Tag Archives: Alex Avila

2011 Tigers postmortem: Top 5 moments

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It might be easy to forget what an incredible season the Tigers had in 2011 after such an embarrassing ALCS Game 6 loss to a clearly superior Rangers ball club, but there’s no way I’m going to let that happen. A season in which the Tigers won their first division tille since the Reagan era by a colossal 15 games contained a million indelible moments—here are my top 5:

5. September 28 vs. CLE: Valverde goes 49 for 49
Needless to say, Jose Valverde is a polarizing figure.  His antics on the mound and entering games make opponents seethe with anger and Tigers fans revel in his ridiculousness.  He puts a few to many runners on base for my taste, but no one can deny that his 2011 season was entertaining, effective, and extraordinary. Closing the season at Cleveland with his franchise-record and league-best 49th save after giving up a hit and a stolen base while striking out two was a perfect microcosm of the rollercoaster of emotions Papa Grande put Tigers fans through all year long.  It was never easy, but somehow he always got the job done.

4. September 14 vs. CWS: Tigers win 12th in a row
To win 12 games in a row is a huge accomplishment, but to do it against your division rivals at crunch time to put the division title out of reach is quite remarkable.  On August 29th the Tigers held a tenuous 5-game lead over the White Sox followed by the Indians only a half game behind the Sox. Two weeks later, the race was over after the Tigers swept the the Indians, Twins and finally the White Sox (twice). I was fortunate enough to witness the 11th win firsthand—a 5-0 shellacking by Verlander and crew—the night before the coup de grâce. Coming back from a three-run deficit in the 9th on pinch-hit home runs from Ryan Raburn and Alex Avila then sealing the deal on a Carlos Guillen’s RBI single in the 10th put an exclamation point on the Tigers’ dominating run.

3. September 3 vs. CWS: Tigers come back from 7-down to win 9-8
In many ways, the Tigers ended all their AL Central division foes’ hopes for 2011 with their miraculous 9-8 victory over the White Sox on September 3rd. After trailing by as many as seven runs, the Tigers comeback culminated with a game-tying, two-run homer from Ryan Raburn followed by a stunning walk-off homer from Miguel Cabrera in the 9th. The soul-crushing defeat sent the White Sox spiraling downward as they gave up 18 runs the following night. The improbable victory sent the Tigers well on their way to eventually win 12 in a row and finally clinch their first division crown in 24 years.

2. May 7 vs. TOR: Verlander throws second career no-hitter
Justin Verlander’s 2011 season will go down as one of the greatest individual performances in Major League history. Leading the league in Wins, ERA, Strikeouts and WHIP will not only give him the Cy Young, but it would be a crime if it didn’t also land him the MVP, which I have been campaigning for for months. But when you add in his no-hitter against the Blue Jays in which he only issued an 8th inning walk to spoil a perfect game, the notion that he doesn’t deserve the MVP is simply asinine.  24-5 record, 2.40 ERA, 250 Ks, 0.92 ERA, .192 BAA—’nough said.

1. October 6 vs. NYY: Tigers win ALDS-clinching Game 5
Winning any playoff series is a big deal.  Winning a playoff series in a deciding Game 5 on the road in front of the largest crowd in new Yankee Stadium history is a whole different animal, but that’s exactly what the Tigers did. Unheralded utility player Don Kelly and waiver-wire pickup Delmon Young went yard on consecutive pitches to stun the Yankees in the 1st inning.  Doug Fister went five strong, giving up just one run on five hits to the formidable Yankees lineup. Victor Martinez’ two-out RBI single to score Austin Jackson proved to be the game  winning as Max Scherzer, Joaquin Benoit and Valverde combined to lock down the remaining gut-wrenching, heart-in-your-throat four innings to take the Tigers frist winner-takes-all game in a postseason series since 1968.

Though it ended on a sour note, 2011 was a great year for the Tigers and should prove to be the start of a long run of dominance over the AL Central.  With a strong staff of young pitchers under contract for the next several years, a nucleus of young hitters that collectively ranked in the top five offenses in the game and with money to spend in the offseason after the contracts of Guillen, Magglio Ordonez, Brad Penny and Joel Zumaya come off the books, the tank is full and the gas pedal is mashed to the floor in the Motor City.

