04-13-12-DETROIT VS CHICAGO WHITE SOX--2:10 PM

[Casimir]

I'm going to go ahead and guess:

Jackson, CF
Boesch, RF
Cabrera, 3B
Fielder, 1B
Young, LF
Peralta, SS
Avila, C
Raburn, DH
Santiago, 2B

I predict Inge will start Sunday against lefty Chris Sale.

[Yoda]

[T&P_Fan]

Love it. See that was the first time I have seen that play.

HATE day games.

[Tim Mitchell]

I just had this (hopeful) feeling Binge will get chopped.

[Statik]

I don't know, the defense has been a little disappointing this year, I mean, were are only fielding at a .995 clip so far. Hopefully, we can bump that up some, (=

[Yoda]

Love it. See that was the first time I have seen that play.

HATE day games.

Here's video... he really looks just fine over there. He's going to make some errors, especially early on, but he has more skills than people were giving him credit for.

Baseball Video Highlights & Clips | TB@DET: Miggy charges bunt attempt for the out - Video | MLB.com: Multimedia

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

Terry, I'm just saying, what is going to stop teams from bunting all game long? You know the Angels will do it. You know the Rays will do it. You know NL teams will do it. Guess what? Those are teams you are going to see in the play-offs.

It's all well and good when you beat the Royals 9 to 7 in June because you are getting great offense out of 3rd base, but this team is supposed to be about competing in October. Those wins in June are just fairy dust wins. The Tigers just aren't built to win in October, and I haven't even talked about the rotation or the bullpen. Back to the people.

[Yoda]

Was that Joe Morgan?

[T&P_Fan]

Here's video... he really looks just fine over there. He's going to make some errors, especially early on, but he has more skills than people were giving him credit for.

Baseball Video Highlights & Clips | TB@DET: Miggy charges bunt attempt for the out - Video | MLB.com: Multimedia

Thanks for the video Yoda. From what Dan and Jim have said Cabrera's D hasn't been an issue. And I think his range will improve once he truly feels comfortable over there too.

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

Was that Joe Morgan?

Mike Valenti, the local radio hack in Detroit.

[Oblong]

Terry, I'm just saying, what is going to stop teams from bunting all game long? You know the Angels will do it. You know the Rays will do it. You know NL teams will do it. Guess what? Those are teams you are going to see in the play-offs.

It's all well and good when you beat the Royals 9 to 7 in June because you are getting great offense out of 3rd base, but this team is supposed to be about competing in October. Those wins in June are just fairy dust wins. The Tigers just aren't built to win in October, and I haven't even talked about the rotation or the bullpen. Back to the people.

beautiful.....

however yesterday he did make me laugh when he took on the Wings fans for their outrage over Weber. "If this guy's a Red Wing they'll sell 15,000 jerseys and there will be a parade of you guys all slobbering over him. You did it for Bertuzzi and you did it for Chelios."

[Yoda]

Why have lineups still not been posted???

[froggyvk]

Why have lineups still not been posted???

1. Jackson, A, CF
2. Boesch, B, RF
3. Cabrera, M, 3B
4. Fielder, P, 1B
5. Young, D, LF
6. Avila, A, C
7. Peralta, J, SS
8. Dirks, A, DH
9. Raburn, R, 2B

[alwaysthrowheat]

1. Jackson, A, CF
2. Boesch, B, RF
3. Cabrera, M, 3B
4. Fielder, P, 1B
5. Young, D, LF
6. Avila, A, C
7. Peralta, J, SS
8. Dirks, A, DH
9. Raburn, R, 2B

Delmon in the field and Dirks DH. Please make it stop!!

[The Truman Show]

Looks like more Dirks/Young ANGAR in store.

[sagnam]

beautiful.....

however yesterday he did make me laugh when he took on the Wings fans for their outrage over Weber. "If this guy's a Red Wing they'll sell 15,000 jerseys and there will be a parade of you guys all slobbering over him. You did it for Bertuzzi and you did it for Chelios."

Yep. And if he hit someone like that as a Red Wing he'd get blasted for doing it. If Bertuzzi jumps on a guy's back and that guy's head was driven into the ice then I'm pretty sure even Red Wing fans would be upset.

I think the thing to take not of is that Red Wing players don't do stuff like this.

[Oblong]

Actually I've seen plenty of Wings over the years level the same hit that Lemieux put on Draper, in fact I saw it last week. And I'm sure if Kronwall were "Kronwalling" in a Blackhawk or Sharks jersey the tune would be different.

[Oblong]

Delmon in the field and Dirks DH. Please make it stop!!

