Tigers vs. cardinals Spring Training March 17

[lonesometiger]

[quote author=kalinecountry board=tigertalk thread=6206 post=139349 time=1332012235]Drew Smyly not quite ready. But not far away. Two innings, no hits, two walks, two Ks. Fb 92-93. Everything moving. Cutter mean. 4 pitches.

He's out for another inning.We shall see how he does.

 

[lonesometiger]

two down Smyly looking good

 

[lonesometiger]

great play at first on the tag play Tigers come to bat leading 10 to 3

 

[lonesometiger]

Bottom of the 8th
Holaday leads off with a single

 

[lonesometiger]

Bottom of the 8th
Holaday leads off with a single

high flyout to center
walk now runners on 2nd &1st
GO to 3rd moves them up with 2 outs
AA makes an broken bat out to short.

 

[lonesometiger]

Smyly out for the 9th
tag out again at 1st
nice K out
tag out at home on drop K out
Tigers win 10 to 3

 

[kalinecountry]

Tigers win 10-3 over the Cardinals to improve to 11-1-3 this spring.

The pitching breakdown:
Wilk 3 innings 3 runs 6 hits 2 walks 1 k.

Oliver 2 innings 0 runs 1 hit 0 walks 1 k.

Smyly 4 innings 0 runs 1 hit 2 walks 4 k's.



Team is on the road tomorrow against the Nationals.

 

[lonesometiger]

This game was one sided on the score. But was fun to watch. Real problem was most of the tag plays were made by players that will not be with the team when the season starts!

 

[kalinecountry]

5th starter comments from web;

Three 5th-starter candidates pitched...Wilk started, labored thru 3IP, Oliver & Smyly both impressed - Oliver in 2IP, Smyly in 4IP.
Oliver might be the leading candidate but Smyly is close behind him. 4 innings of shutout ball today for Drew. The dark horse might win.

 

[themadbomber]

Think Olver has it on lock, or what? Dude has been lights out so far

 

[Mitchrapp]

Myself, I have a hard time getting onboard for SP possible who are only pitching 2-4 innings at a time. Next time, use them in different games and let them go 6-7. Its much easier when you only go through a batting order once.

 

[kalinecountry]

offensive highights:
Young was 2-2 with dbl, HR and 4RBI...now hitting .518 with 3HR and 15RBI in 27AB. Fielder was 3-3 with RBI.

Raburn stays hot - hit his 5th HR...he has 15RBI in just 21AB. Cabrera was 2-3, Jackson 1-3, hit ball hard all 3AB.

Dan Dickerson

 

[manchild98]

KalineCountry[/color]]offensive highights:
Young was 2-2 with dbl, HR and 4RBI...now hitting .518 with 3HR and 15RBI in 27AB. Fielder was 3-3 with RBI.

Raburn stays hot - hit his 5th HR...he has 15RBI in just 21AB. Cabrera was 2-3, Jackson 1-3, hit ball hard all 3AB.

Dan Dickerson

If Mudhen can just carry some of this into the early part of the season...wow.

 

[themadbomber]

I just wanna see AJ keep hitting the ball hard. He gets on base more this year, with Cabrera hitting 3rd and Fielder coming up behind him... our offense could be scary good...

 

[turok]

Obviously AJax is going to be key, IF the Tigers are going to start games on offense with a flourish more often than not, once the regular season begins. We already pretty much know what their other usual 2-8/9 hitters will be capable of, and it won't be related to having much patience @ the plate, or speed on the basepaths...lol.

 

[kalinecountry]

KalineCountry[/color]]offensive highights:
Young was 2-2 with dbl, HR and 4RBI...now hitting .518 with 3HR and 15RBI in 27AB. Fielder was 3-3 with RBI.

Raburn stays hot - hit his 5th HR...he has 15RBI in just 21AB. Cabrera was 2-3, Jackson 1-3, hit ball hard all 3AB.

Dan Dickerson

If Mudhen can just carry some of this into the early part of the season...wow.

That is one of the key questions, his track record says no, but if this is the year it will be great.

 

[kalinecountry]

I just wanna see AJ keep hitting the ball hard. He gets on base more this year, with Cabrera hitting 3rd and Fielder coming up behind him... our offense could be scary good...

We saw last year what it was like having the top three spots in the lineup have poor obp, and Cabrera just squeaked over 100 rbi.
Jackson and to a less extent Boesch getting on base for at least a .345 to .350 clip will help.
Jackson is still striking out at a high rate, imo he always will, which might help if they got a truer leadoff hitter and dropped him lower, but he is hitting the ball with more authority / line drives when making contact so far.

 

[Rebbiv]

KalineCountry[/color]]5th starter comments from web;

Three 5th-starter candidates pitched...Wilk started, labored thru 3IP, Oliver & Smyly both impressed - Oliver in 2IP, Smyly in 4IP.
Oliver might be the leading candidate but Smyly is close behind him. 4 innings of shutout ball today for Drew. The dark horse might win.

When they are pitching makes a world of difference. Pitching the last few innings of a ST games (especially early in ST) the pitcher is usually throwing against AAA or non-starters. Not that you should ignore today's performance by Smyly, just take it with a grain of salt.

Additionally, you are going to want a pitcher to get into trouble, just so you can see how he re-acts. If he never gets into trouble during ST, what is going to happen in the regular season when he does? And he will.

 

[zonietigerfan]

I have to agree with the Cards announcers, who said the ranking for the Tig's LH SP today would be: Smyly, Oliver a close 2nd and Wilk...ah...not impressive. Oliver and Smyly looked pretty good out there and were pounding the strike zone well. Oliver looked much better and much more comfortable than last year. Wilk had control problems which transferred into hittable pitches when he got down 3-0 or 3-1.

 

[Mitchrapp]

I agree with Rebbiv. I kind of alluded to the same thing above but why have all your 5th starter candidates pitching in the same game? Makes little sense.