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HankthaTank

2011 MLB Season Thread

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Went to a sports bar with some friends. WHAT A WIN!

It's always great to knock off the Evil Empire, but the atmosphere was crazy in that place. I can't believe they did it. Fister was huge, Scherzer was great, and Benoit was good enough. Papa Grande looked insane out there, and the Tigers move on to Texas!

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I still have no idea how they won it. Playing away at Yankee Stadium, crowd going crazy, and they somehow only allow 1 run on two bases loaded. Craziest game (and series) I've seen in a while. I just gotta say, once Valverde got Cano out, I knew it was over with "K"-Rod coming up.

Edited by dropkickshanahans

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Every single at-bat in that game was nerve wracking. The Tigers got the early lead which was huge and managed to pitch themselves out of numerous jams against a stacked offensive team. That certainly was one of the most bizarre, yet utterly exciting baseball series in quite some time.

On to Texas for the ALCS! I'm proud of these guys for finding a way to keep this awesome season alive in a very tough situation.

Oh, I also have to celebrate no more TBS! God, I hate Ron Darling so much. Smoltz is absolutely terrific, but Darling adds nothing and was on the Yankees nuts so bad.

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Now we got to watch real baseball instead of a team that relies on it's unreal offense to win in spite of it's pitching. The Yankees got to the playoffs by out-slugging everyone else. They had 79 home runs just between Tex and Granderson. Add on to that Swisher, Jeter, A-Rod, Martin, Cano, that is a ton of power. Garder can poke it too, and can absolutely fly around the bases, and Posada was on fire in the series. This lineup could touch a pitcher up at any time, and the only pitching the Yankees had was CC, Nova, Robertson, and Rivera. After that, it is a crap-shoot. Sure, at this stage of the game, every team is powerful, but the Yankees are close to cheating with that lineup's potential statistics.

So, bring on Texas. A dangerous team, but guess what? The Tigers are equally dangerous at this point, and are as hot as any team in baseball the last month. Should be a great series.

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Congrats to the Tigers. You're a great team, and you played hard. You deserve to be in the ALCS, and I hope you beat the Rangers. We just didn't have the pitching this year, but we knew that before the season even started. It sucks to lose, but the better team won. At least that can be said.

Good luck. :)

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Electrophile mentioned the lack of Yankees pitching, I think the Tigers-Rangers is going to be a better matchup than Yanks-Rangers because of the Yankees lack of pitching. If the Yankees got past the Tigers, they really didn't have the pitching to go much further.

Seeing Girardi make a pitching change every inning to me looked like he was panicking. He had to take Nova out, but why did he give Hughes the hook that early? He could have gone at least 4 or 5 innings. I'm glad Leyland didn't use Verlander, despite the pressure from the media, because Girardi said he was going to use CC. I saw no reason to use J.V. yesterday, Fister's a great pitcher and the bullpen is solid!

Anyway looking forward to the ALCS starting Saturday, and FOX taking over. TBS sucked!

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Electrophile mentioned the lack of Yankees pitching, I think the Tigers-Rangers is going to be a better matchup than Yanks-Rangers because of the Yankees lack of pitching. If the Yankees got past the Tigers, they really didn't have the pitching to go much further.

Seeing Girardi make a pitching change every inning to me looked like he was panicking. He had to take Nova out, but why did he give Hughes the hook that early? He could have gone at least 4 or 5 innings. I'm glad Leyland didn't use Verlander, despite the pressure from the media, because Girardi said he was going to use CC. I saw no reason to use J.V. yesterday, Fister's a great pitcher and the bullpen is solid!

Anyway looking forward to the ALCS starting Saturday, and FOX taking over. TBS sucked!

I think the bullpen is far from solid, but Scherzer pitched great in relief. Benoit and Valverde have been great, but I'm glad Al-Al, Perry, Penny, and Schlereth kept their jackets on.

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Agreed. The bullpen is really down to two guys and maybe Coke against lefties, which is now pretty much just Hamilton. The Rangers bullpen is even better than a very strong one the Yankees had -- the Tigers have to jump on their starting pitching in this series with Adams, Ogando and Feliz going late in games.

