So this is shaping up to be a big weekend, at least for the American League Central. The Indians are in Detroit this weekend, while the White Sox host Texas. The pitching match ups for the Indians/Tigers are very interesting with Tomlin vs Scherer tonight, Huff vs Fister Saturday, and Jimenez vs Porcello to wrap it up on Sunday. The Indians took 2 of 3 from the White Sox this week, while Detroit lost two of three to Minnesota. The Indians get a break by avoiding Justin Verlander in this series, and that gives them a chance to sweep. I think that the Indians have the pitching advantage in all three games of the series.
In the first game, Josh Tomlin has been good all season, while Max Scherzer has had his ups and downs. Scherzer has allowed eight earned runs in 12 innings over his last two starts, but has struck out 15. The Indians strikeout a lot, and if Scherzer finds his good fastball/slider combination, it could be tough for the Tribe to get anything going against him.
Game two pits David Huff against Doug Fister. Huff made three starts in late July and early August, but was then sent down to the minors. He's back up to replace Carlos Carrasco, who is on the DL with an elbow injury. He did well in his earlier callup, and the surprising thing was his strikeout rate. He's struck out 15 in 17.2 innings this year, and held opponents to a 0.51 ERA in his small stint with the big club. Fister has struggled since going to Detroit, with an ERA of 6.14. This is the game that I think the Tribe has to take.
The finale has Ubaldo Jimenez against Rick Porcello. Both of these guys have struggled of late, Ubaldo since his arrival in Cleveland, and Porcello got pounded for eight earned runs over 3.2 innings on August 10th against the Tribe. Both of these two guys are too good to struggle like they have recently. One or both of them should figure it out Sunday, and if only one does, this game could get ugly. If both do, it could be a great finale to the series.
The Indians have been playing good and exciting baseball in recent days. They have the opportunity to end the weekend back in first place by sweeping the Tigers. Even if they take two of three it would put them a half game out, but would have to put some pressure on the Tigers, since it'd be four of six that they'd have lost against the Tribe in the past two weeks.
The White Sox have the tall order of facing the Rangers this weekend. Texas has been playing very well of late. The White Sox would be hard pressed to make up any ground this weekend, unless they can somehow manage to sweep.
Around the League:
The Angels avoided a four game sweep at the hands of the Rangers last night when Mark Trumbo hit a walk off two run homerun off of Mike Adams. Neftali Feliz had been used in the past few games, and was unavailable for the game. Adams is a good pitcher, who just left a fastball up, and Trumbo crushed it down the left field line, keeping it just fair. Later, on MLB Network, Mitch Williams said that this shows that Mike Adams can't be a closer because he doesn't have the "closer mentality" and is just a setup man. This is the dumbest argument in baseball. Neftali Feliz was a starting pitcher all through the minors, and was put into the closer role last year because of injuries. Where'd he pickup the mentality? Same thing with Jonathan Papelbon in Boston, starter in the minors, converted to closer in the majors. Back in the early 2000's, Billy Beane would take an average relief pitcher, put them in the closer role, let them rack up saves for a year or two, and trade them to get good returns because other teams would only see the save totals. There's no such thing as a setup man who can't close games. Next year, I think that the Rangers would be best off putting Feliz in the rotation and letting Adams take over the closer role. Feliz is struggling this year in the pen, and would be more valuable to the organization if he were in the rotation next year, even if it was with a 4.00 ERA. This year Feliz's strikeout rate is way down, and his walk rate is way up. He hasn't been nearly as good this year as last year, and that might be the best thing for him in the long run. They might not relegate him to the bullpen for the rest of his career. He has a special arm, and should be put into the rotation next year.
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