By:
Advanced search…

Welcome to Detroit Sports Forum!

By joining our community, you'll be able to connect with fellow fans that live and breathe Detroit sports just like you!

Get Started
  • If you are no longer able to access your account since our recent switch from vBulletin to XenForo, you may need to reset your password via email. If you no longer have access to the email attached to your account, please fill out our contact form and we will assist you ASAP. Thanks for your continued support of DSF.

Detroit Tigers Team Notes Over 3 Million Views!!! Thankyou!

Tigers 6 - Royals 5 ? Breathless. Detroit had blown a 3-0 lead and let two more slim edges slip away, facing the prospect of extra innings with their three good relievers gone. But Miguel Cabrera washed away all cares, leading off the bottom 9th with his 39th home run, a no-doubter towards the right-field line on a 3-1 pitch. It?s his first hit in 8 ABs off Aaron Crow, and his first game-ending hit in more than a year ? but his 6th HR in the last 10 games, including three clutch shots in the 9th inning. Prince Fielder also had a big night, with a 2-out double for an early lead, and a solo in the 7th to regain the lead that got away when Salvador Perez homered off Drew Smyly.

Tigers catcher Brayan Pena and skipper Jim Leyland were both tossed for arguing a missed call in the 4th, when the Royals tied the game at 3. Alcides Escobar checked his swing on a pitch that bounced, and he clearly fouled it, but plate ump Mike Muchlinski thought it simply got past Pena, and a runner went from 1st to 3rd with no outs. Third-stringer Bryan Holaday was touched for 2 steals and a throwing error in the 8th, contributing to another tying run. But Jose Veras, after giving up 3 singles to start that frame, got 3 outs with the tying run on 3rd.

Eighteen Royals reached safely, and they got key hits to tie it in the 7th and 8th. But they had Doug Fister on the ropes all game without finding the knockout blow. Fister allowed 10 hits and 2 walks in the first 5 innings, but the Royals left men on base each time, 6 of them in scoring position. Overall, they went 4 for 20 with RISP.
?Miggy?s up in the 4th with the game tied, 2 outs and a man on 3rd. Are you pitching to him? Wade Davis did, and he got ahead, 1-and-2, but Cabrera doubled for the lead run.
?On a 3-1 count this year, Cabrera?s 7 for 11 with 2 HRs and 3 doubles, plus 16 walks.
?One fan?s outlook as the home 9th began: ?Either Cabrera hits a homer, or we lose ? but it feels like 50-50 that he?ll do it.?
from HighHeatStats
 
Omar Infante is out of the lineup today after leaving last night's game with lower back stiffness.
Leyland said hoping that resting Infante today and off day Monday will let back spasms calm down and he can play Tuesday.



Leyland said Avila "feels much better," but will remain on 7-day DL for now. He confirmed Avila is "definitely" changing headgear.
 
Last edited:
Lower back spasms puts Infante on sidelines.
DETROIT -- The Tigers were without Omar Infante for a month due to his sprained left ankle until he returned from the 15-day disabled list on Monday. Now he's out of the lineup again on Sunday with lower back spasms and a tight left quadriceps.

Infante said his leg and lower back both tightened up while running home during a successful suicide-squeeze play in the second inning Saturday. He exited the game in the seventh.

"Just coming from my ankle problems, I think it's coming from that," Infante said. "I don't know. It's the first time it's happened to me. I have the day off today, day off tomorrow and we'll see how I feel Tuesday."

Infante is 9-for-23 at the plate since returning from the DL. He was replaced by Ramon Santiago at second base for Sunday's series finale against the Royals.

"I feel better today, more loose," Infante said. "They gave me a pill, a muscle relaxer, and I feel better."
from the Tigers official site
 
Miggy doing heavy lifting in the nick of time.
DETROIT -- Miguel Cabrera's opposite-field home run off Aaron Crow on Saturday night was his first walk-off homer of the year. It was obviously not his first bit of late-inning dramatics.

In a season with no shortage of statistics from Cabrera to marvel, that's just the latest. With Cabrera's blast Saturday, three of his past six home runs have come in the ninth inning. Two of those six were his shots off Mariano Rivera last weekend at Yankee Stadium.

Add in his go-ahead shot to straightaway center off rookie Danny Salazar in Cleveland on Aug. 7, and four of Cabrera's last seven home runs have come in the eighth inning or later in close games. Nine of his last 10 homers have either tied the game or put Detroit ahead.

That still might not be enough to give Cabrera the momentum he needs in his quest for a second consecutive Triple Crown. Even with his recent spurt to get to 39 homers earlier than in any point in his career, he entered Sunday trailing Baltimore's Chris Davis by five. He continues to hold off Davis in the RBI race, 117 to 113. His third consecutive batting title is all but assured if he stays healthy and productive down the stretch.

The gradual improvement in Cabrera's health and mobility over the last few days suggest he should. Manager Jim Leyland reiterated that he has been told by the team's training staff that Cabrera can continue to recuperate from his knee, thigh and abdominal injuries through treatment while still in the lineup.

"If it couldn't get better when he's playing, then we would have DL'ed him to get it right," Leyland said.
 
Miggy doing heavy lifting in the nick of time.
DETROIT -- Miguel Cabrera's opposite-field home run off Aaron Crow on Saturday night was his first walk-off homer of the year. It was obviously not his first bit of late-inning dramatics.

In a season with no shortage of statistics from Cabrera to marvel, that's just the latest. With Cabrera's blast Saturday, three of his past six home runs have come in the ninth inning. Two of those six were his shots off Mariano Rivera last weekend at Yankee Stadium.