I also think the Rangers lineup is deeper than the Yankees. There isn't going to be any relief for the pitching staff in this series. It is going to be very, very tough to get past the Rangers.

Edited by GoWings1905

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One ESPN writer thinks that Jim should shake his lineup up and field this variation:

1: Santiago 2B

2. Martinez DH

3: Young LF

4: Cabrera 1B

5: Peralta SS

6: Raburn RF

7: Avila C

8: Jackson CF

9: Inge 3B

Glaring problem? Martinez will not move from the 5 hole. If that happens, Cabrera will not see a pitch the entire time. They will walk him every single time and take their shot at Peralta. This writer is supposedly a professional baseball writer? He has no idea what he is talking about.

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I sometimes question what goes through Jim's mind when making out a lineup, but that one there is just utterly stupid. Magglio has done nothing but hit and now Raburn starts in right? I don't like Jackson batting leadoff either, but he's far and away the Tigers best option there still. I expect Inge to play the first two games against Wilson and Holland. Maggs in right for sure and I honestly wouldn't mind seeing Raburn against two lefties at second base.

How about those Phillies? Second straight year their offense has been a joke in the playoffs. I am so thankful the Cardinals knocked that pitching staff out early though. Before the playoffs started, my thought was it would be Brewers/Rangers in the World Series. I will stick with that, even though my heart clearly wants the Tigers to represent the AL.

The rotation sets up well for the Tigers: Verlander-Scherzer-Fister-Porcello, which means our three best pitchers all get to start twice if the series goes the distance. Time for a win tonight to kick off the ALCS JV!

Edited by GoWings1905

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If at the beginning of the season, you said that the following teams would NOT still be in the playoffs come LCS time, people would have thought you were nuts: Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies.

I'd like to see a Tigers/Brewers World Series for the sheer fact it would give Bud Selig a heart attack. I know he probably has a soft-spot for the Brew Crew, but he's also all about ratings.

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I sometimes question what goes through Jim's mind when making out a lineup, but that one there is just utterly stupid. Magglio has done nothing but hit and now Raburn starts in right? I don't like Jackson batting leadoff either, but he's far and away the Tigers best option there still. I expect Inge to play the first two games against Wilson and Holland. Maggs in right for sure and I honestly wouldn't mind seeing Raburn against two lefties at second base.

How about those Phillies? Second straight year their offense has been a joke in the playoffs. I am so thankful the Cardinals knocked that pitching staff out early though. Before the playoffs started, my thought was it would be Brewers/Rangers in the World Series. I will stick with that, even though my heart clearly wants the Tigers to represent the AL.

The rotation sets up well for the Tigers: Verlander-Scherzer-Fister-Porcello, which means our three best pitchers all get to start twice if the series goes the distance. Time for a win tonight to kick off the ALCS JV!

The Tigers tweeted yesterday that the rotation will actually feature Scherzer once and Porcello twice, with both of his starts being in Texas. I assume that means the rotation goes:

Verlander

Porcello

Fister

Scherzer

Verlander

Porcello

Verlander

Tough loss for sure. Young was the Tigers best hitter in the ALDS.

Raburn should be fine out in left though, especially with three starters for Texas being left-handed.

It's horrible to hear that Young won't be available, as he definitely was the difference (sometimes literally) in that ALDS. It goes without saying that Avila needs to step into that role and Cabrera and Martinez need to perform better, too.

I'm surprisingly okay with Raburn taking over because, as GoWings hinted at, Ryan Raburn ******* hates left handed pitchers and proved it down the stretch by cranking the ball into the seats.

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Yeah, it sounded on the radio like Verlander and the Tigers were really frustrated with the strike zone. I didn't come back after the first rain delay. Excited to see that it's 3-2 and the Tigers were finally able to get to Wilson.

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I had two tv's running so I could watch my Buckeyes blow their biggest lead in history and watch the Tigers come up just one at bat short time after time. The strike zone was BS but that was still a winnable game. Oh well, hopefully Max shuts them down tonight. Can't get down 2-0.

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