It was the best of times…

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The Lions’ complete dismantling of the Bears certainly helped, but to completely get over Nelson Cruz‘ 11th-inning, walk-off grand slam (the first in MLB postseason history) which put the Tigers down 2-0 in the ALCS is going to take some time. The majestic shot off of “reliever” (in the loosest sense of the term) Ryan Perry was so monstrous that I had plenty of time to judge it’s apocalyptic trajectory and switch over to the start of the Lions game before the ball landed safely into the sickeningly jubilant throng in Arlington’s left field bleachers.

To even get to that point was an adventure.  First, the game was originally scheduled for Sunday night, but was inexplicably cancelled four hours before game time due to rain.  The only thing is IT NEVER RAINED.  So the game was moved to late afternoon on Monday when most people are actually working.  Added to Games 4 and 5* (*if necessary) that are already scheduled for the late afternoon in Detroit and you have a situation where most of the fanbases of the Rangers and Tigers won’t be able to watch the majority of the ALCS.  And Commissioner Bud “Admiral Akbar” Selig can’t figure out why his TV ratings continue to plummet?

When the game finally began, the Rangers immediately jumped out to a 2-0 as I stewed in my office listening to ESPN’s shaky internet feed.  Meanwhile, the Tigers squandered chance after chance, stranding five runners on base in the first two innings. Finally, the Tigers capitalized on Derek Holland’s wildness and took the lead with a Ryan Raburn three-rum bomb. Max Scherzer then settled in and cruised through the 6th, at one point mowing down 12 straight Rangers.

Going into the bottom of the 7th, as I walked home from the train listening on my iPhone, I agreed with manager Jim Leyland’s decision to stick with Scherzer as he had thrown only 87 pitches. Facing the bottom of the order, I thought it was a good move to try not to tax a bullpen that is sure to be tested with no off days scheduled until Friday. Unfortunately, the bottom of the Rangers’ order includes the aforementioned Nelson Cruz who promptly deposited a ball over the wall in left to tie the game at three—a harbinger of the awful things to come…

I got home in time to watch Tigers relievers quiet the crowd and Texas’ bats until the Human Heart Attack, Jose Valverde entered in the 9th. The Big Potato immediately gave up a double to Adrian Beltre which then forced him to intentionally walk Mike Napoli. Valverde swiftly drilled Cruz in the wrist and chest, dropping the slugger to the ground and loading the bases with no outs.  I guess you might as well hurt the guy if you’re going to put him on base anyway, he just should’ve hit him harder.

Valverde has been infamously bad in non-save situations all year (5.79 ERA) so I thought I was reading the righting on the walls until he got David Murphy to fly out for the first out of the inning setting up the possibility of a game-saving double play.  With a grounder to first I was off my couch to witness Miguel Cabrera fire the ball home for one and receive it back from Alex Avila for two to complete the improbable 3-2-3 double play to cheat death.

Unfortunately, the great escape only prolonged the inevitable as the deeper Texas bullpen outlasted Detroit’s, eventually forcing Leyland’s hand to go with the 24-year-old Perry who really shouldn’t even be on a major league roster at this point with a 5.35 ERA in 37 innings this year. Cruz’ eventual soul-crushing blast wasn’t too difficult to see coming.

Yes, the Lions’ utter humiliation of the Bears certainly did help ease the pain of a critical Tigers’ defeat. But it doesn’t change that the Tigers essentially need to take all three upcoming games in Detroit, starting tonight, to have any chance of going to their 11th World Series in franchise history.

Motown momentum shift

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Living in Chicago for the last 14 years has definitely rubbed off on me.  As Detroit’s Alex Avila slipped on the Yankees’s on-deck mat and missed an easy foul pop-up off the bat of former Tigers standout Curtis Granderson with two outs in the 9th,  I felt the familiar sense of dread I’ve felt watching so many Cubs games where a freak “Cubbie occurrence” at the worst possible moment would inevitably lead to disaster (eg. 2003 NLCS Game 6, 8th inning).

But it was with a greater sense of relief that I immediately realized these were the Tigers, not the hapless Cubs, and cosmic forces were not conspiring against them to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. Even when Granderson eventually walked to bring up the potential winning run in the form of RBI-machine Robinson Cano, I knew it was just a minor play and not the beginning of the end. Unblemished closer Jose Valverde could get the job done and did, inducing a Cano groundout to first, tying the series at one game apiece, and wresting home field advantage and momentum away from the Yankees.

