gehringer_2

I'll echo SFK's wish that he were as good as Glendening at his age. Luke had more useful speed and was a better forechecker. I will admit Veleno's game does improve - but it's been at a glacial pace. And despite a pretty depressing level of ineptitude getting the Preds out of their zone in the 3rd, I will note without further comment that they turned in a shut out on a night when Petry did not play.

If a guy can catch, I'd keep developing him as a catcher right up to the minute you move him to 1st if you have to. Catchers that can hit above average are too valuable. Teach him 1st but don't move his primary gig.

Manning finished with a couple of decent starts at Toledo. I'm guessing at this point they have reservations about temperament with both Mize and Manning - I sure do.

right - Hinch had decided who he was going with going in. We're just talking speculative what if's at this point.

I liked seeing Seider moving the puck so well late in the 2nd, and a nice move by Edvinsson to save possession before the 3rd goal. Also good to see Joe Veleno hasn't lost his knack for shooting the puck right into the center of the goalie's chest.

I know Keith tweaked the arm again this season but given that it came back pretty quickly I still wonder if they don't have to try him back at 3rd next season. His fielding grades are confusing, Statcast has him as plus, BR rates him badly. By the eye test the hands and arm are fine but he does appear to be just too big to cover the kind of ground a quicker player could. IMHO, all that argues maybe 3rd is the more natural position for him. I guess we'll see.

so maybe Hinch should have sat Brieske and Holton and used Mize and Foley because the G's hadn't seen them recently? As good a theory as any. I certainly believe it. If you look at Brieske or Holton, neither has the kind of top shelf stuff that would make you think on first sight that they could sustain the success they have been having unless they continued to get better themselves, exactly because once hitters see more of them, they are going to have to show better stuff to keep getting them out. OTOH, at the top tier, you do have the guys whose stuff is so good that the familiarity effect is going to be much smaller - Clase being the prime example, or maybe Aroldis Chapman in his heyday as well.

yes - a good org should be able to sustain for a while, but the exception would be around pitching injuries. Even a good FO isn't going to be able to overcome that kind of multiple pitcher losses that are not uncommon for teams to face.

it's been the Cleveland singles hitters, Kwan and Rocchio, that have done the damage. OBP, don't leave home without it.

too many K's

keep chipping away. After all Skubal has done for them this season it would only be fair if they get him off the hook today.

but I'm not dead yet!

oh well

baseball gods have decided to smile on Cleveland. Ramirez with the bases juiced.

Bunt attempt makes ump miss the pitch.

it's a dilemma. In a low scoring game where hits are hard to string together a HR can obviously be all the difference driving the ball makes sense, but the truth is you aren't going to hit more HR's over swinging either.

gameday had that as a very 50/50 pitch, not a clear ball at all. Maybe the TBS zone looked different.

his leg is probably taped to a point where he can stay out there for one more batter before gangrene sets in.....

well, let's not get greedy. ...oh, what the heck, yeah.

I don't know where this ends, but looking at these two teams match up, all you would have to do is move Jose Ramirez from one dugout to the other, and the Tigers would have won the Div and Cle would be the WC team.

In fairness to Sweeney, he's being thrown against the best pitching team in the league after all of 110 MLB AB. The least experienced hitter in the lineup.

Boys are fighting.

still had the best AB of the inning. Tork always seems to do the best when we are dissing him here. Let's keep it up! and he chased Smith.

Dirks is spot on, Tigers have been overswinging the whole series against CLE. It's maybe the biggest challenge for young baseball players. Any athlete feels like they have to raise their game in a playoff, but in baseball trying to raise you game is almost always a recipe for failure, you have to play within what you have always done.

I don't have much enthusiasm for Kane playing with Larkin. It's something that obviously *should* work, but I've been underwhelmed with the actual outcomes.