9/18/25 1:10PM Guardians @ Tigers

[Motor City Sonics]

6 minutes ago, SeattleMike said:

Can Cleveland keep winning these one and two run games? At some point this has to bite them. 

Think of the Tigers last year...............

[chasfh]

16 minutes ago, monkeytargets39 said:

Jose Ramirez career vs Detroit:

.381 OBP.

 

Which means there's a 62% chance we get him out, based on these lifetime stats.

Your mileage obviously varies, but I just don't think forcing a man into scoring position in a tie game really computes, 20-12 hindsight notwithstanding. 

[Motor City Sonics]

Shortstop is a continuing black hole

In September.   Javie OPS is .353,  Trey Sweeney is .118.   

 

At this point, why not give Trei Cruz a look?    He could not be worse than Sweeney.  

[tiger2022]

The problem wasn't Ramirez, it was the walk to Martinez, a .229 hitter with a .630 OPS.  Why not go after him instead of putting him on base to bring up a guy in the midst of a hall of fame career.  

In all likelihood, the worst that will happen is Martinez gets a double if Melton goes after him.

[RatkoVarda]

20 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

  If this does happen, doesn't someone need to go?   I don't know who, but someone?   

Nabozny?

[chasfh]

8 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

well exactly - which is why maybe you don't ask him to pitch to Ramirez? I'm not going to get all weak in the knees because Hinch did one stupid thing, but I'm willing to call it what it was - stupid.

Of course the Tigers didn't score any more runs, so the question was ultimately moot.

So tell your young pitcher, a guy you want to build confidence in his ability at the big league level, hey man, we don't trust you to dot corners and not make mistakes in the middle of the plate, so put this guy on even though there's already a guy occupying first? I'm glad you're not my manager! 😉

Joking aside: no sale. Call it stupid if you want, as though Hinch can totally control outcomes like pushing buttons. I think it's merely unfortunate that the mistake went over the heart of the plate, and that we had a better chance of getting him out than giving up a bomb—again, notwithstanding 20-12 hindsight. I know this makes me (even more?) unpopular, but I'm true to how I feel about it.

[tiger2022]

1 minute ago, Motor City Sonics said:

Shortstop is a continuing black hole

In September.   Javie OPS is .353,  Trey Sweeney is .118.   

 

At this point, why not give Trei Cruz a look?    He could not be worse than Sweeney.  

How about giving Deivi Cruz another chance?

[Motor City Sonics]

1 minute ago, tiger2022 said:

How about giving Deivi Cruz another chance?

Couldn't be worse than Sweeney.  

[chasfh]

4 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

In September ... Trey Sweeney is .118.   

Yikes—that's downright Kreidleresque!

[tiger2022]

1 minute ago, chasfh said:

So tell your young pitcher, a guy you want to build confidence in his ability at the big league level, hey man, we don't trust you to dot corners and not make mistakes in the middle of the plate, so put this guy on even though there's already a guy occupying first? I'm glad you're not my manager! 😉

Joking aside: no sale. Call it stupid if you want, as though Hinch can totally control outcomes like pushing buttons. I think it's merely unfortunate that the mistake went over the heart of the plate, and that we had a better chance of getting him out than giving up a bomb—again, notwithstanding 20-12 hindsight. I know this makes me (even more?) unpopular, but I'm true to how I feel about it.

Walking Martinez was inexcusable.  Putting a guy with a .229 avg .630 OPS on without challenging him?  He went to 3-0 on him with Ramirez on deck.  Just pathetic

[Tigermojo]

4 minutes ago, RatkoVarda said:

Nabozny?

Foul bunt was clutch ground crew.

[monkeytargets39]

3 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Which means there's a 62% chance we get him out, based on these lifetime stats.

Your mileage obviously varies, but I just don't think forcing a man into scoring position in a tie game really computes, 20-12 hindsight notwithstanding. 

Were you fine with us pitching to Nelson Cruz all the time last decade?  I wanted to throw my remote at the screen every time.  

Sometimes you just gotta know you’re playing with fire with certain guys and just make the decision to let other players beat you instead.