What would a season be without Jimmy doing something to piss us off. At least DH someone else so that Dirks can go in later in LF.

[Juck Verllo]

Do not want to see brown eye Max today.

GO TIGERS!

[drownwithyou]

Actually I've seen plenty of Wings over the years level the same hit that Lemieux put on Draper, in fact I saw it last week.

Which hit was this?

[KleShreen]

Go Tigers! And go Matt Thornton. I hope you come in with the Tigers up 15-0 and you do well.

[T&P_Fan]

Start the series off on a good note and get the W.

I have planned my Saturday and Sunday around the tigers games so I can finally watch some live baseball, really excited for this series. Always fun against the sox.

[sagnam]

Actually I've seen plenty of Wings over the years level the same hit that Lemieux put on Draper, in fact I saw it last week. And I'm sure if Kronwall were "Kronwalling" in a Blackhawk or Sharks jersey the tune would be different.

I seem to remember "Kronwalling" being open ice hits when a guy has his head down. I don't remember seeing people celebrate a borderline boarding. Call me crazy, but not many people like seeing a guy hit from behind.

[TheCouga]

Leyland and Dombrowski clearly think that managing clubhouse attitudes and egos and keeping everyone happy is more important than the minutiae of who is batting where in the order or who is playing where in the field.

You can debate over which strategy gives the most benefit to the team. We can't really measure whether clubhouse chemistry makes a difference or not, but it's probably not much when it comes to straight on-field performance. We can measure what difference lineup order makes through simulations, etc. -- and we know that it is negligible. Defensive placement is only slightly less negligible.

The fact that the players are happy make this an easy club to play for. People want to come here. Peralta was really excited to be traded to the Tigers. VMart was really happy to play here. Verlander wants to play his whole career here. This stuff makes a difference when the Tigers are recruiting free agents, signing extensions, or making players feel comfortable after trades.

Delmon's going to be a FA after this year, so sticking him at DH will hurt his value. He wants to play LF. The Tigers are probably banking on his motivation to get a big contract after this year to help him return to his 2010 form. So they're going to give him the benefit of the doubt, at least for now. They treat players as if they were playing up to their potential in order to help motivate them to do so. They follow the wisdom of Goethe:

Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being.

Maybe you disagree with that philosophy, but that's the way things are done around here, and it's not going to change anytime soon.

[drownwithyou]

I seem to remember "Kronwalling" being open ice hits when a guy has his head down. I don't remember seeing people celebrate a borderline boarding. Call me crazy, but not many people like seeing a guy hit from behind.

And I hate the Kronwalling when he jumps into the guy, but he seems to be consciously trying to stop that.

I'm thinking that the hit Oblong is talking about is Qunicey's, which is completely different than Claude on Draper. Otherwise I have no idea, you'd think a Wings boarding + hit from behind would draw some attention in the suspension arena.

[ROMAD1]

60+ posts before gametime...

impressive.

[Shelton]

Well said, thecouga.

Dirks is better than delmon in the field. But I'm willing to guess that in the number of games both are in the lineup and delmon is in the field instead of dirks, that delmon isn't going to cost the team more than a handful of runs relative to what dirks could have done. Dirks isn't exactly an elite defender.

I think effect will end up being negligible, and could easily be offset by psychological effects or random variance.

[sagnam]

MC will be happy. Leyland just said Valverde has the day off.

[T&P_Fan]

Finally above 50 degrees here in the U.P., it's sunny and it's a Friday. I guess this is one day that I am happy to have something to get me through til 5 o'clock.

I want to shut my office door, kick back and listen to Dan and Jim, unfortunately I have to leave my door open just in case...

[Tim Mitchell]

Id like to know what additions/subtractions are needed to make this an "October" team.
heck, it's April 13th(Joe).
And what team right now would be October-strong?

[tigerbomb13]

Peavy eats Jackson and Boesch alive. His stuff looks much better.

[jz]

Hahahaha the batters box is wrong.

[sagnam]

Cabrera thinks the batters box is too small. Sounds like he's right too.

[jonjd]

Good for Miguel. This should frustrate and sober up the opening day crowd.

[ROMAD1]

Miggy sees the batters box is too close to the pitcher...

[jackson_cannery]

I'm surprised-- this seems more like something the Twins would do.

[tigerbomb13]

Okay this is strange. Delay because the batters box lines werent painted the right dimensions. US Cellular blows.

[New_Age_X]

How was this something that the umps didn't check before the game?

[T&P_Fan]

This is not surprising.

[ROMAD1]

criminal behavior like this is a Chicago tradition.