Tigers vs. yankees ALCS Game Thread 3 Oct. 16

[kalinecountry]

Tigers lineup:
1. Austin Jackson CF
2. Quintin Berry LF
3. Miguel Cabrera 3B
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. Delmon Young DH
6. Andy Dirks RF
7. Jhonny Peralta SS
8. Alex Avila C
9. Omar Infante 2B
Justin Verlander P

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2012_10_16_nyamlb_detmlb_1&mode=gameday&c_id=det
Gameday from mlb.com

http://www.baseball-reference.com/previews/2012/DET201210160.shtml
Tigers - yankees Game Preview.
from Baseball Reference

http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/preview?gameId=321016106&teams=new-york-yankees-vs-detroit-tigers
Tigers - yankees Game Preview.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/batvspitch/_/id/6341/justin-verlander
Verlander vs. yankees. 86 for 349 .246/.319/.407/.726
http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/batvspitch/_/id/28638/phil-hughes
Tigers hitters vs. hughes. 37 for 134 .276/.310/.440/.750
from espn

http://www.blessyouboys.com/2012/10...-3-preview-new-york-yankees-at-detroit-tigers
Tigers - yankees Game Preview.
from blessyouboystigersblog

Detroit Tigers Jim Leyland is sticking with what has worked.
Leyland has a lineup heavy with left-handed hitters, and a lineup stacked with right-handers. Tonight, he'll go with the lefties as New York Yankees right-hander Phil Hughes takes the mound in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series.
First pitch is set for 8:07 p.m. and will be televised on TBS.
Of the Tigers' seven playoff games, Leyland has used only two lineups. The club has faced four right-handers and, thus far, he's written the same lineup four times.
Mind you, in the regular season, Leyland penciled 121 different lineups and orders, including the one he's using tonight only six times.
Alex Avila will start behind the plate for a second straight game with Quintin Berry and Andy Dirks occupying the outfield corners, hitting second and sixth, respectively.
Justin Verlander will take the mound tonight, looking for his third playoff win in as many starts and build on his 0.56 ERA. He'll get that chance at home, where he went 9-2 this year with a 1.65 ERA and didn't lose a single night game.
A win tonight and the Tigers will take a 3-0 series lead. Only one time in a best-of-seven LCS has a team down 3-0 rallied to win a series. Boston pulled it off in 2004 against New York.
As it stands, only three times in 23 previous best-of-seven LCS has a team down 2-0 rallied to win a series.
from Mlive

 

[kalinecountry]

Gardner starting tonight. Its his 1st start since April 17. He is 5-11 career vs Verlander.

A-Rod, Swisher not in Yankee lineup. They are combined 7-49 (.143) with 20 K and 1 RBI in postseason.

Swisher is 1-for-34 with RISP in the postseason. In his career. And the hit didnt even drive in a run.

Yankees lineup: Gardner LF, Suzuki RF, Teixeira 1B, Cano 2B, Ibanez DH, Martin C, Chavez 3B, Granderson CF, Nunez SS, Hughes SP.

http://www.mlive.com/tigers/index.ssf/2012/10/new_york_yankees_bench_alex_ro.html
New York Yankees bench Alex Rodriguez, Nick Swisher for Game 3 of ALCS vs. Detroit Tigers.
from Mlive

 

[kalinecountry]

Leyland on closer for tonight: "Yes, he (Valverde) is part of the equation."

Leyland on closer for tonight: "I have two or three plans in place." Also reiterated that he hopes he has to use one of those plans.

Leyland: "I would say Peralta's probably playing the best baseball of the season, for him."

Leyland on reasons for success: "Well, I'm not a genius by any means. There are some Detroit writers here that can attest to that."
(Leyland answer was in response to question about how much of success is due to genius, how much to personal relationships).

Leyland: "I find no pleasure in the fact that Derek Jeter is not playing.

Leyland: "We are going to need Jose Valverde to win. ... You're making a bit of a plea to your crowd to maybe not have too short a memory."

Leyland: "I'm just going to play this one with managerial instincts. I may be right, I may be wrong."

Leyland: "That's why you have a manager, to make decisions. Sometimes, they're popular, sometimes they're not."

Jack Morris, on whether he'd have liked to pitch at Comerica: "I want to pitch tonight. I have nothing but I want to pitch.

Jack Morris: It would not shock me if Justin Verlander goes out and throws a no-hitter tonight. That's how good he is.

Jack Morris: But Tigers are facing a team right now that you've got to get them while they're down. Don't let them come up for a breath.

Jack Morris: I think Jim Leyland's still going to need (Valverde). I know he will be in a ballgame yet before this postseason's over.

Jack Morris: I'm excited to be in Detroit right now. I look at it really as a great honor that they let me do that. I'm thrilled.

