the fastball-slider combination against right handers. His slider has got nearly 50% whiffs/swing this season, while his changeup is getting over 60% groundballs/BIP.
He can also run his fastball up close to triple digits when he has to:
You can see that Scherzer really attacks the arm-side of the zone against both right handers and left handers rarely venturing to the glove-side of the plate:
He also locates the changeup against lefties down and away, which is why the pitch has such a high groundball rate:
The times Scherzer has struggled this year, it's usually been in part because he allowed a few walks so the Blue Jays will have to hope he lacks his command tonight, which has been a rare occurrence this year.
Adam Lind could still be hurt so it's tough to say if he'll play but Scherzer has faced many more lefties (270) than righties (150) this year and has struggled more against them. Ideally, the Blue Jays should try to stack the lineup with left handed hitters, but the bench doesn't provide much flexibility right now. My hopeful lineup would be:
Reyes SS
Davis LF
Bautista RF
Lind DH
Encarnacion 1B
Rasmus CF
Izturis 3B
Thole C
Kawasaki 2B
For the "Find the Link" today:
Find the link between Max Scherzer and the namesake of Alexandria, Egypt.
Enjoy the game tonight, might be a pitcher's duel.
Wang, 33, lasted just 40 pitches in his fifth and final start for the Jays. In that span Detroit roughed him up for six runs on eight hits over 1⅓ innings, sending the veteran right-hander to the showers before the third inning for the second consecutive start.
Pretty much the opposite of what Chien-Ming Wang did to the Tigers Tuesday.
Signed by the Blue Jays as emergency rotation help in June, Wang fared rather well in his first few outings with Toronto. The right-hander posted a solid 2.61 earned-run average in 20⅔ innings over three starts, but then the wheels quickly fell off the bus. Wang was lit up by the Red Sox last week, surrendering seven runs in less than two innings, and continued with more of the same against Detroit on Tuesday. He now owns a much uglier 7.12 ERA in 24 innings.
Once an integral part of the Yankees' rotation, Wang has fallen on hard times since suffering a serious ankle injury in 2008. The right-hander has thrown just big-league 118⅔ innings over the last four seasons -- putting up a 5.38 ERA in that span -- and spent the first two months of this year with the Yankees' Triple-A affiliate in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Toronto wants to keep the right-hander in the organization, but ultimately the decision is up to Wang: he can either opt to accept his assignment to Buffalo, or he can elect free agency. Wang is expected to make his decision sometime Wednesday.
Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said that the 28-year-old Redmond is likely to start in Wang's place the next time through the rotation, but what the club's plans are beyond that is anyone's guess. Redmond has made just one start in his very brief MLB career, lasting just 3⅓ innings in a 2012 outing with the Reds. The right-hander has allowed seven runs over eight big-league innings overall.
The 2013-2014 MLB international signing period kicked off Tuesday with a record-setting day, as several high-profile players came off the board is a flurry of deals across the league, including the highest bonus ever for a European player, reports Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com.
Fifteen of MLB.com's 30 top international prospects came to agreements with big-league clubs on Tuesday, including three of the top five players on the list. While their names are unrecognizable from Adam at the moment, clubs are hopeful that at least a few of the player will become household names in a few years' time.
Here's a quick breakdown of the top players to sign Tuesday -- ordered by their MLB.com ranking -- along with their estimated bonuses:
This year marks the first time that teams are allotted bonus pools based upon their win-loss record from the previous season -- and just the second year that there are international bonus pools at all -- so the signing period is likely to unfold in new and exciting ways. Adding an extra wrinkle to the dealings is that new rule that allows clubs to add slot money through trades, which the Chicago Cubs took advantage of right off the bat.
Alfredo Despaigne is a home-run monster. He is not in the majors yet, but he should be.
The Cubs moved money around in deals with the Astros, Dodgers, and Orioles on Tuesday, which gave the club the freedom to sign Dominican shortstop Gleyber Torres -- No. 3 on MLB.com's list -- and Colombian right-hander Erling Moreno -- No. 17 -- while still leaving room for the possibility of signing the consensus top pick, Dominican outfielder Eloy Jimenez.
The Texas Rangers were also busy Tuesday by signing four Dominican players -- RHP Marcos Diplan, OF Jose Almonte, SS Yeyson Yrizarry, and SS Michael DeLeon -- all of whom are on the aforementioned Top 30 list. The Kansas City Royals got their feet wet by signing Italian shortstop Marten Gasparini, whose $1.3 million bonus sets a record for a European player.
If one were to declare a winner of the signing period's first day -- in terms of volume, at least -- it would probably be the Toronto Blue Jays. The club reportedly made 14 international signings on Tuesday, including Venezuelan shortstop Yeltsin Gudino -- ranked No. 14.
***Boston Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley hit two homers for Triple-A Pawtucket yesterday, giving him a season line of .300/.387/.529 in 40 games, 170 at-bats interspersed with his 19 major league contests.
***Toronto Blue Jays prospect Marcus Stroman fanned 13 in 6.2 innings for Double-A New Hampshire against New Britain yesterday. On the season he has a 3.38 ERA with a 50/12 K/BB in 42.2 innings with 39 hits allowed. He had one bad start back on May 29th, but has otherwise been very effective all season, sharp in all eight other starts.
