2012 AL Central tell it like it is thread

lets face it.  only 1 team right now in the AL that looks  great.   texas Rangers.  but.  if they lose hamilton from that line up..  they fall back to every one else.

The central winner has a chance to go to the series.  maybe the Rays look good enough..maybe 

Well the Tigers don't look great in the AL.  They are 9th out of 14.

you are pretty sharp to notice that kinik..
you must be talking with quest.

   

It wasn't easy.  I had to search way down.

It is easy to bring up the past for every team. Especially with what happened last year.

Last year at this time, the Indians were playing way, way above their heads on all fronts. This year, and the players will admit this, they are not playing great ball right now. The pitching is still iffy. And this comment came from a pitcher. They are still working out the kinks.
THe hitting is awful to say the least. But the bottom line is they are in first.

We can bring up the past, talk about the future, but the reality is of the present. And the reality could be by Sunday night the Tribe could only be .5 games up on the Sox, and 3 games up on the Tigers. The reverse could happen as well.

Miggy and Fielder had a horrible series. Detroit only got shut down once they got men on base. They couldnt buy a hit to save their lives if they had to. Put Jackson back in the lineup and fix some of that bullpen and the rest will come around.

The season is only a quarter of the way through. There is so much baseball to be played yet. There is 5 more series with the Tigers. I am not a betting man, but I would have to say, Miggy and Fielder will pummel the ball the rest of the season. No way does Cabrera get held down that long. I see the Tigers firing their hitting coach McCLendon before too long. Their approach at the plate is awful right now. THey do not possess that killer instinct.

As a tribe fan, I will also say this. If we had a six game lead with six games left to play, I still wouldnt be comfortable. That is the reality and that is why people are not showing up at the games. That is why the past plays out in people heads today in the present.

Indians are playing fine right now. They are playing the game like it is meant to be played with the talent they have (lack). Enjoy it while it lasts.

I just want to get this right -- Fister blew his chance for a win because he gave up 2 runs?!?  Teams would do cartwheels if everytime a starter went to the mound, they only gave up 2 runs for the game.

And the reason Fister hasn't won a game this season -- some of it isn't due to the lack of run support -- ALL of it is due to the lack of run support.  He has given up 0, 0, 1, 3, 2 in his 5 starts.

I said it yesterday on this message board -- Detroit, as a whole, has not been able to get a hit when they needed it.  They stranded 29 runners in a 3 game series.  They batted .107 with RISP (3 for 29) for the series.  It is not like it is just this series they have been doing this either.

Detroit was hitting .217 with RISP and 2 outs coming into this series and .147 with the bases loaded.

Also -- as I said yesterday -- when they called ball 4 a strike with the bases loaded to Cabrera -- they can't buy a break. 

Mike, Had Fister given up fewer than 3 runs in the 6th inning, he may have won.  He didn't.  For all his talent, he let something distract him and he blew an opportunity the first time he had a lead... That is not an indictment of his ability, just his performance.  
He is a pitcher. You either need to step back from the statistics, or learn to quantify more.  Statistics are only an abstract of performance, they don't perfectly describe it.  


Sorry, I can't explain it to you any other way.  Teams only do cartwheels when they win. 

Detroit, as a whole, has not been able to get a hit when they needed it. 

And they couldn't get a pitch when they needed it, either.

I'm glad you know the central is a pretty terrible division.

I will make my judgements on the Indians/Tigers come AS break. 

---

Spoken like a true baseball fan...NOT a deaf, dumb & blind homer

Mike, Had Fister given up fewer than 3 runs in the 6th inning, he may have won.  He didn't.  For all his talent, he let something distract him and he blew an opportunity the first time he had a lead... That is not an indictment of his ability, just his performance.  
He is a pitcher. You either need to step back from the statistics, or learn to quantify more.  Statistics are only an abstract of performance, they don't perfectly describe it.  


Sorry, I can't explain it to you any other way.  Teams only do cartwheels when they win. 

scelerat,

fister DIDN'T give up 3 runs in the 6th inning -- he gave up 2, the only 2 runs in the game he gave up, in 6 2/3 innings.  Your talk about 'something distracting him' and blowing an opportunity is ridiculous.  He didn't let the Indians string 4 or 5 hits together to get their runs, he didn't walk a couple guys -- Kipnis blooped a single on a tough 1-2 pitch and Hafner did what power hitters do when they get ahead in the count -- they sit on a pitch and if they get what they are looking for, they put a good swing on it.

in fister's 4 full starts -- Detroit has scored a TOTAL of 8 runs, not difficult to figure out that is 2 runs per start.  he doesn't qualify to be in the ranking yet, as he has only had 4 full starts, but he would be ranked 1st in the MLB in the fewest Run Support per 9 innings if he was.  what i thought was funny is -- Verlander is ranked 8th right now in the RS/9 for the least amount.

you can twist your theory anyway you'd like -- you can try and say he was distracted, or imply giving up 2 runs is an indictment of his performance.  the fact is -- all he can do is pitch.  when you are putting up the numbers Fister has -- just under 30 IP and only giving up 6 ER's on the year -- it is an inidictment on the performace of the OFFENSE, that he is 0-2 right now.

with your logic -- clay bucholtz is having a great year, because he is 4-2.  then you look and see, he is given over TWELVE RUNS from the boston offense PER START, and has an era of almost 8.00 and a WHIP of almost 2.00 and has 27 walks to go with his 27 strikeouts.  BUT he has 4 wins in your eyes, so he is having a darn good year.

you tell me which pitcher MLB teams would rather have??  the 4-2 bucholtz or the 0-2 Fister.

 

All I know is I would take Fister on my team any day. Legit big league pitcher. Seattle keeps Fernandez and gets rid of their better pitcher.....

Hernandez....Felix. You know what I mean.

  I'm sure the White Sox brought up a left handed pitcher, to face the Indians tonight...The Indians left handed heavy lineup is right now 4-8 vs lefties....
  
  Alot of 'ifs' in sports, but IF the Indians could take 2 of 3(or better) in this series, then beat up KC and Minnesota at home....The Indians could put some serious distance from everyone else.  

 

Check how Detroit did the following year after their 2006 World Series appearance...They missed the playoffs the next 3 years....Cleveland in 2007 went to the playoffs, and has since missed the next 4 years...

   The past doesn't guarantee a repeat of last year.  Detroit fans are desperately thinking it will, but again, Detroit went to the world series in '06, but the following year, missed the playoffs, and lost to Cleveland for the AL Central title(I'll take that repeat)....

    If the past meant anything, the Dallas Mavericks would repeat as NBA champs this year---Ooops...
    Oh, and last year, the San Francisco Giants would have won the World Series again----ummmm...
    and on, and on, and on.... 

Nobody in the AL Central is playing over .622 bseball.  To match last year (you know last year, last year) the Tigers would have to play .640 ball the rest of the way.  They are only playing .666 vs, the East, .444 vs. the Central and .286 vs. the West.  This years Tigers ain't gonna play .640 the rest and anybody that believes they will is either delusional or drunk.