Life In The Cell

Here Come the Tigers (Again!)

The White Sox play the Tigers in another 3-game series. Last time out the Sox took 2 out of 3 in Detroit on August 25-27. I did a preview of that series and well, let’s do it again.

I mean that almost in every sense of the word. I’d like the Sox to take 2 out of 3 again. Plus, we have the exact same pitching matchups on our hands. It’s the same pitchers and the same order.

Game 1 is Nate Robertson vs Gavin Floyd, again. Neither pitcher figured into the decision last, though both of them put their teams in position to win. Robertson’s line was 6 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 5 BB, and 5 K. Gavin put up numbers of 6 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, and 4 K’s. They had pretty comparable outings at least number-wise. After that heads-up match up on the 25th, Floyd went on to solidify my confidence in him by pitching a gem against the Twins. He went 7 2/3 and gave up all of 1 run while limiting the Twins to a total of 6 base runners. As I said in the Twins wrap up, I’ll no longer be bracing for impact when Gavin pitches. He has my confidence, especially considering he’s the only Sox starter who has pitched worth a damn in the second half. In his 3 post-ASB starts, he’s posted a nifty 2.29 ERA and I fully expect him to keep that up in this first game; let’s venture a guess and say 6 2/3 innings, 3 runs, and 7 hits.

When we last saw Robertson, he was in the midst of a rough stretch. In his last 6 starts prior to facing the Sox, he had gone 34 2/3 innings with a 6.23 ERA while giving up 51 hits and 5 HRs. He did throw one gem in that span, a complete game, 1-run performance against the Mariners. Of course, after I pointed that out he went ahead and had a quality start against the Sox. After that game, though, he returned to form against the Indians. He gave up 8 runs in only 3 innings. Every dog does have his day, so hopefully his day was against the Sox and he doesn’t have another one this time around.

Game 2 looks just like game 2 of the last series (obvs) with Danks vs Verlander. Last time they were up against each other, I was expecting a pitching duel, but instead we got a slug fest. Danks gave up 5 runs (4 earned) in 6 innings, which isn’t bad, especially compared to Verlander’s 7 runs in 4 innings. Each pitcher’s following game was much the same; Danks pitched decently but not great, and Verlander pitched poorly. Danks gave up 4 runs in 6 innings against the Twins, and Verlander gave up 6 runs in 5 2/3 innings.

As weird as it sounds to say this, I think this start is more important for Danks than the White Sox. Danks has seen his ERA rise from 2.67 to 3.31 over his last 4 starts when he has posted a collective 6.85 ERA. The reason this is worrisome is because of how he pitched last season. In the second half last year, he just hit a wall and was no longer an effective pitcher. Another poor outing this time around may a signal that Danks is starting to hit a wall again; then again, it could just be an indication he’s going through a rough patch after raising expectations to an unreasonable height. Best case scenario, he pitches the John Danks Special (1 run in 6 innings and change) and the mini-crisis is over. If he struggles again, well, then that means more work for Jeeves to figure what’s up.

Verlander’s last two starts seem flukish when looking at his recent body of work for the season. He posted a 3.04 ERA over his 15 starts prior to facing the White Sox. If I had to guess off the cuff, I would guess something is up mechanically, and here’s hoping that he continues to be mechanically unsound if that is, in fact, the reason for his struggles.

In the final game of the series, Javy Vazquez gets a rematch with Zach Miner. I’m still unsure what to expect of Miner. He served as a reliever all of last season and has made a grand total of 3 starts this season. In his 3 starts, he’s only pitched 17 1/3 innings which isn’t great but he has posted a 2.60 ERA which is great. I feel like he’s due for big start…big in the sense of giving up a lot of runs. Looking briefly at his game logs, his stats look a lot like Javy’s numers, save for .040 points on batting average. I’m going to go ahead and guess that he’s getting lucky in terms of balls in play. I can’t find a BABIP for him, but does have a LD% of 20.4% meaning the ball is getting hit pretty hard against him. I could, of course, be under estimating his ability once again, but we’ll have to wait see.

If you want to see what Tigers’ fans are saying, take a look behind enemy lines at:

Mack Avenue Tigers

and

Tiger Tales