[papalawrence]

Just an observation, the ump was quite bad today. Missed a half dozen clear strikes for Det pitchers, and called some poor strikes for Det batters (on Torres when Meadows stole 2nd). Seemed to happen in key moments. Cleveland doesn't need any help right now

[Adullin]

What are frustrating series. In the end the Tigers hit the ball hard but right at people and Cleveland got a lot of **** luck bloopers. 

[monkeytargets39]

7 minutes ago, chasfh said:

So tell your young pitcher, a guy you want to build confidence in his ability at the big league level, hey man, we don't trust you to dot corners and not make mistakes in the middle of the plate, so put this guy on even though there's already a guy occupying first? I'm glad you're not my manager! 😉

Joking aside: no sale. Call it stupid if you want, as though Hinch can totally control outcomes like pushing buttons. I think it's merely unfortunate that the mistake went over the heart of the plate, and that we had a better chance of getting him out than giving up a bomb—again, notwithstanding 20-12 hindsight. I know this makes me (even more?) unpopular, but I'm true to how I feel about it.

I’d tell him that.  Melton has been in the majors for like a two months.  No, I don’t trust him in super high leverage situations when the team is cratering a 14 game division lead.

[Motor City Sonics]

The Tigers had an amazing 162-game stretch, but they had it at the wrong time. 

[kdog]

 

[kdog]

 

[chasfh]

7 minutes ago, monkeytargets39 said:

Were you fine with us pitching to Nelson Cruz all the time last decade?  I wanted to throw my remote at the screen every time.  

Sometimes you just gotta know you’re playing with fire with certain guys and just make the decision to let other players beat you instead.

A.J. has intentionally walked 14 hitters this season. Not once was there a man already occupying first.

In the big leagues so far this season, there have been 31,244 plate appearances where there was a man on first and no other base. A total of five intentional walks have been issued in that situation. That works out of 0.016% of all such plate appearances, which, in practical terms, is never.

There was no way A.J. was going to issue a free pass to Jose Ramirez in that situation. There just wasn't. And calling for his head over failure to do so is a really high bar.

[Toddwert]

38 minutes ago, lordstanley said:

And because the Red Sox have lost 2 of 3 to Athletics, they haven't locked up a playoff spot and might still have a lot to play for next weekend instead of resting up for the WC round.

the good news is Boston has played like butt since Roman Anthony got injured

[SeattleMike]

26 minutes ago, tiger2022 said:

The problem wasn't Ramirez, it was the walk to Martinez, a .229 hitter with a .630 OPS.  Why not go after him instead of putting him on base to bring up a guy in the midst of a hall of fame career.  

In all likelihood, the worst that will happen is Martinez gets a double if Melton goes after him.

I really don't understand why Melton is in the bullpen. Are they trying to limit his innings? I would have swapped Morton for Melton a month ago. 

[Klondike]

32 minutes ago, Adullin said:

What are frustrating series. In the end the Tigers hit the ball hard but right at people and Cleveland got a lot of **** luck bloopers. 

Two went over the fence. 0 for the Tigers that's the difference 

[gehringer_2]

52 minutes ago, chasfh said:

a guy you want to build confidence in his ability at the big league level, hey man, we don't trust you to dot corners and not make mistakes in the middle of the plate

A playoff run isn't the time for this though. Hinch was willing to crush Casey Mize's mental state by leaving him completely out of a playoff, he can tell Melton to walk a guy.

[roarintiger1]

Perez looks completely lost at the plate.  It's time to give his ABs to someone else.  But at least never bat him in the top 7 in the order. But that's the problem. The Tigers currently have 5 or 6 guys who need to be batting 8th or 9th or just plain sitting the bench.

[gehringer_2]

51 minutes ago, tiger2022 said:

Walking Martinez was inexcusable.  Putting a guy with a .229 avg .630 OPS on without challenging him?  He went to 3-0 on him with Ramirez on deck.  Just pathetic

and it's almost predictable than after a pitcher walks a guy he shouldn't, he's going to groove a pitch to the next guy trying too hard not to miss. It's almost baked in - and why maneuvring around the 3 hitter rule must really frustrate every manager.