Well that was the ugliest series of baseball I have seen in quite a while. The Tigers really need to clean up defensively if they are going to make any noise in the playoffs.
Hitters:
MAJ (SS) Adeiny Hechavarria, 1-3, .171; what happened in Vegas clearly stayed!
HiA (LF) Marcus Knecht, 1-4, .205, BB (47)
LoA (RF) Chris Hawkins, 1-5, 3 RBI, .272, HR (2)
SS (2B) Christian Lopes, 3-5, .556, SB (1)
Pitchers:
AA (RP) John Stilson, 1 ip, 1 h, 0 er, 0 bb – 2 k, 4.30
AA (RP) Marcus Stroman, 1 ip, 3 h, 1 er, 0 bb – 1 k, 3.86
titebite.com
The Tigers aren’t very impressive, are they. They swept a shorthanded Jays team, but the hits were almost even (22-23). TOR made fewer errors (2-3) and turned more DPs (6-1). Frankly they were lucky to win the series, let alone sweep. They’re 22-15 since the All Star break, but 6-7 in their last 13 games.
Verlander’s the real deal, but Sanchez and Scherzer aren’t very impressive. Valverde isn’t the dominant closer that he was last season either. And that defense: ugh. Apart from Austin Jackson (whose numbers I’d need to check), their defense makes it likely that any potential playoff series will be short and ugly. They have a lot of hitting, but their defense and pitching are shallow. This from a team that went ‘all in’ during the off-season.
Just a little sidenote here. How glad am I that Delmon Young plays elsewhere? Well, pretty glad. Against the shorthanded Jays, the sum of events that Young made to help his team win the series was -0.251. He doesn’t play defense, or they may well have lost the series. We can always hope he’ll be pressed into defensive service next time. Maybe he had a bad series, or maybe he’s a bad player. I’m inclined to think the latter is closer to the truth.
Granted, the series against TOR was only three games so I shouldn’t give it much credence. But I think the fact that they’re stuck in second behind a ‘rebuilding’ Pale Hose team speaks volumes. Far from dominating (as many thought they might), they’re struggling to catch Chicago. I’ve read comments made elsewhere by Tigers’ fans complaining about Jim Leyland. It’s almost as if they think this mess is his fault. If they win the division, he should be coach of the year.