***Texas Rangers beast Joey Gallo hit two homers and drove in seven for Low-A Hickory yesterday, making his season lie .233/.322/.558 with 25 homers, 35 walks, and 125 strikeouts in 292 at-bats. He had been in a cold snap before yesterday, hitting .105 in his last 10 games, so it will be interesting to see if this jars him out of it. I get a lot of questions about Gallo but the answer is always the same: he has enormous power, but the contact issues are so serious that I really have no idea what he'll do at higher levels. I expect he would continue to rip in High-A, but Double-A would be a serious challenge for him. He's just 19 of course, so we will have lots of time to wonder.
***Kansas City Royals pitching prospect Daniel Stumpfthrew a seven-inning no-hitter yesterday, leading the Low-A Lexington Legends to a 1-0 victory over the Greenville Drive. The 22-year-old Stumpf has a 3.30 ERA with a 75/34 K/BB in 79 innings with 62 hits allowed. He was a ninth-round pick in 2012 from San Jacinto College North in Texas. He is a standard three-pitch lefty with an 88-92 MPH fastball, a changeup, and a breaking ball variously described as a curve or slider.
***Tampa Bay Rays 2013 second-round pick Riley Unroe hit his first professional home run yesterday in the Gulf Coast League. The shortstop is hitting .263/.364/.526 with two steals in his first five games, a miniscule sample of course but a decent enough start to his career. It should be noted that Unroe, a high school shortstop from Arizona, was one of the youngest players in the '13 draft class, not turning 18 years old until next month.
It is hard to believe we've put the first three months of the season behind us.
June was our best month by far, The Blue Jays went 17-9 in June. The pitchers had a 2.91 ERA, much better than the 4.52 mark in April and the 4.90 in May. The starters stepped things up, they had a 3.89 ERA in June much better than the 5.27 of April or the 5.74 in May. The relievers were great in June, putting up a 1.16 ERA, better than 3.35 in April and 3.85 in May.
R.A. Dickey: 3.71 ERA, 3-1, 5 starts, 34 innings, 28 hits, 5 home runs, 9 walks and 19 strikeouts. Batters hit .222/.288/.357 against him. Funny that in April and May he struck out 7.1 batters per 9, but June he only had 5.0 per 9 and yet he was much better this month. In his 5 starts, three were good and two were bad.
Mark Buehrle: 3.50 ERA, 2-2, 6 starts, 36 innings, 41 hits, 2 home runs, 10 walks, 22 k. Batters hit .283/.333/.400 against him. A much better month, he didn't give up more than 4 runs in any of the 6 starts.
Josh Johnson: 4.08, 1-1, 5 starts, 28.2 inning, 31 hits, 3 home runs, 9 walks, 30 k. Batters hit .267/.320/.440 against him. Like the other started, a big step forward. His last start was his worst of the month, 8 hits and 5 earned in 3.1 innings against the Red Sox.
Esmil Rogers: 2.27, 2-1, 6 games, 5 starts, 31.2 innings, 25 hits, 4 home runs (3 in a row), 8 walks, 20 strikeouts. Batters hit .217/.268/.357 against him. Other than the back-to-back-to-back home runs, it was a pretty amazing month. Who figured he could pitch like this?
Chien-Ming Wang: 5.24, 1-1 in 4 starts, 22.1, 28 his, 3 home runs, 7 walks, 10 strikeouts. Batters hit .322/.372/.471 against him. It was fun while it lasted. Well, no not really. There were a couple of moments that were fun.
Ramon Ortiz: Left his first start of the month after 2 innings, with an injury, as you all remember. He gave up 5 hits, 4 earned, 1 home run, 1 walk with 0 strikeouts before the pain.
Casey Janssen: 1.86, 2-0, 6 saves, 9.2 innings, 6 hits, 0 home runs, 3 walks and 6 strikeouts. Batters hit .182/.243/.273 against him. He had 1 blown save in there, the only time he gave up runs in the month and we won anyway.
Brett Cecil: 0.71, 2-0, 2 holds, 12.2 innings, 4 hits, 0 home runs, 3 walks, 14 k. Batters hit .098/.159/.122. It took him until the 25th to give up his first hit of the month.
Steve Delabar: 0.00, 1-0, 3 holds, 1 blown save/win, 10 innings, 8 hits, 6 walks, 21 strikeouts. Batters hit .200/.304/.225 against him. He pitched 30 outs, 21 of them were strikeouts. I'll admit, the way Gibby is using his bugs me. His last 4 games he came into the game with us down by 4, down by 3, a tie game (after Darren Oliver started the inning and loaded the bases) and us up by 6. And yet the close games in between, he wasn't used. Tie game in the bottom of the 9th, June 30 against the Red Sox, Juan Perez goes in. Friday June 28, same Red Sox, tie game in the 7th, Neil Wagner goes in. July 2nd, against the Tigers, tie game in the 8th, Wagner goes in. We lost all three games. It seems like he's getting the low leverage spots.
Aaron Loup: 0.00, 1-0, 1 save, 10.1 innings, 7 hits, 0 walks, 9 k. Batters hit .206/.250/.235 against him.
Darren Oliver: 4.50, 1-0, 1 hold, 1 blown save/win, 6.0, 5 hits, 1 home run, 2 walks, 5 k. Batters hit .250/.318/.400 against him. He's about the only reliever that hasn't been great.
Juan Perez: 0.00, 0-1, 1 blown save, 1 loss. 10.2, 8 hits, 4 unearned runs, 4 walks, 9 k. Batters hit .216/.293/.216. A zero ERA but a blown save and a loss in the month.
Neil Wagner: 2.45, 1-2, 4 saves. 11 innings, 8 hits, 1 home runs, 5 walks, 5 k. Batters hit .211/.302/.289 against him. He got a lot of work in June.