Add in his go-ahead shot to straightaway center off rookie Danny Salazar in Cleveland on Aug. 7, and four of Cabrera's last seven home runs have come in the eighth inning or later in close games. Nine of his last 10 homers have either tied the game or put Detroit ahead.

That still might not be enough to give Cabrera the momentum he needs in his quest for a second consecutive Triple Crown. Even with his recent spurt to get to 39 homers earlier than in any point in his career, he entered Sunday trailing Baltimore's Chris Davis by five. He continues to hold off Davis in the RBI race, 117 to 113. His third consecutive batting title is all but assured if he stays healthy and productive down the stretch.

The gradual improvement in Cabrera's health and mobility over the last few days suggest he should. Manager Jim Leyland reiterated that he has been told by the team's training staff that Cabrera can continue to recuperate from his knee, thigh and abdominal injuries through treatment while still in the lineup.

"If it couldn't get better when he's playing, then we would have DL'ed him to get it right," Leyland said.
from the Tigers official site
 
Last edited:
Avila making progress, waiting to be cleared.
DETROIT -- Alex Avila is progressing through tests after suffering a concussion last week.
After being placed on the seven-day concussion list on Aug. 12, retroactive to Aug. 11, he's been undergoing a battery of tests set by MLB protocol to make sure he is symptom-free.

"Yesterday I got my heart rate to 60 percent. Today it'll be 85 percent," Avila said. "As long as I continue to have no symptoms or problems, I'll keep progressing until doctors clear me to play."

Manager Jim Leyland said Avila definitely will be wearing a different mask, one with more padding and heavier bars. Avila tried a hockey mask in the past, but found it uncomfortable. While the Tigers are hoping the new mask will help Avila, that doesn't mean they're not worried about another concussion in the future.

"I'm concerned about it, because I've been suspicious for a couple of years with Alex," Leyland said. "I really talked about it a little bit with the coaches. I'm worried about him getting hit so many times. I really don't know how it happens. He gets hit more than any catcher that I've ever seen, without question, by far."
from the Tigers official site
 
Tigers' weakness exposed by speedy Royals.
DETROIT -- Tigers manager Jim Leyland raved about the Royals' athleticism all weekend, noting the pressure they can put on teams with their speed.
"Some of them, like [Emilio] Bonifacio, they can just fly," Leyland said.

At the same time, however, Leyland acknowledged that they're exploiting a weakness the Tigers have displayed long before the Royals came to town. Detroit's pitching staff -- a group that has been shutting down hitters for much of the year -- has not done the same with baserunners.

Several reasons are behind that, not the least of which being Alex Avila's absence behind the plate over the past week. What concerns Leyland in particular, though, is the pitchers' predictability on the mound with runners on base. They're making it easy on would-be basestealers to time their moves and make their jumps.

"They're timing our guys' delivery," Leyland said Saturday, "so we have to make sure that we hold the ball, don't hold the ball, hold it a little longer. We have to vary that, because they're going on it."

It's a balancing act for teams, weighing how much focus they want their pitchers to put towards runners on base vs. hitters at the plate. Retire the hitters, the popular thought goes, and the baserunner is going to have a hard time getting all the way around the bases.

The Royals are putting a serious test to that thought. They went 8-for-8 on stolen bases over the first four games of the series, including 2-for-2 in Saturday's eighth inning to set up the game-tying run. Bonifacio went from first base on a leadoff single to third with a stolen base and a throwing error from catcher Bryan Holaday, allowing him to score easily on an ensuing single from Chris Getz.

On the flip side, Jeremy Bonderman's errant pickoff throw Friday night allowed Getz to get from first to third base in the seventh inning and score an insurance run.

The Tigers entered Sunday having surrendered 101 stolen bases this season, third-highest in the American League behind the Red Sox (104) and Angels (102). Only Toronto has a higher stolen-base percentage allowed than Detroit.
from the Tigers official site
 
Detroit's first squeeze of season goes off without hitch.
DETROIT -- Manager Jim Leyland doesn't call for a lot of suicide-squeeze plays, but it went according to script in the second inning of Saturday's game.

With the Tigers up 2-0 and Omar Infante on third base, Jose Iglesias bunted the ball in play to score Infante and then beat the throw to first for a single. It was the first squeeze play for Detroit this season.

"It was early in the game, but for one thing you don't expect them to be looking for it that early in the game," Leyland said. "We just took a shot with Iglesias that he could get it down, and to be honest with you, he bunted a tough pitch. It was a breaking ball, and he did a [heck] of a job getting that ball into fair territory."

The bunt not only surprised the Royals, but also some players on the Tigers.

"In fact, to be honest with you, we had it on the pitch before but [third-base coach Tom Brookens] took it off the way [Iglesias] reacted, like it stunned him, too," Leyland said. "And then I put it on again the next pitch."
from the Tigers official site
 
Cabrera, who leads the majors with a .361 average and 120 RBIs, joined Jimmie Foxx as the only Triple Crown winners to hit at least 40 home runs and 120 RBIs the following year.

It was the 11th time in Tigers history that a player has hit 40-plus homers -- a feat Cabrera accomplished last year, too. He became just the third player in franchise history to hit 40-plus homers in back-to-back seasons. Greenberg and Fielder.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

About Us

Founded in 2011, Detroit Sports Forum is a community of fanatics dedicated to teams like the Lions, Tigers, Pistons, Red Wings, Wolverines, and more. We live and breathe Detroit sports!

Stay Connected

Forum statistics

Threads
34,856
Messages
1,129,748
Members
979
Latest member
MiGrampa

Affiliates

    Discussion Hub
Back
Top