Jack Morris on throwing out tonight's first pitch: "Well, I'm overwhelmed, really. To me, it's a huge honor." #Tigers

Morris: "Just to be in this environment again in Detroit, I would have paid to come watch this tonight, so it's pretty cool." #Tigers

http://espn.go.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/id/53767/verlander-looks-to-keep-yankee-bats-cold
Verlander looks to keep Yankee bats cold.
from espn

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/30145/sweetspot-tv-alcs-game-3-preview
Webvideo SweetSpot TV: ALCS Game 3 preview.
from espn

http://www.baseball-reference.com/p...orderby_dir_second=asc&ajax=1&submitter=1&z=1
Justin Verlander: From 2005 to 2012, Facing current players for New York Yankees, Order by PA desc, then by Name asc.
from Baseball Reference

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/yankees-game-3-game-plan-pray/
Yankees Game 3 plan: Pray.
from fangraphs

Verlander.

 

[biggunsbob]

I hope we hit...

 

[jdbaker1]

Can't wait, I know I am being Captain Obvious again but this is a HUGE game. Tigers win tonight then it will be very unlikely the Yanks come back. If the Tigers lose then I think a lot of the momentum switches back to NY.

 

[@Stakesarehigh]

the key is that sabathia goes in game 4...if it was a situation where detroit had already faced sabathia I'd feel different about this game. It's bigger having not faced him yet.

 

[kalinecountry]

KalineCountry....to
@BBritten_Tigers @Thompson_Tigers @beckjason Has JV pitched a game 2011/2012 with Sam Holbrook calling balls + strikes?

From @beckjason to @KalineCountry
According to http://baseball-reference.com , Verlander has never pitched a game with Holbrook behind the plate.

 

[tomdalton22]

Leyland on reasons for success: "Well, I'm not a genius by any means. There are some Detroit writers here that can attest to that."
(Leyland answer was in response to question about how much of success is due to genius, how much to personal relationships).

Jack Morris, on whether he'd have liked to pitch at Comerica: "I want to pitch tonight. I have nothing but I want to pitch.

.

Love these two quotes!

 

[Thumb]

the accuscore thing over at ESPN has us 71% favorites.

 

[drivergreg]

the accuscore thing over at ESPN has us 71% favorites.

They must have changed it. It was 56% Yankees yesterday.

 

[kalinecountry]

Leyland on Tigers keeping L/R match-ups for Game 3 of ALCS, rather than cater to Phil Hughes' reverse split:
"I do not (have changes). My lineup is the same. It's a little bit tricky because left-handers have only hit .211 off Phil Hughes as opposed to right-handers hitting .308. I think it depends on who the right-handers are that you would be putting in there, you know.
"We obviously would be putting a young guy like (Avisail) Garcia in there and Gerald Laird, and that's not being disrespectful, but those are not normal, everyday players.
"So I am staying with the same lineup I have been playing, and I most likely will throughout this entire playoff. We have been platooning (Quintin) Berry and Gardia and Laird and (Alex) Avila, and it most likely will stay that way throughout the playoffs."
m.mowery

 

[Thumb]

They must have changed it. It was 56% Yankees yesterday.

It changes based on lineup confirmation I'd guess. ARod and Swisher sucked lately, but that's two big guys missing from the Yankee lineup.

 

[Mitchrapp]

Intersting here: Detroit Tigers Jim Leyland is sticking with what has worked.

Worked? We barely hit. If it wasn't for our pitchers..

This is a scary trap game. Even with JV pitching, they need this bad and I'm worried.

 

[tigermud]

I'm not worried, not sure if that's good or bad.. guess we'll find out..

 

[Thumb]

Were up 2-0 with our horse, the best goddamn pitcher in the game, going for us.

I'm not worried in the least. Could we lose, yeah, but tubby Sabathia does not worry me, The Yankees will have just as much of a handful with Max, nor does going back to NY if we don't sweep.

 

[Mitchrapp]

I'm not worried, not sure if that's good or bad.. guess we'll find out..

Then you have ice in the veins, I'm always worried. I was actually calm during game 2, probably because we won where we almost didn't (game one) and i didn't think a sweep in NY was possible). If we had Porcello going I wouldn't be worried, wouldn't expect a win and if they did a big bonus. But with JV we should win but nothing is ever easy.

 

[Thumb]

Wells is so much of a Yankee homer it's hard to remember he once pitched for Detroit too.

 

[kalinecountry]

They don't show the player introductions anymore!!??
friggin tvcommercials.

 

[Mitchrapp]

They don't show the player introductions anymore!!??
friggin tvcommercials.

I wanted the see what happens when Valverde gets introduced..

 

[manchild98]

I wanted the see what happens when Valverde gets introduced..

Fans would be stupid to boo him. If he blows another game then go ahead and boo him but don't get even farther in his head then he already is. It's the playoffs now.