Dustin McGowan: 2.84, 0-0. 6.1, 5 hits, 2 home runs, 3 walks, 7 k. Batters hit .200/.310/.480. I keep forgetting that he is in the pen but then I think Gibby does too. I did enjoy watching him strikeout Evan Longoria. I wonder if they will consider giving him Wang's spot in the rotation.
That was just a terrible error by Emilio Bonifacio in the second inning. That said, just because you had an error made behind you, it doesn't mean you have to give up a bunch of runs, but that's what Josh Johnson did, giving up a Jhonny Peralta RBI single and a 3-run homer to Alex Avila. Johnson's own error, in the third, cost him another unearned run. Then he gave up a home run to Victor Martinez in the fifth, his only earned run of the game.
Josh wasn't good. 5 innings, 7 hits, 6 runs, only 1 earned, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts, 2 home runs. He also made 2 fielding errors.
Todd Redmond came and pitched 3 scoreless innings. Odds are he cost himself a chance to start Sunday, though you never know. Maybe he showed enough that the Jays will want him to start. He gave up a lot of hard hit balls, but they found gloves.
Dustin McGowan looked really good in his inning. 3 strikeouts. Maybe we could start giving him some higher leverage moments.
On offense, we managed 9 hits, 2 each for Jose Bautista, Colby Rasmus and Bonifacio (plus our only walk) One for Jose Reyes, Maicer Izturis and Mark DeRosa. But that added up to only 2 runs. Maybe the game would have gone better if J.P. Arencibia's drive to the wall went a couple of feet further or if Tigers LFer Andy Dirks hadn't made such a good catch.
There were a couple of moments of interest. Colby knocked Omar Infante out of the game, with a hard slide, breaking up a double play. I don't like that he jumped over the bag to hit Infante. Hard slides are one thing, but you should touch the bag, not jump over it. If I was Colby, I wouldn't dig in too deep in my at bats tomorrow.
Then, later in the game, Redmond lost control of a fastball and hit Torii Hunter high in the shoulder. Hunter wasn't impressed, though I don't think there was anything intentional about the pitch.
Bautista made a couple of really nice catches in the outfield and made as nice a slide into the plate that you are ever going to see, to score our second run. I thought it was a terrible send by Luis Rivera. Down by 5 isn't time to gamble, but Jose made it work.
No Jays of the Day today. Bonifacio had the high score at .047, but that didn't include the error.
Johnson (-.302, not including his 2 errors) gets the Suckage award and I'll give one to Adam Lind (-.091, 0 for 4, 3 k).
The GameThread petered out early, along with our chances to him. Thorkun led the way, a gritty performance in the losing cause.
Behind still undefeated and now 13-0 Max Scherzer, Detroit Tigers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-2. But there were more fireworks to the night than Scherzer upping his record. Omar Infante was forced to leave the game with a leg injury in the fifth after Colby Rasmus upended him with a late takeout slide. In the sixth, Blue Jays reliever Todd Redmond hit Torii Hunter with a high fastball, emptying the benches.
The Tigers later announced Infante's X-rays were negative and is suffering from a left shin contusion.The Tigers' second baseman will be re-evaluated tomorrow. Media reports had Infante in "serious pain" and on crutches, his leg and shin bandaged. Also suffering from an injury is Miguel Cabrera, who was pulled late with a back issue and will not be in the Tigers' lineup Thursday.
Scherzer (13-0) pitched into the seventh, allowing just two runs and seven hits over 6 1/3 innings to extend his franchise-record start. Scherzer becomes the first pitcher since Rogers Clemens in 1986 to start a season 13-0.
The Tigers used a combination of Bruce Rondon, Drew Smyly and Joaquin Benoit to shut the door on the Jays after the sixth inning. The three relievers combined for 2 2/3 shutout innings, allowing two hits.
Losing pitcher Josh Johnson (1-3) was rocked for all six Tigers runs and seven hits over five innings. Though only one of the runs was earned, Johnson helped save his ERA by committing two of the three Jays errors. The Jays bullpen was lights-out, allowing one hit over the final four innings.
For the second straight night, Colby Rasmus led the Blue Jays offense with two hits and an RBI. Jose Bautista and Emilio Bonifacio also had two hits for the Jays.
The Tigers only had eight hits, but made them count. Alex Avila was the offensive star of the game with two hits, including a three-run home run. Victor Martinez added a home run of his own, ending the night with two hits, two runs, and two RBIs.
Despite the hijinks between the teams in the fifth and sixth, Max Scherzer was the story ... again. Scherzer is rapidly making his way up the record books.
One down in the bottom of the first, Jose Bautista (with help from R.A. Dickey's pants) nearly went yard off Scherzer, hitting a fly ball over a leaping Andy Dirks and off the left field wall for a two-base hit. Bautista had third base stolen with two down, but it became moot when Colby Rasmus went down swinging. The Jays stranded the high-socked Joey Bats as Scherzer struck out the side.
Prince Fielder's speed created a threat for the Tigers in the second. That's not a typo. Fielder led off the inning with a high chopper off the glove of Johnson, which he legged out for an infield single. Jim Leyland calling the hit-and-run with Victor Martinez at the plate. Emilio Bonifacio, likely shocked into paralysis from the tremors that are created from Fielder's mass whilst running, allowed a double-play ball to go through the five hole and into right field.
