The D (for Domination) train rolls into Chicago tonight as the Tigers look win 10 in a row for the first time since 1968. The Tigers now find themselves perched at number 4 in the ESPN power rankings, and their 9 win streak matches the longest since 1984. 1968 and 1984 were good years. Who was around in 1968? Tell us a little about that season.
Porcello goes for this 14th win tonight in 28 starts. A Porcello win would give the Tigers 3 14+ game winners for the first time since 1984 when the mustache brothers dusted batters and other things (Morris, Wiltcox, Petry).
John Danks takes the ball for the Tigers, and I can’t imagine that he’s too excited about this one. He was rocked by the Tigers 10 days ago, and they haven’t lost since. He followed that up with 4 ER in 6 IPs against Minnesota last time out.
We haven’t talked about it much over the past week because there has been so much else going on, but Alex Avila continues to hit and play superb defense. It sounds ridiculous, but is he the best catcher in the Majors? He’s overwhelmingly the first catcher taken in an ESPN poll.
A few notes:
- Injury Updates – Joel Zumaya, Brad Thomas and Brennan Boesch are injured.
- Division playoff tix went on sale today at 10am, and off-sale at 11am. Did anyone get them?
- Great article on Grandy on ESPN.com today. Hard to argue with the team’s success this year, but we can all still pine for the guy.
- This comes from Fangraphs’ latest power rankings: 10. Detroit: Last week – 10, WAR% – .556 (9), FAN% – .512 (12), TOTAL% – .551
Intriguing idea for the Tigers this offseason — take the $26 million coming off the books from Carlos Guillen, Magglio Ordonez and Brad Penny, and give it to Jose Reyeson a four year, $100 million deal (with the idea that you pay more for less years given his injury issues). Then you move Jhonny Peralta to second base, stick Brennan Boeschand Ryan Raburn in the platoon that they’ve always been destined to share out in right field, and ka-boom! — championship offense.
Tonight’s Pre-Player of the Pre-Game
AJax – he’s riding a 15 game hitting streak against the White Sox, batting .403 with 3 HRs and 9 RBIs during that time.
1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Magglio Ordonez, RF
3. Delmon Young, LF
4. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
5. Victor Martinez, DH
6. Alex Avila, C
7. Jhonny Peralta, SS
8. Ryan Raburn, 2B
9. Brandon Inge, 3B
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