casimir

Chicago White Sox (74-70) at Detroit Tigers (54-89)

You don't think the pitching will be not as good? I was half joking about the fly ball map, but in all seriousness, what would the net effect of bringing the fences in be? How many more warning track outs have the Tigers had vs the opposition? I don't know the magnitude, but I would imagine the Tiger pitchers have benefitted from long outs that would be home runs in other ball parks. I don't know what's going on in the minor leagues. I would hope that the SO% & BB% are more in line with normal than what we are seeing in Detroit. I would hope they're learning how to work pitchers, focus on making solid hard hit rate type contact on hittable pitches and taking them to whatever field is best based on pitch type and location. I would hope they aren't just swinging for the downs. What talented young players are we talking about? Greene & Torkelson? I hope they have something with Kreidler, Carpenter, Baddoo, anyone else. But I think we're grasping at more hope than anything given how the draft & development has been handled the last several years with some of the younger guys. I actually think what would help the youngsters at the major league level would be to have actual major league batters performing to reasonable expectations surrounding those youngsters in the lineup. The horsebleep seasons from Baez, Schoop, Candelario, Cabrera, Meadows, etc, sure ain't helping the cause for Greene & Torkelson.

It’s national double cheeseburger day. I used pepper jack for mine.

There were a few hits to the opposite field yesterday. Obviously it wasn’t enough, but didn’t they come from Greene and Carpenter? That was good to see. They really need an everyday RHH corner OF with power. Go get Judge and have him patrol RF. Greene in CF, Meadows can DH, one of Carpenter/Baddoo in LF with a RHH platoon partner. Let’s go, damnit, somebody make Judge to Detroit happen!

The hitters might benefit from shorter distances, but what about the pitchers? And it bears repeating, this team cannot make contact with the bat. So who is really going to gain from cozier dimensions, the team that cannot make contact, or the team that can? They’re bottom 5 in SO% and dead last in BB%. Seriously, how do different dimensions alleviate those serious issues? Their big offensive acquisitions were Baez (contact issues) and Meadows (on the IL pretty much all season). Greene and Torkleson weren’t able to make the impacts that were hoped for, and in fairness, they are rookies so they shouldn’t have been depended upon. Schoop and Candelario are having the worst seasons of their career, Cabrera is a corpse. It’s been said before that Baez can’t be the best player on a winning team, and unfortunately we’re seeing it in action. I hate no baseball, but it’s getting to be about time to flush this season. It just sucks so much.

Just eyeballing some of the good run of 2006 - 2013, the Tigers were above average in scoring more often than not, even as high as 2nd place in the AL a couple of times. They simply had better hitters during that time than they do now.

The drawbridge is still in use. I think it was stuck in the up position earlier this year.

Bennett? You probably got off of 75 at Berdan or Phillips. Damnit, now I want an Inky's pizza.

I’d like to see the net of Tiger home runs lost vs opponent home runs lost due to Comerica’s dimensions. Overlay league average dimensions onto the current field, plot the fly outs, and let’s see what the damage is. Can you get that taken care of by tomorrow?

Please, trade him this off-season.

I remember the BPs behind RF and the more expansive LF. I guess I thought there might have been a previous design that never came to fruition.

What was the original design?

Yes. They're also bad on the road.

Zipper merge might as well be political fodder.

Throw lots of green dead president fudge at Judge?

The house that Higgy built.

Houston Astros (92-50) at Detroit Tigers (54-88)

He’s had a few highlights out there this season.

This will be his 15th game start of the season, tying him with Brieske. Only Skubal has more games started (21). Alexander and Rodriguez are right behind (13). He is also 2nd on the team in IP with 86. Skubal tops the team with 117 2/3. Brieske (81 2/3), Alexander (77 1/3), and Rodriguez (66) are next in line. How this team closer to lastest in runs allowed is an absolute freaking miracle.

"What took you so long, Skip?!"

Oh, they can change the fences. But without contact, without solidly barreling up the ball on the screws, it ain't gonna go out in a bandbox with the way this team approaches offense. I don't know if its an available stat, but along with below average SO% and BB%, I would bet that average exit velocity for the Tigers is well below league average. One more item: A Bake McBride reference? Hat tip.

Fly balls and wall dimensions are one thing. But higher than average SO% (24.1% vs 22.2% league average) and lower than average BB% (6.2% vs 8.2% league average) indicates problems just getting the bat on the ball.

Are you referring to the contract buyout? I did hear about this in more detail yesterday. So, it was, what $15M that Nebraska would owe Frost if this occurred before October and only $7.5M if he were fired after September? So, yeah, Nebraska did the right thing here by just getting it over with now.

Happy Hutchday, morans.

Houston Astros (91-50) at Detroit Tigers (54-87)