The E-4 put runners on the corners for Jhonny Peralta, who made the Jays pay for their lax defense with an RBI single to center. Fielder huffed and puffed his way across the plate to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.
Two down, runners still on first and second for .180-hitting Alex Avila, Johnson looked to be on the verge of getting out of the inning. But the Tigers' resurgent catcher crushed Johnson's full-count, belt-high fastball to the opposite field, the Rogers Centre crowd letting loose with an audible groan as the ball cleared the left center field wall at the 375-foot mark. Avila's three-run bomb was his sixth homer of the season, putting the Tigers up 4-0.
With two out in the bottom half of the inning, Mark DeRosa lifted a fly ball to deep right. Torii Hunter, the wall and the ball all met at the same time. Hunter took the worst of the collision, heavily hitting the wall as the ball rolled into short right field.
By the time Omar Infante tracked the ball down, De Rosa was standing on third.
That made two deep fly balls Tigers outfielders couldn't turn into a highlight reel catch. It wasn't going to happen a third time, because Austin Jackson was involved.
J.P. Arencibia launched a fly to dead center, extra base hit written all over it. But Jackson, racing to the wall and timing his leap perfectly, made a leaping grab before crashing into the wall to make a spectacular inning-ending catch.
Thanks to Jackson (who had also made a nice running catch in the right center gap to open the inning), the Tigers maintained their 4-0 lead.
Johnson's error in the third set the table for the Tigers to extend their lead. Johnson couldn't cleanly handle Hunter's weak comebacker, allowing the Tigers' right fielder to reach base without a throw. Miguel Cabrera moved Hunter over with a base on balls. Martinez made it 5-0 with a ground-ball RBI single past Johnson and into center.
Dirks at the plate with two down, Johnson couldn't handle another comebacker. Dirks was safe at first on Johnson's second E-1 of the inning, loading the bases. But Joey Bats bailed out the Jays, making a lunging, tumbling catch on Infante's gapper to end the inning. Bautista saved three runs with the all-or-nothing play.
Scherzer held the Jays at bay in the fourth, helped by an inning-ending double play started by Cabrera. Hard to believe a year and a half ago the baseball hive mind was absolutely sure Cabrera was a disaster waiting to happen at third base. I'm still waiting for the disaster.
Johnson was still having trouble with the Tigers' bats in the fourth, but was able to pitch out of trouble ... probably because he didn't have to field the ball. The suddenly hot Avila led off with a single, Hunter singling him to second with one out. But Johnson was able to strike out a slightly off-kilter looking Cabrera (you have to wonder just how much his back was bothering him), then retire Fielder on a bouncer to second.
Bottom of four, and one down, Rasmus took out Infante with a borderline too late and spikes high slide to break up a double play.
Infante was hit hard, upended and was in a great deal of pain. He was forced to leave the game with a leg injury as a debate raged online over the slide being dirty or not. Ramon Santiago replaced Infante in the lineup.
Martinez got a measure of revenge in the fifth, leading off the inning with his seventh home run of the season. The solo shot increased the Tigers' lead to 6-0.
Right-handed reliever Todd Redmond took over for the stone-handed Johnson in the sixth. With Jackson on first with a single, Redmond hit Hunter with a high-and-tight fastball, catching him high on the left arm.
Hunter immediately lost his cool. Was it intentional? I honestly doubt it, but you sure couldn't tell Hunter otherwise.
After both benches emptied and much milling around and posturing was done, home plate umpire Mike Estabrook issued warnings to both teams. There would be no retaliation for Infante's injury by the Tigers tonight (if at all, considering MLB is watching closely after what happened against the Rays).
Cabrera followed the mess by drilling a line shot ... directly at Jose Reyes at short, who doubled off Jackson to end the Tigers' threat.
Bottom of six, the umpires took matters into their own hands.
Umpires Mike Estabrook and Jerry Layne spoke with Max Scherzer before he took the mound to begin 6th.
You have to wonder if the talk affected how Scherzer approached the Blue Jays. Now that he couldn't throw inside without risk of being tossed, Scherzer immediately got himself into trouble.
Reyes led off with a single to center, Bautista advancing him to third with a single. One out, Rasmus continued to wage war on the Tigers with an RBI single to right. Two down, Maicer Izturis slapped a single through the left side. Dirks' throw beat Bautista but was off line, allowing the Jays to plate the second run of the inning.
Scherzer finally got out of the inning when Hunter made a nice running grab on DeRosa's liner to right center. But the Jays had scored twice, pulling to within four at 6-2.
While the Tigers were taking their hacks against Redmond in the seventh, Bruce Rondon and Drew Smyly were warming up. But his pitch count at just 103, Leyland sent Scherzer to the mound in the bottom half of the seventh in hope of one more inning from his soon-to-be All-Star. Instead of an inning, Leyland got two more batters out of his starter.
After Bonifacio singled with one out, Leyland leap out of the dugout (as much as a near 70-year-old heavy smoker can leap, anyway), signaling for the rookie fireballer, Rondon.
Rondon had an impressive 2/3 of an inning, Reyes popping up and Joey Bats bouncing to second, forcing Bonifacio. Rondon had ensured Scherzer remained the pitcher of record and in line for win number 13. It would be up to Smyly and Joaquin Benoit to nail down that victory.
Smyly started the eighth for the Tigers. He allowed a one-out single to (nascent Tiger Killer) Rasmus, but struck out Davis and Izturis to end the inning without incident.
Having shut down the Tigers for three innings, Redmond gave way to right-hander Dustin McGowan in the ninth. McGowan struck out the side, giving the Jays ten strikeouts on the night.