Now the Tigers send soon-to-be MVP Justin Verlander to the mound to face off against Yankees’ ace CC Sabathia in a rematch of Friday’s rain-shortened Game 1.  It appeared the rainout would work to the advantage of New York as they pummeled the Tigers in Saturday’s resumption, 9-3. But, as I asserted in my ALDS preview, Detroit’s superior pitching depth would prove to be too much for the Yankees to handle, and now that advantage is even greater.

Not only do the Tigers get to send Verlander to his comfortable home mound instead of a hostile Yankee Stadium against Sabathia, but the rainout also ensured that neither would be available to pitch twice in the series, kicking the legs out from under New York manager Joe Girardi’s plan to hide his thin pitching staff.  Now Girardi is forced to expose the chronically mediocre A.J. Burnett (only two quality starts since the All-Star break) in Game 4 against Rick Porcello whose last five outings have all been QSs.

But when it really come down to it, it’s like the old baseball axiom goes: Momentum begins with the next day’s starting pitcher.  The Tigers just so happen to have the best in the world going in about two hours.  I like our chances.

Asshole of the Month: Jered Weaver

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Jered Weaver: You are an asshole.

Valid arguments can be made on each side of the stupidity that happend during Sunday’s Tigers/Angels game, but Jered Weaver gets the Asshole of the Month award for throwing at Detroit catcher, Alex Avila’s head.

Say what you will about the showboating by the Tigers’ Carlos Guillen (and allegedly Magglio Ordonez), but there is simply no excuse for throwing at anyone’s head.  There is no rule, written or unwritten,  that can justify any action that could end someone’s career or even their life.

It’s difficult to know what started the whole brouhaha but it appears Weaver got pissed at Maggs’ marveling over his 2-run bomb in the 3rd.  Perhaps sensing the Cy Young award slipping away to his counterpart on the mound, Justin Verlander, Weaver’s 10¢ brain couldn’t figure out that Ordonez wasn’t sure if the ball was going to be fair or foul immediately as the ball missed the foul pole by mere inches. He was simply following the trajectory of the ball for a moment to confirm it was a home run before putting his head down and trotting around the bases as the “unwritten rulebook” mandates. Later in the game, Weaver jawed at Magglio after a fly out as he passed the mound on his way back to the dugout, presumably about his perceived slight.

Admittedly, Carlos Guillen acted like a clown with his subsequent stare down and waltz around the diamond after his 7th inning solo shot, but Weaver’s overreaction was borderline criminal.  After screaming at Guillen and receiving a warning from home plate umpire, Hunter Wendelstedt, Weaver promptly fired his first pitch directly at Avila’s head.  Luckily, he was able to barely duck under the missile, otherwise, the unthinkable may have happened and I might be writing about a tragedy while Weaver sits in a jail cell.  If he wanted to retaliate, hit him in the backside or—here’s a novel idea—strike the guy out!

Baseball’s “unwritten rulebook” is a very tedious and often childish text authored by thin-skinned players and coaches who can’t handle the slightest assault on their enormous, yet incredibly fragile egos. Justin Verlander was even guilty of referencing it’s stupidity when he stared down the LA’s Erick Aybar after he attempted to break up Verlander’s no-hit bid with a bunt to lead off the 8th.  In a 3-0 game Aybar has every right to do whatever he can to get on base, no matter what historical feat the opposing pitcher is about to achieve.  To quote former NY Jets’ coach, Herman Edwards: “You PLAY to WIN the GAME! HELLO?“ Fortunately, Verlander decided to simply glare at Aybar and not jeopardize the Angels’ next batter’s career and life by hurling a 100 mph projectile at his head to retaliate.

After the game, Angels center fielder, Torii Hunter put it best when he said “I thought that was all stupid. Everybody was stupid.”  I couldn’t agree more, but Weaver’s dangerous, idiotic and disproportionate reaction is what sets him apart to make him the Asshole of the Month. Congrats.

Ready to Roar

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Miguel Cabrera is congratulated in the Tigers dugout after hitting a game-tying home run in the 9th en route to an 8-4 victory over Oakland.

There’s not a lot of Tigers talk on Major League Assholes because, frankly, they just don’t generate the same kind of compelling insanity that comes from both ends of the Chicago baseball landscape.  However, that doesn’t mean the Motor City isn’t still #1 in my heart (sorry Cubs, I love you too, but you’ll always take a backseat to my hometown team).

