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The Indians pack their bags after getting swept at home by the A's and head to Detroit, who now lead the Indians in the all-important battle for second place by percentage points. Whoever wins this series will be in second place come Monday. This is the final time the Cleveland Indians play the Detroit Tigers, and these teams have been playing each other since 1915. Ty Cobb hit .369 for the Tigers that year. That was a down year for him. He had 12 seasons where his batting average was higher.
At age 41 Cobb hit only .323 and I guess that convinced him he was through. He retired after that season.
Getting back to the present, the Indians lead the season series 10-6 so hopefully they can continue their dominance for one final weekend. Although we're at the point now where the final scores don't matter as much as player development.
The Tigers are 16-9 since the break, but they've played 18 games against Baltimore, Minnesota and Texas. They lost 2 of 3 to the Indians last week. The Tigers rank 9th in the A.L. in runs per game, but the Indians pitchers have handled them so far. Tiger hitters have a line of .206/.625 against the Tribe this year at 3.44 runs per game. Miggy has been their top hitter against the Indians at .262/.819. Jonathan Schoop is hitting .309/.715 against Cleveland. Nobody else has done much against Indians' pitching. Last weekend the Tigers managed 8 runs in 3 games against the Tribe.
The Tigers are also 9th in team ERA and they're missing a couple of starters in Boyd and Urena.
The Indians have lost 7 of 10 and they just lost Sandlin and Harold Ramirez to injury. Sandlin is expected to be out at least 3-4 weeks so we may not see him again this year.
Tonight Plesac goes against lefty Tyler Alexander, 2-1, 4.35. Alexander, age 27, has made seven starts and 24 relief appearances this season. He's 5-8, 4.44 for his career. In 10.2 innings against the Indians this year he's given up 5 earned runs for a 4.22 ERA. He's tough on lefties but right-handed batters are hitting .297/.844. His numbers as a starter and reliever are virtually identical. When he starts he averages 14.4 batters faced, so they only let him go three innings or so. However, his last start was against the Indians and he shut them out for 5.1 innings, throwing only 62 pitches and getting 10 fly ball outs. That was easily his longest outing of the year.
Hopefully the Indians will take a look at the video of that game and see what his guy was doing that was so effective and make some adjustments. I'm assuming we'll have eight right-handed bats in the lineup (everybody except Zimmer) and righties have hit nearly .300 against Alexander.
Plesac is having a season to forget. His ERA since coming back from breaking his hand is 6.16. He's given up 10 earned runs in his last two starts. His last start was against the Tigers and they clawed him for 4 runs in 4 innings.
Miguel Cabrera will be looking to hit his 500th career home run in front of his home fans this weekend, so we might get some good-sized crowds. Miggy has three home runs in 42 at-bats against the Indians this year. However, only 4 of his 12 home runs this year have come at home in Detroit's spacious ball yard.
The Indians need to get back on track after blowing leads in the first two games against the A's and then getting annihilated in the third game. The only good thing is that they used the bottom of the bullpen yesterday so their better relievers should be available if they get a late lead.
At age 41 Cobb hit only .323 and I guess that convinced him he was through. He retired after that season.
Getting back to the present, the Indians lead the season series 10-6 so hopefully they can continue their dominance for one final weekend. Although we're at the point now where the final scores don't matter as much as player development.
The Tigers are 16-9 since the break, but they've played 18 games against Baltimore, Minnesota and Texas. They lost 2 of 3 to the Indians last week. The Tigers rank 9th in the A.L. in runs per game, but the Indians pitchers have handled them so far. Tiger hitters have a line of .206/.625 against the Tribe this year at 3.44 runs per game. Miggy has been their top hitter against the Indians at .262/.819. Jonathan Schoop is hitting .309/.715 against Cleveland. Nobody else has done much against Indians' pitching. Last weekend the Tigers managed 8 runs in 3 games against the Tribe.
The Tigers are also 9th in team ERA and they're missing a couple of starters in Boyd and Urena.
The Indians have lost 7 of 10 and they just lost Sandlin and Harold Ramirez to injury. Sandlin is expected to be out at least 3-4 weeks so we may not see him again this year.
Tonight Plesac goes against lefty Tyler Alexander, 2-1, 4.35. Alexander, age 27, has made seven starts and 24 relief appearances this season. He's 5-8, 4.44 for his career. In 10.2 innings against the Indians this year he's given up 5 earned runs for a 4.22 ERA. He's tough on lefties but right-handed batters are hitting .297/.844. His numbers as a starter and reliever are virtually identical. When he starts he averages 14.4 batters faced, so they only let him go three innings or so. However, his last start was against the Indians and he shut them out for 5.1 innings, throwing only 62 pitches and getting 10 fly ball outs. That was easily his longest outing of the year.
Hopefully the Indians will take a look at the video of that game and see what his guy was doing that was so effective and make some adjustments. I'm assuming we'll have eight right-handed bats in the lineup (everybody except Zimmer) and righties have hit nearly .300 against Alexander.
Plesac is having a season to forget. His ERA since coming back from breaking his hand is 6.16. He's given up 10 earned runs in his last two starts. His last start was against the Tigers and they clawed him for 4 runs in 4 innings.
Miguel Cabrera will be looking to hit his 500th career home run in front of his home fans this weekend, so we might get some good-sized crowds. Miggy has three home runs in 42 at-bats against the Indians this year. However, only 4 of his 12 home runs this year have come at home in Detroit's spacious ball yard.
The Indians need to get back on track after blowing leads in the first two games against the A's and then getting annihilated in the third game. The only good thing is that they used the bottom of the bullpen yesterday so their better relievers should be available if they get a late lead.
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