Holding a four-run advantage, the Tigers made two changes for the bottom of the ninth. Don Kelly replaced the sore-backed Cabrera at third and Benoit took over for Smyly, facing the tail end of the Jays' order.
Piece of cake.
Pitching in a non-save situation, Benoit allowed a two-out single to Bonifacio before Reyes popped up to short left for the final out.
GAME OVER! 13-0!
The Tigers win, but were unable to retaliate for the injury to Infante and Hunter being hit by a pitch. The umpires issuing a warning ended any chance of further trouble tonight. But will the Tigers forgive and forget?
If Scherzer is to be believed, the Tigers may not do either.
"The record's overblown, in a sense. I'm part of a great team here."
Jim Leyland on the 13-0 Scherzer:
"He might not have been vintage Max, but he was really good."
"It's hard to believe somebody is 13-0 in this day and age. But he is, and we'll take it."
When asked about Infante getting knocked out of the game, Leyland didn't vow any retaliation or give a pithy "it won't be tolerated, take that to the bank" style quote. He just said...
"That's baseball."
But Leyland did confirm Infante (leg) and Cabrera (back) will not play tomorrow.
Winning back-to-back games for the first time since June 23, the Tigers raise their record to 45-38. They are tied for first place in the Central with the Indians, who are currently mired in a rain delay in Kansas City.
Thursday may be Independence Day in the US, but it's just another day in Canuckistan. Justin Verlander (8-5, 3.77 ERA) takes on Jays' right-hander Esmil Rogers (3-3, 3.12 ERA) in the series finale. Verlander is coming off a two-earned-run, eight-inning no-decision against the Rays, his longest outing of 2013. Since moving to the Jays rotation in June, Rogers is 2-1, 2.43 in five starts. First pitch in the Rogers Centre is 7"07 PM.
Entering tonight’s game, the Tigers lead the American League with a .280 batting average and 814 hits, standing second in OBP at .347, and third with 406 runs scored, 393 RBIs and a .430 SLG. Hard to believe this is same team which has trouble scoring runs after the seventh inning and is 2-8 in extra innings. But Scherzer has benefited from great run support all season long, and tonight was no exception.
Over at Mlive's live blog, our own Phil Coke's Brain has his mind in the gutter:
PhilCoke'sBrain for MLive.com - Dickey, Wang, Johnson...
Meanwhile, with a rehabbing Matt Tuiasosopo and the Mud Hens:
Tuiasosopo looks really good running bases ... scores from 1st on Lennerton double on close play. Good slide. @MudHens lead C-bus 2-1, B4.
Max Scherzer: Was brilliant for five innings, but he may have been affected by the warning and umpires talking to him before the sixth. Regardless, Scherzer was excellent overall, allowing seven hits and two runs, whiffing eight over 6 1/3 innings to raise his record to a marvelous 13-0.
Victor Martinez: Gave the Tigers a semblance of revenge by homering immediately after Infante was knocked out of the game. Martinez was 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI.
Alex Avila: Hit a game-breaking Earl Weaver Special tonight. A resurgent Avila makes a huge difference in the Tigers' lineup. Since coming off the DL, Avila is 3-for-7 with a double, home run, two runs scored and five RBIs.
BONUS ROAR:
The bullpen:.Keep in mind small sample size, but the new-look bullpen has been very good. Rondon, Smyly and Benoit slammed the door.
TWO HISSES:
Colby Rasmus: Was very lucky his late slide did not badly injure Infante. Losing Infante for any length of time is a massive blow to the Tigers.
Late inning offense: The Tigers did nothing against the Jays' pen, completely shut down on one hit after Johnson was yanked.
In a tight battle with Miguel Cabrera (28%) and the bullpen as a combined entity (32%), Torii Hunter and his four hits took PotG honors with 35% of the vote.
If you haven't heard the news, J.P. Arencibia had an appearance on The Fan show "Brady & Lang" today. Last night he tweeted a preview of what to expect:
Look forward to fan590 at 8:40 am tomorrow... You should probably tune is as I will discuss Hayhurst and Zaun #ThisWillBefun
As it turns out, it wasn't that fun. You can go listen to the interview here or I can save you the pain and summarize it below. Essentially J.P. is mad that fans have to hear Gregg Zaun and Dirk Hayhurst point out how bad certain players on the Blue Jays are. Nothing like a little drama between players being paid by Rogers and analysts being paid by Rogers.
I think it's very unfortunate that the fans have to hear those guys talk as much as they do...
That makes two of us J.P., I think it's unfortunate as well.
I know speaking for myself and for the team that there's not one person in the clubhouse who respects those guys cause they're informing the fans the wrong way and it's not right.
I think it's long been a consensus around here that Zaun and Hayhurst are not the optimal people to be informing the fans, but why that's become an issue for J.P. is beyond me. I'm sure the other 24 guys on the team are happy they've been brought into this discussion by their loveable AAAA catcher. The only reason Arencibia cares about what the media is saying to the fans is because it now has to do with him being a bad catcher. I didn't hear the whole clubhouse being outraged when Buck Martinez called Esmil Rogers "Ishmael" or when Gregg Zaun's key to victory for every game was to "Ride the Wave".
One, not a lot of us including myself respect a person who use performance enhancing drugs and was able to stick around as a below average player in the major leagues.