Despite flying almost completely under the radar, the Tigers have quietly clawed their way back to .500, overcoming a tough opening two-week schedule that featured a road trip to the Bronx and a series against the defending AL champs.  They’ve done it so quietly, in fact, that my colleague mistakenly tried to use their record as trash talk on Facebook today (nice try, Pete).

Last night’s 10th-inning, 8-4 comeback win in Oakland shines a light on who the Tigers seem to be this season: an offensive mix of productive superstars and scrappy youngsters with a decent, but not yet dominant starting rotation backed by a lights-out bullpen.

Miguel Cabrera is off to his typical MVP-caliber start with 5 HRs, a .320 average, and 11 RBI.  And while the numbers may not be as obvious, major off-season addition, Victor Martinez has fulfilled his role of suppling Big Mig with much-needed protection, creating an ominous left-handed threat at the plate, playing a mentoring role to emerging talent, Alex Avila, all while providing flexibility to the Tigers lineup as a backup C, DH and 1B.

Last night’s victory was the 1,500th in the illustrious career of Jim Leyland who has the best kind of problem a manager can have:  trying to find playing time for breakout candidates Ryan Raburn and Brennan Boesch in a crowded outfield.  Both have thrived in the competition, combining for 2 HRs, a .290 average and 14 RBI.  Austin Jackson needs to pull out of this early sophmore season slump and the imminent return of a healthy Magglio Ordonez is essential, but the Tigers depth has certainly helped stop the bleeding in the meantime.

The starting rotation has been anchored by perennial All-Star, Justin Verlander who has been his usual dominant self, eating up 23 innings in three games with a 3.13 ERA and 21 Ks including a tough complete-game loss against Texas.  Max Scherzer has been a solid #2 already with two victories including one in Yankee Stadium.  Third-year starter, Rick Porcello has been disappointing so far until he showed signs of righting the ship last night with a solid one-run, six-inning performance against the A’s.

The back of the bullpen has been absolutely dominant thus far with the lethal combination of Joaquin Benoit in the 8th and Jose Valverde in the 9th yielding only one earned run in 12.2 innings. I’ll take these guys over anyone in the AL right now.

While the Tigers are on a 4-game winning streak, they’re still looking up at the surprising Indians and Royals in the division. But it’s been proven, time and again, that teams with such little depth cannot maintain their early torrid pace and will soon fall to the wayside.  After losing their last two, the Sox are a mere half game ahead, and despite a potent offense and solid starting pitching, they are clearly in disarray with an imploding bullpen that has proven no lead is safe and has manger Ozzie Guillen at his wits end, calling for the resurrection of former White Sox closer and 1990 AL Rolaids Relief Man of the Year, Bobby Thigpen.  The floundering Twins are now reeling from the lose of Joe Mauer, on the DL with a mysterious illness.  I’m going to start the rumor here that it’s syphilis, not because I have anything against the former MVP (he seems like a pretty cool guy in all those PS3 commercials), but just because I hate Twins that much.

Given the bullpen being an obvious strength while other AL Central rivals’ being epic failures coupled with the offense and starting pitching rounding into form, I’m starting to really like the way everything is falling into place for the Tigers to take control of the division as we cross over of this gloomy April into the sun and warmth of May.

Weekend of the Living Dead

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The left-for-dead Detroit Tigers rose from the grave this weekend to hand the White Sox their second home series loss in a row, dropping them 3 games behind the division-leading Minnesota Twins.

Despite being pronounced dead over a week ago by our own Peter Verniere, the apparently zombi-fied Tigers came back to life and feasted on the Sox’ Achilles heel—their bullpen.

Detroit’s bloodthirsty lust for human flesh was soothed—albeit temporarily—by the Sox’ new closer, J.J. Putz who served up some meaty pitches including a two-run home run to the zombie Alex Avila in a blown save and loss against the Tigers Saturday.

Sox fans were sent screaming in horror down the streets of Bridgeport on Sunday as the feeding frenzy continued when the Sox’ bullpen surrendered 7 runs in the 8th and 9th to seal the game and series win for the tattered, decaying, undead Tigers.

Afterward, as the team lurched toward a nearby shopping mall to terrorize local teens, Tigers’ manager, the zombie Jim Leyland muttered, “mmmmmm, BRRRRAAAAIIIIIINNNNZZZZZ!” as his rotted upper lip and mustache fell from his face.