October 28, 2006
GUESS WHAT THEY'LL BE DOING IN SPRING TRAINING?:
Tigers throw Series away (ANTHONY McCARRON, 10/28/06, NY DAILY NEWS)
In their World Series loss to the Cardinals, the Tigers reverted to the form that had them losing 119 games in 2003 - especially in the field, where they made eight errors in five games and allowed eight unearned runs. A Tigers pitcher made an error in each game, setting a Series record Detroit would like to forget. [...]Verlander made an error in his Game 1 start, too, so he tied another dubious record for the most E-1's in a Fall Classic, last done by the Yankees' Allie Reynolds in 1952, a series the Yankees won. Verlander tied yet another negative mark by throwing two wild pitches in the first inning. The Tigers threw four wild pitches in the Series.
Detroit's pitchers made only 15 errors during the regular season, but made one-third of that total against the Cardinals. No other pitching staff had made more than three errors in one Series. Third baseman Brandon Inge also had a rough Series in the field, making three errors.
Inge is so much better than other thirdbasemen that he had a whopping 60 more assists than anyone else, but he does have a correspondingly high error total. The pitchers are just inexplicable. Posted by Orrin Judd at October 28, 2006 9:33 AM
Inge is the best-fielding third baseman I have ever seen: phenomenal at getting to the ball and a truly great pudge/ichiro arm. But his throw decisions hurt his stats, his uber-confidence in his abilities lead him to throw while still in the air from a leap, to throw with his shoulder wide open, to throw with the targeted baserunner just a foot from the bag, etc.
The PF is on Leyland the same way the horrible Dodger fielding throughout the 80's should have been on Lasorda. Zumaya and Verlander both threw wildly to third without the fundamental of closing off the front shoulder. This is ridiculous. Leyland got this bag of hammers into the World Series, and he lost it for them by ignoring fielding.
As the Tigers mature and begin clockword playoff appearances, Leyland's quirks will hurt them more and more: his infatuation with the marginal yeomen like Robertson-Jones-godawfulPerez, his strange confidence in the immature Verlander, his eschewing of small ball, and his defensive ennui -- all of these could keep them from championships year-in and year-out.
Posted by: Palmcroft at October 28, 2006 11:16 AMA side issue, but I've always wondered why E-1's don't count as earned runs for the pitcher. If you created the run, wasn't it earned by you?
Posted by: pj at October 28, 2006 11:22 AMCertainly, but not as a result of your pitching. ER's are to evaluate pitching alone. I do think the extra bases therefrom should be added to WHIP, making it WHEIP.
Posted by: Palmcroft at October 28, 2006 11:41 AMsend 'em to little league training!
Posted by: Dave W at October 28, 2006 12:51 PMInge isn't better than Rolen at 3rd.
He does have remarkable range. And that has alot to do with his errors.
But he is not better than Rolen.
Posted by: Pepys at October 28, 2006 5:56 PMHe's not the hitter that Rolen is. He's a better 3b.
Posted by: oj at October 28, 2006 6:25 PMTigers don't make playoffs next year. Their clock is broken.
Posted by: Bob at October 28, 2006 6:32 PM