This is a real doozy. If I understand this correctly, J.P. Arencibia said the clubhouse doesn't respect a player who uses performance enhancing drugs. The clubhouse features a man by the name of Melky Cabrera who was suspended for doing that very thing. That would mean Melky Cabrera has no self respect and that's just a shame, hopefully he gets help with that. The ironic part of this statement is that the only difference between Gregg Zaun and J.P. Arencibia is the steroid part. Also, Gregg Zaun was never proven to have used PED's and all allegations came from allegations based on the Mitchell Report so no lawsuits here please.
Dirk Hayhurst is a guy who was a guy who had below average baseball tools
"Hey kettle, you're black!". Arencibia has more in common with these guys than he even realizes.
I was the catcher in AAA who was busting my butt every single day to try and get the best out of him and he had an opportunity to go up to the Major Leagues that year and I take of pride in helping, and feeling I'm a part of what gave a guy an opportunity. I even remember having conversations with him on how to throw a changeup inside. I thought it was better to throw the changeup in than the changeup away and he had great results with it and I think it's tough to hear people like that criticize, I know it's part of their job, but to sit there and inform the fans "this is wrong and this is not the way" because they quickly forget how hard this game is.
The end of this quote makes it seem like J.P is angry that Hayhurst is telling people what Arencibia is struggling with because Hayhurst himself struggled in the major leagues. That's just silly to think Hayhurst can't criticize anyone because he wasn't a successful big leaguer himself. Funnily enough, I've heard Hayhurst say the exact same thing to fans who "haven't played the game so they wouldn't understand" so it must be a popular excuse when they don't want a fair debate.
Those guys are not letting the fans know what it takes and how hard it is on a day in and day out basis from dealing with injuries to go out there and succeed in this game on a consistent level
Thank goodness they don't do that. Gregg Zaun preaching every pre-game how hard it is to play baseball would be even harder to listen to then what he blabs on about currently. Analysts aren't supposed to just pat players on the back and look past their failings. These are MLB players being paid millions of dollars (or hundreds of thousands in J.P.'s case) and are expected to perform at a certain level. If they don't perform at that level, they can't go blaming media for pointing that out. If you don't want to be criticized by the media for only getting on base 24.4% of the time, you shouldn't respond by pointing out that the analysts saying those things were just as bad at baseball.
Those guys should know how hard it is cause one of them didn't play in the major leagues for more than a month and the other one had a good career, but wasn't that great either so they should really understand and make the fans know "hey it's not that easy".
We all wish Arencibia was an example of the former, but alas he is definitely the latter. After checking back on Zaun's stats in the major leagues, it's pretty clear that he was actually better than Arencibia the majority of his career. I don't understand what point Arencibia is trying to make anymore. He's been playing bad and numerous people have pointed it out to the fans, which is their job. It doesn't matter if the person who says it was an awful high school baseball player or a player who was in the major leagues for 10 years. There's 30 highly coveted starting catching places in the MLB and regardless of how hard the sport is, if you don't perform well enough you'll lose your spot.
All in all, this was a strange rant by J.P. Arencibia fuelled by rising pressure on him and a loosening grip on his starting catcher's job. He decided to thrash out at the people pointing out his flaws instead of internalizing it (like most players) and working on improving his play.
I really dislike both parties of this argument, because generally Zaun and Hayhurst do a pretty poor job of informing the fans, but it's not Arencibia's place to say that. He shouldn't even be listening to those guys talk about him, because it clearly has gotten in his head and frustrated him. I assume all this blows over because it's a silly attempt at starting drama between employees being paid by the same company. The last thing Rogers want is a player on their team starting a rift with the exclusive media outlet because nothing good would come of that.
Let us know in the comments how much you care about these comments on a scale of 1 to "don't care at all". Also vote who's side your on in the poll. It's like choosing between Yankees or Red Sox in my eyes.
Happy 4th of July to all of Fake Teams readers. I hope you have a safe and enjoyable holiday!
Do you have some trade offers you are consider, but need to bounce them off of someone? Are you pondering a roster move and want a second opinion? Feel free to post your questions in the Fantasy Baseball Questions thread.
Fake Teams Podcast, Episode 14: Super Duper American
Andrew and Zack hosted their twice weekly Fake Teams podcast on Sunday night, and discussed Matt Adams, Brad Miller, Bartolo Colon and much more. You can listen to the podcast via MP3 or ITunes:
I know what you are thinking " but what about Troy Tulowitzki?", right? Well, Tulowitzki is in the conversation for sure, but Hanley is putting up a monster triple slash line since returning from the DL. He was hitting the ball well in the WBC before he was injured, so I wonder if Hanley's hot "start" to the season is a sign that he could be back to the hitter he was several years ago, or just a hot month. I think now that he doesn't have the pressure to produce like he did in Miami, he could really flourish in the Dodgers lineup with so many solid bats around him. Plus, he also helps in the stolen base category.
Last night, Hanley went 4-5 with a HR, double, 3 runs and an RBI, raising his triple slash line to .412-.446-.753 with 7 HRs, 20 runs, 19 RBI and 4 stolen bases in just 85 at bats this season. Teammate Yasiel Puig is getting all the media attention, yet Ramirez is having a great year at the plate as well. He is flying under the radar a bit, and that just might suit him just fine.
For more on Ramirez and the Dodgers, check out True Blue LA, SB Nation's Dodgers fan site.
Max Scherzer will more than likely be the American League starter in the All Star game in a few weeks, but, for me, he is the favorite for the AL Cy Young award as well. Last night, he limited the Blue Jays to 2 runs on 7 hits, a walk and 8 strikeouts in 6.1 innings to earn his 13th win of the season. He is now 13-0 with a 3.09 ERA, 0.92 WHIP and a 139-26 strikeout to walk rate in 116.2 innings.
