4/20 @ 6:40 Yankees @ Tigers

[casimir]

10 hours ago, 1776 said:

Ohtani perfect through five against Houston with 11 K’s. Oh, and did I mention the he is 2-3 with 2 RBI.

I can't even do this in my dreams. That guy is something else.

[casimir]

10 hours ago, mtutiger said:

Hutchison was a weird guy to put in at that juncture

He was warming up when the score was 1-3.  The day before was a bullpen game.  Had the score been more favorable at the time to warm up a reliever, perhaps it'd have been Fulmer or (gulp) Jimenez.  Plus the pitching staff is one more injury from a patchwork 6 pack of Schlitz, Pabst, Hamms, Mickey's, Natural Ice, and Zima.

OK, shout out to Jimenez since I have been very critical of him for a few seasons now.  He's looked fine early on.

[casimir]

10 hours ago, 1776 said:

One of Al’s gems.

There were a lot of folks in here that were ready to ante up a longer term deal for him last season.  A lot of folks were schookered by his first half.  It'd have been easy to reward the first half, but the Tigers were able to get a team friendly deal out of it.

Additionally, he started out abysmally cold last season.  If my memory is working, he signed a little later, then had issues (visa?) with getting into camp.  So he had a shortened 2021 spring training, everybody had a shortened 2022 season.  He may just be a player that needs a bit longer to get things going.

[1776]

36 minutes ago, casimir said:

He may just be a player that needs a bit longer to get things going.

Al was very clear on his expectations for April. He wants everyone going “full bore” out of the gate. 😉

[mtutiger]

1 hour ago, mtutiger said:

Love him...

Gonna bump this, because I'm glad that the Migster himself seemed put out by the local media's fascination with 3000 after last night's game (no doubt a big story) given that everything else surrounding this team is sorta disconcerting right now.

It makes sense.... he knows that 3000 is inevitable, but winning isn't.

Edited April 21, 2022 by mtutiger

[HeyAbbott]

This season is looking more and more like '21.

2 starting pitchers have been injured and are out.

Javy Baez gets injured early.

 We end up playing the AA law firm, Castro and Castro.

Badoo looks like a confused turkey in a thunderstorm while trying to field his position.

Barnhart looks like the catcher in the movie "Major League".

Most of the team can't hit anything, unless they hit water when they fall off a pier on the Detroit river.

The fielding and defense since Baez's injury doesn't approach 7 year old little league level.

No one on this team can play in April, except Miggy. Bravo to Miggy for trying to ignite this team.

Will this team win another game in April ?

Why am I wasting my time following this baseball cesspool ?

 

 

 

[mtutiger]

They will win more games this month, and as bad as it's been, it's just not as bad as April '21 was from my recollection.

[chasfh]

12 hours ago, BBFCFM said:

When was the last Tiger homer, Tork’s?

April 15.

Since Saturday, the Tigers are the only team in baseball not to homer at all.

Surprisingly, they have not been the worst hitting team, at least on an all-around basis. Their slash line since then is .204/.336/.247, with a wRC+ of 86, "good" for 16th in baseball. That's due to their on-base skills during this period: their OBP has been .336, which is sixth-best in the game since Saturday.

However, they have also scored only six runs since then, tied for last in baseball.

And the moral of the story is: getting on base don't mean a thing if you can't bring 'em around to score.

[mtutiger]

14 minutes ago, chasfh said:

April 15.

Since Saturday, the Tigers are the only team in baseball not to homer at all.

Surprisingly, they have not been the worst hitting team, at least on an all-around basis. Their slash line since then is .204/.336/.247, with a wRC+ of 86, "good" for 16th in baseball. That's due to their on-base skills during this period: their OBP has been .336, which is sixth-best in the game since Saturday.

However, they have also scored only six runs since then, tied for last in baseball.

And the moral of the story is: getting on base don't mean a thing if you can't bring 'em around to score.