He leads the majors in wins, and is second in the American League in K% and WHIP, and is 10th in ERA. Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers probably wishes he still had Scherzer in his rotation right now in Arizona.
For more on Scherzer, and the Tigers in general, please check out Bless You Boys, SB Nation's Tigers fan site.
Round'em Up
After his outing last night, Zack Greinke's owners have to be scratching their heads as to what is going on with him this season. Last night, Greinke earned the win, but his line was full of crooked numbers. He gave up 5 runs on 6 hits, 7 walks and just 4 strikeouts in 5 innings in the Dodgers 10-8 win over the Rockies. He is now 6-2 with a 4.30 ERA, 1.45 WHIP and a 52-24 strikeout to walk rate in 69 innings of work on the mound. His strikeout and ground ball rate are down, and his walk rate is up, so he isn't the starter we drafted back in March. He has plenty of time to shore things up for his fantasy owners, but his performance last night was not a confidence booster.
The trade market will be interesting this season, as the Phillies have several hitters and pitchers they could deal to start a rebuild of sorts. The guy they will be building around is outfielder Domonic Brown. Brown is having a break out season for Phillies fans and fantasy owners alike, and last night, he had another big night. He went 3-5 with a HR, 2 runs and 2 RBI, and is now hitting .280-.324-.553 with 22 HRs, 45 runs, 60 RBI and 8 stolen bases. He hit his home run off of Pirates closer Jason Grilli, just the second home run he has given up this season. Brown is on pace for 41 HRs and 113 RBI this season. Fantasy owners will be happy with 30-35, but 40+ home runs would be amazing considering he was probably a very late round choice in mixed leagues this season.
Chris Davis had another big night at the plate last night, and is having an MVP-type season right now. It will be fun to watch Davis and Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera battle it out in the second half of the season. Last night, Davis went 2-4 with a HR and 3 RBI, raising his triple slash line to .331-.406-.731 with a major league leading 32 HRs, 61 runs and 83 RBI. He is on pace for 61 HRs and 158 RBI, and with the way he is hitting this season, I am not putting anything past Davis. I thought 50 home runs was a reach, but he is making that number look like a slam dunk right now,
Astros first baseman/outfielder Chris Carter has continued to hit for power this season, but his walk rate is down from last season. Carter went 2-3 with 2 HRs and 4 RBI in the Astros 4-1 win over the Rays last night. Carter is now hitting .231-.322- .469 with 17 HRs, 40 runs and 44 RBI this season, and is on pace for 32 HRs and 84 RBI. Not bad for a very late round draft pick in mixed leagues back in March.
Well, there appears to be no stopping Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis. Kipnis went 2-4 with a HR and 3 RBI last night, and is now hitting .301-.386-.539 with 13 HRs, 47 runs, 54 RBI and 19 stolen bases. He is on pace for 25 HRs, 91 runs, 104 RBI and 37 stolen bases. If he can come close to that stat line, he will could unseat Robinson Cano as the top fantasy second baseman heading into 2014.
Closer Roundup
As mentioned above, Domonic Brown homered off of Pirates closer Jason Grilli last night, and Grilli is still struggling, even after taking a 5 day break. Grilli earned his 28th save last night, but is showing signs of wear. He has given up runs in three of his last six appearances, including two home runs to left handed hitters (Jay Bruce and Brown). I will be watching Grilli closely to see how he rebounds from this outing, as Mark Melancon could step in for some save opportunities if Grilli blows another save or two.
Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson handed the closer role back to Heath Bell after J.J. Putz blew his first save opportunity on Monday night. Putz is working on building his arm strength, as his fast ball has lost some velocity with his arm injury. Bell earned his 15th save last night, and should the majority of save chances till Putz gets back to health.
The Mariners reinstated Tom Wilhelmsen into their closer role last night, and he pitched a clean inning for his 17th save of the season. Wilhelmsen had been having trouble with his control and giving up the long ball, but he has not given up a home run or a walk in his last five appearances going back to June 21st.
It's the Fourth of July and the Yankees are hoping to sweep the Twins in Minnesota. David Phelps is on the mound and hoping to make the Yankees undefeated in the month of July. The Yankees have released their lineup for today:
Brett Gardner has the day off, so Ichiro Suzuki will be batting leadoff and Zoilo Almonte gets a shot in the two hole. Travis Hafner and Vernon Wells seems like a giant hole to have in the middle of the lineup, but then again, the lineup basically dies after Cano. If Gardner is still healthy (please be) I have to wonder why Girardi would give him the day off with the All-Star break so close and the lineup looking like this. This team needs to win as many games as possible to finish the first half of the season. Luis Cruz, Alberto Gonzalez and Austin Romine might be the worst bottom three that has ever been assembled this season. Basically, Phelps is going to have to be perfect if he wants a win.
Francisco Cervelli has been shut down after experiencing some kind of stress reaction in his elbow, which could be an aggravation of an old injury. It was previously thought he could come back in July, but he is going to lose two weeks in his rehab, moving his return into August. This news comes at a time when Yankees catchers have produced a .188/.266/.224 batting line in the last month. It would have sure been nice if the team picked up Kelly Shoppach before he signed with the Nationals and Ramon Hernandez with the Blue Jays. Miguel Olivo was recently designated for assignment by the Marlins. Rod Barajas and Matt Treanor are still free agents as well.
If I had dime for every time someone wrote me and complained about how mean BBB readers were in the comment thread of their brilliant Fan Post I'd go out and buy another bag of cheese doodles. My answer is generally pretty much always the same, 'if you write anything that more than 2 people read, someone will criticize'. It's life.
It's the same with anything you do in public.
It's tough, what ever you do, someone is going to say you are no good, that you shouldn't be doing what you are doing. Someone will say you will never be any good. That is always tough to hear.
It is hard not to be emotional when someone criticizes you. It's is easy to forget they are saying you aren't good at this one thing and instead read it as they are saying that you are a lousy person. That's why we have in our rules that you are allowed to say a play was crap but not allowed to say a player is crap. Criticize the play not the person. In arguments on here, we ask that people not get personal, though we can argue on how well we follow that rule. J.P Arencibia. is clearly taking things personally. It is hard not to.
JP's professional failings are on display in front of millions of people. That would be tough. When Gregg Zaun or Dirk Hayhurst call him out on it, thousands see it. Heck, when some random blogger calls you out on it, hundreds see it. It would be a tough way to live.
It's easy to be a critic. Easier still to be a critic that hides behind a computer screen. We should remember that and be a little more careful about what we say.
My son and I have this long, continuing, argument about JP. He feels that, we here at Bluebird Banter, have been too hard on JP. He did have a point, for awhile there it seemed like every third post was about JP and his failings. On top of that, he felt that (putting words into his mouth) that we were taking too much of a short term view of the guy, that in the long run, JP would be a league average catcher and we should be happy with that. Oh, and there are others on the team that deserve to be ragged on more.
My view was that JP has the talent to be an All-Star (at a pretty weak position), that average shouldn't be shouldn't be his goal, but, if it is his goal, he's falling well short of it. And that we have every right to suggest that he has to improve or be replaced.
I wanted to comment on a couple of his points that JP made:
JP said 'speaking for myself and my teammates'. That was a mistake, he clearly isn't talking for his teammates and the unfortunate part is that reporters now have to go to his teammates and ask about what he said. and we'll find out if he was speaking for his teammates.
His suggestion that Zaun and Hayhurst weren't good enough players to be able to criticize him hits uncomfortably close to the line I've heard, far too often, you never played the game, how do you know. Even talking to Dirk about JP, Dirk used the line 'you know this from your years of play', as kind of a trump card. He's right, I don't have playing experience, but that doesn't mean I don't know some things. There are things players know that I'll never know. I love talking to coaches because every time I do I find out just how much I don't know about baseball. But there are things I do know, and I try to keep my comments to those areas.
Bringing up the PED allegations against Zaun was a low blow. Beyond that, it should make for a few uncomfortable moments the next time JP sees Melky.
I thought Dirk's comments on it all were very professional. He's right, JP is being emotion, but then it's hard not to be. Dirk did a good job of not firing back the same way.
In all, sometimes we forget we are talking about living, breathing people when we are on here. But then, I totally reject the idea that we shouldn't comment on players. This is what we do, if we are bad at it, people will stop coming to the site and SB Nation will fire us. So far that hasn't happened.
"I'm anxious to be playing in games,"Derek Jeter said. "Everything I've needed to do up until that point, I've done... I think I'm close."
Having broken his ankle during the 2012 postseason, then re-injuring during rehabilitation, the 3000-hit shortstop has missed the entire season. In his absence, the Yankees have suffered at shortstop, getting aggregate rates of .201/.267/.276 from a crew that has included Jayson Nix, Eduardo Nunez, and now ex-Dodgers infielder Luis Cruz. Only the Mariners, with Brendan Ryan, have received worse production at short among junior-circuit ballclubs, and they recently made the switch from Ryan to prospect Brad Miller, a career .334/.409/.516 hitter in 219 minor-league games.
Should Jeter make it all the way back, he will almost certainly be an offensive upgrade over Nix and company, even if his hitting is far below his career marks, but:
He's 39 and his lateral movement wasn't great before the ankle injury.
Historically, only a handful of players of that age or older have been asked to play shortstop regularly at his age because most 39-year-olds are not capable of fielding the position at an acceptable level.
The Yankees have been surviving on their pitching and the last thing the team needs to do is undermine their defense by putting a human end table at short.
That said, the Yankees infield has been on the porous side already: only the Tigers have allowed a higher batting average on ground balls than the Yankees' .261. Compare that to their AL East rivals: Baltimore leads the league at .216, the Rays are third at .226, the Red Sox are sixth at .236, and the Blue Jays are 10th at .247. That's not all on the shortstops, but they haven't been good -- Nunez is an error machine; Nix is merely steady. Ironically, "merely steady" is probably more than we'll be able to say of Jeter at this point.
Whether Jeter will be a net positive at that point will depend on the interplay of his offense and defense -- a grounder past a stationary shortstop is just a single, after all, and if the shortstop hits enough doubles and home runs his team will be more than even. We can also wonder about the interplay of all the gloves in the field -- if you add a slow shortstop to a third baseman with no hips (Alex Rodriguez) and a first baseman whose best defensive days are behind him (Lyle Overbay), at what point do you achieve a kind of critical mass where the pitchers have a right to revolt?
We'll get some sense of Jeter's defensive abilities as soon as he's cleared to play in actual games. You'll hear more about how many hits he's getting, but the real proof will be in whether his first step, which was always more of a thoughtful, high-effort trudge after balls to his left, is now something you can time with a sundial.
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