This is another big difference from April '21 IIRC... they weren't getting on base near as much last year, mostly because instead of 3-4 regulars sucking wind, practically all 9 regulars were.

I get that people don't want to hear it when, at the end of the day, the level of play is not acceptable at the moment.... but in practical terms, there are differences.

Edited April 21, 2022 by mtutiger

[chasfh]

I'm not happy with the way they seem dead on their feet, but I'm not quite so down on this team just yet.

We are in an early stretch playing some of the best teams in baseball: the White Sox are projected this morning to end up with the ninth best record; so are the Red Sox; and the Yankees are projected to end up with the fourth best record. That's nine of their first twelve games right there. And it's not going to get much easier very soon: they have the 8-4 Rockies in town for three this weekend, and then they'll face championship series contenders Dodgers and Astros within two weeks after that. We've talked about this before.

But also, guys who were supposed to be significant contributors are out. Javy is out. So is Riley. Casey is not available. neither is Manning. Chafin hasn't even pitched. Funkhouser isn't available yet. Cisnero had to go on the 60-day. Jake Rogers is gone for the season. Spencer Turnbull's prime is wasting away while he rehabs. If all these guys were available to play, we'd probably be feeling very different about this team.

I know that the injury bug is biting everyone, but without researching it at all, it feels like it's biting us especially hard. And yet, as dead as we have looked on our feet, we have been remarkably close in games. Each of the last eight games, during which our record has been 3-5, have been decided by two runs or less. That's because our pitching, of all things, has really stepped. We're not striking any anybody out, but we're also not walking anyone, and we're not giving up any bombs. That has kept us close so far. Sure, there's been some luck in the pitching, and I wouldn't put money on a prop bet that they'll keep that up, but when it comes strictly to results, I'd rather be lucky than good.

Considering the schedule they have had so far, I'm thinking we are right about where we can expect us to be.

 

[chasfh]

Well, this didn't take long to find—we are definitely among the most injured teams in baseball.

Compare to 2021, when we were in the bottom ten on the most-injured list, which may help explain why we won as many as 77 last year.

[mtutiger]

6 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I'm not happy with the way they seem dead on their feet, but I'm not quite so down on this team just yet.

We are in an early stretch playing some of the best teams in baseball: the White Sox are projected this morning to end up with the ninth best record; so are the Red Sox; and the Yankees are projected to end up with the fourth best record. That's nine of their first twelve games right there. And it's not going to get much easier very soon: they have the 8-4 Rockies in town for three this weekend, and then they'll face championship series contenders Dodgers and Astros within two weeks after that. We've talked about this before.

But also, guys who were supposed to be significant contributors are out. Javy is out. So is Riley. Casey is not available. neither is Manning. Chafin hasn't even pitched. Funkhouser isn't available yet. Cisnero had to go on the 60-day. Jake Rogers is gone for the season. Spencer Turnbull's prime is wasting away while he rehabs. If all these guys were available to play, we'd probably be feeling very different about this team.

I know that the injury bug is biting everyone, but without researching it at all, it feels like it's biting us especially hard. And yet, as dead as we have looked on our feet, we have been remarkably close in games. Each of the last eight games, during which our record has been 3-5, have been decided by two runs or less. That's because our pitching, of all things, has really stepped. We're not striking any anybody out, but we're also not walking anyone, and we're not giving up any bombs. That has kept us close so far. Sure, there's been some luck in the pitching, and I wouldn't put money on a prop bet that they'll keep that up, but when it comes strictly to results, I'd rather be lucky than good.

Considering the schedule they have had so far, I'm thinking we are right about where we can expect us to be.

 

Good post. Things suck, particularly on the offensive side, but perspective is good.

Regarding the pitching, I actually had to look it up, but the Tigers are tied for third in MLB in terms of free passes given up. It's a small sample size, but I can't remember the last time the Tigers were ever that efficient with walks.... probably when Max/Justin/etc. were here lol